Drying cement has an exothermic reaction. When the dam was built, a grid of water pipes was installed through which water was pumped to carry away the heat. Having been coached by a friend of mine, I asked our guide how many years it would be before the cement poured in the 1930's would be fully dried and the exothermic reaction stop. Answer: another 80 years.
There was a display showing how cement was delivered where needed in constructing the dam. Drying cement causes an exothermic reaction. This necessitated a network of pipes through which cold water was passes to keep the dam from developing cracks caused by the heat. I asked our guide how many more years it would be until the cement fully dried. She looked at me, smiled, and acknowledged that the estimated time from the time the dam was built was approximately 150 years. A friend of mine familiar with dam construction had primed me with the question. I was impressed that she knew the answer.
One tower is Nevada (Pacific) time; the other in on Arizona (Mountain) time.
Looking upstream from the dam, it was apparent that the prolonged drought had impacted Lake Mead's water level.
Floating complexes and the ramps to them are anchored to the shoreline. The anchors are repositioned as the lake level goes up and down. Unfortunately, at the present time, they have a very big parking lot.
Aboard a boat for a tour of the lake, including the back side of the damp, the following tow pictures tell the story. The first shows the high water mark for the lake. The send shows kayaks on the lake, as a frame of reference on the height of that mark above the current level.
We saw a monitoring station (yellow - to the right of the white powerboat) upriver of the dam that was made by Yellow Spring Instruments and looked very similar to the ones the company tested in Sippican Harbor when it had a plant in Marion on Atlantis Drive.
On the way back, there was a less than fascinating stop at a chocolate candy manufacturer, complete with buying opportunity. Pam & I opted to wander around their cactus garden.
Approaching the Strip, we asked our driver to let us out so that we could walk that section of it.
We returned to the Bellagio with the idea of finding a nice restaurant for dinner. We were turned away from two that had no availability. Our third try was Picasso which had an inviting prix fixe menu. A pleasant exchange with the hostess, a short wait and we had a table on the terrace looking out at the hotel's fountains.
After dinner, we walked over to the High Roller and took a ride on it. It is billed as the highest observation wheel in the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment