After we left the Grand Canyon we were headed to Lake Havasu. On the drive Marcus was reading a book called Encyclopedia of Modern Wonders. One of the wonders was the Hoover Dam. I said maybe we could go there. Marc said well we could head north and be there in a couple hours. So that is what we did…..We booked a site at the Thousand Trails in Las Vegas. It was just a parking lot, but we didn’t spend much time there. We found out there was a Historic Railroad Tunnel bike trail to the Hoover Dam. We parked at the trail head and headed out on our bikes. 
We rode through four cool tunnels! We has great views of Lake Mead. We stopped to read some information about the people who worked on the Hoover Dam construction. Uncle Ron was born here. His dad worked on the dam. Life for the workers was often difficult and dangerous. After we rode about 2.5 miles, we approached the final tunnel and there was a sign……
They were working on the tunnel ahead and we had to turn around and go back, but….. There was another paved trail that went by Lake Mead so we rode about 6 miles on that.
Then we drove a few miles to the Hoover Dam! 
We learned that the dam was made to the control the Colorado River. It was named after Herbert Hoover, who was president at the time. 
It was constructed to stop the flooding and send water to farm and cities in the area. It took six years to build the dam. It is made of concrete and is as tall as a 60-story building. 
It is built out of huge interlocking blocks. Like Legos Marcus says. It was built to last for 2,000 years. The amount of concrete used to build the dam would be enough to pave a 4-foot wide sidewalk around the earth and it is as thick as a city block. 
We took the tour and saw how the water is used to make electricity. The operation and maintenance is completely paid for by the sale of this electricity.
The tour guide even had Marcus and Caroline run the elevator up and down. 
It was just so cool that we could visit here just as we were reading about it. The hands on displays in the Visitor Center really helped us see how the dam was built and about how water can generate electricity. We even went inside a model of one of the generators.
Totally cool. Makes me want to hit the road. Love that there is a bike trail and looks easy enough for a 70 year old woman on her 3 wheeler.
Just recently found your blog and wanted to say hi! We are a family of 4 (kids are 8 & 11), preparing to hit the road in June for at least a year of adventure, maybe more. We are in the process of purging the house we’ve been in for 12 years–lots of sorting/giving/selling/storing. Would love to know how you go about planning sites you visit with your kids. We spent nearly 3 months out last summer and visited 10 National Parks through the West/Midwest, so I know a year is going to fly by. I’m sure we won’t get to see everything we’d like, and we don’t want to exhaust ourselves in the process, but I hope to optimize the time and opportunities as best we can. Would love to hear any other tips you can offer on fulltime/long-term RV travel with kids!
Thanks!
Hi Katrina,
I am so glad you are reading our blog. I am sure it is a very stressful time for you. I remember how crazy it was sorting everything and get ting rid of so much. We do love National Parks. The kids (and us) learn so much from the Junior Ranger programs. We don’t always finish them, but most of the time we do. We really don’t stress about getting the badges just about learning and have a good time doing it. We are also visiting the state capitals so that does help us decide where we want to go. We had started out with a year plan, but we just felt too rushed so we decided to take it a little slower. We don’t really plan too far in advance because sometimes things come up that we really want to see near where we are and we want to stay a day or two longer. I guess the best advice I have is see what you really want to see and the rest will fall in to place as you go.
Connie