Nevada: Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam is a marvel of modern engineering roughly a half hour to forty-five-minute drive from the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, proper depending on traffic. This massive feat of cement and hydro-electric power provides the literal spark of electricity that keeps the city of Sin sparkling away and attracting visitors all-year-long, powered by the Colorado River and the Lake Mead man-made reservoir. Unfortunately for the residents of Las Vegas, like your's truly used to be, the water levels of the reservoir have been dwindling away over the last couple decades to leave a depressing ring around the entirety of the lake demonstrating how high the water levels used to be, versus their current levels. As a youngling, my family would drag me out to the lake pretty regularly for outings and Hoover Dam would get a visit at least once a decade to make sure I was aware of and, hopefully, appreciative, of it's importance to the valley. As an adult, I'm still grateful for the construction of Hoover Dam and the cheap energy it has provided the nearby cities for the majority of my life. Having a power plant in your own backyard is certainly a boon, though many newer residents of the valley might not be aware of just how close their energy creation is to their home. 

As is the case for most of us, the future is uncertain. There have been efforts to push water conservation in all the areas that benefit from the Colorado River's limited supply, but as the populations continue to grow in the drought-riddled areas there's going to be ever more scrapping over ever-more-scarce water supplies. It's not just the city of Las Vegas that benefits from the reservoir, after all, but much of Southern California, Utah and Arizona get a boost from this nearby supply. For many years it's been a cheap and efficient supply, but when the costs go up? I'm glad I'm not there to find out the result... I don't know that it's going to go full Mad-Max style up in the Mojave desert, but I can't say I'd be the least bit surprised if it did. 

Also, as a long-time resident of the area, it's kind of crap in my eyes how they've started charging for anything remotely resembling Dam-accessible parking. If you're willing to wait and possibly fight a bus-full of tourists, you might be able to find free parking at an outlying area, but otherwise, you're gonna have to shell out for the privilege of viewing a National Treasure. Bastards. Last I checked, you can't even go inside the Dam anymore due to fears of terrorism. 'Murica, home of the scared-shitless, am I right? Vegas is far more likely to be attacked by homegrown domestic terrorists, as clearly demonstrated by the terrible incident in 2017.  But I digress, being a center of power for a large region of the American Southwest probably makes it a consideration, which results in the over-the-top security measures being implemented. It is what it is, I'm afraid. 

Road Tripping: Return drive through Arizona

Now that the time for fun in St. George had come to an end, it was inevitable that we'd have to hop back on that fateful highway and head southbound. All good things must come to a close sooner or later, right? We managed to get quite a bit done during the day, though! We cruised through town, saw the Historic District and some creepy art there, checked out a local shop, hiked in two different areas, one with an incredible view of the city, got our feet wet... all in all I'd say we did pretty dang good given the circumstances! Go us. After being on the road for a bit going south, we hit the stateline of Arizona and I was able to snap a photograph commemorating the moment. It's all just lines in the sand, literally enough, but it marks the transition point from one region to the next so it at least makes organizing photos a little easier. 

The handy sign above helps to orient where we are here, too. Mesquite is only 18 miles down road, and Las Vegas (aka home, sweet, home) is 97 miles away. Not bad, not bad at all. That's why I've tagged all these posts, or at least the majority, with "day trips from Vegas"! it's totally manageable, guys. If you're in Vegas and want to get away and see something different, a day trip out this way would be nice. Leave in the early afternoon and get some photos at the look out sights or any significant spots you intend to hit, grab an early dinner then hop back in the car and head home if you must. I'd highly recommend trying to make it a day or two long affair if you have the time because there was quite a bit we didn't get to see. 

  

Arizona, of course, has it's own unique charms. There's a lot to see and do out here, too, but we didn't stop much along the way because we were trying to beat the sun. We had things to accomplish yet and miles left to go, so we had to make some executive decisions and driving through Arizona was one of them. There's plenty of natural beauty to see just hauling down the highway, so we didn't feel especially deprived. I've been to Arizona multiple times over the years for hikes and visits and things, so it's not as much of a rarity for me that Utah is. Visiting St. George was far from my norm, and I'm glad we got to do it, just as I'm glad to have been able to capture at least some of Arizona's beauty during the drive. 

   

  

Road Tripping: Morning Drive

After grabbing a quick coffee and brushing as much of the sleep dust out of our eyes as we could manage, we packed it in and headed out. Since we were quite close to the tri-state area with the corners of Arizona, Nevada and Utah all within short distances of each other, we decided to try to hit the other two states if possible. 

There's a narrow canyon that the road runs through that marks the border of one of these states, so we headed that way first. North on the I-15. 

