Day 33 – May 6 continued

After a review of the various purchases we relaxed (more) and then headed out for supper and to see some of the sights on the Vegas Strip. Outback was our choice for a variety of well prepared meat dishes. One thing we are finding is that Vegas has service nailed. Every staff person from the concierge to cleaning staff always take the time to say hello whenever you meet and restaurant staff, with the exception of the bar on the 64th floor of the Mandalay Bay have been exceptionally friendly. Our waitress Kim last night was no exception. Absolutely attentive of our requests and very friendly she added greatly to our enjoyment of our meal. Lesson learned, if you take the time to engage people you can learn interesting things, like Kim is a chef but lost her business due to an injury in a car accident but is now trying to rebuild that dream by competing in reality TV chef shows. Not a story you would have guessed.

What gets bought in Vegas….

After eating we made our way to the Bellagio to see their fountain display which runs every 15 minutes. We tried to make it further down the strip to the Mirage to see their hourly volcano display but couldn’t make it through the busy pedestrian traffic in time. We learned very quickly in Vegas not to mess with the car traffic. When lights turn, cars go, pedestrians scatter. Vegas is a car town, no question.

trim.1suxHb

The sights along the way, both architectural and human, were great. There was some comfort in the fact that most of our fellow pedestrians appeared to be tourists and were gawking and taking pictures just like us. We managed to not get lost, run over or separated, which actually was much more of a challenge than you might imagine. Conveniently, our shuttle bus made pickups at the Mirage and we caught it back to Tahiti Village where we did a bit of planning for our 10:00 check out time the next morning.

Day 34 – May 7

After check out we headed to Denny’s for breakfast, OK we were in a hurry, and over breakfast planned our route. We all wanted to see the Hoover Dam which although requiring a bit of backtracking was close by. Traffic was heavy in both directions but well managed and marked as we approached the site. RV parking is on the far side of the dam and therefore we had to pass through a security check which involved a quick inspection of the insides of our vehicles.

The site is very well interpreted with many venues to take pictures. It is an incredible piece of construction and the site is immaculate but to be honest, my first impression, from the upstream side of the dam was that I expected it to be bigger. Even the huge expanse of the concave side of the dam, where most of the photographs are taken, still seemed smaller than anticipated. I admit to feeling guilty saying this and I don’t mean to minimize the engineering feat and the human sacrifices required to build this structure but the feeling was shared by all of us.

Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam downstream

There is a great interpretive centre and tour ( which Ike and I couldn’t take because we had jack knives in our pockets) just like rock beats scissors, I’m pretty sure that our knives presented little risk to this massive structure. However while we awaited the rest of the groups return it afforded us an opportunity to see other parts of the site. In particular the memorial interpretation site across from the interpretive centre. An audio loop explains how in the plaza underfoot are set brass markers locating all the significant solar bodies on the day of the dedication, September 30, 1935. The recording also explains how the flagpole points to the location of the sun on the day of dedication, which I took to be directly overhead, which tells me that the dedication date was driven more by solar alignments than the state of completion. I can say that I never worked on a construction project that had its schedule tied to the movement of celestial bodies although I have been involved with many that seemed to move forward in a geological time frame.

The impression that I left with was that this amazing and yet ultimately functional construct has evolved beyond its original purpose into not only a major tourist attraction but even more importantly into cultural icon for America, a witness to what the people of this country can achieve which, in these uncertain global times, may even outweigh its original intent.

After leaving the dam we headed towards Joshua Tree National Park where we planned to stop and dry camp at the Black Rock campsite on the northern edge of the park. We stopped at the town of Twenty Nine Palms along the way to stock up on provisions. This is a small military town and we were taken by the number of barber shops and tattoo parlours we passed. We stopped at the local supermarket and were amazed at the low cost of food and wine. For instance, Carla bought a package of five of what could only be described as Partonesque sized chicken breasts for less than$5. I’m thinking that in some chicken processing plant somewhere is a worker who still bears the scars from trying to subdue those ladies.

After once again filling our collective larders we headed to our campsite, which we rolled into just as dusk and the cool of the desert night settled in. Diane made chilli and garlic toast while Carla provided Caesar salad. Due to the quickly dropping temperatures supper was served in the capacious dining room of the BRT.