Desert Princess

Miki and I are HEROES! Yep, we got vouchers to take a free cruise at Lake Mead on the Desert Princess in exchange for our blood. Thanks United Blood Services and Lake Mead Cruises! It was a nice sunny day at the lake with plenty of wind. We cruised from the Las Vegas Boat Harbor to Hoover Dam and back. Cruise time is about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The Desert Princess has a full bar and concessions aboard, which was a little too pricey for our budget. We found a quiet, shady spot on the first level at the bow of the boat for some quiet conversation and beautiful scenery.

The Hoover Dam bypass bridge is ready to add the keystone section to the arch in preparation for its end of 2010 opening. I would count on 2011 sometime with as many delays it has seen so far. Projected cost is $240 million. It will span just over a quarter mile section of Black Canyon when complete. As many times as we have experienced delays driving across the dam, we are looking forward to its completion.

Unfortunately, the gentle breeze we were hoping for turned downright gusty a majority of the cruise. Miki had slipped her flip-flops off for just a couple of minutes before I saw them go flying past me like two pidgeons dodging the front bumper of my truck. I dove, but was only able to catch one as it hit the railing and momentarily rested on the deck before continuing its slide toward the edge. The other one was long gone the way of the lake. Some lucky fish will be enjoying a free foam flip-flop this evening. We spent the rest of the cruise laughing together and trying to figure out how we were going to get Miki off the boat and back to the truck. Luckily the dock was not hot, so Miki bare footed it to the edge of the rocky parking area. I then gave her a piggyback the remaining hundred plus yards to the truck, only to find as we were pulling out of the parking area that my cell phone was then missing from my belt. Knowing that it went missing during the piggyback, we quickly turned the truck around and searched the piggyback path. Nothing. I ran into the pay desk and it was there, turned in by a good samaritan.
We then caught lunch at the A&W in Boulder City on the way back home. All-in-all we had a fun date. It made for a great story to tell the kids over dinner.
Follow the link below to follow along with our pictures and see the boat route as captured by the handy-dandy GPS watch:

Lake Mead - Desert Princess Cruise