Prescott, Arizona and Lake Havasu

We arrived in Prescott, as our next to last official stop before returning home.  We are here to visit Sue's brother and sister-in-law, Don and Karen.  Before I go much further I must correct your obvious mispronunciation of Prescott.  If you are a reporter at the White House and you go to a big meeting, you will probably be issued a press kit.  This item has the same pronunciation as Prescott.  The locals use the mispronunciation to identify suspicious out-of-towners.

Don and Karen were having their house remodeled so we felt right at home.  Their house painter pressure washed the outside the day of our arrival and created a mystery.  The guest bathroom plugs stopped working.  We searched high and low for a circuit breaker or the more likely, a popped GFCI outlet.  Their house is an electronics junkie's paradise in that there are electrical outlets in every conceivable location.  We searched everywhere only to find that one other bathroom and several outside outlets were also suffering a lack of energy.  I knew the feeling.

Prescott (presskit) is a beautiful small town of about 40,000 people.  Coming from a city with over 2.5 million people, 40,000 is small.  It was a delightful change of perspective.  Our hosts were more than hospitable and Karen is an excellent cook.  We watched Arizona's Wildcats get clobbered by Oregon ducks, 13 to 51.  It was like watching some Aesop fable where the duck beats up on the big wildcat.  Ouch!

The next day we were able to watch the Patriots beat the Chargers 23 to 14.  So this heavily influenced Bostonian crowd was happy again.  As a Dolphan, I was silently rooting for the Chargers.

Sue's Shetland Pony Parade Shot

We went downtown to watch the Christmas parade and saw small town USA in action.  They had war veterans, dog walkers, retirement home buses, local bands, kids, old cars, motorcycles, Shriners, Shetland ponies, cowboys, an entire section of just Scottish Terriers, police cars, and fire trucks.  In fact, half of the 40,000 population of Prescott (presskit--do you have the pronunciation yet?) was in the parade and the other half was lining the street to watch.  As my vantage point was on a street that was a loop around the courthouse, I think they just kept circling by.  I swear I saw the same people several times.

Sue Shot of the Scottie Parade Group

Star Parade Float

We moved our lawn-chairs to a place in front of the courthouse for the tree lighting ceremony later this day.  I had prepared for everything.  I had my camera, my GoPro and my tripod along with years of experience.  What I didn't prepare for was the fact that it would be several hours later when the lights went on, and it would be much colder and the nearest bathroom was at least two light years away through the amassed crowd.  By the time the carolers finished and they lit the trees, I was a Popsicle in a lawn chair with a full bladder.

Somehow I managed to get a few shots and a little video.  I had to use a high ISO to allow for a fast shutter speed.  Reason...., my hands were shaking.

Courthouse Tree Lighting Ceremony (109 TREES)

 We ate at a restaurant downtown and had a few cocktails to thaw out.

The next day we went to a gingerbread house display and a museum of old log buildings surrounding the original governor's mansion.

Governor's Mansion (Sue Shot)

Gingerbread Houses (Sue Shot)

The second night in Prescott, we saw Esteban, a guitar virtuoso along with his daughter on violin and a percussionist.  He studied under Andres Segovia and was mentored by Carlos Montoya.  He put on a great show with a mix of flamenco, classical, pop and holiday music.  The latter inclusion was given with a twist of uniqueness with, on one occasion, a middle eastern flair.  After the concert he stayed on in the lobby of the small theater to sign CD's, pictures and one guitar.

Sue With Esteban

We crossed the street to a restaurant after the concert to eat dinner.  Half way through our meal, Esteban, his daughter and two members of his road crew came in and sat at a nearby table.

Using the tried and true rule that both fish and house-guests begin to smell after three days, we packed for our planned departure.  On our final room check I decided to again look for the errant GFCI outlet.  Karen had departed for work and Don was out in front of the house with his kitchen granite and tile guy.  I eventually found, in the master bathroom across the house, a wall plug with a giant night light...., that wasn't working.  A quick removal of the night light found our hidden popped breaker.  Voila, Don could give up on his search for his electrician's phone number.

Just before we left our gracious hosts, Sue's phone rang.  It was our neighbor Patty who told us the window installers had showed up at our house to deliver our new windows.  This was all fine except for the fact that we were in Arizona and it would be difficult to let them in.  They were not supposed to make this delivery until December 16th.  Patty let me talk to the delivery guy and I told him to speak to Chris and to take the windows back to their office warehouse.

Our next scheduled stop was Lake Havasu City.  I wasn't sure why we were going to a place called Havasu as everyone knows, I already "have-a-Sue".  I only need the one and couldn't handle another.  It seems that this town is around the halfway point between Prescott and Las Vegas.  It also has a singular premiere attraction, the 1831 London Bridge.  Yes, leave it to a rich Missourian to buy a patch of desert to test his Evenrude outboard motors on the shores of a lake created by damming the Colorado river.  Mr. McCulloch, of the chainsaws which bear his name, purchased the city acreage for $75 an acre.  He originally made his fortune the old fashioned way, he inherited it.  Then he married a woman named Briggs, of Briggs and Stratton small engine fame.  To promote his newly purchased city, he built his Evenrude plant here and then bought the London Bridge from the City of London.

Original London Bridge

New London Bridge at Sunset

The bridge was built over dry desert land.  It is of reinforced concrete but they used the facade of the original London Bridge in its construction.  The stones of the failing London Bridge were shipped to this location and added to the new desert bridge over, well, dirt.  After the bridge was built, they dredged a canal under the bridge which diverted water from the reservoir Lake Havasu.  This also created an island on one end of the bridge.  Now the bridge had a purpose.  That purpose is to convince travelers from Miami that they had better stay here.  At least for two days.  We complied.

Sunset Lake Havasu (Sue Shot)