Photo: Long View of Hoover Dam

One of the benefits of the new Mike O'Callahan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge bypassing Hoover Dam is that the bridge offers the best view of the Dam. This is a photo of Hoover Dam and Lake Mead taken from the bridge.

They anticipated that people would want to stop on the bridge to view the dam. They built a pedestrian walkway on the side of the bridge that overlooks the dam. They also built a concrete barrier on the bridge that blocks the view of the dam so that motorists would not slow down and block traffic to view the dam.

To see the dam from the bridge, you have to exit highway 93 on the Nevada side and take a road that doubles back to a location near the bridge. There is a walkway that goes up to the bridge. the road also continues to a parking garage and visitor center for tours of the dam itself.

Check out beautiful travel photos of Villa Balbianello on Lake Como, Italy at Viva la Voyage!

Photo: Lake's Bathtub Ring

Here is a closer photo of the "bathtub ring" around Lake Mead, due to the drought during the past 10 years. This photo is about two months old, taken after the record snow run off this winter. The lake last fall was even lower, as I discussed yesterday.

There was an article in our daily newspaper, The Arizona Republic, about a week ago reporting that Lake Mead is now 16 feet higher than it was last November, its record low, and that it will rise another 30 feet by the end of this year due to the snow this past winter.

Hopefully we will have several more winters of good snowfall in the Rocky Mountains to replenish Lake Mead even more. I am sure that would make the ski resort industry happy, and it will be welcome by the farmers and residents of the desert Southwest.

Even though Scottsdale is more than 200 miles (300 km) from the Colorado River, we get some of our drinking water from the Colorado downstream from Lake Mead, transported that distance by the Central Arizona Project pumps and canal system.

Check out beautiful travel photos of Villa Balbianello on Lake Como, Italy at Viva la Voyage!

Photo: Lake Mead and Hoover Dam

This is a photo of Lake Mead looking upstream from Hoover Dam. Lake Mead extends from this point 112 miles (180 km) upstream.

Last November the water level was at an all time low. This winter, there was the most snow and water run off in 10 years, which will postpone any water rationing until at least 2016.

At the end of this year Lake Mead is projected to be 100 feet (30 m.) below its high water mark, and less than half full. We need water in the desert Southwest, but thank goodness for the water storage capacity of Lake Mead.

Today is Sunday so check out our beautiful travel photos of Villa Balbianello on Lake Como, Italy at Viva la Voyage! Lake Mead and Lake Como are both lakes. The similarity ends there.

Photo: Lake Mead

We are now going on a road trip to Hoover Dam.

The new bridges for people and animals were recently completed.

This first photo of the series is a photo of Lake Mead and you can see the sail boats on the water.

The next few days you will see images of the magnificent dam over the Colorado River. It is an impressive structure.

Check out gorgeous travel photos of a boat tour of Lake Como, Italy at Viva la Voyage!