The Southwest Springs To Life
Lake Havasu In The Spring
We recently had the opportunity to spend several days in Lake Havasu City. We have been there numerous times, but this was definitiely one of our best trips. Our hosts had planned activities that gave us the opportunity to rediscover many of the great things about Lake Havasu that we had lost site of over the years.
We arrived at the London Bridge Resort and the fun began. During our stay we were hosted by:
Bob Brown bbrown@mediadirection1.com
- Media Direction/Lake Havasu Convention and Visitors Bureau,
Doug Traub doug@golakehavasu.com
- President/CEO, Lake Havasu City Convention and Visitors Bureau,
Gary L. Kellogg gary.kellog@lakehavasu.org
- President/CEO Lake Havasu City Partnership For Economic Development,
Jim Salscheider JimS@LhcMA.com
- Executive Director, Lake Havasu City Marine Association and,
Vern Porter vernp@thenautical.net
- General Manager, The Nautical Beachfront Resort.
The purpose of our trip was to re-aquaint ourselves with Lake Havasu City, Lake Havasu, and some of the new things that are taking place there, including the new Designated Operator program, being greeted with much enthusiasm, Lake Racer's upcoming Desert Storm and the Lake Havasu Boat Show. Infomation on all of these may be found at http://www.lhcma.com/.
We were accompanied by:
Brady L. Kay blk@harrispublishing.com
- Executive Editor, Harris Publishing and
Rusty Manoff rusty@alliancewake.com
- Retail Development, Alliance Wakeboard Magazine
We arrived on Thursday evening and our stay began with dinner at the London Bridge Resort where we were greeted by the general manager, Cal Sheehy csheehy@londonbridgeresort.com. The food, service and ambiance were great, not to mention the large hot tub in our room.
Friday morning began with a walking tour across the bridge (did you know the bridge is hollow?) and breakfast at Makai restaurant located beneath Shugrue's. From there we had the option to do some fishing with a local guide or to tour the Nordic Boat factory. Carol and I chose the Nordic http://www.nordicboatsusa.com/ tour.
We were picked up by Todd Shuttle Service http://toddshuttleservice.com/. They provided most of our land transportation and we couldn't have asked for anything better.
Kevin Doane kevin@nordicboatsusa.com
, general manager, was our guide. It's one thing to see these beautiful boats on the water but it's altogether different to see them up close and personal while they are being built.
We left the Nordic factory and made a stop at West Coast Drive Service www.westcoastdrives.com and were introduced to the owner (and very much the operator) Vern Gilbert vern@westcoastdrives.com. I need to mention that Gilbert is an eight-time world record holder in offshore racing. This information plays an important part in our next day's activities.
Friday afternoon we were picked up at Windsor Beach Launch Ramp and enjoyed a beautiful and informative ride through Topock Gorge via two pontoon boats. The boats were driven by Jim Salscheider and Gary Kellogg. Midway through the ride, we were treated to lunch at Pirate Cove Resort by Jim Nakashima
jnakashima@piratecoveresort.com
, the general manager, and his crew. As you'll see on the next cover of Arizona Boating & Watersports/Western Outdoor Times news magazine, one of the photographers with us found interesting photo opportunities at Pirates Cove.
Our trip back to Lake Havasu City took us through London Bridge Channel where we were dropped off at the London Brige Resort http://londonbridgeresort.com/.
Friday concluded with a trip to the Blue Grass festival. This also reminded me that Lake Havasu City has much more to offer than just lake activites.
Saturday started with a ride to breakfast aboard a vintage fire truck driven by Becka. Becka is the daughter of Dean Messmer deanmessmer3@hotmail.com,, owner of The Boat Brokers & RV http://www.theboatbroker.com/about-us.shtml to The Nautical Inn. Breakfast was great. We were hosted by Vern Porter and his excellent staff. During breakfast we were filmed by Jim Mathews jim@havasuvideonews.com, executive producer, Havasu Video News.
After breakfast we spent the rest of the morning on a water tour with Kenny Samp, www.SunsetHavasuBoatTours.com, Captain Sunset Charter & Tour Company. Our tour included the many lighthouses around Lake Havasu and also the various canyons, including Copper Canyon. Many will think only of Copper Canyon as the place during spring break where the water can't be seen because of the wall-to-wall, literally, boats. Be assured that this tour will give you a complete new way to look at Copper Canyon and its history.
Saturday afternoon was a day that little boys (and some of us not-so-little boys) only dream about. We were treated to a ride up and down the lake on two performance boats. I mentioned Vern Gilbert of West Coast Drives. You got it; he brought out a Skater offshore boat and, along with John, who offered his boat as well for this trip, we headed for Lake Havasu Springs.
We were picked up at Thompson Bay and driven (flown - 143 according to the GPS) to Havasu Springs where we enjoyed lunch at Havasu Springs Resort http://www.havasusprings.com/.
Our days at Lake Havasu City were definitely full to the brim. Thank you all from Jim & Carol Allen.
