Hangin’ In Havasu

Our travels almost every year brings us to Lake Havasu City, AZ for a couple of weeks surrounding the Winter Blast, the fireworks convention put on by the Western Pyrotechnical Association (WPA).

We first came to LHC in 2005, shortly after my retirement.  We were invited to attend Winter Blast by a former college colleague, Phyllis King and her husband Jim.  Their sons, Lyndon and Tim, were very involved with the fireworks association and Lyndon was in charge of Winter Blast for many years.  He is now President of the WPA and they are both still active during Winter Blast. 

At that time there was a small following of RVers coming to Craggy Wash, BLM land north of the LHC Airport.  They would commute to SARA Park, home of the fireworks display.  Nothing like today where hundreds of RVs fill in level (and sometimes not-so-level) public camping lands to attend the 4-5 days of pyrotechnics.  More on Winter Blast next…

When we first attended, we were traveling without a dog and were invited to join the Kings and our other RVing friends, Teresa and Len Hoare, to park the RV right at the SARA Park.  What a great spot to park and watch the “open shooting” from 5 pm to 10:30 pm each night.  During the three nights of formal public shows, we would have already reserved our seats in the grandstands earlier in day to take in the spectacular ground and aerial displays.  Our second year, however, we had acquired our previous German Shepherd, Krissy, and she definitely was NOT a fan of fireworks. We were parked adjacent to the ball diamond and parking lot and when the fireworks began, she apparently was so frightened that she began chewing the material on the RV seats.  Not Good!  For the remainder of that show, we would take turns sitting with her inside the RV with both the radio and TV going.  That was the last time we stayed onsite but have been fortunate enough to get WPA parking passes each year. It is nice knowing “people”.

Since that time we have stayed at Cattail Cove State Park with hook-ups or, the last few years, moved over to an area known as “The Steps” where many of our RVing Escapee Club members have called home during Winter Blast.

Besides doing laundry, shopping, and running errands, we haven’t done much tourists activities. Been there, done that over the years. 

Lake Havasu City is the home of the re-located London Bridge.  It was actually systematically dismantled in England and shipped to the US and reconstructed over DRY land. The area below the bridge was then dredged to allow the adjacent Colorado River to flow through, creating an island in the middle of the Colorado River. 

EATING OUT

If there are Boomers in the area you can bet we have been eating out.  We first started by meeting up with Jim and Nanc Tidball at El Mariachi Mexican Restaurant.

We then did a group lunch with the Kings and Hoares (who are all staying at SARA Park) at Pizza Hut’s salad bar and pizza buffet.  We also ate on our own at the LHC Elks Lodge and at China City Super Buffet. We then had two meals out with our Folsom neighbors, Jim and Karen Hood, at the Barley Brothers Brewery for Valentine’s Day Dinner and a Sunday breakfast at The Red Onion.

ED’S BIRTHDAY PARTY

“Ed’s Birthday Party” is now a Boomer tradition, even if  “Ed” (aka Duane Peyton) is celebrating in Florida this year.  Well, for that matter, the REAL Ed isn’t here either.  To learn the history of Ed’s Birthday Party, scroll through our February, 2012 blog.

While our numbers are down this year, we still had 30-40 folks show up for our noon potluck on Saturday.  We called it an “All SKP Potluck” since so many in attendance were from many Escapee groups – Boomers, Geocachers, Boondockers, Solos, etc.  As usual, there was plenty to eat and the potluck ended with Ed’s birthday cake and the singing of the “Mr. Ed” theme song.  Yes, “…A horse is a horse, of course…..”. 

The afternoon ended early as most in attendance headed north about 12 miles to SARA Park to watch the Saturday Night Winter Blast Spectacular.

NEXT: 

GREAT BALLS OF FIRE – WINTER BLAST XXV