Published: 26.08.2025
We actually wanted to walk to the Las Vegas Sign yesterday, but since it was already nearly 40°C in the morning, we postponed it to today. This worked out quite nicely, as the Sign is on the way to Hoover Dam anyway. We also wanted to go to the Grand Canyon today. However, since the official National Park is over 4 1/2 hours away and the Grand Canyon West, which is only 2 1/2 hours away, turned out to be a rip-off, we adjusted our plans accordingly.
Drive there, get out, take photos, shake your head at strange performance artists, get back in, continue driving.
After we confirmed at the security checkpoint that we had neither weapons nor drones with us, we first went to the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge (after having to look up the name for this post multiple times, I'm sure I won't forget it for the rest of my life) and then to the Hoover Dam (referred to in German as Hoover-Talsperre), which played a prominent role in the finale of the last Fast and Furious film (Fast X) and is destroyed by an earthquake in San Andreas (with Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson). Both structures are 'awesome as fuck' and both practically invite (whether intentionally or unintentionally) suicide: the wall at the dam is only waist-high, and the grid railings on the bridge are wide enough for any foot and even provide corresponding crossbars to make the journey to the next life as easy as possible. I would simply add the question 'Weapons? Drones? Suicidal Intentions?' at the security check, and that should do the trick. Of course, we also made sure to follow the sign's instructions to not disturb the animals, plants, and especially the rocks (!).
What does a dam (sorry, a reservoir) do? Of course, it dams up a river. And what happens when you dam up a river? Naturally, a reservoir is created. And what do you do in a reservoir? Of course, you swim in it. And that's exactly what we did.
To be continued...
PS: on the way to the Hoover Dam, we had breakfast in Boulder City. There, we got a real stack of pancakes (i.e., 4 pieces) for the first time at the Southwest Diner. However, since the pancakes were plate-sized, even the pancake king (i.e., me) had to capitulate.
Distance walked: 13 kilometers
Steps taken: 18,000
