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We had a fun time at Yuma Lakes ending in a visit with Ron's old school friends from Kitimat. Leaving Yuma we drove past the Imperial Sand Dunes, California's largest mass of sand, extending 40 miles along the Imperial Valley, averaging 5 miles in width. Here you see the dunes with 2 people on ATV's at the top and the water filled aqueduct below.
You go through a Border check, where they are looking for illegals from Mexico. They just looked at our Canadian plate and waved us though. We drove up through the Imperial Valley, a beautiful farming area, here palm trees. Arrived back to DHSprings and didn't put anything out as rain was forecast for the next day.

A Good Time in Yuma

Well, we've been busy. We arrived Tuesday and settled in, met Roger and Myrna downtown at Chili's for lunch Wed., visited with Pete and Vicki Thur at Bonita Vista RV where they've stayed a month - a very nice park. I did my spring cleaning Thur and Fri which included washing all bedding, blankets and rugs and hanging them on the lines in the fresh air. I love it. It poured rain Sat morning but cleared so we did our grocery shopping later. Had R and M for a Prime Rib Roast here Sunday and they brought a delicious sugar free apple pie with frozen yogurt. Thank you. We visited Don and Debbie today at Westwind Park. Ron's busy watching curling and so am I, and hockey this week.
I always get a kick out of this park. They have about 10 driftwood pieces trussed up with boots and tails to look like horses and about 10 old wagons. I enjoyed sitting at the lake with the binoculars watching a heron and various ducks. Very peaceful.

Off to Yuma Lakes

We passed Picacho Peak on our way on the I 8, and who would have guessed - it was the site of Arizona's westernmost Civil War battle. Never even thought the Civil War came this far west. In 1862, a dozen Union soldiers defeated 12 Confederate cavalrymen. This 1500' peak was used as a landmark for travelers between New Mexico and California. The Mormon Battalion constructed the road used by the forty-niners and the Butterfield Overland Stage that went through here.


There are still lots of Saguaro in this area. These cactus are the ones with man-like shapes, a main stalk with 2 or more arms. There are 2 Saguaro National Parks in the Tucson area. Saguaro only grows in southern Arizona, along the Colorado River in California and in the state of Sonora an northern Mexico. Their prickly spines are actually highly modified leaves, trimmed down to prevent transpiration.


We arrived in Yuma in 5 hours. Considered the lettuce capital of the
world, here's fields of red and green lettuce, as neat as a pin.
We're in Yuma Lakes for 10 days.
If you are around, give us a call.

Goodbye to Tucson's Rincon West

After our busy day yesterday, we went to Don and Wendy's in Quail Creek Resort where they are for a month of golf. We all met in Crescent Beach in the early 60's, had our babies together and are friends to this day. Don made his famous spaghetti which he taught me how to make back then, but Nikki says Jim Coke taught her, but then Don said 'well I taught Jim'. Old, tried and true recipe and it was good.
Leaving tomorrow for Yuma. We've really enjoyed this park and the Tucson area.

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and Tubac

We went to see this magnificent place today in the Tucson Mountains. It has 2 miles of paths winding through natural habitats for the 300 live animals species. There are 1300 species of plants indigenous to the Sonoran Desert here. The cactus garden included Organ Pipe Cactus. The Prairie Dog families were fun as usual. I loved the Aviary with many birds I've never seen. Way behind the saguaro cactus, they are collecting water in ponds and trying to add to and restore the underground water table. There used to be beaver houses where the ponds are when Kit Carson came through many years ago. The water line is now 120' lower and the Santa Cruz river has disappeared. This was very interesting and well done.







Then we drove down to Tubac which was a Pima Indian village which meant 'sinking water' when the Jesuit Father Kino visited in 1691. A Presidio (first militarily base in Arizona) and mission were established in 1752 after the Pima revolted against the Spanish. Today it is the brick building seen behind the horse and rider and used as artists studios. The town is a haven for writers and artists and very interesting to visit.

