A Pocket for Charlotte: little stories: Our Dam Vacation: Hoover Dam

In a way, this vacation was my fault.

I thought that Char would enjoy the Percy Jackson book series. I had taught the first book, The Lightning Thief, so I knew the story well, but Char wasn't impressed with my description. Undeterred, I borrowed the audio book from the library for Daddy-Daughter night. On the drive to the McDonald's drive-thru, I hit play and Char shot me a dirty look. I said, "Look, this whole trip takes about 20 minutes. If you don't like the book by the time we're back home, we'll forget all about it."

That, as they say, was that. "This is sooo good!" Charlotte exclaimed. We continued to listen to the audio CD on our Blu-ray player during dinner that night, and then in the car on the way to school.

On a later Daddy-Daughter night we reached Chapter 14 in the third book in the series, The Titan's Curse.

Percy and his friends end up at the Hoover Dam in this chapter. Zoë Nightshade has been a Hunter for Artemis for over 2000 years, and she doesn't understand that in the modern world the words dam and damn are homophones: they sound the same but have different meanings.

This section of the story really made Char laugh. When we got inside McDonald's Char giggled and asked, "Hey Dad, can I get some dam French fries?"

An older woman snapped her head around and stared at my daughter. I replied, "Sure! I'm gonna get some dam burgers for myself!" We both laughed, and the lady turned and fiercely stared straight ahead. She wasn't amused, but Char sure was. It became a family joke. Daphne even gave Charlotte this shirt for Christmas. Char couldn't wait to wear it to school.

More than once Charlotte has declared that going to the Hoover Dam is now on her "bucket list."

We had hoped to carry out our 2020 summer plans to explore Nova Scotia this summer, but that couldn't happen. While brainstorming locations to visit within the US, we kept coming back to the Hoover Dam. In the end we decided, "Why not? Let's have a Dam Vacation!"

It only takes two and a half hours to fly from from Des Moines to Las Vegas. We wore doubled-masks in the airports and on the planes.

I warned Charlotte that as soon as we touched down she'd hear the Ding!-Ding!-Ding! of the slot machines, but that wasn't true. The new slot machines and much quieter. We stayed at the ~~Overlook Hotel~~ Hoover Dam Lodge and Casino. It was a nice place, and like the slot machines, it was also very quiet. In fact, we did not see or hear another person on our floor. I kept expecting to see a kid on a tricycle.

"Hello Danny. Come and play with us. Come and play with us Danny."

I did not shared my Shining fears with anyone else. Our room was huge, comfortable, and had a small fridge and a microwave. What else do you need?

We had dinner at the Boulder Dam Brewing company (twice), and I was so hungry I forgot to take food pics both times.

Boulder City is a funky town with a laid-back attitude and a cool, vintage style. I said to Daphne as we drove into town, "What's up with this place? All the stores and fast-food places look like they were jettisoned out of the 70s." She agreed. The downtown hotels had a 60's vibe going on with their old-school Vegas signs and single level rooms.

Figures. We fly across the country, and Char chooses cotton candy...

... that we can buy at home.

Speaking of homemade products: the builder of the "Zoltar" machine in Big lives in Boulder City, and he has similar machines in various local establishments.

Random street pic:

The Hoover Dam reopened their dam tours about a week before we left. We were really excited about that. Daphne called on Wednesday to see how early people were showing up for the 9:00 AM tour, and she was told to get there between 8:15 and 8:30. Nevada time is two hours ahead of Iowa, so getting up "early" on Saturday morning was not a problem. We trotted down these stairs and were in line at 8:15. We weren't the first people there, and as the clock ticked by the crowd grew bit by bit.

20 minutes later a Dam employee emerged from the Visitor Center to remind us that we had to wear masks inside and that the Dam tours had been cancelled. What!? Yep, Covid canceled the tour as of Friday morning. We didn't even think to check the Dam website. Char was extremely disappointed until she learned that the tour was not for people with claustrophobia and there would be long moments spent in crowded elevators. She decided the visitor center would be good enough. Besides, Percy and his buddies hadn't taken the Dam tour, either.

The Visitor Center is cool. We watched a informative documentary in their theater. Daphne correctly pointed out, "It's our first time to be in a theater this year!" Then, to make up for the cancelled tour, we had the option to watch a slide presentation given in another theater by the person who would have been our tour guide. It was interesting, and he added quite a bit info that wasn't in the film (many men died during the Dam construction, but no one is buried in the Dam cement, for instance.)

After the slide show, we were able mill around the center. Here's Char in front of a cement bucket.

This video of the Hoover Dam rising is pretty cool.

"All the great opportunities the Dam will provide..."

Then we went outside to explore. The Winged Figures of the Republic also play a role in The Titan's Curse. Char was excited to rub their toes, but I don't want to give anything else away.

You can't see it, but Char's mask sports a Percy Jackson reference, too,"You hit the Lord of the Titans in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush.” Points awarded to you if you get that.