Chiro Couple: Day 15 Hoover Dam then to Flagstaff, AZ

We saw a most amazing engineering achievement today. Most of today's blog pictures are of the Hoover Dam with a few of the drive up and up and up to Flagstaff, AZ which is at an elevation of 7000 feet! It's not bothering Vernon but the high elevation is causing me to draw in a couple of deep breaths every minute or so (just sitting here) to get enough oxygen! Does that mean I'm really out of shape?

It was disappointing when we got there to learn that the tours were canceled because the elevators were down, but the guides showed a slide presentation and answered questions. It was so interesting and inspiring.

This is where the Hoover Dam is located. It's original purpose was to prevent flooding downstream.

The construction was during the Depression.

These achievements, completed 2 years ahead of schedule, was inspiring to people during the Depression and gave a lot of people work.

The dam is massive!

The top of the dam

Looking down at the bottom of the dam

This one and the next 3 pictures show downstream from the dam. The big arch bridge is what we traveled over to get to the dam

The 'tamed' river downstream from the dam. The rectangular block with 6 round holes (there is one on both sides) is where the water comes out that has been diverted through tunnels in the mountain when a major flood occurs so that the water won't spill over the dam and destroy the turbines, etc at the bottom.

This is the original crane used in the construction of the dam

The horizontal line across the river is to keep the boats from coming too close to the dam.

This and the next 3 pictures are 'upstream' shots. This is where the water goes in and is routed to the turbines to make electricity.

This is called the 'bathtub ring' where the water level has decreased due to drought and other factors. The river here is really Lake Mead -- the largest reservoir in the United States -- 121 miles long which was created by the dam.