Bonus Goats in Glendale, Nevada

Goats are, without a doubt, one of my all-time most favorite out of the animals. I mean, penguins are stupid cute and wobbly, dolphins graceful and mischievous mysteries, sloths adorably slow-moving little hang-out buddies, but goats have something special in their weirdness. Not only are their pupils unique in their big, goofy, boggling eyes, but their legs seem to be spring loaded with their silly acrobatics sending them catapulting all over the place. They come in such a wide variety, too! Big, gamboling beasts with flat faces and draping meat-curtains for ears, or tiny little dwarf varieties. Their color patterns are as unique as their phenotypes, with all sorts of unique markings distinguishing one goat from his buddy. There are goats who, for whatever strange accumulation of the genetic lottery, are prone to fainting at the slightest startle- then there are big, scary goats who would f**k you up like a roided out bro-ham at a college bar late one Saturday bleeding over into Sunday morning.  The goats we encountered in Glendale, luckily, were of the tamest and friendly manner, happily trotting up to us when we stepped foot near their pen. They were more than happy to let us take photos as long as we paid them in scritchins, because everyone loves a good scratching behind the ears. They were surprisingly quiet, only bleating at us once during our entire encounter...and that sole, singular bleat came when I started to walk away from the pen in an effort to try to photograph the horses gathered nearby. The horses were decidedly less friendly to us and noped out of the vicinity as soon as I showed any actual interest in interacting with them. Their loss- more love for the goats! They were in a pen behind the same little convenience store from the cow post, which was itself directly in front of a ranch of some kind. We didn't want to trespass on anyone's private property, so we didn't explore beyond the lot, but I like to think that given their proximity to such a public place the goats get lots of love and affection from random humans throughout the day. They certainly were receptive to our attention, and when it was time to get back in the van the goats seemed sad to see us go... but perhaps I was projecting my own personal sense of sadness at leaving such a cute lot of friendly faces behind. I'm always pleasantly surprised to encounter goats, whether they're in a petting zoo or a parking lot, and I'm very much excited for the day when I might be able to have my own. Is that weird? I guess. But I don't mind. Goats are awesome!

Moos in Glendale, NV

Don't get me wrong; I love all animals. While I'm not currently a vegetarian (as you might have noticed from posts about eating live shrimp in Noryangjin and making bossam at home) I have been in the past, and even tried veganism for a while. I absolutely understand the reasons for not eating meat, and when I encounter cows out in the real world I always get excited and the car is almost always inevitably pulled over so I can run over and try to forcibly project my adorations on to the cows standing there, minding their own business. Most of the time, the cows could udderly care less about this silly human female flopping about and gesticulating wildly at them while making strange cooing baby-talk noises. They're busy doing cow stuff. Understandable, right? Since most cows you're liable to encounter along the roadside like this are going to be working farm cows,  they likely have a working relationship with the humans they know- and unfortunately, a lot of times that may involve some level of primordial fear in the instinctual awareness that their human's endgame involves eating them, forcibly inseminating them, or stealing their milk. I mean, that's life- I get it. I've been to dairy farms and giggled as the calves eagerly licked and sucked at my thumb in search of milk, but these sweet beasts are often viewed as a resource, a trade good, not a cogent and affectionate animal with intelligence similar to a dog. It bums me out to think about the conditions that most grocery store meat cattle are raised in, as I know a lot of it is far from the idyllic pastural scenes here... In a perfect world, I would buy my meat directly from the farmer who raised that cow, and the bovine would have the most pampered lifestyle of luxury and relaxation up until it's final moment, which would be swift and painless... but until we get to a point where we can bioengineer a sentient source of meat who provides their bodies willingly (as in The Restaurant at the end of the Universe by Douglas Adams) , it's always going to be a bad proposition for the cute little cows. Personally, I don't eat much beef. I will, every once in a blue moon, and a bit of liver and onions is a major power meal for me when I find myself lagging, but I'd much rather have fish or chicken any day.  I don't know the fate of these particular cuties, but they were pretty unenthusiastic about my excitement at their existing here. There was even a little bubba! So cute. Goodness. 

Arizona: Willow Beach night 2015-09-30

Long exposure photos and glowsticks were a match made in heaven.

Throw in a quartet of silly 20-somethings sitting on a dock in the middle of the desert and here we are.

Photos after the cut!

Arizona: Willow Beach Day 2015-09-30

Only a short drive from Las Vegas lies the Lake Mead National Park & recreation area. 

I've been making trips out to the lake ever since I can remember, riding in my dad's old van that reminded me of the Mystery Machine. (If she doesn't get that reference she's too young for you, bro)

It's a beautiful area, really. A man made water reservoir fed by the Colorado river and dammed by the marvel of engineering that is the Hoover Dam. If you bypass Lake Mead you can head down to the river, which is where Willow Beach comes in. This beautiful beach and boating area is tucked away a short distance from the state line. 

On a bit of a whim, our pal Louie invited us to join him on an expedition. 

We happily agreed!