You can view more pictures of my trip on the Extraterrestrial Highway here.
Tag Archive for 'Nevada'
After driving out of the winter wonderland that was Las Vegas, Nevada, my wife and I plus our two Aussie friends arrived at one of America’s industrial wonders, the Hoover Dam:
When driving down the switchbacks leading to the dam we pulled into a newly constructed parking garage located on the left side of the road:
From the parking garage we walked over to the visitor center and bought tickets to attend the next tour of the inside of the dam. Before going on the tour we walked around the inside of the visitor center to learn more about the construction of the dam:
Incredibly Hoover Dam was constructed in only five years which was two years ahead of schedule. The construction of this dam was completed in 1936 and at the time it was the world’s largest hydroelectric dam and the worlds largest concrete structure. As impressive as the dam continues to be to this day, it is in fact only the world’s 35th largest dam now.
1921 image of the proposed Hoover Dam site.
Something I found of interest was that the main rationale for constructing the dam had nothing to do with generating electricity. The reason for the dam’s construction had more to do with taming the Colorado River that had wreaked havoc with frequent floods further down stream along with providing a reliable source of water for southern California. The electricity generation was just a side benefit.
Anyway eventually we met up to go on the guided tour. The first thing they did was show our tour group of about 50 people a short 20 minute video about the construction of the dam that highlighted some of the interesting facts about the dam:
- Construction period: April 20, 1931 – March 1, 1936
- Construction cost: $49 million ($736 million adjusted for inflation from 1936 to 2008[26] )
- Deaths attributed to construction: 112; 96 of them at the construction site[11][13][27]
- Dam height: 726.4 ft (221.4 m), second highest dam in the United States. (Only the Oroville Dam is taller)
- Dam length: 1244 ft (379.2 m)
- Dam thickness: 660 ft (200 m) at its base; 45 ft (15 m) thick at its crest.
- Concrete: 4.36 million yd³ (3.33 million m³)
- Maximum electric power produced by the water turbines: 2.08 gigawatts[28]
- Approximate power output: 4 billion KWh per year [29] (i.e. $200 million at $0.05 per kWh)
- Traffic across the dam: 13,000 to 16,000 people each day, according to the Federal Highway Administration
- Lake Mead (full pool)[30]
- area: 157,900 acres (639 km²), backing up 110 miles (177 km) behind the dam.
- volume: 28,537,000 acre feet (35.200 km³) at an elevation of 1,221.4 feet (372.3 m) .
- With 8 to 10 million visitors each year, including visitors to Hoover Dam but not all traffic across the dam, the Lake Mead National Recreation Area is the fifth busiest National Park Service area.
After the video we then took an elevator down into the dam. Once into the interior of the dam we began to walk through a maze of interior passages carved in the rock:
The first location our guide took us to see was the huge pipe that water is funneled through to turn the generators that create the electricity:
The water flows through the pipe and is funneled into a smaller and smaller pipe which increases the speed of the water to turn the turbines. It was the turbines they took us to see next which are located in a huge building at the bottom of the dam:
This building is the length of two football fields and is nearly 20 stories high. Two of these buildings are located on each side of the river with one housing nine generators and the other eight for a total of 17 generators. However, when we visited Hoover Dam there was fact only 16 generators operating because one generator was taken out of commission for a service:
The guide told us that these generators are serviced about every 20 years which is pretty incredible when you think about it because of how much work these generators do during that time period. Something I found of interest was that although the dam finished its construction in 1936, the power generation aspect of the dam was completed until 1961, a full 25 years after the completion of the dam. This just goes to show that power generation was in fact not the main reason for the construction of the dam.
Besides the main generators that were operating, each of the large power generation buildings also have a smaller generator that is used solely to provide power for all the equipment in the building:
Anyway from there we concluded the tour and went back up to the surface of the dam. From the balcony of the visitor’s center there is an incredible view of the dam:
The dam is so big that there is no way I could fit into one picture. You need to get quite elevated to fit the dam into one picture, such as with this nice aerial image of the dam:
This picture provides a great perspective of how the dam is situated in the Black Canyon and how it blocks the mighty waters of the Colorado River to make Lake Mead.
