..then we head out past Boulder City, past Lake Mead..
..to Hoover Dam. They have just completed the Memorial Bridge and it is an amazingly impressive sight.
Park and down to the tour centre to take a tour of the power plant. This begins with a video showing the construction of the dam. It was built in the 1930s and was completed two years ahead of schedule. Workers earned $4 a day - which was a good wage during the Depression. They worked in horrible conditions - 50 degrees temperatures, Seven days a week. If they took a day off, they were fired. But some of them, after they were fired, cut and coloured their hair, shaved their beards and got rehired.
The dam itself is massive - something like 22 million tons of concrete, 221 metres high, there are 17-odd generating units in the power plant. Our guide was Mexican and I had to really concentrate to understand him. We went through tunnels to see the pipes and generators...
We walked across the top of the dam and into Arizona - the state line is in the middle of the dam! It's so massive and impressive and there's a great view of the bridge.
Then off to get some coffee and fries followed by a look in the gift shop. And then we head back. See this sign... (Stupid NRA)
Back home to rest up for an hour or so. Then to pick up Nikita, via the supermarket, where they are selling pumpkins and pumpkin-carving tools for Halloween.
And there's some pokies - in the supermarket...
And to the school.
We came back to the house and laughed at Walmart photos and looked at some baby photos of Nikita. Had some cream of broccoli soup (yum!) then headed into town to see Ka - one of the Cirque du Soleil shows in town. Drove in to Treasure Island, parked, got the tram to the Mirage then into a cab to MGM. The theatre was large with walkways and rails on the sides. There was smoke and fire bursts coming out of the pit area. I snuck in a photo...
The show is absolutely amazing. The stage lifts up vertically, swivels stands upright and they crawl up and all over it. There is a boat that then swing on hugely so it rocks back and forward until they fly off it. Then two of the characters thrown off the boat 'swim' down from the top of the proscenium arch into the pit - it looks beautiful.
There's aerial work with a guy and a girl and they fly all over the stage - it is also sensational. The worst bit was the spinning barrels with the guys running through them - that was scary.
After the show, we walk back along the strip. What an amazing place this is!
Then home for toast and Vegemite!
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