2dodges2go: 11/20/15 - London Bridge

London Bridge is falling down....my fair lady. Well, actually it isn't. It was going to--so what did the British do? They auctioned it off to the Americans! The winning bid went to Lake Havasu City founder Robert McCulloch for $2,460,000 (that's 1968 dollars!) Then they took it apart, numbered every piece of stone, and shipped it to Arizona. From the River Thames to the Colorado River (actually a canal on Lake Havasu), total cost including shipping and reassembly was $5.1 million.

So like many other Americans, we went to see it. And that, my friends, is the point exactly!

We were staying at a Parker Strip RV park on the California side of the Colorado, south of Parker Dam. There's a rather large population of wild burros on the BLM land (and in the campgrounds, private property, golf courses, etc.). Now we've seen warning signs on lots of highways about deer and other wildlife crossings--but around here when you see a sign about burros, you'd better slow down because there's a good chance you might see some.

Yes, there really are burros on the road!

And sometimes in the campground

After running the gamut of these really cute critters, we crossed Parker Dam.

We checked out Lake Havasu City a bit (standard Arizona destination for snowbirds who like to play in the desert on ATVs or water in PWCs), then headed to the bridge. The gate at the entrance of the English Village came from a palace belonging to the Earl of Dudley in the 19th century. McCullough bought that too. I guess if you're going to do the British thing, you might as well do it all the way.

Like the boundary markers of the City of London, a heraldic dragon marks the boundary of the City of London land in Lake Havasu City.

After checking out the Tourist Info Center, we continued to the walkway beside the canal for a close-up view of the bridge.

I don't think the Village is quite as nice as it used to be. I know it's off-season, but there wasn't much going on and rather a lot of empty buildings. We saw the little tour boat above, and a bigger one that goes to the casino. In the summer, you can rent just about any kind of water toy you could be interested in. There's a resort on the man-made island across the river.

The path next to the canal makes for a nice stroll. And you can see views of the bridge all the way. Pretty sure it was planned that way.

We climbed up the stairs so I could see the bridge from street level (looks just like a bridge, but with American and British flags, and really cool streetlights.) However...there was a section of fence with love locks attached. (I had to check Google for that.)