9/12/13 - Hoover Dam, NV

We began our last day in Vegas by checking out the awesome breakfast buffet at our hotel.  We thoroughly enjoyed the buffet AND dining with 2 of our friends from the trip, Leslie and Gordon, from England, who were not leaving until later in the day (here's a shout out to our pals across the pond!)

We changed our flight plans since Bob's aunt passed away earlier in our trip and the memorial service was planned for the morning we'd arrive home.  As a result, we flew home on an earlier flight so we could attend the services.  Unfortunately, the only thing available was the RED-EYE which meant leaving Las Vegas at 11:45 p.m. and arriving in Harrisburg, PA around 9:30 a.m.!! 

Since we had the entire day to do anything we wanted, we booked a Hoover Dam tour with Pink Jeep Tours.  Our driver/guide was super nice and quite knowledgeable about Las Vegas, Hoover Dam and all its history.

If you're ever in Vegas and want to take a tour, you HAVE to check out this company and its seriously cool pink Jeeps!

The driver picked us up from our hotel {Treasure Island} and we rode downtown to the old Vegas Strip and even cruised by the Pawn Stars location but didn't actually stop...

It wasn't quite like I had envisioned it.

We picked up our other passengers and headed for Hoover Dam, passing Lake Meade on our way.

What an incredibly beautiful body of water surrounded by just as much beauty in the gorgeous terrain!

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour of Hoover Dam; the trek several hundred feet below the Dam through the carved tunnels into the turbine area.  WOW, what an incredible engineering feat!

On our return trip back into Vegas, we stopped by a park where we saw some long horned rams doing their thing...

All in all it was a fabulous trip...even though we ended up having to take the red-eye home!  

I'm sure the airport is bustling during normal business hours but at 11:45 p.m., it's pretty empty.  Hmmm, must be all the smart people were catching zzzzz's in a bed and NOT on a plane!  

Whoa, now that's one thing I don't care to ever repeat...sleeping for hours on a plane is almost impossible!

YAY, I did it - I FINISHED all the entries from our vacay.  It was a trip of a lifetime and one that we'll always look back with such fond memories. I created a beautiful 12x12 coffee table book of our adventures which thoroughly warms our hearts as we leaf through, page by page, journeying back in time fondly remembering every little detail forever embedded into our hearts.  

This trip was truly a trip of a lifetime and we are incredibly blessed and thankful that we splurged and turned this dream into a reality. Many times in our lives when we look back, there's a tendency to have regrets about the missed or lost opportunities.  Thankfully, we have choices in life and with each new cross-road, we can choose to embrace a new path or remain on the same path forever wishing we'd have traveled the path of the unknown.  

We only have one life to live so choose to live it to the fullest!

The end.