Lake Havasu City, AZ to Flagstaff, AZ
By Kiran Jayasinghe
Day two of our trip was sunny, but cool. We were driving to Flagstaff, but we stopped to see the London Bridge in Lake Havasu first. The London Bridge was less than a mile away from the Days in where we stayed the night.
The London Bridge
The London Bridge is in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. The bridge originally spanned the River Thames in London, and was designed by engineer John Rennie in 1831. It was Rennie’s last project, and was finished by his son. The bridge was made for horse drawn carriages and was not strong enough for cars of the 20th century. They needed a new bridge that was strong enough for cars to cross and the old London Bridge was put on auction. It was sold to Robert P. McCulloch who was the founder of Lake Havasu City. McCulloch bought the bridge to help bring more visitors to Lake Havasu. The London Bridge was disassembled, transported to Lake Havasu City by ship, and then reassembled in 1968. Each block of stone was numbered sothat putting it back together would be easier. The reconstruction was completed in 1971.
We looked around the world famous “London Bridge Shoppes”. There were several restaurants, cafes, and souvenir shops. We went to the Visitor Center where they have some photographs of the bridge being reassembled.
After visiting the London Bridge we headed off to Flagstaff. We took AZ highway 95 North and joined interstate 40 heading west at Kingman. As we approached Flagstaff, we saw snow! It was so beautiful that we had to stop. This was a highlight since we were seeing real snow for the very first time. We made dad exit the freeway so we could play in the snow. The air was really cold, but that didn’t matter at all! When we got to Flagstaff, we were ecstatic to see that the city had gotten at least 6 inches of snow! We stayed in the Hilton Garden Inn. The room was very comfortable and clean. There were two beds, a desk, and a nice, roomy bathroom. The hotel itself was elegant with a fireplace in the lobby which was decorated for the season including a christmas tree. The hotel had an indoor pool and hot tub right next to the lobby. We rated the Hilton Garden Inn at Flagstaff a 4 out of five stars.