LAS VEGAS – Lake Mead

 

 

 

On Sunday evening we took a coach to Lake Mead for a dinner cruise (see photo 1) and a close up encounter with Hoover Dam, which was created by damming the Colorado River in the 1920s (see photo 2 - Dam in background between us). The Lake is huge, and even though it has been falling seriously in recent times it still holds several trillion litres of water to supply Las Vegas and Boulder City. It is surrounded by rugged hills many of which are covered in ancient black lava flows and it all looks very forbidding (see photo 4). But the sunset over the Lake was gorgeous! (Photo 3).

The Lake is fed by snow melt from the Colorado Rockies with very little coming from the meagre rainfall this area receives. We were told that the couple of hundred ml (between 2 and 4 inches annual total!!) Las Vegas receives each year all falls during July and comes in great sheets that flood the lowest parts of the city, including The Strip, and shut down traffic. That is so hard to picture when you have been walking around for days in 40 plus temperatures without a cloud to be seen.

HONOLULU

On Monday we flew to Honolulu and had yet another bad experience with American Airlines. When Sue tried to check in early this morning the web site would not recognise the booking. We rang American and it turned out that they had cancelled our booking for reasons they could not explain. We could get no satisfaction from the person we spoke to, so Sue called QANTAS (she is a QANTAS Club member) and was able to get a very efficient staff member to ring American and spend an hour sorting it out (!!) while we waited on line. The person on line at American was as unhelpful as the first one, but our QANTAS friend was very persistent and knew all the right questions to ask. So eventually we were put back on the flight to LA and the connecting flight to Honolulu.

They initially put us several rows apart on the LA to Honolulu leg but we sorted that out at LA airport and ended up having a very smooth flight to Honolulu in all respects. It must be said that American Airlines personnel we dealt with face to face were great, but so many of the back office people seem poorly trained. Jamie used to work for an airline and says the various issues we have had are not unusual for American Airlines, so we would be very reluctant to use them again.

When we finally rise and shine in the morning we will be able to relax, knowing that this is a rest time after our hectic travels, and the last place we are visiting before returning home.