It's a dry heat!

When I was getting ready for my trip to Arizona, “it’s a dry heat” was the one thing I heard over and over again. And now that I am here… let me tell you, it is!

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start back on Thursday when I arrived in Las Vegas. It was a beautiful flight – I have never seen such clear skies so I was able to watch the landscape pass by. And what a sight it was: the beautiful plains with patchwork fields, the majestic mountains with their jagged peaks and the stunning red landscape of the desert. And then we arrived in flashy Las Vegas, but not before flying over Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam, now that was a cool sight.

It was pretty quick before I arrived at the car rental area where I picked up my car. Because I’m going to Arizona and have planned a day to drive the old Route 66, I needed to get a convertible. And let me tell you, I am so happy I did. I found my dream car: the 2014 Ford Mustang Convertible in red (of course!). It drives like a dream and makes me feel so good driving it!

First night was in Henderson – just a quick overnight before we left for Arizona. First thing Friday morning, we were off with the top down and on our way to Arizona. On the way, I wanted to stop off to see the Hoover Dam. I had stopped for 5 minutes once but didn’t get to see very much. So we stopped and went on the Powerplant Tour of the dam. So cool. We went down to the bottom of the dam and saw how the diversion works as well as the history of the building of the dam. I think this is what impressed me the most… what they were able to accomplish during the Great Depression. After the tour, we walked across the dam to get pictures from different perspectives. It sure was something! And then we drove across, in my beautiful convertible, and felt pretty damn cool as people looked on and hooted!

After the dam, it was off to Lake Havasu City in Arizona. To get there, it was 3.5 hours of driving through the desert with the hot ait whipping through our hair. At 2:49pm, we reached 120’F which is 49’C… but it’s a dry heat! Excitedly, I only got a little burnt on my neck where my purse rubbed off the sunscreen. Pretty good if I don’t say so myself. Once we arrived at the condo, we unpacked and then set off for groceries. I was flabbergasted at the prices and selection at Safeways. They have some many thyoes of food that we don’t get in Canada (smores Eggos… yummy!) and some of the prices, unreal. It was the bottles of wine I couldn’t comprehend… so I bought a bunch (6) for the week! For lunch, we went to Jack in the Box for a pretty good burger and curly fries (Oh, how I love curly fries!). The rest of the day was pretty chill.

Saturday we were up at a reasonable hour and went down to London Bridge. Back in the 1970’s, Lake Havasu City purchased the old London Bridge. It was transported to Arizona and painstakingly re-built over a channel on Lake Havasu. And it is pretty incredible. We walked across on both sides, stopped by the tourist centre and watched the boats in the channel. Lake Havasu is the motorboat capital of the state and let me tell you… there are A LOT of boats! We chilled on the beach for a while before we hot up In-N-Out Burger for lunch. It was the BEST fast food burger I have ever had. It had the perfect ratio of burger to cheese to lettuce to tomato to bun… and the secret sauce – heaven! The fries are made fresh (I watched them peel, cut and cook them right in front of me!). What an experience! The rest fo the day was peaceful with lots of relaxation poolside and chillin’ in the air conditioning when it got really hot!

Sunday (today) was a strictly pool day. We were out early with our mimosas to lounge poolside and catch some sun! And good thing we did so. By 2pm, the rain started to come down and it just got worse from there. The rain caused flash flooding and the thunder must have hit a power station because just before 5pm, the power went out for most of Lake Havasu City. For 4 hours we were without power (and A/C). It wasn’t too bad but I couldn’t believe the amount of rain that came down. The condo maintenance man said Lake Havasu gets rain about 4 times a year. We made it for one doosy of a storm! Dinner consisted of eating the ice cream in the freezer before it melted and then steak once the power came back on. Not too bad!

So now I prepare for bed. Tomorrow is our day on Route 66 so I have to get a good night sleep! I’ll post again once I’ve travelled Route 66!

Until then,

Lisa