Homeward bound! (sort of...)

Well, we officially started heading home on Monday! Just because it's going to take almost two weeks to get there doesn't mean we aren't on our way. ;-)

We left L.A. just a bit after rush hour so we didn't have any traffic problems and we made our way to Hoover Dam and took a power plant tour. I found it very interesting, but the rest of the group was a bit less impressed. Our primary focus on this trip is to see naturally occurring wonders, but I felt it was worth it to see this man made wonder.




Making a visit to the dam should be just a bit easier within the next year. They are currently rebuilding the highway that currently crosses Hoover Dam. They are adding a bridge that will still give a good view of the dam, but will allow all the traffic to flow smoothly past that area and only those that want to tour the dam will need to slow down. Today they inspect every vehicle that crosses the dam and it really slows things down. The other headache is that the tourists on the dam also block traffic, so there is a double whammy in affect.

I find construction projects fascinating so I took a bunch of pictures while on site. These next two shots show the main arch of the bridge. The work crews actually have to climb a set of stairs up to the working area on each arch segment so they can continue to build forms and add concrete. That's gotta' be a bit of torture for anyone who doesn't like heights!



After Hoover Dam we headed East towards the South rim of the Grand Canyon. We made it to Kingman, AZ before we called it a night. We found a nice hotel for not too much $'s and the kids enjoyed a nice swim in the pool before we called it a night. There was even a bit of a bonus included as the hotel was located on the Mother Road: