We took Arizona Scenic Drive Highway 93 from Phoenix to Boulder City Nevada. It’s a two lane road with periodic passing lanes. I did my 57 mph with a line of traffic behind me but the desert scenery was too good to be going fast. It was 300 miles of eye popping scenery. No one honk their horns as they passed me. They knew that I was just awed out.
Boulder City is about 5 miles from Hoover Dam and we got there early before the crowd. We signed up for the special tour of the inner workings of the dam. The places that most people don’t go. It required being in small confined spaces, going down small tunnels and taking special elevators. It was truly an engineers high and for Denise, she said “that was awesome!”
The dam was producing electricity during WWII. The army became a force of security for the facility during this period of time. They were worried that enemy forces would want to destroy the dam. A machine gun nest was built and is still standing today (without machine gun).
We finished the tour and headed out to get a view of the Colorado River, the out-flow of the dam. Half of the river is in Arizona and the other half is in Nevada. We drove on the Nevada side about 20 miles down Highway 95 south following the Colorado River and took the first paved road (165) east towards the river. The sign along the road said 19 miles to Eldorado Canyon. It was one of those roads that was (very) less traveled and it definitely had the feel of being out there on our own. We didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into but the outcome was awesome. We went through several canyons, an old town and finally ended up at the edge of the river. Every turn was a mystery.
