If you visit Las Vegas, as advertised, you’ll be dazzled by all the glitter and glamor of Sin City. Additionally, if you take time to roam around like a tourist, be sure to visit one of the world’s greatest man-made wonders of engineering and conservation, Hoover Dam.

It’s a 40-minute drive from the Strip, or if you want to take one of the many bus or air tours, your hotel and other sources can book pick up at the door. The chopper tour is touted as the most exciting as it swoops over the huge dam and man-made Lake Mead below. The top of the dam, spanning the border of Arizona and Nevada, is a breathtaking sight. You can peer way, way down the almost endless cement cliff to the water below. Book the elevator ride to see the working parts of Hoover Dam.

While walking through spooky cement tunnels and gurgling pipes, realize there are millions of tons of water above you. The huge generator room resembles a space ship hangar from another planet, with rows of house-sized turbines rotating and humming away like giant beetles.

To familiarize you with the Hoover Dam experience, view the 1997 movie, “Vegas Vacation”. It has hilarious scenes of the family’s outrageous visit to the facility, especially when Chevy Chase is marooned on the dam’s huge exterior.   

Next time in Las Vegas, tear yourself away from the casino for a day. Book a visit to what may be the last government project ever built on schedule and within budget. For nearly 80 years, Hoover Dam has actually saved taxpayers money. It supplies water to cities, farms and orchards in Arizona, Nevada and California that couldn’t exist today without it.