Desert Towns March 12-16

We left the Grand Canyon for the warmer climes. It was below freezing every night and only in the 60s during the day, so we decided to get into the desert and to lower elevations.

London Bridge??

We went about 150 miles to Lake Havasu, elevation 500 ft, temps in the 80s. Lake Havasu was developed along the Colorado River behind Parker Dam which formed Lake Havasu. It was built by Robert McCulloch (the chainsaw guy) in 1963 and now is a city of 52,000 souls. It is mostly home to retirees, but it is a spring break destination that attracts many thousand teenagers ready to party. They were just beginning to arrive while we were there. One of the main attractions is the London Bridge. Yes it is the original London Bridge that used to span the Thames. It was imported to Lake Havasu in 1968, stone by stone and reconstructed to span a manmade channel to a manmade island on the shores of Lake Havasu, all courtesy of Mr R. McCulloch. It is the second most visited attraction in Arizona behind the Grand Canyon. There is no way that 52,000 thousand people should be living on this God forsaken. waterless, moonscape, but for the wonder of marketing and the creation of an artificial environment. I should not get too excited about this as Lake Havasu City is only the 3rd largest community along this stretch of the Colorado, behind Laughlin and BullHead City, both gambling towns. Further down the Colorado on this stretch between Arizona and California, is trailer park after trailer park on the banks of the Colorado River. The land here is hilly and the river is not too wide, with a swift current. Not advisable to swim in I’d hazard.

We turned west into California at Parker into the Joshua Tree Desert and drove for 90 miles west on a two lane road into the emptiest country we had seen. No farms, no fences, no cows, no nothing. Miles and miles of desert, bare mountains in the distance. We finally joined up on I-10 and met up with civilization again, semi trucks, and heavy traffic. Soon we were in Palm Springs.

Palm Springs is a lovely community made famous by Hollywood stars of the 40s,50s and 60s who used to live here from time to time. It is still a retirement community, with many a golf course, and a vibrant art and cultural scene. It is famous for its architecture called “Modernist” It is a blend of southwestern architecture using modern materials like light structural steel, exposed aggregates, terrazzo and other masonry to create open structures, with lots of windows, shaded by cantilevered roofs specifically for the desert environment. The style looks very 50s and 60s by today’s standards, but still has a crisp, clean and striking appearance.

Palm Springs sit right up next to the San Jacinto mountains. There is a tramway that will take you up to 8500 ft on the mountain. It was near 80 degrees at the base of the tram and only 40 some degrees at the top. There were piles of snow on the ground and air was pine scented in this alpine environment. Looking out at the valley below was definitely a hot desert. A real mind bender, how can these two environments exist so close together?

The desert below

Just outside of Palm Springs is the largest wind farm I have ever seen. There must be hundreds of wind generators. To look through them as the blades are turning is like looking through a kaleidoscope. It must work as we have only been here for two days, but the wind is really blowing and the blades are a turnin.

Blowin in the wind