Hoover Dam / Lake Mead

Today there will be a smaller contribution😅
We had breakfast at the hotel and then went to Freemont Street. Jörg worked off his friends-wishes list at Harley Davidson, then we went to Hoover Dam. I think the name is pretty familiar to everyone 😅 Arrived, got one of the last free parking spaces and off we went. When we got out of the car, we were almost shocked. The air was still, 34° and no breeze at all🥵 Nevertheless, we walked along the Dam, looked around a bit here and there, and went back to the car. We skipped the walk across the nearby Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. We looked at it from the Dam, but there was already a lot going on at the parking lot for the bridge, and with the heat and all those people, no thanks😅 I've already been across it before, so I haven't missed anything. What we also found very fascinating about Hoover Dam is how crooked you can build power poles😅
On the way back, a detour to Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the USA. It serves as a water supply for Arizona, California, Nevada, and even a part of Mexico. Almost 20 million people😳 I was amazed that you also have to pay admission for it. Thanks to our Annual Pass, which Dad gave me for my birthday, thanks again 😊, we were able to go for free. Okay, maybe we were too impatient, but there was nothing special there. We couldn't get directly to the water, somewhere surely, but we didn't want to drive all the way around and walk the trails they have there in the scorching sun. No, thanks😅 So we looked around a bit and went back to Vegas. A break in Vegas because VACATION.
Jörg took care of his eyes in the room while I tested our rooftop pool🥰 It's nice.
A little later we headed towards the Strip. First, we couldn't miss a photo at the 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Sign'. A bunch of bachelor(ette) parties and large Indian families in front of us🙄 So we quickly took the photo somehow and left. Not nice, but rare🤣 We used the free parking lot of the Fashion Show Mall on the strip. Until we were out of the mall again... It didn't end. No matter how many times we turned a corner, there were always new stores but no exit😅 It took us at least half an hour until we finally reached the strip. Here we took a closer look at the Venetian. We walked along the Canal Grande to St. Mark's Square, looked at the Rialto Bridge from a distance before we went back outside. We made it to the Bellagio, and then we were done. Just too many people. Yeah, I know, Vegas🤣 So we sat down in a cocktail bar in front of the Caesars Palace for a while and just watched people. I think because of the Stanley Cup Final starting tomorrow, there's a bit more going on than usual😅 The whole of Vegas is glittering gold and every hotel is screaming 'go Knights, go'. We really considered getting tickets, but we're not interested in Vegas or Florida🤷🏼♀️ And $300,- for a seat without a view per ticket... Starting from $500,- you could get a bit of a view. For that money, I'd rather have Jörg stand in front of Viktoria a few more times🤣
When we wanted to return to the car, the mall was closed. Since we had already lost our orientation inside, it wasn't any better from the outside. How do we get to the parking garage was the question? We had no choice but to go around the giant thing once. And of course, as we later realized, in the wrong direction. If we had gone left instead of right, we would have been at the car in 2 minutes, but instead, we went around the thing for half an hour😅 Next time we'll split up🤣