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Saturday, April 13, 2013

"L" is for Lake Havasu

My husband, Jim, and I traveled this great country of ours for SEVEN years in our RV. We saw many wonderful sights, visited famous and not so famous cities, and wandered through many a National Park. I have blogged through all our travels. I've stumbled upon the "Blogging from A to Z Challenge 2013". I decided to jump on board this crazy train and share with all of you places I have seen in my travels.

Day 12 "Blogging from A-Z Challenge"!





is for Lake Havasu, AZ








If you ever wanted to see the London Bridge, did you know that you didn't have to go to London to see it?

Seriously!

You'd only have to go to Lake Havasu, AZ

This is the London Bridge, originally built in London in 1831, and is now located in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. 



The bridge was purchased in 1962 by Robert McCulloch, the founder of Lake Havasu and the chairman of McCulloch Oil Corporation. He wanted the bridge to serve as a tourist attraction to his retirement real estate development. The bridge was carefully disassembled and each piece was numbered. Reassembly began in 1968, and finished in 1971.

We visited Lake Havasu in 2006. Things may have changed since then. In my opinion, it is a great place if a) you like to golf, b) you have a boat, or c) you have a lot of money.

There were touristy shops around the bridge, but many were closed or closed DOWN. You can tell by my photo, not many people around.



True, it WAS mid-week, but still, just a handful of people.

A lone man playing his horn that echoed under the bridge seemed to tell the sad story.



Now, I DID hear that this place was hopping during Spring Break. Hmmmm.....

Boat rides are available for sightseeing on the man-made lake. We took an hour tour. It was very nice.

I DO love lighthouses!
A view from the boat.....



We stayed at an upscale campground and I saw my first actual "road runner" that ran down the middle of the road in the campground!

photo credit: http://www.monkeyland.co.za


He ran so fast past me that I almost couldn't believe my eyes. I was like, "What the??" and whoosh! There he went down the road! No time for a photo op!

14 comments:

Valerie said...

Loved the roadrunner, Pat, but I do miss our bridge!

Brian Miller said...

you would have found me under the bridge listening to the man with the horn...smiles.

DesertHen said...

We have been to Lake Havasu many times as my in-laws live there. I can attest to the fact that it is very, very, very crowded during spring break! We were just there this past December and went down to see the bridge all lit up for the holidays. It was a pretty!

Unknown said...

Lovely photos! You were quick to catch that shot of the roadrunner!

Christine said...

I am repeatedly astounded by the things people spend a fortune on. Moving a bridge from London to Arizona? Craziness! It is pretty, but wow.
Funny, that roadrunner doesn't look very much like the real Roadrunner. :)

Anonymous said...

I'm sharing this post with a friend on FB who goes to Lake Havasu. I guess she would be in the "likes to gamble" category. They aren't poor, either, though.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I lived in Arizona and remember visiting the bridge. Such an odd location for a bridge!

JoJo said...

Did the roadrunner say 'beep beep'? It looks like a very pretty but lonely area. Someday I'd like to get down to the desert SW.

Anonymous said...

No coyote chasing the roadrunner?

Lynn said...

Did you know that roadrunners can't fly? My cousin chased one off the edge of a cliff, and it glided (which they can do) down to safety. But they don't actually fly.

I don't know, he might have made up the whole story but he likes to say he made a roadrunner fly.

Carletta said...

That's probably the closest I'd get to seeing a London Bridge. :)
It looks like a lovely place.
I've seen TV shows about the lake and spring break.

Lynda said...

Very interesting info about the bridge and it's a beautiful place you visited.
I thought the road runner's speed was exaggerated in cartoons but guess not according to your post! It's good to learn something new.

Fragrant Liar said...

As a native Arizona girl, the one thing I don't miss about my homeland is the cactus. I'm a tree girl, and while I love aspects of the desert, having no trees is just not acceptable. And in all the time I lived in Phoenix, I never visited Lake Havasu, except to drive through it. But I always did want to see London Bridge. Oh well.

Gail said...

Cool!

We have road runners here and just recently discovered we have baby ones. Yippee!