We were
pretty busy during our time in Yuma: lazy
mornings, pool time and then happy hour. We met a couple from near Dawson Creek
and spent some time with them, but we did manage a few day trips in the area.
We went to ‘the Annual Peace Country picnic’, saw a few people we knew and some
familiar looking faces. On our trip out past the proving grounds we happened upon a date plantation, Denis tried a date
shake. We saw a movie with Marj and Herb, we really enjoyed visiting with them, we felt a little sad to say good bye (for 3 months)! We also connected with Ed, Denis’ former boss for a drink. We visited the
Yuma Territorial Prison museum, the old downtown and Prison Hill Brewery. We
spent a Saturday at the Boogie, Brews & Blues Festival and another day we
went to a Civil War re-enactment at the Quartermaster Depot. We spent a couple
afternoons at the Swap Meet and the Marketplace.
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| Denis in Yuma prison, note the thickness of the walls |
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| Old pals sharing a drink |
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| Beautiful day of Blues, luckily we managed to get our chairs in the shade! |
The last two
weeks we’ve been in Casa Grande and have continued the hectic pace. We went
into the Snowbird Extravaganza in Mesa, some great entertainment and some not
so great. We visited the Casa Grande ruins, which are in Coolidge not Casa
Grande. We have attended a few functions at the resort: an Elvis Impersonator, Valentine’s
dance & a sock hop. We drove to visit the cliff dwellings at Tonto National
Monument and continued on to Roosevelt Lake and Canyon Lake to Tortilla Flats.
The drive along the lakes, which are created by dams on the Salt River, was
spectacular; 22 miles of twisty, rough, narrow gravel and steep elevation
changes, but very worth the time. We have taken a few drives in the area, one
to Eloy to watch skydivers, they were amazing. My sister, Paula & her
husband, Tim are here for the month of February so we’ve been able to spend
some time together. This resort is very
friendly and we’ve met our neighbours from Michigan and the Donnelly area as
well as several other couples from Alberta. We’ve been told that this park is
40% Canadians.
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| Ancient Casa Grande Ruins |
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| Cozy cliff dwelling |
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| They definitely had a beautiful view! |
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| A straight stretch of the road to Tortilla Flats |
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| This was a few minutes after the previous picture |
Tomorrow we
are back on the gypsy trail heading towards Tucson. Denis needs to see the
aviation boneyard and a missile site south of there as well as a few other
sights we missed on our way through last time.
