Visiting The Bridge, And Then Davis Camp

It is just a beautiful day out this morning, and we sat out having our coffee in full sunlight.  Here's the view out the window this morning looking at that beautiful Eucalyptus tree trunk.

The Eucalyptus tree across the road is another beauty, very similar to our Abutus trees, but white rather than orange.

I hadn't realized until last night that you could go up and walk across the big bridge that spans the Colorado just below Hoover Dam.  So, of course, we had to make our way to the bridge (going through security again and having Miss Travelaire embarrassed by having these guys searching her every compartment (at least the outside ones).  Here in the parking lot you can see the walkway and stairway up to the bridge, which is considerably higher up..  It is really nicely done.  There are ramps that cris cross up while at the end of each ramp there are stairways if you feel bold in climbing lots of stairs instead.  The inclines of the ramps are so gradual that it hardly feels like you are going up hill.  But, Doreen would have nothing of it.  No way could I persuade her to go up there.  So, I made my way up alone 🙁.

Just to show that I actually did make the journey up, here I am at bridge level photographed by some kind individual.

The underpinnings of the bridge looked pretty solid to me, so I ventured out onto the walkway.

There were lots of tourists, so if you want to visit this place you should make sure you don't pick a holiday weekend in tourist season!

Well, the view of Hoover Dam is magnificent from here, no problem of getting it all in the picture.

Another kind person took this photo to show I was brave enough to venture across this structure. 

And to show that sometimes there were'nt all that many people around.

Well here we are in Arizona again.

And back in Nevada.

Coming back down to the parking lot, there is Miss Travelaire parked with all the cars.  Miss Travelaire is a little obese, but she is short too, just like me.  So if the RV spots are all full she can easily squeeze in amongst the cars.

Having had our fill of the Hoover Dam and vicinity, we packed up and headed a little south, about a one and a half hour drive.  We could go either down the Arizona side of the Colorado, or the Nevada side.  But Miss Travelaire would have none of going across that high bridge, so we went via Nevada. Davis camp is a county park right on the Colorado on the Arizona side, and it is probably the place we have camped the most in all our travels.  Here we are on the banks of the Colorado (N35 11 21.4, W114 34 11.1) beneath the palm trees, with a balmy temperature this afternoon of 81 F (27C).

We came across several roadrunners as we entered our campsite, and I got this picture, but it's so hard to get a picture of them running like in the cartoons because they go so fast!

Once we were settled in and sitting out in the sun, these birds came along wanting a handout.  I think they are Great-tailed Crackles.  This black one is the male.

And this brown one, which is somewhat smaller is the female.

This is such a nice spot, sitting beside the Colorado watching all the water flow by that hydrates all the people of Southern California.  There's only the odd disturbance, like these jet skiers.

And the tour boat/casino that meanders up the river to the Davis Dam and back.  The Nevada side is devoid of human contamination, at least directly across from us.

Down stream a ways there are the casinos of Laughlin, Nevada.  But all the lights of the casino make a nice glow across the water.

There is usually very few campers along here by the water because it is dry camping, no electricity, water, or sewer.  So we can pick and choose, and we pick a site right near a cable that goes across from the Arizona to the Nevada side.  As dusk begins, a Cormorant flies in and lands on the cable.  Another follows awhile later, then another and another and another, until finally the cable looks like this picture.  We discovered this entertainment a few years ago.

Here's a few up close.

And here's a video (if it works on this Google blog thing.  It seems you have to press the start arrow more than once.  I can't find a way to make it any bigger either.).  The birds are really nasty.  As one comes in to land, others close by try to chase it away, and they fight and squawk.  But this video shows there are some love birds too.  The birds are all moving about, but as dusk draws on, they slowly quiet down and finally become very still.