Contrary to the traditional English nursery rhyme, London Bridge isn’t falling down; it’s in Arizona. Lake Havasu City, to be precise. Quoting from the Wikipedia article:

London Bridge is a bridge in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. It was originally built in the 1830s and formerly spanned the River Thames in London, England. In 1968, the bridge was purchased from the City of London by Robert P. McCulloch. McCulloch had exterior granite blocks from the original bridge cut and transported to the United States for use in the construction of a new bridge in Lake Havasu City, a planned community he established in 1964 on the shore of Lake Havasu. The Arizona bridge is a reinforced concrete structure clad in the original masonry of the 1830s bridge. The bridge was completed in 1971 (along with a canal), and links an island in the Colorado River with the main part of Lake Havasu City. The “rededication” of the London Bridge took place on October 10, 1971.

There’s more info (including a video of inside the hollow bridge) on the visitor information site.

We visited London Bridge while staying nearby for the Xscapers Annual Bash:

Lots of locks:

Driving over the bridge wasn’t anything special; it’s just like any other bridge from the top, other than the UK flags:

We walked by and below it:

The historic London Bridge with palm trees made for an interesting juxtaposition.

We visited the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona.

We didn’t realize it, but they had a big “Chihuly in the Desert” glass exhibit throughout the gardens; here’s an info sign:

We enjoy Chihuly’s work, having encountered them several times elsewhere, so it was nice to see them:

There are of course lots of cacti in the gardens, too:

The little yellow boxes each contain a candle, for an evening event. There were thousands of them around the gardens. That’d be a lot of work to set up and light!

A selfie:

Nice cuddly heart-shaped prickly pear cactus (my favorite kind of cacti):

An indoor Chihuly exhibit:

Funky top; a picture from the other side later:

Dead:

They had some demonstrations of structures from various desert cultures:

The other side of that funky top cactus:

We bought a little Christmas cactus at their gift store, to serve as our desert-themed Christmas tree in the coach:

We headed up the mountain near where we were staying, to the south of Phoenix, imaginatively called South Mountain. At its base is a photo op called Scorpion Gulch:

It’s the ruins of an old trading post and house:

Then we continued up the road:

To Dobbin’s Lookout, a viewpoint at the top of the mountain, with a nice view of Phoenix:

A selfie:

We visited the Japanese Friendship Garden of Phoenix, a small Japanese-style garden near downtown. Not as large or tranquil as the Portland Japanese Garden, but still rather nice.

We took a selfie (the red dot is proof of entrance payment):

The pond:

Ducks:

Koi:

Gate:

Stream:

Shishi-odoshi (deer scarer):

Waterfall:

Fish sculpture:

Cascade:

Bamboo fence, rain chains, etc:

Tea house:

Pond:

Tower:

Interesting rocks on the edge of the pond (and more ducks):

Bridge:

Koi:

We visited the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site, about half an hour from our campground in Arizona:

Info signs:

Petroglyph rocks:

The adjacent campground has some picnic shelters, vault toilets, and dry camping sites. We couldn’t stay here, though, as there was no cell signal; we need our internet!

Brochures and shelves of books for campers: