April 6  Hoover Dam/Las Vegas

Woke to 35 degrees, but sunny at 6:30 AM.  We have oatmeal with apricots and cranberries for breakfast along with an orange and Greg's coffee.  We carry a little 1 cup Kurig which works out well since only Greg drinks coffee.

We get back on 93 and go through Wikieup.

 Fairly heavy traffic since this is a major artery to Vegas from the south.  Lots of flowers, saguaro and the bright yellow trees for a while.  Then the saguaro dwindle and disappear.  We stop at McDonalds in Kingman and Beth uses the wifi while Greg does his PT.

Another windy day and there are occasional tumbleweeds dancing across the highway as we head toward Hoover Dam.  Scenic view of Lake Mohave

and we begin to see signs for Lake Mead recreation areas.  (This is the lake formed by Hoover Dam. ) Lots of traffic as we wait to go through security before entering the Dam area.  We pass into Nevada and Pacific Time Zone.  First stop is the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge and a walk onto the bridge gives us our first view of the dam, mighty impressive. As I said, it is very windy, and I have to laugh at the number of hats scattered on the nearby hillside.  726' high and 660' thick at the base!  It was a engineering marvel back in the 1930's but hundreds lost their lives during the construction.

 We  then drive across the dam (It's Arizona again.)and park.

From dam, looking towards Lake Mead

Colorado River below the dam

Lake Mead as we exit the area

 We are disappointed that everything costs here - $10 parking, $10 visitor's center, $15-30 tours, etc. and there are few exhibits outside.  Crowds of people too, so since we have already toured a hydroelectric dam, we just look around, read what we can and go back to the Trek for a quick lunch before heading out.  Las Vegas here we come!

On recommendation from a free rving website, we park in a large lot behind Bally's and Paris casinos, a short walk to the strip.  There are a half dozen or so other rv's there as well as many other vehicles.  We head out to explore and go first to the Venetian, where Greg had stayed for a job-related meeting once.  It has an area of canals, complete with gondolas, tons of shops, and amazing murals including buildings and skies.  Impressive!

We visit the Palazzo, the huge Ceasar's Palace, and Bellagio, which has a pretty conservatory and nice fountain show.

Caesar's Palace

 We stop to watch a group of acrobat/dancers do a show.  There are all kinds of interesting people on the street!

We are getting hungry and want to watch the Duke vs Wisconsin basketball final, so we head to Planet Hollywood Casino and a sports bar there called Ringers.  Lots of fans for both sides, so it is a lively time and we nosh on some wings and sliders.  Exciting game and the right guys won!! (Duke - Greg's mom is a huge fan.)

It is dark now and the neon is amazing.  We take some more photos, Beth plays the slots for a little while and wins $12 - whoo hoo!

 We head back to the Trek and do a little housecleaning before hitting the hay.  Not much coming and going so it is a fairly quiet night except for the occasional zoom on the monorail.