Anyway from the visitor center we began to walk across the dam and could see some great views of the power generation buildings, one of which we had just conducted a tour of:
On the sides of the canyon you could see power lines snaking in all directions to take the electricity to all municipalities that receive power from this dam:
Here is a break down of what areas receive power from the dam:
- Arizona – 18.9527 percent Nevada – 23.3706 percent
- Metropolitan Water District of Southern California – 28.5393 percent
- Burbank, CA – 0.5876 percent
- Glendale, CA – 1.5874 percent
- Pasadena, CA – 1.3629 percent
- Los Angeles, CA – 15.4229 percent
- Southern California Edison Co. – 5.5377 percent
- Azusa, CA – 0.1104 percent
- Anaheim, CA – 1.1487 percent
- Banning, CA – 0.0442 percent
- Colton, CA – 0.0884 percent
- Riverside, CA – 0.8615 percent
- Vernon, CA – 0.6185 percent
- Boulder City, NV – 1.7672 percent
Our tour guide had told us that many visitors to the dam figure that much of the power goes to Las Vegas, however he said less then one percent of the dams power goes to Vegas. Remember the dam was constructed in 1936 long before Las Vegas came to be. The power from the dam had already been distributed mostly to southern California and Arizona.
While walking a top this great architechtural wonder, I could see yet another great architechtural wonder being constructed, a bridge across the Black Canyon:
Construction of the Hoover Dam Bypass bridge began in 2005 and will be complete in 2010. This bridge will be about 2,000 feet long when it is completed. This bridge should be quite a sight in conjunction with the dam. What I find interesting though is that it is taking as much time to make this bridge as it did to construct the huge dam.
Anyway as I continued to walk across the dam I couldn’t help, but wonder how many people have committed suicide over the years by jumping off this huge dam:
Littered along the outside of the dam are few exhibits and memorials that visitors can see:
Here is the base of the flag pole at Hoover Dam:
However, these memorials and exhibits just cannot compare with the incredibly beautiful view of the Colorado River from the dam:
After finishing our walk around the dam, we all headed back to the parking garage to leave. It was here that we would say goodbye to our friends as they prepared to head off to the Grand Canyon and ultimately Colorado for a ski trip. My wife and I on the other hand were off to El Paso, Texas to the house we just bought there due to our recent move back to the US. Much like with my many drives through the Australian bush, I always love driving across the American West with its dramatic scenery and open vistas. I just hoped we didn’t get snowed on during the ride back to we could enjoy the scenery.
Next Posting: Arizona’s Highway 93
After completing the drive back from Area 51 with my wife and our two friends from Australia it was quite dark out by the time we got to Las Vegas and the snow had stopped. We were all quite hungry and much like when I took my friends to Denny’s, I couldn’t let them leave America without trying a burger at an IN-N-OUT. So once we got back to the strip I immediately began to drive over to the IN-N-OUT when suddenly it began to snow heavily:
The storm that hit us earlier while driving back from Area 51 had finally caught back up with us and was dumping snow on Las Vegas. It was quite a sight and once again my two friends from Australia were loving it. They still could not believe that their first snow storm experience ever would be in Las Vegas of all places.
So we ate our burgers at IN-N-OUT and admired the heavily falling snow outside. They both loved the IN-N-OUT burgers, but were not impressed with the fries. The fries always seem to be a subject of debate with people who eat at IN-N-OUT, but I have never had anyone tell me the burgers are not great.
