Hoover Dam and Meteor Crater

I had hoped today would be a little shorter but with the vast distances in this country and stopovers never being short we are finding little down time.

Luckily we managed to leave early again 8.30am. Hoover Dam is

located not far from Las Vegas and we parked up after less than an hour. The run into the dam is quite beautiful with the man made Lake Mead appearing out of the dry rocky scene. 

Its a short walk from the official car park to the dam and visitors center. They showed us an informative movie of how and why it was made way back in the 1930's and then take you down into the power generation area with the massive turbines. Apparently the lift took us down 70 stories as the dam itself is 220m tall. In typical American misinformation they were at pains to explain the environmental master piece of the construction. Only later have I read about the devastation of the animal and plant life at the delta when they virtually blocked off all river flow to build up Lake Mead. Ignorance is bliss I suppose.

Walking on the dam itself is free and just past it is free parking. It gave a sense of the vastness of the construction and the beauty of the surrounding cavern. Not to be missed is a walk along the inter state bridge well above the dam. It gives amazing views of the whole area. 

It was a very long drive from the dam to where we were staying in Flagstaff Arizona. Fast driving though with the very straight inter state allowing 75miles/hr. Four hours later we arrived but only stopped to get our keys before continuing on another 40 miles to the Meteor Crater.

Now this place is impressive. A 1200m wide and 170m deep. We just sat there awestruck and enjoyed the vista. Initially scientists had thought it was volcanic and they couldn't find the meteor. But apparently is was made by a rock the size of two buses, not very large considering the devastation  When it hit it mostly burnt up having been traveling at 20km/second. Only fragments were found.

It was back to Flagstaff next and a quick swim in their pool before tea and bed. I had been concerned about a number of our accommodations because of some of the bad reviews. However, between nice beds, cable T.V., free wifi and breakfast what do people expect. How far can $65US a night go? We have found the staff really friendly where ever we have been.