November 15, 2011 – The London Bridge in Lake Havasu

Road trip day – YEA!!

So today we decided to go north and check out a few places. Lake Havasu:

 

Havasu Springs Resort:

The Steps..this is BLM land that allows free camping.  We hope to be here in February for the firework displays:

 

Lake Havasu from Cattail Cove State Park:

And our main stop of the day – The London Bridge – :-))

First some info from the internet:

“How did the world famous London Bridge come to make its unusual home in Arizona?  The tale of how the bridge came to Lake Havasu City began over 5,400 miles away in London, England.
The bridge’s storied past includes previous structures that spanned the same section of the Thames River before the current bridge was built. The old London Bridge of nursery-rhyme fame was built by Peter of Colechurch between 1176 and 1209, replacing an earlier timber bridge.  Due to uneven construction, the bridge required frequent repair. The bridge survived more than 600 years.
One of the more grisly periods of the bridge’s history was at the southern gateway between 1305 and 1660, when it was customary to display the severed heads of traitors, impaled on pikes and dipped in tar to preserve them against the elements.  The head of William Wallace was the first to appear on the gate. Other famous heads on pikes included those of Jack Cade in 1450, Sir Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher in 1535, and Thomas Cromwell in 1540.  A German visitor to London in 1598 counted over 30 heads on the bridge.  The practice was finally stopped in 1660, following the Restoration of King Charles II.

By the end of the 18th century, it was apparent that the old London Bridge needed to be replaced.  It was narrow and decrepit, and blocked river traffic.  Designed in 1799 by Scottish engineer John Rennie, the new London Bridge was completed in 1831.  As time passed, the new bridge began sinking at the rate of an inch (3 cm) every eight years. However, by 1924, the east side of the bridge was some three to four inches (102 mm) lower than the west side.  The bridge had not been designed to withstand 20th century automotive traffic.

In 1967, the Common Council of the City of London began to look for potential buyers for the London Bridge. Lake Havasu City founder and entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch placed the winning bid of $2,460,000 on April 18, 1968. McCulloch came by this figure by doubling the estimated cost of dismantling the structure, which was $1.2 million, bringing the price to $2.4 million.  He then added on $60,000 -- a thousand dollars for each year of his age at the time he estimated the bridge would be reconstructed in Arizona.  (Contrary to popular belief, McCulloch was not under the impression that he was purchasing the Tower Bridge.)  Each block was meticulously numbered before the bridge was disassembled.  The blocks were then shipped overseas through the Panama Canal to California and trucked from Long Beach to Arizona. Following reconstruction of the London Bridge, Lake Havasu City rededicated it in a ceremony on October 10, 1971. 
The London Bridge, Arizona tourism’s second-largest attraction after the Grand Canyon, attracts thousands of visitors each year.”

http://www.golakehavasu.com/about-us/about-havasu/london_bridge1.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Bridge_(Lake_Havasu_City)

So here we are – the start of the park and the English Village under the bridge:

 

 

As we were standing under the bridge and taking pictures, there was a vendor selling spaces for a boat ride thru the channel and to Copper Canyon.  So, yep, we hopped on the boat and off we went.  More views of the bridge:

Swallow nests on both sides:

Coming out of the channel to the Lake:

And these neat lighthouses:

The Lake Havasu Lighthouse Club has been building a series of lighthouses around the lake.  These lights are reduced-size replicas inspired by famous lighthouses of the U.S. and Canada. The lights are legitimate aids to navigation, with designs approved by the Coast Guard and locations approved by the state as part of a master plan for lighting the waterways of the lake. Eventually there will be more than 20 lighthouses, including several on the California side of the lake.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/862921/famous_lighthouses_of_lake_havasu.html?cat=23

http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/lighthouse/az.htm

There were all kinds of modes of transportation on the lake:

 

This is the color of the water – WOW!:

More scenes along the way:

 

The hole in the “Wall”:

Going into Copper Canyon:

 

Silver tailings from the mine that was here.

 

 

The hole from the other side:

Coming back:

See those holes..they are bullet holes from WW2 – Interesting:

The big area in the center that is chipped off…that also happened in WW2 from a bomb!:

The other side of the channel:

From there we drove out to the island on the other side of the bridge – more lighthouses:

Lake Havasu City is beyond that light house – WOW!

We continued our road trip by driving thru more of Lake Havasu.  I thought that this city was more like a small town – turns out it is a big city – oh my…   On the boat, we found out the history of Lake Havasu – here is a link – very interesting:

http://havasumagazine.com/history_of_lake_havasu_city.htm

Back at the motorhome – what a sunset:

What a WONDERFUL day!

Enjoy today!