Anyway after eating we headed back over to our hotel, The Imperial Palace in order to get some sleep because we were exhaused after the long day. It was funny seeing the scene outside the hotel of scantily clad cocktail waitress and celebrity impersonators standing outside and enjoying the snow. I would probably have enjoyed the snow as well if it wasn’t for the fact that I was so tired after driving all day. So I parted company with my Australian friends and headed back up to my room to get some sleep. Here is what the view of the falling snow looked like from my room:
The snow was a really wet snow and was only accumulating trees or roof tops from what I could see:
That night I slept quite soundly and the next morning I woke up to see what it looked like outside. There was no snow to be seen out on the strip other then some of the snow that still remained on some of the roof tops like over at Caesar’s Palace:
Anyway that morning we checked out of our hotel room and began to drive towards Hoover Dam. Our two friends followed us in their rental car. As soon as we got off the strip and on to the highway we could see all the mountains surrounding Las Vegas were covered in snow:
The outlying suburbs of Las Vegas still had snow accumulated on the ground the next day when we drove through with some of the exit ramps appearing to be quite hazardous because of all the ice:
The ground around Highway 93 going to Boulder City, which is just a short distance from Hoover Dam, continued to be covered with a fairly thick layer of snow:
As we got closer to the city we could see in some of the lower lying areas that the snow had begun to melt and the melting was slowing creeping up the sides of this huge valley:
As we pulled into Boulder City the snow was mostly melted with only some of the higher mountain peaks in the distance covered with snow:
Boulder City was establish in 1932 to house the workers that were busy constructing Hoover Dam. From its inception Boulder City forbid gambling and to this day it remains one of only two cities in Nevada that outlaws gambling. The city is still home to many dam workers as well as a growing retirement community along the shore of beautiful Lake Mead:
When I was in college I went water skiing a number of times along the shores of Lake Mead, which really is an under appreciate lake in the US. Anyway once outside of Boulder City it was only a short drive towards the dam that is located in the Black Canyon that Colorado River over centuries cut through the high snow covered peaks in front of us:
Here are few more pictures of the rugged snow capped mountains:
Just before Hoover Dam, depending on what direction you are going is either the first of last casino you will see in Nevada along Highway 93, the Hacienda Hotel & Casino:
When we drove by the place was absolutely packed so it obviously gets its fair share of business even though it is located far away from the bright lights of Las Vegas. Anyway just passed the casino we finally reached out destination of the always impressive Hoover Dam:
Next Posting: Touring Hoover Dam
After arriving in the town of Rachel, Nevada which is in the absolute middle of no where and the nearest community to Area 51 my wife and I along with our two friends from Australia decided to stop at the only facility open for business this cold winter day, the local bar to ask for directions:
I walk into the bar and asked the bar tender if she could give me directions to Area 51. She rolled her eyes and gave me a look of “Great another one of those guys”. Fortunately after I explained to her that my Australian friends just wanted to see the gate for Area 51 she became a whole lot friendlier and gave me a map to the two gate locations.
One of the gates known as the back gate is just a short drive down a dirt road from Rachel:
As you can see in the above Google Earth image, there is not a whole lot in Rachel. The town is situated at 4,970 feet above sea level and has less then 100 people who live in it. Here is a brief history of Rachel from its website:
Rachel was founded in May of 1973 by D.C.Day, who owned an alfalfa farm in the valley. The town was first called Tempiute Village, then Sand Springs. Later, when the population grew thanks to the reopening of the nearby tungsten mine in Tempiute Mountain, it was named Rachel after Rachel Jones, the first baby born in the valley. This is remembered each May on Rachel Day with a parade.
In its heyday Rachel had over 500 residents, mostly working for Union Carbide in the Tempiute tungsten mine. When the mine closed in 1988 the workers moved on, and today the population is down to less than 100. Most of the people living in Rachel are retired, work at the alfalfa farms or in one of the three local businesses. A few people work at the Tonopah Test Range (TTR) or in Area 51, but of course those who really do can not talk about it.
The only remaining local businesses in Rachel is the Little A’Le’Inn Restaurant and Bar. The Quik Pik Mini Mart and gas station closed in the winter of 2006/2007, after briefly being operated by a new owner. The Area 51 Research Center, a small UFO souvenir shop, was closed in fall of 2001. There is a public phone outside the Little A’Le’Inn, but you need a calling card to use it.
In August 2002 Rachel got its own Fire Truck, as the result of an initiative by some of the residents.
Ever since the late 1980′s Rachel has been a popular destination among UFO fans, attracted by the nearby Area 51, and by hundreds of UFO sightings in the area. Rachel has been dubbed the “UFO Capital of the World”, and people from all around the world come to visit Rachel and the Little A’Le’Inn, and to get information to plan their personal expedition to that mysterious base in the desert.
Besides being known for aliens the town is a bit of a Google Earth oddity as well because of the Kentucky Fried Chicken logo you see in the image above. KFC constructed the logo back in 2006 as part of its global rebranding effort.
Anyway we proceeded down the dirt road from Rachel and after about 9 miles we came upon the back gate:
If you can believe it, there wasn’t even anyone manning this gate. In fact if someone wanted to they could just drive around the gate all together because there was no fence either. We found that surprising considering how sensitive of a military area this is supposed to be.
