We have heard of the Santa Ana winds, but never paid much attention because they didn't affect us in Michigan. Well, now we know!!!! The winds have been quite nasty here at Cocopah RV Resort in Yuma. Hopefully, when we move on to Tuscon this next week, the winds will be a bit better.
On to our adventures--we headed north on Rt. 95 to Lake Havasu. We just had to see the London Bridge. Land that is now Lake Havasu City was purchased in 1963. Lake Havasu was formed in 1938 by the completion of the Parker Dam which harnessed the Colorado River. Very interesting and neat city. The London Bridge was brought to this country piece by piece. Each piece was numbered so it could be placed the same as as it had been in London. What a jigsaw puzzle!! We walked across the bridge a couple of times and, of course, took lots of pictures.
On the way home that day we did stop in Parker. We took some pictures of the Colorado River and found a nice campground near a Casino. We didn't get to see the Parker Dam, as it is on the California side of the river. The Parker dam is responsible for Lake Havasu!
Just as an historical fact, hundreds of years ago the Colorado River was much larger and flooded its banks quite often which brought rich soil to the area around Yuma. That is why there is so much agriculture in this area. We have been lucky to see lots of romaine lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower being harvested by migrant workers. It is quite interesting to watch them work. Once group cuts the vegetable and another group comes behind them to put the produce in boxes. At our age, we don't think our backs would let us do that kind of work all day long!
We had heard and read about Quartzsite, Arizona, but weren't quite prepared for what we saw. We have now made two trips there and are absolutely amazed at all the RVs (motor homes, 5th wheels, trailers) that are camped out in the desert. There are hundreds of them all over the place. Now this is dry camping which means there are NO hookups--no electricity, no water or dump stations. There are folks that spend the entire winter here, but, of course, the camping is free, and they do have trucks that come around to empty holding tanks and bring in water! The town of Quartzsite is very small in the summer, but grows by thousands during the winter. There is one giant flea market which attracts folks from all over the country. We were told that there are as many as 500,000 campers that stay during the special event which was an RV show. That is one mass of humanity in one area!
Downtown Yuma was host to several craft and gem shows during our stay. Yes, we had to go to them and see just what was there. Among other things C got a pretty handmade Peruvian opal necklace. It's interesting to see some of the creative talent that folks have.
We did have to try our hand at one of the casinos in the area. As "old folks" we got $10.00 on the house to start off. We promptly lost that and had to donate a bit more. We plan on going one more time before we leave.
Twice a year the Marine Corps Air Base here in Yuma offer a tour of the base. We took advantage of the offer and enjoyed a bus tour of the base and got to see some of the aircraft that the Marines use, including a drone. We also got a demonstration of the working canine corps. Those dogs are amazing.
Since we're staying on Cocopah Indian land, we made a trip to see their museum. Cocopah means "river people" and it was interesting to learn of their background. The reservation has their own police force and we see them patrol our park quite often.
We complain about the wind, but the weather here is very nice, most of the time. There has been no rain since we've been here and the sun shines every day. The wind blows a day or so, then it goes away. We have been able to enjoy the very nice pool here and also to have our "happy hour" each day sitting outside.
We will be leaving here Febuary 3 for Tucson. More later!
No comments:
Post a Comment