Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Queek Creek, Arizona


Courtney recently drove for 24 hours in an 84 hour vacation (can you say CRAZY!) to Queen Creek, Arizona to support some friends of hers at a baby blessing. Along the way Courtney decided to take a few dam pictures (Caution: if you were just offended by that pun, you may not want to read on as there will be a few dam puns throughout this posting, as Hoover Dam also plays off the "dam" pun humor). As Courtney was about to take this picture traffic was at a stand still. She got out to take the picture, and when she turned around to get back in the car the dam traffic had picked up and Courtney had to run across Hoover Dam to catch up with Curtis.

The trip actually started from Syracuse, UT and moved speedily down to Las Vegas, NV where Courtney didn't even spend a penny on gambling. Good Job Courtney! She did manage however, to take a picture of the Stratosphere in Las Vegas. The Stratosphere boasts the title of being the Tallest Freestanding Observation tower in the United States. It also has claim to the three highest roller coaster thrill rides in the world. Big Shot (1081 ft.) Insanity (900 ft.) & X-Scream (866 ft.).


The next eventful stop was just outside of Lake Mead at the Hoover Dam. The Hoover Dam weighs 6.6 million tons, which is the equivelent of 13.2 billion lbs. It produces over 2000 megawatts of energy with it's 17 dam generators, and provides water to over 25 million people by storing up to 9.2 trillion gallons of dam water. It is now the 18th largest dam in the world, though at one time it was the largest dam. It was also the first structure to contain more masonry than the Great Pyramid at Giza. The first death of the Hoover Dam Project was JG Tierney in 1922, exactly 13 years later to the day, his son was the last person to die by falling from an intake tower.

The Hoover Dam is currently constructing a bridge that will end up taking the traffic off of the dam, and moving it over to a bridge opposite the Lake Mead side. Courtney and Curtis may have been the last people from our office that were able to brave the dam traffic of Hoover Dam. Though it would have been fun to stop and take a dam tour, or a dam helicopter ride, they kept on driving straight through to Queens Creek, AZ.

This is an 8 foot mural in the home of Courtney's friend. It was painted by Courtney's friends brother-in-law (did you follow that?) and given to Courtney's friend as a gift. Notice that Army is posing in the bottom right corner of the picture. After Courtis and Curtney arrived in Arizona they helped their move from a city outside of Mesa, to Queens Creek. Then they attended the baby blessing and then drove back home. Not exactly your typical relaxing vacation, but one valuable lesson is learned. If any of us happen to move 12 hours away, and then need to move again, you can always ask The Larsen's to help out.











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