Then again it isn’t like this gate is even close to Area 51 considering that vehicles still have to travel about 25 miles further down this road to reach the base:
Eventually after looking around the gate for a little while a four wheel drive blazer eventually pulled up at the gate with a couple of guys watching us, so we figured that was our cue to leave.
For those that don’t know Area 51 lies within the Nevada Test & Training Range and was once a highly secret base where testing of some of America’s most clandestine weapons programs was conducted to include the U2 spy plane, SR-71 Blackbird, and the stealth bomber and fighter to name just a few of the important programs that were tested there.
The base is now well known in American pop culture more for stories about aliens rather then weapons testing due to the popularity of movies such as Will Smith’s blockbuster Independence Day that featured this base.
The base lies beside the dry lake bed of Groom Lake and serves as the workplace for hundreds of employees that are either bussed or flown in from the Las Vegas area.
The next gate we went to check out was on Groom Lake Road that served as the route that the bus from Las Vegas takes to reach the facility:
Groom Lake Road is a dirt road that branches off of Highway 375 about 30 miles before reaching Rachel. The bar tender warned us that this road would be pretty rough because of all the snow, but it ended up not being too bad despite the snow. It was actually a pretty scenic ride with the high mountains and surrounding desert coated in snow:
For civilians the road ends after about 15 miles where these warning signs forbid you from traveling any further down the road:
These signs are actually tamer then ones posted in years past where deadly force was authorized against anyone trespassing in the area. From here Area 51 is only about 10 more miles down the road and much closer then from the back gate near Rachel:
Once again while outside walking around and taking pictures a four wheel drive Blazer pulled up. In the below picture you can see a picture of the truck parked on the hill looking down on us:
So the base definitely has some kind of camera system in place at these locations to warn security of people driving up to the entrances. Once again we took this as our cue to leave and headed back up Groom Lake Road and back to Las Vegas.
The drive back to Las Vegas actually became quite an adventure as we drove through the high desert wilderness because of a snow storm that began to drop snow in near white out conditions. Our Australian friends loved it and thought it was great while my nerves were being rattled by the poor visibility and idiots passing me at speeds not safe for the conditions. Anyway we made it back to Las Vegas just in time to see the snow fall there as well.
Next Posting: Snow in Las Vegas
After a couple of days of checking out Las Vegas with my Australian buddy and his wife, he decides to ask me if I would be willing to drive them out to Area 51. I was a little bit surprised because I didn’t even know you can drive out to Area 51. He tells me it can be done because he had a buddy that drove to the front gate of the secret military base during his vacation to Las Vegas.
At the first opportunity that night I got on the Internet and saw that it is indeed possible to get to Area 51 if you can believe it. I call my buddy’s room and tell him that it is indeed possible to get to Area 51 and that I had directions. However, it takes about three hours to get out there. He and his wife were not deterred and wanted to head out there the next morning.
The next morning we met up in the lobby of the Imperial Palace and I took them to have breakfast for the first time a Denny’s. Needless to say they were quite impressed with how good the food was, the service, and price. I had successfully made two more Denny’s converts who became addicted to Denny’s breakfasts during their time in America. Anyway after breakfast we packed into my truck and headed on out into the Nevada desert.
Area 51 is located about 160 miles northwest of Las Vegas in an isolated Nevada desert valley:
Once we were out of Las Vegas and heading North on Highway 93 the usually desolate Nevada desert looked starkly different from any other time I had ever seen it since it was covered in snow:
Around Las Vegas there was no snow, but you could see that the mountains were capped with snow and here driving towards Area 51 the elevation was high enough that snow had accumulated and not melted.
Here is an image of my Aussie buddy just amazed to be standing in so much snow in the middle of the desert:
In Australia, you would have to be in the Victorian high country or the Snowy Mountains to see such snow. I on the other hand being from Colorado am used to this snow and is one of the reasons why I continue to be a four wheel drive owner:
The car I bought in the US is the Ford Escape Hybrid 4×4 which was shuttling us around the Nevada desert at a clip of 32 miles to the gallon. Highway 93 eventually intersects with Highway 375 which is infamously known as the Extraterrestrial Highway:
This highways begins simply enough in a large open ranching valley surrounded by beautiful snow covered desert mountains:
Eventually the Extraterrestrial Highway begins to ascend up and over Hancock Summit:
After descending down Hancock Summit the highway then enters another long mostly flat valley surrounded by even more impressive snow capped peaks such as this one that Area 51 lies right behind:
At the north end of this valley and after a total of three hour of driving, we finally reached the small town of Rachel, Nevada that would otherwise be a place no one would care or think twice about if it wasn’t for its fame of being located next to Area 51:
Next Posting: The Two Gates of Area 51
I have been meaning to post these pictures for quite some time of the trip my wife and I made back to the United States this past Christmas where we linked up with one of my good Australian friends and his wife in Las Vegas. They had never been to the US other then a trip to Hawaii and were greatly looking forward to having their first snow fall experience and white Christmas ever because they had booked a week long ski vacation in Colorado after their visit to Las Vegas.
