Hoover Dam, Nevada, USA Today we were heading toward the South Rim of the Grand Canyon on a route that took us past the Hoover Dam. As we came in sight of lake Mead, a Turkey Vulture circled overhead and native flowers along the roadside were beginning to burst into bloom. 
Mead is the reservoir which formed behind Hoover Dam and provides many water-based recreational opportunities for the residents of Las Vegas, Boulder City and surrounding communities. 
Getting to Hoover Dam took a bit longer than anticipated. A new multi-lane bridge is being constructed to bridge the span over the canyon downstream from the Hoover Dam. The two ends to the edges of the canyon were waiting to be connected. Given the height above the canyon, I’m not sure how the will be connecting the two ends but I’m sure that if I ever go over the finished bridge, I expect that I wouldn’t want to look down! 
Need to fill in the space between the opposing ends of the new bridge construction before real traffic can be diverted from crossing the dam. See my close-up of the suspended cage being used for transporting workers and equipment across the open space. 
Volunteers anyone. The suspended cage being used in the construction of the new bridge over the Colorado River downstream from the Hoover Dam. 
A new parking lot and more defined infrastructure is ready to ahndle any tourist influx. 
The water in the Mead Lake reservoir is lower this year than usual. Normal level would be about the mid-point on the white area of the side walls of the reservoir. 
Hard to fathom the size of all of this but the little dot nestled in the cove about the centre of the picture is a reasonably large tour boat pictured in next photo. 
Water intake towers looking toward the Arizona side of the Hoover Dam from the Nevada side of the dam. 
Water intake towers looking toward the Nevada side of the Hoover Dam from the Arizona side of the dam. 
A series photos looking downstream from the Hoover Dam. My wide angle Nikkor 12-24mm or 10.5 fisheye were used for these photos. New visitor center and multilevel parking lot can be seen nestled into to rock of the canyon walls. One end of the new bridge construction can be seen to the left of the image. 
Like many other tourists, we took the inside tour down in the depths of the dam. An interesting tour.
After the tour, we went up on the observation level of the tourist center and I snapped a few more fish-eye photos from that vantage point. Using a normal wide angle lens. photographer Leia, seen here with a friend, was having a tough time getting a good perspective of the overall size of the Hoover Dam. I offered my 10.5 mm and 12-24mm lens and she was super happy and quickly took shots from a wide variety of angles. I, took, enjoyed using my fish-eye to get a completely different perspective. 
Antelope Ground Squirrel (Amnospermophilus leucurus)
