Our private tour of Glen Canyon Dam

     Earlier this year when we were in Page we took a tour of the dam and loved it. Ironically, our landlord's son-in-law (also our neighbor) is a security guard at the dam and offered us a private tour. We were especially excited because this week they had opened all 4 bypass tubes in order to let several million gallons down to Lake Mead. We met Gerald and his family, as well as another family from their church, and our landlord's wife Monday evening at 6 for our tour. 

     It's an awesome sight looking down at the dam from the Carl Hayden Visitor Center anytime and this was even better! The dam was lit up and it was shocking to see how much water was pouring out!

View through the glass.

One of the many tunnels inside the dam that we walked through. At this point we had only 150 feet of concrete between us and Lake Powell. That little ditch on the right catches all the water seepage.

Apparently, being possessive with pens is a guy thing. I thought is was just my dad and husband! 

The plumb lines measure how much the dam moves - up to 2 inches at times!

He took us back into the cliff, which the kids thought was super cool!

At the bottom of the dam we had to stop and check out the 2 acres of Bermuda Grass. This seems to be a high source of pride to all the employees 😂.

I was holding my breath that our tour wouldn't end at the generator room. Nope, he told us all to get a hard hat on and we proceeded into a part where only about 1,000 others (who aren't employees) have been before.

Close up views of the massive 8 generators.

Emily was so giggly about going into "special" places!

We did a LOT of walking!

And then, our biggest wish came true. We were able to go within 10-20 feet of the bypass tubes! The noise as well as the high volume of water was incredible! Pic credits to Makayla

Interestingly, the only lights shining were red and blue but on pictures it mixes and makes purple. Pic credits to Makayla

Pic credits to Makayla

Makayla was a busy little photographer and got better pictures then I did - with my old camera! Maybe this is her future 😍.

Family photo!

Each generator had 8 boxes like this. This particular one was being worked on. Each mechanic puts a lock on it and he is the only one that can unlock it before it starts. I'm guessing this one had at least 30 locks!

     So yes, we had an incredible time! It was made even more fun since we somewhat knew most of the people with us and had a very casual guide. I don't have a picture, but he even opened one of the small doorways on the front of the dam and let us peer out. I'll try to remember what we all said our favorite parts were:
Ethan-Wearing a hardhat!
Emily- Going into the "secret" tunnel in the cliff.
Michael- Watching the colorful water shoot out.
Makayla- The lights on the water.
Monica- Being so close to the bypass tubes.
Eldon- I don't actually remember if he said this, but he was fascinated by the fact that this dam's concrete is completely cured and Hoover's is not, even though Hoover is 30 years older. This has largely to do with the fact that at Glen Canyon, they shoved pipes into the wet concrete and stuffed them with ice water to cool it faster.