GUEST Blog Part 2

12-14-11 vacant brain

Sin City ~ Las Vegas for Birthday Celebration! Part 2

Final day in Las Vegas, Boulder City, Hoover Dam and birthday cake was on tap. I was very surprised that after a long night on the strip, we were up and out the door by 10 am.  Amazing girls!

First stop, early lunch in Boulder City. What a neat little town with a lot of history. Boulder City was the home of the many builders of the Dam back in the 1931. When I go back to Vegas, I will definitely browse this lovely town.

            

Off to Hoover Dam we go, but first a U-turn on the highway as we missed the exit and before you know it over the border to AZ. We took advantage of the scenic overlook above the dam and took some great pics.

            

Then to the damn Dam, parking a ½ mile was the thing to do. All I can say about the Dam, a modern marvel, human engineering at its best. Of the many pics we took, I like this one of me straddling two states, NV on the left and AZ on the right.

         

Then we debated on hiking up to the new bridge and I’m glad we went. A short hike to walk over the Mike O’Callaghan  Pat Tillman (AZ NFL/Army who died of friendly fire) bypass bridge (began construction in ’05 and opened in ’10). Here’s some interesting facts about the bypass bridge from USA Today, along with a link to a time lapse video. http://tiny.cc/tk999

• The highest and longest arched concrete bridge in the Western Hemisphere.
• The second-highest bridge of any kind in the United States and 14th in the world.
• The world's tallest concrete columns of their kind. perched 890 feet above the Co. River.

I can’t say enough about the Hoover Dam, Boulder City, Red Rock Canyon and the Vegas Strip. To think, 75 plus years ago, this was just a canyon and a desert.

Last item before my red-eye flight back to Des Moines, birthday dinner n’ care. Everything was very yummy and a big thank you and hug to mom Clark.

Happy birthday to me, Natalie and Lexi. Thank you for letting me part of your big birthday celebration. I love you guys to pieces. Did I mention they are identical twins? And yes, I can tell them apart.

Chat Later,

That Girl, Ann Marie