Advertisement
Published: March 13th 2007
The ex-mayor of Palm Springs
Sonny Bono - immortalised in bronze. CJ took this one!We ended up staying in Laughlin for 4 nights. This was due in no small part to the bed. A king-sized, pillow-topped, heavenly cloud.
Oh, and Nic was still ahead against the geriatrics. Apparently casualties are commonplace. While Nic was sitting at a poker table, one of the players suddenly slumped onto the table. Nobody batted an eyelid, including the dealer. Nic asked if the guy was OK. The dealer informed him that he'd soon come round - he'd just taken his tablets a bit late.
Not wanting to dwell on the 'resort for the aged' motif, I must finally mention the two things that started to grate after four days in Laughlin. Firstly, the non-stop 'sounds of the sixties' blaring on the loudspeakers throughout (although initially this was refreshing after weeks of hearing the same five Country songs on road trip radio). The second being the long queues for dinner at 5pm. This is the best time for CJ to eat before he gets too tired and has a meltdown, which previously meant attentive service in deserted restaurants. In Laughlin, everyone wanted an early dinner and all the restaurants were deserted by 6.30!
Anyway, we left Laughlin on Sunday morning
London Bridge, Arizona
A bit of a tourist trap! for California. We stopped at Lake Havasu City. The lake is an impossibly blue streak fed by the Colorado River in the middle of the rocky Mojave desert. Apart from its weather and water-based activities, the city is best known for a bridge. The reason is, it is the bridge made famous by the nursery rhyme 'London Bridge is falling down'. In the late 60's, the Mayor of London put the bridge up for sale when it became clear it's immense weight was causing subsidence. An Arizonian bought it, shipped it, and rebuilt it in Lake Havasu City. I didn't know any of this until this evening when I looked it up on the web (the visitor centre/museum is helpfully closed on Sundays) so I walked around the odd interpretations of quaint London shops and shaved ice stands with a puzzled look on my face the entire time.
We pushed on southwards, parallel to an Arizona/California rail line past a 'vacant' town called Rice (it appears on maps, but it doesn't look like anyone has ever lived there). It is notable due to miles and miles of 'pebble graffiti' carefully placed by travellers in the sand by the railway line,
Lunch in Palm Springs
Very cool, although the water mist seemed to evaporate long before it reached our table... covering subjects not limited to love, football and religion.
Our final destination was Palm Springs. The temperature was about 95/36 when we arrived in the early afternoon (or was it late afternoon? We're confused after a time zone change and the implementation of summer time on the same day). After the the parched Mojave, I was scandalised by the green, manicured lawns along the road and on the golf courses - where did the water come from?! I think I was probably just thirsty.
What a beautiful place though - palm tree-lined roads of inviting restaurants and boutiques dominated by the massive San Jacinto mountains.
We went up the Palm Springs Arial Tramway the next day, which is a cable car system with only two cars, but they each carry 80 passengers and rotate - talk about showing off. The views on the way up to the Mt San Jacinto State Park were breathtaking, and once at the top, seeing Palm Springs as a small patch on the desert floor below indicated just how high we were. After coming back into town, we had lunch at a very hip restaurant with water misters keeping us cool, and 'rocking' tables to
keep us relaxed, man. We spent a while walking around the town centre afterwards, marvelling at how incredibly hot it was. We're really going to suffer next Summer in Western Australia...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.152s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 12; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0964s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mum and Dad Bennett
non-member comment
Hi Guys, yes we are still here and following your every move with interest. You must be worn out with all the travelling, we are, just reading about it. Fantastic though and we are full of envy. See you soon.