A weekend away

Rather than stay home and effectively waste the 3 day weekend, as I do all too often, Dale and I had a double date down in Vegas.  A fellow married couple we met in college came with us to the most laid back Vegas trip I'd ever been on.
We drove on Friday.

Saturday was exploring the Strip, focusing specifically on Caesar's Palace, the Bellagio, and a short tour of Paris.

Sunday was a trip to Hoover Dam.  I'd never been there before, so the walk  across the Dam and the newly built bridge diverting traffic were pretty marvelous to behold.  

We learn from Wikipedia that

"There were 112 deaths associated with the construction of the dam.^[68] Included in that total was J. G. Tierney, a surveyor who drowned on December 20, 1922, while looking for an ideal spot for the dam. He is generally counted as the first man to die in the construction of Hoover Dam. His son, Patrick W. Tierney, was the last man to die working on the dam's construction, 13 years to the day later.^["

and

"Not included in the official fatalities number were deaths that were recorded as pneumonia. Workers alleged that this diagnosis was a cover for death from carbon monoxide poisoning, brought on by the use of gasoline-fueled vehicles in the diversion tunnels, and a classification used by Six Companies to avoid paying compensation claims.^[70]  The site's diversion tunnels frequently reached 140 °F (60 °C), enveloped in thick plumes of vehicle exhaust gases.^[71] A total of 42 workers were recorded as having died from pneumonia; none were listed as having died from carbon monoxide poisoning."

I have a hazy memory of a video in high school talking about how men died from falling into the concrete while it was being poured, as there was no way to stop it once it had started due to the drying rate--if the pouring was stopped, the dam would be ruined.  I wanted to learn more about these haunting details, but opted against spending $30 per person for a tour of the power plant which may have continued to propogate the cover up!  Still awesome to see.

On Sunday evening, we hit Fremont Street, which was even nicer on my second time around.  The first time we went, there had been a protest parade scheduled for the evening, so it was overcrowded and Dale had been uncomfortable.  This time, we had lots of space, and it just seemed like we walked into a really great party!  There were 3 bands performing, one for each block that the Fremont Street Experience covered, in addition to other street performers and shops.  We had a great time watching one of those spraypaint artists, who was really the best one I'd ever seen.  I'm glad Dale liked his work so much that it gave us an excuse to buy one!