A Visit To Lake Havasu And The Unsettled Weather Makes Us Change Plans

 Still hanging out in Quartzsite we were hankering after doing a little sightseeing tour, and while our fridge was in need of a fill-up, we decided to take a trip up north to 35mile distant Parker where they have a Walmart. And from Parker it is only about another 30-mile trip to Lake Havasu City.

Colorado River at Parker Dam

Lake Havasu City is widely known to sport the old London Bridge, which was moved from London, UK to span the channel to an island within the Colorado River. And business people have certainly tried and succeeded to make the most of the bridge and surrounding area.

Lake Havasu State Park

Sunday was Easter and the local traffic was nothing short of any big city. People were milling around along the river walk with many wanting to board one of the local sightseeing river cruise boats. 

Above: Idiot with too much money disturbing nature

Much better: A slow moving bar

Sightseeing boat

 We took just a short walk through the throngs, then drove over to the Lake Havasu State Park, where we once had stayed for a couple of nights. This time we just drove over to the day use area where we were looking for the copy of the Campobello Head Harbour Lightstation.

Copy of Head Harbour Lightstation

The lighthouse copy is guarding the entrance to the channel leading to the London Bridge. It was fun to see it and also discover that the West Quoddy Lighthouse in Maine was standing on the opposite side of the channel. There are more known lighthouse copies along the shoreline as well.

 

The first time we had been in the city was in 1997, when we attended a promotional tour of SUNTREK Adventures. Since then the city has grown a lot. 

It was a fun tour and we took a lot of pictures along the way.

 Left: Copy of West Quoddy Lighthouse

Today, is April 1. and we are planning our departure from Quartzsite.

Two obstacles are threatening to come in the way:

The weather is generally volatile with days of strong winds and, up north, cold weather. The other obstacle is the eclipse of the sun on April 8. We found it not advisable to get into the path of the eclipse as millions of people are trying to see the eclipse within a relatively narrow stripe from where the eclips can be seen 100%. Warnings about gas stations running out of gas, parking lots being filled up and groceries running scarce, have been posted far and wide. 

Our plan is to stay west of the area and wait there until the frenzy will be over.

Not easy to find the right timing when the weather can be throwing a curveball at us any day.

We originally had planned to visit the petrified forest and painted desert, but will most like have to go south to Las Cruces, then over the St. Augustin Pass down to White Sands Nat'l Monument and onwards to Tucumcari or Santa Rosa, NM.