Insignificant...and an Engineering Masterpiece

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Have you ever felt completely insignificant? After hearing the noise of the slot machines here in Vegas for four straight days, I decided to take a trip out to Hoover Dam. Wow! What most people don't really know about me is that I am a complete nerd disguised as a creative mind. I majored in Electrical Engineering in college and worked for an electric utility company in Atlanta for about 5 years. So on our drive out to Hoover Dam yesterday I was telling everyone in the car the amount of voltage traveling through the transmission lines based on the lattice structures and ceramic insulators along the side of the mountains. I picked out substations, pole types, and explained how dams are used to turn turbines and create electricity. Luckily I had Mrs. KNIGHT (always proud of my rambling) and my friend Jeremy in the car and they were pretty open to letting me go on for a while.

When we reached the dam and I looked over the edge of the bridge for the first time and I was overwhelmed. What an amazing site. I can't believe that this modern marvel (by the way one of my favorite shows on t.v.) was built back in the late 1920s and early 30s. We took the tour of the structure and listened to stories about the building of the dam. That's when I started feeling insignificant. This place is totally huge. The workers that built the dam had only two days off the entire year. And if any worker had to miss work because they were ill, they were simply fired. Imagine that!

Here's a few pictures of our trip out.

- KNIGHT

Me tired of hearing the the slot machines and Mrs. KNIGHT spending my...excuse me "our" money.

Here's me educating everyone in the car about the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity.


Cost more to get to the dam than to get in!

One foot in Nevada and one foot in Arizona.

I left my sunglasses in Atlanta - and I refuse to buy another pair after the five I already have. I sure needed them here.


Here's the back of the dam. It's cool to see how low the water levels are...the white line on the rocks was where the water used to be. Atlanta is not the only one in a drought.


Jeremy and Brandi totally oblivious to me taking this photo. They were a tad bit mesmerized at the tunnel.


Mrs. KNIGHT using our new small camera.







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8 comments:

clo said...

Nice pic's...now what were you saying about that voltage? Just kidding!
Clo from Chicago

fyahbun said...

cool pictures!

Unknown said...

Simply Breathtaking! My first time really seeing the Hoover Dam. Thanks for sharing some of the moments you captured.

Teka-Ann Haynes said...

All I can is OMG - This is place is sick. And I live so close and have never been there. Thanks for the travel tip. Oh, and that pic in the car is sick too. I love it.

Anonymous said...

Your blessing of photography no matter what the subject, makes me fall in love with life every time I experience your work. Thanks from the bottom of my heart.

Natarsha said...

It makes me want to go on vacation! It looks really interesting.

Anonymous said...

Ross you take such wonderful photos.(I am not surprised though)I do not think that I have ever been so interested in photography until I started viewing your work. It's just something about them...They really do tell a story... Congratulations on your wedding. I am really happy for you guys. Cute couple!

Anonymous said...

Ive been to Hoover Dam also. I Love your pictures, I have some of the same shots as you but yours turned out way better than mine! LOL