So we did the Hoover Dam tour and to my satisfaction, it felt just like Vegas Vacation or any other movie depicting the famous dam. And it was worth the 11 bucks it cost to see the water dripping down the walls of the dam tunnels.

I'll highlight the tidbits I learned in the photo comments.

First comment: There are several free parking spots on the Arizona side. There is one paid parking ramp on the Nevada side. We found this out after driving across the dam, turning around on a narrow road, and driving back to Arizona.

Hoover Dam Bypass. This 4 lane bridge should open in November and alleviate the crazy traffic bottleneck on the route to Vegas. The bottleneck is also largely due to crazy security measures to inspect every vehicle that drives over the dam. Power aside, the reservior is critical to all the surrounding drylands.

This is a bypass tunnel in case the reservior fills up to capacity. Obviously the rust and vegetation suggests this hasn't been used lately, but the tour guide did confirm it was at such a level in 1999. Hydraulic walls (the triagular shape above) were installed to conserve extra water in case the reservior fills to this level again.

Looking out toward the reservior. The white line highlights the water's highest level.

The reservior forms Lake Mead. Even though it's down quite a bit, the lake is still rather deep with steep banks. It's basically a flooded section of the Grand Canyon.

Close up of the intake filters.

The designs knew this project would become a major tourist attraction. They adorned the dam in art-deco style shiny brass fixtures, bronze statuesm and mosaic tile floors

They knew Hoover Dam was an engineering wonder before they even built it, but the official induction was 1955 according to this plaque.

One of two generator rooms. The generators provide supplemental power because water can be diverted much faster than coal burning plants can be heated.

Close up of the control board for this generator room.

View from the observatory looking down on the Colorado river

The "dry" side of the dam. I'm sure there's a name for it.

Couldn't find a proper name for dam terminology other than "Downstream" and "Upstream" sides. This view shows how deep the reservior runs.

And you can't take the dam tour without looking at the water seeping through the tunnel walls. This passage takes you from the elevator to the generator rooms.

euphomus is a semi-weekly columnist for ChasingTowers. He can be reached by emailing euphomus@ChasingTowers.com.

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