Vintage Vegas Pics: The Days When Lake Mead Had No Bathtub Ring

I was searching through my family pictures this evening, and in between the tintypes and Texas farm houses, I found a handful of these shots taken in 1983, when Lake Mead’s spillways were put to use for one of only two times (the first being when Hoover Dam was built).

Some unknown person from my family captured these shots of the water not long after it first started cresting the sides. Later on, misty waterfalls were created by the water rushing over the spillways. 

The intake towers look like they're floating on top of the water, and you’ll notice there’s not a trace of bathtub ring around Lake Mead,

Today, we’ve got rock outcroppings in front of the spillways. Both the old family photo above and the 2012 shot below are of the Nevada Intake Towers. Quite a transformation, isn’t it?

Recent photo of Hoover Dam, Nevada Side Spillway, courtesy of Gnaphron at Flickr. 

Scroll to the bottom of this page from Missouri University, and you'll see photos of the spillways in full waterfall. 

Were you here in 1983? Did you see the spillways turn into waterfalls?

Las Vegas on a Sunday Afternoon

Did your weekend go by too fast? Mine certainly did. Before I knew it – Poof! – Monday morning had arrived and I was driving to work, thinking about my awesome Sunday.

The Scene on Sunday:

A winter afternoon in Las Vegas: blue skies and 70°. The hubby and I have agreed that we don’t care about the football game. It’s 1pm and I say…

Me:    Let’s go to Sloan Canyon.

Hubby:   It’s too late.  

 [Grimacing, making faces at the clock.]

 You have to catch me early.

Me:     I don’t like early.

 [Resisting the urge to point out that it’s only 1pm.]

Hubby:     But you know I like to do things early.

Me:   [Short sigh before realizing this means an hour-long walk alone. Smile and say…]

 Guess I’ll go for a walk. 

Where’s your favorite place to go for a walk on a Sunday afternoon?