13- Las Vegas, Hoover dam and Pahrump
It is once again very sunny outside when we wake up. We are well rested after the long walking day we had yesterday. And after a quick shower, we are all in the lift down the 22 floors to hand back the magnetic cards of our room.
We now just have to wait for my brother to come pick us up in front of the hotel with the car.
Several employees of the hotel come to tell us to not hesitate to let them know when our car arrives so that they can help us load our luggage in it in the same way they do it for the taxis and limos that are parking in front of the hotel.
Today we are going to go take a look at the Hoover dam before heading towards Death Valley. After yesterday, today should be a quiet day to recover.
We find a Walmart on the way to the Hoover dam where we stop to buy some things to make sandwiches for our lunch and we are back on the road. It is a short one hour drive away from Las Vegas, the road is wide, still in the middle of the desert but we quickly arrive in an area with more mountains.
Soon enough, the viaduct that crosses the valley in front of the Hoover dam comes into sight. We drive just at its feet and start looking for a spot to park the car. The signs announce 10 dollars to park so we decide to carry on driving and only make a U turn on the other side to come back and not stop if we can’t find a cheaper spot. There are a lot of tourists so the traffic is pretty slow. I have time to get off the car and cross the dam walking while the others stay in the car. The idea is for me to take a few pictures while crossing the dam and once on the other side, if there is nowhere to park then I can take the car back while my brother and the girls can walk.
I am going almost as fast walking than them in the car. A white Ferrari comes in the other way while I walk and the sound of its engine makes people look back.
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The dam serves as a natural border between the states of Arizona and Nevada so there is one hour difference between the two sides of the dam. For us Europeans, it is odd to thing that there are several timelines in the same country. And if you take into account the time changes between summer and winter it is even more complicated because not all the states follow them. In Arizona for instance, there is no time change because a lot of people work in Mexico and they don’t have time change over there but certain Indian reservations change time and others don’t so you can get several time changes within the same state. Why would you try and make it simple right?
Actually, when we get to the other side of the dam, we realize that parking the car here is free. There are not many free spaces but my brother gets lucky and someone leaves right in front of him so he parked the car and we can all go for a walk on the dam.
We can very clearly see the consequences of the drought in the US with almost 60 ft drop in the water level. The appearing rock is very white compared to the orange of the rest that wasn’t under water.
We then get back in the car to drive around the neighbouring hill and walk again this time on the viaduct to get a better view of the dam. Once again, it is packed with tourists but it is easier to park and still free. After a 5 minute walk, we are on the viaduct. It is much more impressive seen from here and although the handrails are quite high, I don’t feel very comfortable. I will walk far enough on the viaduct to take a few nice pictures and then we will head back to the car.
This time, we head back towards Las Vegas. We can see the skyline from pretty far away but we won’t stop this time and from there starts the longest straight line of the whole trip. If you watch the video at the end of this post, you will see how long it is even with the speed bumped up to 64 times its normal value. The scenery is splendid but I can’t help thinking that we are already getting close to the end of this trip. We will cross Death Valley tomorrow, the day after tomorrow we will be in Los Angeles and then we will only have one day in San Diego before flying back to the UK.
This trip is for sure the nicest one of my life but some people have to work for a living and I am not getting paid when I don’t work so…
For now, we still have a few days left so let’s make the best of them.
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Towards the end of the afternoon, we get to Pahrump. It is a small city lost in the middle of the desert once again. But this time, the colours are different. It is no longer the yellow sand of Las Vegas but rather a light gray with rocks and shrubs. We have already booked an AirBnB and our GPS leads us right in front of its door.
It is a big manufactured house on a pretty big piece of land. Everything is clean and tidy in there and there is even a terrace with a barbecue which we will enjoy tonight.
A quick trip to the local Walmart to buy the meat we will grill on the barbecue tonight and we are back at the house to eat. We will finish the evening in front of the TV with a documentary about Death Valley. We won’t all see it to the end because some of us fall asleep on the couch after just a few minutes.
Tomorrow we will drive through Death Valley and should arrive in Los Angeles in the evening. We have refuelled the car and stocked up more bottled water just in case… (in average we had 20 to 50 litres of water in the car).
To be continued… here: 14- Death Valley and Los Angeles
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