LHC Progress and Boating with Friends (Tuesday, April 12th, 2016)

We've made it back down to Lake Havasu City for a few weeks, and it is good to be back!  Steve and I have been coming to Lake Havasu City for many years with our girls, so we have seen all kinds of weather here.  Since we've been here this time, the weather has been on the cool side, and a bit stormy looking but so far for us, there hasn't been any rain.

Our good friends, Alan and Linda, moved back to Lake Havasu City during the past year, and we haven't had many chances to see them since then.  So today they took out one of their boats so that we could rip around the lake a little bit and enjoy the nicer weather that we have finally been blessed with.  

We wanted to see the progress that has been happening all around the lake and just spend time with our friends.  When we launched the boat, our first stop was the Havasupai Reservation.  We hear that they had plans to build a new hotel and casino, so we wanted to see if there was any sign of it yet.

As you can see, they are doing something, but we're not sure what.  We think they are putting in a new marina

You can see all of the debris in the water from the recent rains

This is the old casino.  It looks like they are doing some expansion on the right side, so maybe they are going to keep this one even after they build the new one

Next we went by the new boat ramp at Windsor Beach.  And going through the channel we got an unexpected surprise.  They have torn down the north side of the English Village, where they will be putting in a new Hilton Hotel.  We'll have to keep our eyes on this as well.

In our "Progress in Paradise" post from February 12th, 2016, we talked about the new boat ramp that they are putting in at Windsor Beach State Park.  So that was our next stop.

The new boat ramp is in, as well as a dock, but they are still working on the road and parking lot so there is no access yet.

You can see the trucks parked on the new boat ramp but the new parking lot is still dirt

Once we saw all of the updates around town, it was time to just sit and relax, in a beautiful cove to the south, across from Steamboat Cove. But it wasn't long until we were joined by a pair of Mallard ducks. They really thought that we should feed them and at first they were polite about it, but then they became much friendlier.

They really thought they belonged on the boat with us, which really didn't make Alan happy, but he was very patient as I took my pictures.  I thought they were cute!

Across the lake from where we were floating, a boat was pulling a speed skier, which just blew our minds. We estimate they were going ~85 MPH.  We ran at 73 MPH earlier on the way to the cove which just feels darn fast on water.  I can't imaging what skiing at that speed must be like.  Not for me!

The skier is the second wake, way behind the boat.  Hard to see, but very amazing!

We headed to the Nautical inn for lunch, and from our seats at the outdoor restaurant, we could watch a new duck family running around.  They were pretty cute!

From our lunch spot we also watched a hang glider.  This is why we love Havasu!

And as the sun set, we pulled the boat out and wiped it down.

And enjoyed another beautiful Havasu Sunset!

Lake Havasu City - Big Boats, New Ramps and Christmas Lights (Tuesday, December 8th, 2015)

As we were driving around town today, we noticed a boat in for maintenance at Barrett Marine.  It was one of those boats that makes you stop and take a closer look!

This is a 42' MTI Superboat!

This is a 42' MTI Superboat with a canopy cockpit, meaning the driver and throttle-man have a cover over them. This particulate boat has twin 750hp motors and Mercury #6 outdrives.  All amazing equipment.  Superboats can run down the lake at well in excess of 140 MPH! For those of you who have ever run fast on the water you know that even 75 MPH feels scary fast...I can only imagine what 140 feels like! 

These boats cost well in excess of $1 million dollars and require a significant amount of continuous maintenance to keep them running right. I think of them as the dragsters of the power boating world. Best part is that you see them running all the time on Lake Havasu!  

The hydraulic trailer required to tow this boat

These boats are approximately 12' wide so in order to legally trailer them on the road they are tipped on there side using hydraulics on the trailer.  Then, when they get to their destination, they move the boat from this vertical position to horizontal so it can be put in the water.  After oohing and awing for awhile, we headed down to Windsor Beach State Park.  

As we were coming by the state park yesterday on the boat, we noticed some things out in the water that raised our curiosity.  They were out near the camp ground, and it looked like there were divers and construction type workers working on it.  So today we wanted to find out what was going on.  

We went into the office at Windsor Beach, and asked them if they knew what it was.  They said that they are adding a new boat ramp and another very large parking lot.  The boat ramp will be 8 boats wide and allow for a lot more boats to load at once. This is really exciting news!  There are already two other 6 boat wide ramps in the state park plus a jet boat and jet ski ramp area.  With these improvements Windsor Beach State Park area will be able to unloaded/loaded 20 boats concurrently, which should really help on those busy summer weekends!  

Here is a picture of the plan.

The top area is the new parking lot, the lower are is the new boat ramp

Then we drove further down to see the construction from the land.

Right now they are building a large bladder to keep the water out so they can pour the concrete for the ramp

The road was closed so we couldn't get any closer, but this is the dirt work for the parking lot

The new ramp is scheduled to be fully functional by Memorial Day. We did some more exploring around the Windsor Beach area, and then went back to the house to get cleaned up for dinner.  We were once again treated to an incredible sunset!

So many sunsets, so little time!  Sorry it's blurry, I tried to zoom in a little too much

And as it got dark, we headed down to the English Village (by the London Bridge) to enjoy the Christmas lights before we headed home.

Walking under the London Bridge toward the English Village

We will leave Lake Havasu City with the spirit of Christmas in our hearts and return to Colorado to enjoy the graduation of our oldest daughter and a Christmas filled with friends and family.  See you there!

Lake Havasu City - Bridge Water Channel and Sunsets (Wednesday, December 2nd, 2015)

Both nights in Havasu so far we have had the most beautiful sunsets. It is one of our favorite things about being down here. At home we really don’t ever have good sunsets, probably because we are so close to the mountains. They block the view that would create the sunset.

Here are a few pictures of last night sunset.  We set up our evening appetizers in the yard so we could sit and enjoy it.

Setting up appetizers for the sunset viewing

Enjoying a beautiful sunset, Havasu style

We got a call from our friends Alan and Linda this morning, and they were going down to the boat ramp to test out some propellers on one of their boats, so we decided to head down and see them. They had their little white boat out, and were running it for speed with different props.  It is a beautiful boat that they have put a lot of work into.  Steve calls it the surf-board with a jet engine on it!

A picture for the boys

A picture for the girls

Making a minor adjustment

When we left the boat ramp, we took a walk through the channel and enjoyed the sights and the gorgeous weather. The English Village along the channel and the London Bridge are all decorated for Christmas, making it really fun to see.  

The Lake Havasu Outrigger Club out practicing

As we were leaving the channel, we noticed that a nice sunset was starting to form, so we decided to head over to the boat ramp at Windsor Beach and watch.  

As we were walking onto the beach, we saw the most interesting seeds laying in the sand.  We couldn't figure out what they were, so we decided we'd have to do a little research on them.

They turned out to be the seeds of the screw bean mesquite tree. They fall to the ground, and then screw themselves into the sand.  Kind of a fun find while we were waiting for the sun set!

It started out slowly, but did not leave us disappointed!

After catching our breath, we headed back home for the night, but such a relaxing night wouldn't be complete without a night time look at the London Bridge all decked out for Christmas!