Hoover Dam

While in Las Vegas last week, Brandon, Cem, Andrea, and I made our way over to Hoover Dam.  We were about 3 minutes late for the dam tour, and they wouldn't let us in because the dam security folks had shut down the X-ray machines and metal detectors..  (Sorry, I'll try really hard not to make another dam joke.  Dam it!)

So we decided to walk along the top of the dam and salvage the trip.  The dam was impressive, though I feel strange that it didn't give me the same sense of awe that Niagara Falls or Yosemite Valley did.  I guess maybe because it was man made?  In fact after flagging the 1200 pics I took in Las Vegas as picks or rejects, I realized I only had a few pictures from Hoover Dam that I actually liked.  Furthremore, none where of the dam proper.  I had pictures of Lake Meade behind the dam, I had pictures of the river continuing at the base of the dam, but no pictures of the giant hunk of white concrete that is Hoover Dam itself.

The most interesting thing at Hoover Dam, in my opinion, is the amount of 1930's art deco signage and statues.  On the Nevada side of the dam is a memorial to those men and women who built the dam and to those who lost their lives during its' construction.  The ground is covered with a star chart so that future civilizations might know the significance of the location and be able to approximate when and why it was built.  The American flag is guarded by two giant art deco winged statues.  I found this memorial to be more inspiring than the dam itself.  It's of these statues that I want to share a photo.  Brandon says it's perhaps the best picture I've ever taken, and I might have to agree with him.