Week 167: Phoenix and Lake Havasu City, AZ
Apr. 10 - 16, 2022
Sunday, we visited the Arizona Railway Museum. We should have gotten there earlier because it was freaking HOT! They have the most restored Pullman and passenger cars I've ever seen. They had all the windows covered (thank goodness!) to help keep as cool as possible. It was interesting to see what luxury travel used to be. There example of many other types of cars and crossing signals. A couple of the signals were set up for you to operate them. There was even a locomotive we could crawl on and ring the bell...YES, I rang the bell. It was a fun museum. Next we visited the Gammage Auditorium on the Arizona State University campus designed by FLW. Unfortunately they don't do tours but you can see it if you go to a show there. We topped of the day with a visit to Total Wine. I've been seeing Facebook ads for non alcohol "bourbon", Free Spirit the Spirit of Bourbon. It was awful, not even close. I was hoping it might make a Keto friendly substitute but, umm NO.
Monday, we just chilled, it's too hot to enjoy being outside and tomorrow is moving day.
Tuesday, on the road again.... We arrived in Lake Havasu City in time to visit London Bridge and have dinner at The Chair. I am not sure what I was expecting of the area but I am surprised by the amount of mountains. The coloration of them are beautiful.
There is a lot of BLM land here and we saw a lot of folks boondocking. They all seem to have ATVs and we see a ton of trails to use them on. Our new RV park is great, still no grass, but the sites are huge and they even have a parking spot for the car. And if you stand up you can see the lake in the distance LOL. It is a good bit cooler here than in Phoenix. We got set up and drove down to the London Bridge for a walk along the canal that goes underneath it. The city has created smaller scale versions of historic lighthouses to mark the points along Lake Havasu. After our stroll we stopped at The Chair for some dinner. It looks like it is a fun place. They served all their dishes with an orchid or two, so pretty I took them home to enjoy for the rest of the week. The food was good for such a touristy spot.
Wednesday, we created our own driving tour to explore both sides of the Colorado River. We drove south from Lake Havasu City to the town of Parker, AZ, crossed over the river into California then drove north back to Parker Dam, then back to LHC. As we started out one of those ATVs passed us up and we were doing 60! I bet that would be fun out on those trails. It was a pretty drive. We spotted a Foretravel in the wild, boondocking by the river. There is convenience store chain here that I am not sure I would want to frequent... On the California side there are herds of wild burros. They own the place LOL. There are signs not to feed them or harass them, but they always come up to your car so I don't think people are obeying theses rules. Someone here has a sense of humor, there was a metal T-Rex getting ready for Easter, and there is a rock that has been painted to resemble an alien's head. The Parker Dam is beautiful. You can drive across but you aren't allowed to walk across. That was disappointing because I wanted to get a picture of the giant chains that are used to raise the gates. They looked like a giant bicycle chain. We drove up to an overlook above the dam and I spotted a lizard, a chuckwalla. I don't know how I managed to spot him but my little camera did a great job of zooming in on him. There are dozens of mobile home/RV communities along the river. I guess that most of them are vacation properties. On the way back we stopped at several overlook points. At nearly all of them there was some sort of windbreak with a bench inside overlooking the lake. We also drove down Planet Ranch Rd into the Bill Williams River Wildlife Refuge. It was a cool drive, we saw that they have a reforestation project under way to replace some fire damage. We ended with a stop at a local quilt shop, Fabrics Unlimited.
Thursday, most of the day we just hung out. I did some sewing and we enjoyed a great dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, Locos Bar and Cocina. The food was very good and I loved their salt and pepper shaker holders.
Friday, we created our own drive again, this time doing some Route 66 touring. We started out by driving up I-40 to Kingman. There we visited the oldest reinforced concrete building in AZ that has been converted to a museum, visitor center, and gift shop for Kingman and Route 66. We found some cute things there. We headed out for Oatman next. They are known for having donkeys in the streets. On the way there we found a overlook with a bunch of memorials to motorcyclists who have passed away on this road, known as the Arizona Sidewinder. It was touching. Once we returned to the car we had a four legged visitor. He was voicing his displeasure in our not having any treats for him. We saw a huge mine of some sort along the way too. We just missed the last gunfight when we arrive in Oatman. There were indeed several donkeys waiting for treats. One was up on the sidewalk just outside a businesses door. He started braying and the owner came out and gave it a treat. Now THAT is service LOL. There was a baby with its mom and they had put a sticker on its head saying please do feed me. I guess he just needs milk at this point. We spent a little while exploring the shops and found a bike that I think may be the bike from Easy Rider. It has a Mecham Auctions license plate but it was just in on the stores, no security so maybe it is just a replica... We enjoyed a refreshing beverage at Judy's Saloon before heading back home. Once back home I enjoyed some porch time. I even got to see an Osprey flyover.
Saturday, we visited the Lake Havasu Museum of History and Havasu Rocks. It was a great little place that tells the story of the area. Especially the history of the London Bridge being brought here. Next we drove across said bridge and drove around the island to see as many of the lighthouses as we could get to. We stopped for lunch at Barley Brothers Brewery and then took another stroll along the canal. People were definitely out in force partying on the banks of the canal. There was a ton of traffic on the water and everyone was "beaching" themselves on the banks to party. It was fun to watch.
Make Life an Adventure!
