Palm Desert, CA
My destination yesterday was Lake Havasu City, AZ, not only so that I could enjoy the desert and get off the beaten path a little, but I have some family in the area. My sister, Lynn and her husband Wally are enjoying relief from the rain of Vancouver Island, and cousin Gary and Maggie are there getting relief from the usually even more severe winter in Winnipeg. Unfortunately, in my hurry to get on the road in the morning, I forgot, of all things, my camera. So these photos are taken with my iPhone.
To get there, driving across the desert outside of Palm Springs area is gorgeous with the taupes and browns of the desert contrasted against the blue sky, with the lush green of the occasional natural or man-made oasis of palms and cacti. Shadows and shapes peak your interest, especially in the early morning sun.
I followed Interstate 10 for some time and then headed north along CA- 177 and then east along CA-62 to Parker where I joined up with CA-95 and headed north. All along these stretches the mountains poked their sometimes smooth but increasingly craggy heads above the flat desert floor. There is the odd bit of red in the hills, but mostly the same taupe tones of the desert sands and sage brush. I thought back to the challenging road from CA-101 over to CA-1 in northern Californian and how different these roads were. Flat, except for the odd dips and some grade as Interstate 10 passes over Chiriaco summit on the southern side of Joshua Tree National Park, and for the most part, straight as an arrow. And with very little traffic, let’s just say I made good time on the drive. I always feel like I’m in an old western movie when I’m in this environment and expect a war party or cavalry to come down out of the hills at any moment.
On CA-62 I was driving along enjoying the desert, and I started to see trucks pulling boats on trailers, and bill boards for dock installations and boat storage signs. What the heck? Oh, yes, I remember, Parker is where I am connecting with the Colorado River. One of the very few waterways in the American south west. I’ve come across the Colorado frequently in my former travels through several states in this part of the world by motorcycle. (One of my favourite places to enjoy the Colorado is in Moab, UT).
There is a damn on the Colorado just north of Parker (and 155 miles downstream from the more famous Hoover Damn) built from 1934 and 1938 for electricity production and to provide a water reservoir which they called Lake Havasu.
In 1963, a businessman and owner of McCulloch Motors, Robert McCulloch was flying over the area looking for a place to test his outboard engines when he got the notion that the area around Lake Havasu would make an excellent site for a new community. Since then Lake Havasu City has never looked back. It is now home to more than 50,000 people, over 750,000 thousand visitors annually, and the London Bridge.
The London Bridge was taken apart, brick by brick and transported and reconstructed on dry land on a peninsula in Lake Havasu City. Then a canal was built under the bridge creating an island in the Colorado. It completed and dedicated in 1971.
My visit there started with a quick catchup visit with Lynn and Wally and tour of the great house they have rented for a few months, and then we joined Gary and Maggie for lunch at Chilis. It’s a U.S. chain restaurant that I have seen but hadn’t been to before with a really extensive menu. I chose the Quesadilla Explosion Salad, which was really tasty and huge. The flat bread looked great too.
After a lot of rag chewing as well as lunch chewing, Lynn and Wally showed me around the waterfront, and we went for a short walk in the park along the Bridgewater Channel. We got a great look at the London Bridge from water level as well as some of the miniature lighthouses that are dotted along the shoreline all around the island. Nearby was Maggie and Gary’s RV Park, Crazy Horse Campground so we dropped by for a visit and enjoyed their hospitality. It’s right on the lake with a great beach. Unfortunately I forgot to take a pic while I was with Gary and Maggie! My mind seems to be doing a great job of being on vacation from photography and blogging!
I headed “home” late in the day, as the sun was setting and managed to get a great pic as the light was just draining from the sky. Gotta love the desert sunsets seen above.
Lois' Adventures 