Prior to leaving Phoenix, Heather Lynn and David had gone to the Coleman dealer and a Camping World (to get antifreeze). This caused quite a delay in our departure (we didn't leave until after 2 PM), so instead of heading really far west (San Diego was even a possibility for a while there .. oh well, almost made it coast to coast on this trip), we decided to stay fairly close and went northwest to the border of Arizona at the Buckskin Mountain State Park. This was to be our first opportunity to check out the Arizona State Park system (only been in private campgrounds until now).
We arrived in to the campsite at around 5:30 PM. There was nobody at the gate, but it was a self-serve campground (you pick out your site and go back and pay). The site was very pretty. We were right on the Colorado River and could see across into California (so we sort of got to California after all). We picked our spot. Right next to a couple from just east of Winnipeg (we didn't know that when we picked the spot). They were very nice.
We did go for a walk up onto the hill overlooking the campsite. Here is a view of the campsite, the Colorado River, and California (in the background):
When you imagine the Colorado River, you might think of something big and ferocious. Well, due to the Hoover Dam (and some smaller ones downstream from it), the Colorado River was smaller than I expected here.
As it turned out, the campground was a haven for two things: very noisy birds; and water enthusiasts. We found out that some people really like to make a lot of noise (show-offs) when they drive their power boats on the water. And the birds decided that wake-up time was around 4:30 AM!
This state park was unusually well equipped. It had a little gas station, a boat dock (again, with gas), a very extensive video arcade (ask Daniel and James what they thought of it), and a couple of nice trails into the hills. We decided to stay two nights. This allowed us to take a side trip up to Lake Havasu City - home of the real London Bridge.
On our full day at the campground, David decided to have a shower in the morning. Big mistake. While I was still having a shower they decided to shut down the water to the entire campsite! At the time, I did not know that everything had been shut down, so I tried waiting for a while. I tried the shower in the stall next to mine. After a while (and after all I was almost finished, anyways), I decided I would just have to go back to the trailer. When I got there I discovered that the water was off there, too (the first chance to actually use the outdoor shower). Well, the little dribbles that did come out were adequate to complete my shower. When I went to the front to find out if there were any newspapers, I was talking to the ranger and mentioned that the water was off. He knew and was in fact the person who 'ordered' it to be done. In fact, the person who he called to 'make it so' told him that there was someone in the shower and the ranger (according to him) said 'do it anyways'. He apologized. No big deal, it was kind of funny. I then walked out of the ranger station to help someone having trouble getting a paper out of the box (he was putting his coin in the wrong slot). When we got him straightened out, he took the very last paper. Sad, oh well.
Pam and David went for a walk into the little cactus garden they had there. It was quite nice. Here is Pam walking through the garden:
And here is another resident of the garden hiding under the shade of a cactus (and the sight of a bird, I expect):
Well, it's off to Lake Havasu City. On the way up (north), we stopped at the Parker Dam. This dam is the world's tallest dam (surprise, surprise, and it didn't really look like much (the part you could see)). Here is HL and Reba taking a look across the Colorado River (back into Arizona) and down below into the mechanisms of the dam. The actual main dam (and bridge) is in the background portion of this picture.
We drove across the dam into California, stood next to the dam, took some pictures, and then headed into California (down the road) for a couple of miles. Pretty soon we discovered some people doing road work and so we headed back. Now we could say that we were in California. Unfortunately, we never saw a 'Welcome to California' sign.
It was about a half hour drive up to Lake Havasu City. Which seemed a bit of a shame, since we were going to have to do the same drive the next day. However, it was very scenic, so that was good. Just as we were arriving into the city we stopped at a car lot to check out this funny triangular trailer that was on display (why in a car lot we were not sure). We had seen one of these at the City of Rocks State Park back in New Mexico. Then we stopped at a trailer lot. We looked at a few fifth wheels (the kind you haul with a pick-up truck). One of them had a back end that completely folded down, so you could drive in a little golf cart (or whatever).
Next we headed in to the city. As it turns out this is quite a tourist area. In fact, they claim that this is the second most visited site in Arizona (behind, you guessed it, the Grand Canyon). There was a cute little village type environment under the London Bridge. We decided to take a stroll across the bridge (back and forth). Here is a view of the span of the London Bridge:
Here we are posing on the London Bridge (and it didn't even fall down):
After we came down from the bridge (to the little shop 'street' below), we decided to have a shaved ice (red raspberry). It was around 4:45 by this time, so we decided to have dinner at the English pub they had there. It served all sorts of neat beers (Pam even tried one), and had half-price pizza as well (it was happy hour so beer and pizza was at much reduced prices). We had a wonderful visit to Lake Havasu City, despite its tourist type feel.
The next day we headed out, on our way up towards the Hoover Dam and Las Vegas.