My Australian friends really wanted to have a stereotypical Las Vegas experience so thus I recommended we stay at the Imperial Palace hotel which is as stereotypical Vegas as it gets with its cheap rooms, even cheaper buffet options, elderly & people with 10 gallon hats gambling away their retirements, and celebrity impersonators to include Elvis dealing cards happily taking away the money from the elderly & people with 10 gallon hats.
The rooms cost us $35 a night which even in today’s economic climate is still a bargain for Las Vegas. The rooms were pretty barebone without even a refrigerator, but we still had a great view looking out towards the Flamingo casino:
My Australian friends absolutely loved this run down, cheesy, stereotypical Las Vegas hotel. What my Australian friends loved the most about the Imperial Palace though ended up not being the stereotypical Vegas atmosphere but the classic car museum. Inside the casino the owner of Harrah’s that also owns the Imperial Palace has an absolutely huge classic car museum.
As the above sign shows The Auto Collections is supposed to be the world’s largest showroom of classic and collector automobiles:
After spending about two hours walking through this museum I concur that it probably is because this place is enormous. Here is my favorite car in the museum, this 1977 Ferrari 308 GTB:
I liked this car because it looks similar to the one that the once king of cool Tom Selleck used to drive around in on Magnum PI. This car has a V-8 engine that can go in excess of 150 miles per hour. The car also has only 10,000 kilometers on it and is for sale for only $100,000. My friends are huge car and racing fans and they loved this car too and the museum as well.
Despite the love for the Imperial Palace this didn’t mean we were not going to go out and see more of Las Vegas. The first casino we checked out was Harrah’s which was right next door to the Imperial Palace:
This casino was okay and had a great steakhouse on the second floor that we ate at one night. We sat at a table with a great view of the strip and the service was absolutely excellent. Expect though to pay about a hundred dollars a couple to eat there though. We had a great experience and my Aussie friends, my wife, and I all agreed it was worth every cent.
Another casino we checked out was Caesar’s Palace right across the street from the Imperial Palace:
Caesar’s Palace may be getting old, but it is still a great casino with just a beautiful interior that includes many Roman statues to include of course one of Julius Caesar:
Besides being a casino, Caesar’s Palace is also a well known shopping destination in Las Vegas with its Forum shopping area that is filled with expensive shops and restaurants that is themed after an ancient Roman village to include even a very realistic sky that even includes sunsets and eventually changes to a night time sky:
It is actually a pretty cool effect to see happen. The casino is also filled with a number of moving and talking fountains and statues that are also very cool to check out:
Here is my wife in front of one of these fountains:
Another pretty nice casino we went to check out was the Bellagio which is famous for its dancing fountains. The fountain show did not disappoint:
The inside of the Bellagio was also the best decorated of all the casinos we went to for Christmas:
It was very well done and overall a nice casino, but a little bit to high class for our taste. We also stopped by The Mirage which was actually a bit lame except for the awesome volcano show they put on every hour outside the casino:
The volcano is right along side Las Vegas Boulevard and draws pretty big crowds for this free show. You didn’t need fire though to enjoy the lights of Las Vegas at night which we were completely surrounded by:
Here is a picture of my wife and I together surrounded by these lights:
We went to plenty of other casinos but I would say without a doubt the nice interior of all the casinos is the Venetian which much like Caesar’s Palace had the strangely almost real looking sky as well as a canal system complete with gondalas running through the casino:
My Aussie friends were having a great time in Las Vegas but little did they know that they would experience their first snow fall not in Colorado, but instead right here in Las Vegas.
Next Posting: Snow Fall on the Extraterrestrial Highway
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