That's it?! No shock, no awe?
Either I have totally desensitized my parents to my habits of slightly unpredictably geography, or they knew that the original London Bridge is, in fact, in Arizona. It's not falling down, it's in Lake Havasu City!
We drove down yesterday, just to check out the town. It was a nice day trip. We had to drive into California to get there, and took Old Route 66 a few miles through the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge (which looks like the rest of the desert but maybe has a little more sage brush and the Palo Verde trees don't look quite as manicured).
Lake Havasu City is just a big town at the edge of the desert by some water. It was founded in 1963 by a rich guy who then bought London Bridge when it was being replaced in England a few years later. Apparently, says Wikipedia, the London Bridge is the second most visited tourist attraction in Arizona, behind the Grand Canyon. Um, neat. So what's number 3? I need to add that to my to-do list.
Seriously though, my mind is blown that there are such new towns in this country, although I guess the rest of the world views pretty much our whole country that way. Just interesting.
Havasu was a good trip though. After many miles of open range with many signs warning of wild burros crossing (didn't see any though), we came upon the city. At first it mostly just appeared to be sprawly, but since there's nothing else around for miles, I guess that's understandable. The area around London Bridge was a nice riverwalk with lots of shops that we didn't really go in, and lots of nice ducks.
One of the reasons we decided to go down there was Mud Shark Brewery, but before we got there, we stumbled upon Barley Brothers Brewery. Both were excellent. Full review here.
All in all, a lovely day trip.
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