LHC Friends Come to Visit: Hiking, Boating and Cliff Jumping (April 19th, 2016)

We had the pleasure of a visit from some of our Colorado friends in Havasu.  It is always such a treat when friends come to visit!

As they were leaving Colorado, they encountered a heavy spring snow storm near Walsenburg, Colorado, that slowed them down a bit, 

A nice spring snow in Colorado as our friends were trying to leave Colorado for their Grand Canyon Tour Trip.

but once they made it to Havasu, the weather was perfect and they had lots of choices of things to do. 

They had one full day to spend with us, so we gave them the list of things they might want to see or do. Their top two choices were boating and hiking, so we decided on a morning hike (while it's still cool) and boating in the afternoon. They thought that the "Crack in the Mountain" trail sounded fun, so off we went!  

This hike is really fun because it has a lot of typical desert walking, but also includes the narrows (or crack) that add a little interest as you head down to the lake.

Rick and Karen starting out on our hike

Heading into the narrows

Rick doing the small repel to get through the narrows

Karen's turn

And finally Steve

Steve photo-bombed us!

Enjoying the shade of the narrows

This big rock in the narrows caused Karen a climbing!

But it gave Steve an idea...bull riding the safe way!

When we finally got down to the lake, we immediately had some guests who came looking for a handout.

Time to head back!

Our usual stop for emptying out shoes

We were hoping to run into the desert big horns so we took the high trail on our way back, but no luck. Bummer!  All we saw were a couple of good sized lizards (9 to 11 inches).

Then back home for some lunch and cooler packing and then off again to the lake.  We made a quick stop at the boat shop to show Rick and Karen some of the big boats that live in Havasu.  This one was a 38 foot Skater if I remember correctly.  The owner of the shop was heading to lunch when we arrived but was so nice he opened up the shop back up so we could take a quick peek!

Then on to the lake for a trip under the London Bridge.

A stroll through the channel

A little rip around the lake

When we pulled into Copper Canyon, Steve asked Rick if her wanted to do some cliff jumping.  Rick said he loved to, so we dropped him off.

And up he went!

And off he went!

When Rick got back in the boat, he said he thought we were all going to jump.  I guess we should have been more clear.  Our cliff jumping days are over.  Oops!  But he said that he really enjoyed it, even though he was all alone and the water was a bit cool!

Then we took them over the the cove that we had hiked to earlier in the day so they could see it from the lake.

After a nice afternoon of boating around the lake, we all headed back to the house to clean up, and then headed to one of our favorite breweries in town called Mudsharks, where we had a nice healthy dinner before calling it a night.  We hope that Rick and Karen enjoyed their short stay with us, and got a nice taste of what Lake Havasu has to offer.

As an update, they headed back to Colorado a few days later after visiting other areas in Arizona and Utah and ran into a snow storm on Vail pass as they were trying to get home. 

There is quite a difference between the weather here and there. Glad we are able to spend spring here for now, and glad they had the opportunity to join us and thaw out for a few days before heading back to the snow.

1,000 Miles and a Super Bowl (Sunday, February 7th, 2016)

Today is Superbowl Sunday, and our beloved Denver Broncos are playing, but instead of going to our usual Super Bowl Party, we will be driving 1,000 miles. This certainly isn’t the perfect scenario, but due to illness, work and weather, we have been in Denver much longer than we had hoped for. Thank you Dave and Nancy for the Super Bowl party invitation, but we must get back to Lake Havasu City! We must!!!!!

We woke to the sound of our alarm at 3:30 this morning. Much earlier than I prefer to be up, but we want to be in Lake Havasu City in time to see the end of Super Bowl 50. The Denver Broncos are playing the Carolina Panthers, and it is going to be a great game. We are hoping to get good enough radio reception across the high desert of Arizona to listen to the game while we drive. But just in case that doesn’t work, we have downloaded the NFL Super Bowl App, so we can listen to it on the IPad. Hopefully something will work for us.

We were on the road by 4:00 am with a very full truck of things we want to take to Lake Havasu City. We are moving some things around because we want to set up an office in Lake Havasu where we can set up our computers and work for a while and not have to tear them back down before we set the table for our next meal. 

We are taking the southern route, which is usually the safest route in the winter. There is cell phone coverage the whole way, and both of the interstates (I-25 and I-40) are truck routes, so the chance of getting stranded is pretty low. Someone will always come along, which isn’t necessarily the case on some of the other routes we take during more favorable weather.

Our entire drive went very smoothly, with dry roads the whole way. We were surprised because of the big snowstorm that came through less than a week ago. Surprised, but very happy! 

As we drove through eastern Arizona, we turned on the radio at 4:00 pm to see if we could find a broadcast of Super Bowl 50. We found two stations that had it, but neither of them had very good reception. We went back and forth between them for a little while, and then decided to try the NFL Super Bowl App that we had downloaded. We tried the app several times, but it wouldn't load. Maybe our cell coverage was too spotty for it out in the middle of nowhere Arizona. Finally Steve started searching for radio stations again, and to our surprise, he picked up one of our Denver radio station 850 KOA, which broadcasts all Broncos games.  We were over 500 miles away as a crow flies.  Clear as can be....amazing! Thank you KOA for having such a strong signal!!! We listened to the Super Bowl on the radio for about an hour until we pulled into Lake Havasu City.

Our plan was to go to the College Street Brewery, a nice brewery very close to the highway on the north side of town. We thought it would be a great atmosphere for watching the Super Bowl, and it would be the first sports bar we would come to as we pulled into town. But as we pulled into the parking lot at College Street, it was empty. The brewery was closed on Super Bowl Sunday…… that’s sure not what we expected!!! So off we went again, heading a little bit further down the highway to another of our favorite breweries, Mudsharks. 

We pulled into the parking lot of Mudsharks, and to our delight, there were cars!!! And they were open!!! We hurried in, and although the bar area was quite full, there was one table that the waiter was clearing off, so we happily grabbed it as we checked the huge TV to see if we had missed anything. Although it is a 14 hour drive, we somehow managed to get to Lake Havasu by the end of the first quarter. We would be able to watch three full quarters of the Super Bowl on this beautiful big screen TV. As the game progressed, the Broncos continued to lead, although the Panthers continued to score as well.

This is much better than listening to the radio in the truck

The half time show was great, featuring Cold Play, Beyonce and Bruno Mars, with the theme of “Believe in Love”. Then, back to the Broncos and Panthers. Once we got to Mudsharks and had a chance to relax and watch the game, we had a good time texting our daughters and Steve’s mom about the game. 

It was a much quieter environment in Lake Havasu City, since they didn’t have a team in the Super Bowl, but it was still a lot of fun. Steve and I were the only ones in the whole bar that were in Broncos apparel, although there were lots of other Broncos supporters. 

The game ended with the Broncos as the Super Bowl 50 Champions!

Payton Manning looking pretty happy

Payton Manning looking really happy

Joe Namath presenting the Lombardi Trophy to the Broncos

And although the scene was a bit quiet in Lake Havasu City, it was definitely a livelier scene in Denver.  Thank you to my friend Kathy for these great pictures from Denver.

Larimer Square in Downtown Denver

The Super Bowl 50 parade in Downtown Denver

We were just happy to be a part of this amazing Super Bowl victory!