Busy Place

Today the ladies had a Quilt Show, very well done. You had to judge your favorites and they were amazing. It finally dawned on me -I actually don't like quilts, they make me dizzy, but love fabric pictures and there were many. We ran into Penny and Bert from our Pacific Border RV Park at home and Brenda and Dave whom we met there in 2008, so joined them for happy hour, a delightful time.

Old Tucson Film Studios

To get here we drove through the Tucson Mountain Park on curvy, up and down roads just like a roller coaster. This place is so cool. Erected in 1939, this replica of 1860s Tucson was the location for more than 350 films and TV shows and is still in use today. We saw the gunfight in front of the old hotel, watched the show in the old Playhouse of the music from many films and saw a John Wayne tribute. We took a train ride around the entire area, passing an old train and a wagon like the ones the early pioneers used to come out west. I even stood in a coffin outside U.S. Marshall's office with 2 gunslingers beside me, next to the gallows. There was something going on at all times.

A Day in Rincon West

This is one of the nicest parks we're ever been in. Every single person you go past, greets you and smiles. Every room you go into, someone welcomes you, tells what's going on and invites you to join in. There are too many activities to list. There is a Railroad Garden where the railroad buffs run their trains daily. It is a delight to see the dear old engineers in their railroad caps with their remotes in their hands and 7 trains going around the tracks. It's a beautiful set-up.

Colossal Cave Mountain Park

We went to this beautiful 2,400 acre desert park today on the Old Spanish Trail. I took the tour of the crystal filled Cave, climbing up and down, around rocks, past stalagmites and strange formations, into several 'rooms' and past fault lines. There were many different formations and some small spaces to squeeze through. This is considered by some as the world's largest 'dry cavern'.
The Hohokam Indians sheltered here and in the 1853, outlaws hid out after robbing the Southern Pacific Railway of $62,000 of gold. Didn't see any.

DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun

We had a really nice visit with Nikki and Bill today and walked over to this studio. It is on a 10 acre foothills retreat at the base of the Catalina Mtns. It is an adobe complex with floors of cactus rounds, stone, brick and concrete. This acclaimed Arizona artist uses many bright colours and has a south western/Mexican style. I loved his work. His studio was re-enacted with a bottle of Chivas Regal by his easel. There was an outdoor chapel with a cross of the roof and a door made of saguaro cactus spines. It was pleasant wandering through the cactus garden with different sculptures and stars placed everywhere.

Mission San Xavier del Bac

This active Franciscan mission located on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation has been dubbed the 'Sistine Chapel of North America'. It was originally founded by a Spanish Jesuit Father Kino before 1700. Called the 'White Dove of the Desert', the structure is an impressive example of Spanish Colonial Mission architecture of the 18th century with domes, carvings, arches and flying buttresses. The walls and ceilings of the church are a classroom of religion and a feast for the eyes. St Francis Xavier is above the alter, Mary is in a side cove and St. Xavier depicted at his burial. Old doors and entrance latch are original. The church pews are smaller and have a scalloped wood back. there is a large cross on the hill above the mission seen through the arched wall. The Indian cemetery is just down the road. Through the arch in the courtyard you can see the cross up on the hill.
It sits on 14 acres deeded to the Roman Catholic diocese in an original grant signed by President Taft in 1910. You must remember that these 30,000 acres of New Mexico and Arizona was bought by paying the Mexican government $10 million in 1853 in the Gadsen Purchase to originally construct a transcontinental railway and make this area a part of the United States.

Historic Low Temperatures

Must have been our lucky day - the temp went down to 17 F / -8 C overnight. Could not believe it, simply freezing, it was warmer in Canada. Of course the hose from RV to the pipe was frozen solid so no water, thank heavens for the tank and pump. The park didn't shut off the fountain so that was frozen almost solid with the water still gurgling out. This was the coldest Feb. 3 here since 1910.