Tag: Valley of Fire State Park

Hoover Dam

On Sunday morning, we headed to Hoover Dam to take a tour.

Greg, standing in front of one of the cement buckets.
A diversion tunnel, used to divert the Colorado River while they were building the Hoover Dam.
Our tour guide, talking about the building of the dam.
Our other tour guide, leading us down one of the many tunnels within the mountain.
Greg, walking down one of the ventilation shafts.
One of the inspection tunnels. The inside of the dam is honeycombed with tunnels.
The Lake Mead side of the Hoover Dam.
I have no idea how those people got into our picture!

Mike O’Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge

After leaving Hoover Dam, we stopped at the Mike O’Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge overlook. Walking out onto the bridge, we got a great view of the Hoover Dam.

Lake Mead overlook

Just before arriving back at the campground, we stopped at the Lake Mead overlook.

Valley of Fire State Park

After a yummy lunch of grilled ribeye steak, mashed potatoes, and broccoli, we headed to Valley of Fire State Park.

I had no idea what to expect from this state park, but it was fantastic! I wish we had set aside more time to enjoy it.

Unfortunately, it took over an hour to get there, and Greg wanted to be back to the campground before dark, which meant we only had about an hour and a half to see it.

Balanced Rock

We even got to see a couple of desert bighorn sheep!

Valley of Fire State Park had some very interesting-looking hikes, but we didn’t have the time to try any of them. Maybe next time.

Sunset

On the way back to the campground, we stopped at a couple of overlooks to enjoy the sunset.