Road Trip: Day 4

Today was our final day on the road. We made it, we made it, we made it! I'm now in Incline Village-my new residency for an unknown period of time. The morning started off in Henderson, NV. We got breakfast at McDonald's and back tracked a little ways to the Hoover Dam. The night before when we drove past it was getting dark, so we decided to come back. I am so glad we did...it was incredible! I mean talk about huge! I really hate that I don't have the camera cord out of the car yet because we got some really great pictures. I'll be sure to put them up as soon as I can. We got to walk around and see where Lake Mead fed into the dam and you could also look down the backside and see where the water spits out of the turbines. You'd think that a bunch of power lines would take away from the aesthetics of the place, and most of the time they do. However, in this case they didn't at all because they were the entire reason for the dam. They also are so strategically set up that they actually look kind of cool. There was a giant bridge that was completed in October of 2010. It crossed the Colorado River after the water passed through the dam, but you could see both sides of the dam from the bridge. Seriously it was the tallest bridge I've ever seen in real life. It reminded me of The Polar Express where the train crosses through mountains. After exploring the dam we got back on the road and headed toward Vegas. Now that was an impressive site, as well. I convinced Dad to drive down the Vegas strip and we saw all the famous hotels and casinos. Too bad we didn't see little baby Carlos. Not at the table. There was so much going on even in the daytime that I'm sure it looked a million times cooler at night with everything lit up! We only passed through, but I'm so glad that we got to see the heart of Las Vegas. After Las Vegas we got to pass.....nothing....and then more emptiness....and then some desolate pieces of nowhere. We drove for miles and miles and miles before we drove through a town so small it didn't even have a stop light. One thing I did notice in our period of nothingness were the colors in the land. On the sides of the mountains you could see the different layers of dirt and sand. Caroline and Caleb, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. I feel like you learn this in elementary school and then don't ever hear about the sedimentary and other layers ever again. I was so glad when we started to get close to Carson City, finally civilization. Carson City is also the capital of Nevada-learned a fun fact today. In Carson City we got to snow and trees!!! Thank you Jesus for the trees. I told Dad on the way in that if we got to Incline Village and there were no trees that I was turning around and going home. Lucky for us-there are trees here. Beautiful trees. They still have snow on them and it is gorgeous. We got in tonight about 8 pacific time and it was already dark so I'm really looking forward to seeing everything tomorrow in the day light. OMG I'm finally here! I really can't believe this. In the car today I really thought we'd never make it when we came to the intersection of desolate and nothing. But here we are! We ate at another Mexican place-can you tell what kind of food Daddy and I like? Clan and Em, I've found our favorite place when you come visit! On the way into town there are these decorated poles sticking out of the ground. Or decorated so I thought. I then come to find out the colored stripes around are heights to measure the snow in. The blue, silver, and black poles line both sides of the road and help you to see how much snow is on the side of the road. I prefer to still think they're pretty decoration for the ride in, but I suppose I'll have to get used to actually looking at them for the intended purpose. Until tomorrow....good night friends!