Dam you, Colorado River!

We were driving down the highway in Arizona when we saw a sign that said something about a security checkpoint we had to pull through. When we stopped, the following exchange took place:

Security guy: "Do you have any food?"
Kacey: "Not any more." (I have no idea what this meant, or what cataclysmic event she was alluding to)
Security guy [looking at a container of rice in the back seat on a stack of food packages and baking supplies]: "What's that, rice?"
Kacey: "Oh, yeah."
Security guy: "Go ahead."

I'm not sure if I should be more concerned at Kacey's apparent inability to classify food items, or the security guy's lack of interest in her blatant lies. In any event, this is how our Hoover Dam experience began.


So the dam is like... big and stuff. We weren't initially planning on stopping there, but we were a little ahead of schedule so we decided to do the basic self-guided tour. Kacey quickly read through the exhibits and proceeded to take pictures of the dam itself, while I leisurely filled in the gaps of knowledge from middle school about how electricity is made. Oh and muckers. They are important. I had no idea how wide of an area is served by the water and power provided by the dam. Seriously I think next year they're going to start irrigating the moon with it.

In all honesty, I never thought much about the dam before I got there, but it was pretty cool and interesting, so much so that I annoyed Kacey by slowly reading almost everything I could and just staring at the vastness of it. Sometimes I like to pretend I know things about engineering, which is completely untrue. But seeing stuff like the dam makes me think that engineering could have been a fulfilling career path. Then I remember that I like seeing dinosaurs move. And shiny objects.

The Hoover Dam is a triumph of engineering and the human spirit. Kind of like a Turducken.

Hoover Dam Photos