From the Grand Canyon, we travelled back to Interstate Route 40 and made our way westwards till the junction for the route north 93 was reached. This took us to the Hoover Dam and Boulder City and thence on to Las Vegas. There was a lot of ground works going on round the dam area by way of new roads to link up with the new bridge which is being currently constructed. We, of course, made our way over the top of the dam to the multi story car park on the other side where we parked the vehicle and made our way by foot over the dam to see every aspect. What a feat of construction with the mighty Colorado River providing all the water which produces electricity and also supplies piped water to many desert areas. We were well aware of the history of the dam and the difficulties which had been faced during the construction in the 1930’s and marvelled at the magnificence of all we saw.
The above selection of photographs gives a fair indication of the extent of the construction and the wonderful result. From the dam we again headed in a generally northern direction passing Boulder City where the workers building the dam originally were housed. It is now quite a substantial town now and certainly not a “boulder” city! Soon Las Vegas appeared as a sprawling city in the midst of the desert and we wondered how we would find “The Strip”, but from the freeway we soon found the correct exit and travelled its length until we reached the far end where our Hotel, the MGM Grand was located. Nothing can really prepare your for a visit to Las Vegas. It is big, vibrant, awesome, grand and obviously full of gambling joints! To take the Hotel where we were staying, it was certainly “Grand” as its name suggests, most palatial, elegant, and not too expensive but the gambling area on the ground floor appeared to be the size of three football pitches which was providing the subsidy for the rest of the establishment which we fully appreciated and took advantage of for the rest of our three night’s sojourne. The highlights of Las Vegas for us was Hotel itself, the various cheap and attractive eating establishments, the evening stroll down “The Strip” to participate in the many free viewing of shows and displays at the various Hotels, and an evening out at Mandalay Bay Hotel Theatre to see the production of “Mamma Mia” the ABBA hit musical. The younger members of the group enjoyed the Roller Coaster ride at New York, New York complex. All in all, an unforgettable experience.
The M G M Grand
New York by day (above) and Paris by night (right)
The water and sound show at the Bellagio Hotel and inside The MGM Grand
