LAS VEGAS, NEV – The distance between Morelos Dam on the lower Colorado and the Bellagio Fountain is profound. Morelos spans the U.S.-Mexico border, with the wheat fields and onions of the Yuma County Water Users Association behind me as I took this picture and Algodones on the far bank. Most years, Morelos is where the Colorado River effectively finishes its now futile run to the sea.

Morelos Dam, April 2010

You can see a Border Patrol truck in the foreground. They were very attentive to my presence as I drove the levee this morning between Yuma and San Luis, on the U.S. side of the border.

After some more stops to see the Lower Colorado’s plumbing (more pictures later), I made a beeline for Las Vegas. The contrast could not have been more stunning – up through the Sonoran and Mojave deserts, all mesquite and creosote, with occasional glimpses of the river strip in the distance, then through a ridge in the mountains, from quiet desert to this:

Bellagio Fountain

Apologies for the slightly blurry image, but I just have a little point-and-shoot. It was windy and they called off the show, so it’s really more the Bellagio pond. I’ll try to get back tomorrow. But I just had to go see it.