Lake Havasu, Arizona: Lisa was still away at a conference, but Lenny delivered Leo to us Monday afternoon for our planned Spring Break with the grandchildren. Lenny stayed the night Monday as well. Lucile and I baked a baguette stuffed with roasted garlic cloves and then rolled Italian-inspired turkey meatballs. The meatballs roasted in the oven in a jar of marinara sauce.
This was a super-easy dinner. Lucile and I rolled the meatballs Sunday afternoon and refrigerated them overnight. No pasta was served - just the baguette and a tossed salad with mixed greens, sliced pears and pecans. Delicious.
And we were surprised when Lisa (who was supposed to be on a plane from San Jose to Los Angeles) took a flight to Palm Springs instead! How fun, and Lucy (who had been at camp all last week) was really missing her mom - or do I have that reversed? Even though for only one night - we were all together sleeping under the same roof.
Lenn and Lisa left early Tuesday morning (jobs) and we loaded up the RV and headed to Lake Havasu. But not together. Due to all the junk we were bringing (bikes, folding chairs, fishing gear), Leo and I drove the Chevy Traverse, following Dave and Lucile in the RV. We stopped half-way and made sandwiches in the RV, arriving to the Islander Resort about 2p. We had time to settle-in and Leo could fish directly in front of our campsite:
I had booked tickets to take a one hour sunset cruise around the island on the Dixie Belle, so we kinda spiffed-up (it was 99 degrees!) and arrived to board the fun little paddle boat.
The boat leaves the dock directly under the famed London Bridge and makes a circuit around the island, with commentary along the route. When we passed our campsite, it was too dark for photos.
After disembarking, we walked around the “wharf” area. Not exactly London, but there is a red phone booth for your photographic pleasure:
So by Day 2 we had the lay of the land... or island, as it were. Dave and Leo were up early and took the car to a shore-side park Dave had seen on a bicycle ride. It had plenty of reeds and things growing along the shore that would certainly attract fish. Nope. The only thing they found was a heron. The bird didn't seem to have any luck fishing either.
When our empty-handed anglers returned to the tidy RV, I fed everyone a gourmet lunch hotdogs and we headed out to a park we had passed on our evening boat cruise. We brought chairs, drinks, snacks, beach towels, fishing poles and had a nice afternoon under a shady tree. Again, more fishing... and again, not even a little nibble.
I had planned two dinners for our trip, assuming we would go out one of the three nights. Last night I cooked heated Italian Short Ribs over polenta after our boat trip, so tonight the kids wanted to return to the touristy area under the bridge for fish and chips (because it was London, afterall). The food wasn't bad, it was average. As average as a restaurant that only needs to cater to a one-time customer needs to be. But, portions were massive. Our carnivore had a burger, of course. The other three had fish and chips. Too much food.
We walked around the wharf area (again) after dinner and Leo chatted-up a few guys fishing under the bridge. They had landed/released one bass yesterday. This was the first known-catch of the vacay so far.
Later: well asleep in our beds after our big meal, Dave and I were roused from our dreams with a flash of some sort on the electrical panel and the noise of our awning jumping up and down from the wind. Our fridge was not working. Our water heater was not working, and our awning would not retract. Not sure what may have happened, but a power surge or quick power outage was the immediate suspect. This is usually an easy fix: just reset the battery/shore power button. But when this button is pressed an alarm sounds (for a second). Not something the grandchildren would like to hear in their sleep, and probably nothing our neighbors would enjoy at 4a either. So we waited it out and the wind calmed enough that our awning was not too noisy. Finally, when we saw our fellow campers outside enjoying their morning java, the switch was flipped, the awning retracted, the fridge began whirring again and we had hot water. Oh, the joys of RVing. I joke, but there is always a work-around on an RV, which is much appreciated.
This early morning wake-up call had us ready for our voted/chosen Thursday adventure - drive one hour to the "historical" town of Oatman to see the old mining town on Route 66, and feed the "wild" burros cruising the wooden sidewalks. Well, it was kinda a bust. The town has seen better days. Shops were filled with rocks, geodes, dusty antiques, cowboy boots, knives, beaded jewelry, and MAGA hats. Several of the merchants were standing outside their shops smoking on the covered walkways. There is a famous old hotel/bar/restaurant with walls completely covered in (rumor has it) 400,000 one dollar bills.
Dave bought the kids bags of compressed hay/alfalfa to feed to the burros. The creatures didn't seem too interested in the food, but did enjoy head scratches from the tourists.
One of the smoking shopkeepers told Lucy the same handful of burros come into town daily. Usually. One never knows, but usually.
Back in the day, Oatman was a thriving gold mining town with many restaurants, hotels and shops. Now, it caters to day-trippers on a trek along Historic Route 66. They advertise a twice-daily gunfight in the middle of the street, but the shoot-out did not happen at the advertised time, so I could be confused. (Leo was really looking forward to this.) One section of the town has either a real or probably a re-created mine shaft visitors can walk into, along with an old jail, coffin maker, a few random graves, and saloon doors to crash through:
Okay, so Oatman may have not been our best decision, but as Lucy said, we can now say we have been to Oatman, and fed a burro. We reversed our route, stopped at In-N-Out for lunch and made a family decision during our meal: we would not stay overnight in Lake Havasu. We quickly packed-up the RV and were on the road home before 2p, arrived in time for the (second) dinner I had planned for our trip (chicken katsu with edamame and rice). The washer/dryer situation is out of control, but we are fed, unpacked and ready for bed!
The Coachella Valley weather is NOT cooperating! As soon as we turned west onto I-10, the wind was howling and we couldn't even see our town in the horizon, only a dust cloud. Golf is planned for tomorrow, but we will see what happens with the wind/air quality overnight.
Ups and downs on our Spring Break trip to Lake Havasu, but we did have a good time. We were together and always find a way to have fun. (Chickenfoot, anyone?) Maybe Lake Havasu is for boating and ATVing people? Maybe not a great place for fishing? Wrong time of year? Wrong area of the lake? Did we need to go out on the lake in a boat to fish? At least we donated money to the Arizona Fish & Game for short-term fishing licenses for Dave and Leo. (Lucy may have broken the law, but we couldn't find licensing information for a 10 year old - and a license can only be obtained online.)
PS: gasoline is under $3 a gallon in Arizona.
Until my next update, I remain, your fish-free correspondent.
Campground Information: Islander Resort. We had a front-in lake-front motorhome site. We paid about $130 per night for a paved full-hookup site. The campground is nearly all park models and campers who rent seasonally. Several bath houses, laundry, pool, spa, on-site store and restaurant.