Lake Mead NRA 1802a

I had forgotten how thrilling it is to visit Hoover Dam. My first visit had been in the 70's, and the visit in the pictures below was in 2005. The dam is simply amazing. The architecture from the 30's reflects a much richer period in terms of design, beauty, and emotion than what we do today; the technology illustrates a level of innovation that we too often assume wasn't standard for those days; and the sense of interest in developing public good that is illustrated by the dam shows how narrow we've become. The US Bureau of Reclamation website for the dam is quite good. Looking back over Lake Mead from a vista point near the dam, the effects of the drought are quite visible. At the time of this visit, water had dropped 80 feet.