With family and friends residing in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, we find Lake Havasu City a convenient place to stop when traveling to and from California. We had a special reason to roll into town on November 2, 2019. My sister’s daughter and granddaughter were coming in from Missouri for a visit. We couldn’t pass up a chance to see the baby in person for the first time.

Our grandniece, Amelia, entertained us with her good humor and smiling face while we ate our lunch at the Blue Chair. The Blue Chair at the English Village is a great place for a meal with a view of the London Bridge and boats navigating through the canal.

Amelia entertained not only us, but also the waitress and other diners nearby. She has a way of smiling with her whole body that invites a person in to take notice and bask in her sunshine of happiness.

Lake Havasu Museum

As many times as we have been to LHC, we had never ventured near the museum. This trip was our opportunity. The self-guided tour starts with honoring the people who resided in the area before the US government forced them into reservations during the 1860s and 1870s. On display are individual stories about the Mojave, the People by the River, and the Chemehuevi, the Special People, and artifacts from their time.

Parker Dam was built between 1934 and 1938, creating Lake Havasu. The construction brought jobs to the unemployed during the Great Depression, generated electricity and provided water for aqueducts that quenched the thirst of agricultural, industrial, and residents arriving in the Arizona desert.

Evidence suggests that Mexican miners worked in the mountains and the backcountry of Lake Havasu City as early as the 1830s. In 1857, Anglos discovered gold and mining continues to this day. Local prospectors often find a few nuggets using a method called placer mining, or sifting through gravel to find pieces of gold.

Site Six was built during WWII as an emergency landing strip and later used as an R&R facility for Air Force personnel. Later it was purchased by McCulloch and used for testing his outboard motors. The city now operates a recreational boating facility on the property within the Lake Havasu State Park.

While looking at the display about Lake Havasu City history, one of the volunteers told us stories about the early years. She and her husband arrived in 1971 when he took over the practice of a retiring certified public accountant.

She told us how Robert P. McCulloch arrived in Lake Havasu City in 1958 in search of a test center for his outboard motors and how his company, McCulloch Properties Inc., purchased 16,250 acres from the State of Arizona in 1963 for $73.00 per acre. The rocky undeveloped land became the city built on the shores of Lake Havasu.

In 1968, Robert P. McCulloch purchased the London Bridge at a cost of $2,460,000. It took another $7 million and three years to label the granite bricks with markings indicating their arch span, row number, and position; ship the 10,000 tons of granite across the ocean, through the Panama Canal, and into the desert; and put the bridge together again. To allow for traffic over the bridge, the granite bricks encase a hollow core of steel-reinforced concrete. The channel where water flows under the bridge was dug out to create the island.

On October 10, 1971, the London Bridge was celebrated with fanfare that included skydivers, fireworks, marching bands, hot air balloons and a meal fit for King William IV who unveiled the original bridge in London in 1831. London’s Lord May attended along with actor Robert Mitchum and Dan Rowan of the Rowan & Martin comedy duo on television’s Laugh-In.

Although many thought McCulloch’s bridge was a waste of money and a boondoggle, it turned out to be a clever marketing scheme that grew the city from only a few hundred people in the early 1960s to 10,000 by 1974 and brought in visitors totaling two million.

The docent made sure to point out the heads on stakes displayed in the middle of the building. They represented people in London who King Henry VIII had ordered beheaded for their crimes. The king may have only perceived the people guilty and found his orders as a means to dispose of his enemies. In any case, displaying the heads on a 1500s version of the London Bridge was used as a crime deterrent.

The second head from the left represents Thomas Cromwell who died in 1540. He was King Henry VIII’s Chief Minister who supervised the English Church’s break with the Catholic Church. After arranging for the king’s marriage to the German Princess, Ann of Cleves, his fourth wife, the king blamed Cromwell for the marriage to Ann because she was not attractive. Cromwell was jailed on trumped-up charges and condemned to death without trial. His beheading occurred on the day the king married Katherine Howard, his fifth of six wives.

Red Onion and a Walk to Gawk at Classic Cars

On a late Thursday afternoon, we drove downtown for lunch at the Red Onion. While there, classic car owners rolled up to show off their rides, drink beer, grab a bite to eat, and engage in car talk. Food trucks were also on hand to feed the hungry.

Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge

We headed out to Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge one evening to snap a few photos of the sunset. Although not spectacular, I had fun playing with the tripod and settings on my camera.

Visiting Lake Havasu City

Boredom is something that no one needs to worry about in Lake Havasu. With over 300 annual events throughout the year, there is always something happening: London Bridge Days, Winterfest Street Festival, Balloon Festival, music festivals, Parade of Boats, Buses by the Bridge, fishing tournaments, Havasu 95 Speedway, rodeos, and much more. Other activities include golfing, fishing, exploring the backcountry, or taking the ferry across the lake to Havasu Landing Casino. Oldsters, youngsters, and in-betweeners will find something to keep them busy.

Next stop: Lake Mead

Safe Travels