Hoover Dam/VEGAS!!!

Our next stop after the Grand Canyon was the Hoover Dam. Everyone says it is huge, and it was! Unfortunately, because of security concerns after 9-11, a bridge is being built and traffic will no longer be allowed across the dam. Lucky for us, it isn't finished yet, so we got to both drive and walk across it! :) We also took the Power Plant tour since we are EEs. Some random facts you probably didn't know: 1.The first priority of the dam is actually water storage to prevent flooding, not power. 2. It didn't cost taxpayers anything, it paid for itself by selling the power it produced. 3. It's where Juilliard made all his money!

In front of the Hoover Dam

One wing of generators used in the dam power plant

After our tour of the dam, we continued on our way to Las Vegas. It was everything you hear and more! The new strip on Las Vegas Blvd was a couple miles long and the casinos go all out to get their theme across. For example, the New York New York Casino has a mini statute of liberty, a roller coaster, and a replica of the Brooklyn Bridge. Instead of gambling our money away, we spent most of the day/night walking around taking in all the sights. The casinos are huge with food courts and more shops inside than a mall. Here are a few of our favorites.

The Bellagio was the best casino! It had fountains that danced to music which was awesome in both the daylight and night. It also had amazing gardens inside it. We felt like we were in "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" with the huge ants, bees, and gardening equipment everywhere.

Us in front of part of the Bellagio display

A snail made out of flowers, part of the display

The fountains in front of the Bellagio, during part of a show

The old strip on Fremont Street was also very neat and we recommend visiting it. You can hop on a bus and head right there. It was more what Katie imagined Vegas would look like with all of the casinos having lots of flashing lights. It also had a dome stretching a couple of blocks down the strip that had shows on it starting at the top of every hour. Ours was Queen. :)

Part of the dome during the Queen show

There were various street performers, but our favorite was Captain Jack Sparrow. This guy not only looked like Johnny Depp from Pirates of the Carribean, but he had his mannerisms down too. Plus, he scared both of us throughout the night, we saw him 3 or 4 times as we were walking around.

Captain Jack right before the first attack!

Those were our favorites, but there were some drawbacks from Vegas too. Mainly, the workers who stand on every corner handing out cards for " female escorts" and the smoking inside all the buildings.