We then drove down the Arizona side of the lake to see Parker Dam, built 1934 - 1938 by the Bureau of Reclamation, which formed Lake Havasu in the Colorado River. We have toured Hoover Dam, which is a really spectacular Art Deco structure, inside and out. Parker Dam is much simpler looking and smaller from side to side, but is actually deeper than Hoover Dam.
We crossed over Parker Dam to the California side and drove down the Parker National Back Contry Byway, a scenic route through Bureau of Land Management lands. We had been told to watch out for wild burros that roam throughout the area, and we saw two different herds of them from the road. Far more numerous, however, were the "herds" of RVs of every brand, size and description that were camped along the river or in the desert or for sale or in storage lots. This is really the place to come shopping for a used (or new) RV.
We had lunch at El Sarape's Cantina in Parker, AZ - excellent Mexican food. We then drove back up the Arizona side of the river/lake to Lake Havasu City where we are staying. One of the main tourist attractions here is the London Bridge, originally built over the Thames in London in the 1820's. In the early 1900's it was in disrepair and "falling down" - hence the nursery rhyme.
It was purchased by Robert McCulloch, the founder of Lake Havasu City, from the city of London for $2.4 million in 1968. He had the bridge disassembled, each piece of granite numbered and all the pieces shipped 10,000 miles to Lake Havasu City. He had the bridge rebuilt at an additional cost of $4.5 million or so, to span a waterway that had yet to be created. He then had the land dredged from under the bridge, diverting some of Lake Havasu's water to the area, thereby creating the second most popular tourist attraction in Arizona. (TEST: What is the first most popular tourist attraction in Arizona? If you flunk this test, Sister Mary Obligation will slap you on the wrist with a ruler.)
We went for a short walk under the bridge and along the city side of the waterway. It is a beautiful and park-like setting with many activities going on, such as boat tours, sailing lessons, an enormous dog park, walkers, runners, a race course set up just for remote controlled cars, and miniature lighthouses along the way, in 1/3 scale of the real lighthouses they are modeled after. There are 18 lighthouses set up around the lake - some are accessable only by boat.
We had dinner in the RV and are going to bed early. It looks like the weather will be O.K. again tomorrow, but the forcast is for showers on Saturday. Whatever we get weatherwise it shouldn't be as bad as what Nevada City is getting at the moment.
Plans for tomorrow are still to be decided. We'll see when we get there.
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