Railroad Tunnels (Part 1 of our trip)

I traveled with Joe to the Las Vegas area on Monday, so he could go to a convention. We stayed in a hotel in the Henderson area. It was smoke free, casino free, good for business people and families, and it had a pool, hot tub and exercise room.

We got there in the afternoon which left us some playtime. We had dinner at a nearby Chillis. Then we drove a little further to Lake Mead. We went on the Railroad Tunnel hike.

It was so neat!

In 1931 a rail line was built to haul materials for the construction of the Hoover Dam. The only thing there now is the Tunnels.

There were 6 tunnels. In most cases we could see from one end to the other, but there were at least two that were so long and dark. One was curved so we didn't know for awhile how long we would be in the dark.

This is one of the short tunnels:

Joe saw a bat in this tunnel:

A couple of them were braced up with heavy lumber near the entrances:

We were just above the Lake Mead Marina:

See how the water has dropped:

Me:

Spooky:

Light at the end of the tunnel has real meaning here:

See the big horn sheep along the ridge?:

It was a very interesting walk. We broke our own hiking rule and did this one without carrying any water with us. Lets just say we were excited to find a Hires Rootbeer place on the way back to our hotel. We guzzled big cups full of diet Rootbeer with ice. What a relief.

Back at the hotel, we used the pool and hot tub. Well, I mostly just used the hot tub. The pool water seemed cold. I got a little way in, but Joe submerged himself; brrr.

On Tuesday, Joe went to his convention while I used the hotel exercise equipment and read a book. It was a good day.

On Wednesday we drove to our daughters house in Arizona to see a new grand baby. We stayed there through Saturday. We left on Sunday morning See the next post for Part 2 of our trip.