Sunday, May 4, 2014

Lake Havasu & Barley Bros Brewery - No Mint Juleps

We woke up this morning to the sound of large and loud speedboats running up and down the river at breakneck speeds.  Add to that wave runners, pontoon boats and any other water craft you can think of, then you get an idea how busy the Colorado River is on a beautiful Saturday.  I don't have any problem with the above, it's just that I am jealous we don't have a boat.  I checked into renting a boat and when they said rental boats start at $275/day plus fuel.  I was cured of boating for the day.

Today was the day to journey up to Lake Havasu City and check it out along with lunch at a brew pub.  There are a number of pubs in Lake Havasu, but we wanted one on the water and the Barley Bros Brewery fit the bill nicely.  Good beer, nice view, beautiful company for me and next to the London Bridge.


We got there early and walked down to the water's edge to get some pictures.  The London Bridge is on the right and Lake Havasu City is across the channel.  The water police are very strict about speed limits in this area and all the boats were going very slowly.







Gerry in front of London Bridge



Fountain in front of Barley Bros. restaurant

 The London Bridge is the focal point of this area and everything revolves around it.  I imagine every one knows that a land developer bought the bridge in London, had it disassembled and then brought to Lake Havasu.  They reassembled it and then dug the water channel under it and made an island.


 The brewery makes a number of different brews and has a deal where you can taste six samplers to see which beer you like.  The two beers at the bottom of the list for us were the IPA and Stout brews.  I preferred an Amber beer and Gerry liked the Tripleberry Wheat one.  After the samplers ($6), we ordered our two favorites and lunch.  The meals were quite large and fairly good except Gerry's was overcooked a little.  My calzone was huge and fine with me, but I was unable to finish it.


One of the main purposes of going to the brew pub was to see the running of the Kentucky Derby.  Gerry always makes Mint Juleps and we sit around and pick our favorite horses.  Mine came in 4th and Gerry's horse came in 2nd.  The winner was California Chrome and was the overwhelming favorite.  Gerry had to go up to the bar and get a close look at the race.  She does like to watch the ponies run.  No Mint Juleps for us today.


After lunch we drove around and checked out a couple campgrounds in Lake Havasu City and didn't find anything we liked.  The Crazy Horse Campground is right on the Lake, but doesn't have any sewer hookups and the sites are all dirt.  Also, it was expensive for what you got unless you consider the location.

They had speedboat drag races on the lake the past few days and the qualifying runs were today.  We weren't aware of the races and they were almost over by the time we finished lunch.  I'm not so sure we could have sat out in the heat and watched the races anyway.

On the way back to Buckskin Mountain we stopped at the Cattail Cove State Park to check it over.  We've camped there many years ago and thought it was just OK.  They do have a few 50amp sites with sewer and water.  We need 50amps of electric in order to run both a/c and in the 103+ weather we need both running to be comfortable.  If the wind is strong on Monday when we are scheduled to leave Buckskin Mtn, we may move up there and check out Lake Havasu City a little more.

We got back to the park in time for the Happy Hour at the restaurant in the park.  They had margaritas for $1.49 and a pitcher of beer for $3.49.  The pitcher was huge and was 72ozs or more.  Once I ordered the drinks they informed me that they were closing at 7pm.  We had about 45 minutes to finish off our drinks.  Gerry set her margarita aside and helped me with the beer.  Even with that we wound up bringing a glass of beer and her margarita home.

We did enjoy sitting on the patio and watching all the boats going up and down the river.  It is hard to believe the number of boats out here in the desert.  Many of them were quite large, loud and fast.  I would imagine they were in the $60K + range and most likely a lot more than that.



There is a group of bike riders who have been meeting at Buckskin Mountain for the last 36 years in a row in the park.  One member asked if we wanted him to take our picture and this was the result.  Nice guy.


If the above wasn't enough, they had a wedding in the park today and they had a sit down dinner with music.  The view was great with the tables set right on the bend of the river.  It was hot though, but I guess they are used to it out here.
 
Sorry about the length of the blog, but there were a number of pictures taken and I wanted to fit them into the blog.

That was our day, how was yours?

1 comment:

  1. The grounds around Barley Bros look great...nothing like some loud boats to wake you up in the morning...I remember when the bass tournaments came to Lake Gaston and when they let them start it was the same thing. BTW I think the Nascar race was more exciting then the Derby!!
    YFSILINC

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