Hoover Dam, Las Vegas and Death...

With the Grand Canyon behind us we set out for an easy drive to Hoover Dam and Las Vegas.  'Good-bye Arizona, Hello Nevada!'.  The Hoover Dam was built between 1931-1936. It holds back 2,5 millions cubic meters of water and is just huge! Because of its importance there are security checks just to get in to see it. Well, these weren't exactly thorough. They had to check the roof box on the car so Dominik got out to unlock it. The next thing I knew he was back in and the guards were moving the pylons out of the way for us to drive on. They had glanced at it.  That's fine for us but then, we're not hiding anything! The dam straddles the border of Arizona and Nevada and is actually in the desert, so while you see a lovely lake sparkling in front of you, the large tan-coloured hills around are hot and arid. Again there were signs reminding people to drink lots of water. At Hoover there are also signs advising people to keep track of their young children!  It was a long way down! We really enjoyed the warmth there, the sunshine and the views. What suprised us though was that you had to pay if you wanted to visit the Visitor's Center! To pay for a tour and to be able to go inside the dam would have been interesting, though not all of us could have done that, but just to get information we didn't think it was worth it. We could read about it online. But there were a LOT of tourists there doing that. They'll make a bundle from them!

Time to head to Vegas and our next stay with a family from acandleinthewindow.com . The freeways threw us off a little bit, with our navigation, because it tells us to exit in a km but the exit ramp actually starts NOW! So, we turned around a couple of times before we found the house where we would be staying.  The family that we stayed with, The Flynn's, have ten children so our kids were in and playing within minutes of arrival! There was a playmate for each of them :-). We had our own little cottage to stay in and we were really warmly welcomed. The family has a ministry in Las Vegas and Kelly also works in the entertainment industry there, which was really interesting to hear about. Some of their adopted kids have autism and and were really sweet, especially crawling up into Dominik's lap to eat or taking him to find something. Even Josiah made friends with their baby girl!
Our first day in Las Vegas was actually one of running errands. Not so interesting. We had the car serviced, as per warranty, and then we drove out to the fireworks city of Pahrump (what a name!) to buy some things for the Jugendteam. No, NOT fireworks, even if it was "Buy one get TWO free!!!".  We need an offer like that in Austria :-). After errands we just returned to the house for play, supper and fellowship.

We decided to get out into the city that evening, to see the amazing number of lights there, and the night life, because the next day a festival was starting and we were advised that it would be really busy. We ate and then put Jeremiah to bed, he was far too tired for another late night and our hosts were happy to watch him, and we headed out.
We went straight to valet parking at the Bellagio. That was fun. To pull in and hand the keys over and just walk away to sight-see! Of course, the effect and feeling would have been greater if we had pulled in in a shiny new Jaguar and not a dirty mini-van with a roof rack. Hmm.....a bit of a difference!

Josiah went to sleep and we watched the fountain show at the Bellagio. Just like in Ocean's 11, it was lovely. I liked the one done to opera the best, for the music, but the others were more dramatic from the water point of view.  The sidewalks were full of people in so many different variations of bring 'dressed up'. There were some elegantly dressed, although not many, there were cowboys of all ages in big Stetsons (Bull riding competition in town), middle aged women trying to look young, young women trying to look sexy but coming off something a bit less.  The men varied from being too cool to sloppy and everything in between. Then there were people dressed up as characters on the sidewalks, hoping for tips if you want your photo taken with them. The girls especially liked the one dressed as Tinkerbelle and the ones with the feathers on! There were also people begging but we actually saw more of them during the day time. Ah, and then there is the sex industry. Some poor women, all looking like Mexican immigrants and none of them smiling, were giving out cards with nude girls on them.  When the kids asked what the cards were (they never saw what was on them) we just said that it was an adult card game.  They haven't any idea about things like that, even after Vegas. Being from Europe they weren't phased by any lack of clothing on the strip- they giggled over the cowboy in the stars and stripes boxers who 'forgot' to finish getting dressed!

Our next stop on our evening tour was the volcano at The Mirage. It is a show of fire, smoke, lights and sound. It was good and even from far away the heat from the flames was impressive! It was quite loud though and Josiah started to stir but fortunately didn't wake.
We made our way back, going by the very large Caesar's Palace. We went then through the casino of the Bellagio, just to see it. Children can walk through but are not allowed to approach any of the machines or gaming tables. We did pause to show the kids how people can sit and play for ages, not winning anything.  I was amazed at the amount of different slot machines. They range from your fruity ones to Western to the Titanic (who would play on that tragic one???) to Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory! Wow. Of course there were Poker and Roulette tables, but nothing looked really rich or classy, as you might see in the movies. Maybe there is another section of the Casino for paying hotel guests? And likely a ritzy section for the super-rich? We don't know. Sorry.....we just don't have those connections!
Now back at the Bellagio the kids and I were tired so we just headed back to the still-sleeping Jeremiah. Unfortunately this meant that we couldn't take a photo of Dominik with the girls in feathers, which would have been fun! Sorry all. Maybe in L.A.!

