January 30 to February 3, 2009 – Yuma and More

What a wonderful couple of days. Thanks so much to Sandy and Raul for showing us the area and spending time with us. You are wonderful.

So this is what we have been doing:

On Friday (30th), we took a drive to a number of different places and saw some beautiful areas. We first went to the Imperial Wildlife Area:

What a contrast of the greenery in the desert:

Next up was Martinez Lake. It was like an oasis in the desert:

As we traveled to our next destination, we went thru the Yuma Proving Grounds. During World War II, many military were trained here by General Patton because he believed this desert was very much like those of Libya and Africa. There were a number of tank displays and it was really interesting to walk thru them.

Notice the dust in the background – it is a tank on training maneuvers:

From there we went to Senator Wash Reservoir, Imperial Dam, and Squaw Lake areas. These areas are part of the BLM lands here and many people camp here. It is another good option for us.

More sites:

And we even saw a wild burro:

On our way back, we stopped at the Imperial Date Farms, took a break, and munched on dates and date shakes. Here are the date palms:

We finished up our day with a stop at the local casino. What a wonderful day with good friends and family.

On Saturday (31st), we took a ride to the Imperial Sand Dunes in CA. These dunes are amazing. Some of them are over 300 feet high. There were a lot of people camping in the area and many 4 wheeling thru the dunes (we may even try it with the Tracker some day -:-)):

Notice the fence – the Mexican border:
We stopped by the remains of the plank road. This road was a moving road used to transport vehicles over the sand:

We spent the rest of the day and evening just enjoying the warm weather and each other’s company.

On Sunday (1st), we went to a great breakfast at another casino and played a little bit (no, we didn’t win anything). We went back to Sandy’s and Raul’s and they showed us around their complex. We saw this little roadrunner:

And of course, watched the Super Bowl – what a game!!!

On Monday (2nd), we went to Algodones, Mexico. It was a pretty neat little town – lots of shops and some really good price. I bought a purple (yes, ladies, purple) purse!
The town:

We had breakfast at a quaint little café and supper at Sandy’s and Raul’s – mmmmmm, great food!

Today, Tuesday (3rd), we have spent the morning and afternoon doing the normal household choirs and getting caught up with bills, blog and email. Tonight the four of us are going out to dinner and tomorrow we are heading to the Slabs.

We have had a great time here in Yuma – Thank you Sandy and Raul – and we will be back.