Here is a link to the fountains of the Bellagio. Blog spot didn't like the music in the background.

Friday morning we trooped off to see the strip by daylight. We parked this time just in free parking at the south end of the strip and walked over to Mandalay Bay. They had a lovely pool area (for guests) and waterfalls and an aquarium. The water made everything lovely and cool which was good because it was getting to be a very hot day! We walked over to the Luxor (a pyramid) and the through Excalibur (a castle) and we even followed the group Jabberwockeez dancing along, for a while as we walked.  We went to the M&M candy and the Hershey's stores and were bitterly disappointed that we couldn't see the actually chocolate production. Instead they were just shops. To see chocolate production we should have gone to the Ethel M. chocolate factory, which isn't on the strip. So, to fend off this disappointment Dominik took the kids for ice cream while I ran off to have a quick look at the Venetian. We had been walking everywhere and hadn't found the distances to be great so we thought that it shouldn't take too long. Well, the longer that I walked the hotter it got, the more crowded the sidewalks were, and the rowdier the crowds. Finally, thinking of Dominik and the kids waiting in the heat, and the long walk back, I turned around and headed back. By the time it was really getting crowded, and when I met up with the kids Jonathan was almost in tears that his day of playing had been almost wasted. We drove straight back to our accommodations and the kids spent a wonderful evening playing late with their new friends. We also had a good visit with our hosts and learned a little bit about the entertainment industry there in Vegas. We played with the idea of dropping Dominik off to see what Las Vegas is really like by night, but we'd rather do that together some time, and NOT with children!

Now time to drive off to Death Valley! When we first said that we wanted to go to this National Park we were met with mixed reviews. Some were positive, because it is such an interesting place, and others advised against talking children there as it's so dangerous! Well, as we weren't going in the height of summer, we chose to go. Las Vegas is in a desert but as we drove towards Death Valley  we watched the change in the landscape.  The villages were more scarce and dusty and everything grew warmer.

By the time that we arrived in Furnace Creek to look for a campsite, it was 34 C. Having set up camp and eaten a cold lunch, we set off for the salt flats at Bad Water. It was SO warm and SO windy that we had no chance wearing our hats and Jeremiah and Josiah were nearly blown over!
We stopped first at The Devil's Golf Course. Someone had recommended seeing it and we couldn't imagine why it was called that. It is a huge field which looks as if a giant tractor has plowed and churned up all of the soil. Then, on the upper tips of the dark earth were large salt crystals! The kids had been challenged by Dominik to lick them and the crystals were really very salty!

Next we arrived at Bad Water which is where the salt flats are. It is the lowest spot in North America, at 282 feet below sea level.  It was sunny and windy and hot and on the rock wall behind us there was a large sign indicating where sea level would be! There was a little bit of water on the one side but mainly the flats were a long, hard white strip where everyone walked. We very nearly lost a couple of hats in the wind, and the towel that we tried to cover Josiah's head with (he didn't like it!) but we had fun!

On our way back back to the campground, and the 29 C swimming pool, we drove up a couple of scenic routes just to see the difference in the landscape. It was getting close to sunset and the light playing on the reddish-brown hills was beautiful. If only I could paint! We drive straight to the pool and swam and played until dark. The water was gorgeous!  Dominik, who hates cold water, really enjoyed it!

So, supper, brush teeth, try not to step on the grasshoppers which had come out as the sun went down and then into the tent. Dominik went stargazing with Rebecca and Jonathan. It was a new moon and a day earlier had been the last day of a meteor shower. The sky in Death Valley, away from the lights of the campsite, is one of the darkest in the country and is reknowned for stargazing. We saw some shooting stars and passed a nice, comfortable night.
Having packed up camp and had another swim we drove out to the sand dunes of the valley. Josiah, Jeremiah and I sat and played on one dune just away from the parking lot, watching all the tourists, and Dominik, Jonathan, Rebecca and Elena went for a trek in the desert.  The rolling sand dunes have rocky hills off in the distance behind them, making a great setting for photos. There was a school class from England there and the boys were really entertained by the school boys (teens) horsing around in the sand.

The one thing that we noticed about Death Valley is that there was a lot of driving down thousands of feet and then driving up a couple of thousand feet, and then down again. We noticed it with our ears popping and all of the signs about being careful with your brakes, and turning off your air conditioning for the next couple of miles to avoid overheating! We're glad that we included Death Valley on our trip and were then looking forward to the completely different scenery of Yosemite National Park and San Francisco!