November 21-22, 2011 - Yuma

November 21

We woke this morning to this cute RV near us:

 

After packing up and saying our “see you laters” to Lynne and Fred, we heading on south thru the rocks and desert:

To Yuma.  What always amazes me when we come south from Quartzsite is that as we travel, there is desert on both sides – very little green.   Then just as we get close to Yuma, we turn a corner and the landscape flattens out and there is farming all over.  What a contrast.

From the internet:

With mild winters, little danger of hard frost and more than 350 days of sunshine a year, Yuma County enjoys the longest growing season in the country. And while the winter is notable for the emerald and ruby patchwork formed by vast vegetable fields, something is either growing or happening in Yuma county fields even during the hottest months of the year.

One reason is because those fields - sediments deposited by the Colorado River over millions of years - have some of the most fertile soil in the country.

But with less than three inches of rainfall annually, water was the missing component, though the mighty Colorado flowed nearby. The Bureau of Reclamation's first big water project in the West gave nature a hand, with construction of the first dam on the Colorado and completion of the Yuma Siphon - delivering water through a huge tunnel built under the riverbed - in 1912, the same year Arizona became a state.

Now, of the 230,000 acres of land utilized for agriculture in Yuma County, 100 per cent are irrigated with Colorado River water delivered by one of the county's seven irrigation districts. Every single field in the county is also laser-leveled and graded using GPS technology, making Yuma's irrigation network one of the most efficient in the world.

All this has made Yuma County first in the state - and THIRD IN THE NATION - for vegetable production. In fact, about 90 percent of all the leafy vegetables grown in the U.S. from November through March are grown in and around the Yuma area.

To put this in perspective, the Yuma area is home to nine salad plants that produce bagged lettuce and salad mixes. During peak production months, each of those plants processes more than two million pounds of lettuce per day.

http://www.visityuma.com/agritourism.html

And the pictures:

We are camped at the Yuma Lakes RV Resort, a Colorado Rivers Adventure Park.   Since we are now members, we have decided to check them all out.  So we will be here for about 2 weeks.

Once we set up and made our rounds to the grocery stores, it was now family time.  Our daughter and her family from Everett, WA are visiting with her in-laws.   For those of you who follow our blog, you know that we usually visit the in-laws and our friends, Sandy and Raul, when we are in this area.  This year it will be nice to have a family Thanksgiving.

Here are the girls:

The boys:

Andy and Sandy:

What a wonderful day!

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 88 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Arizona: Hi-Jolly; AZ-95 South; South Laguna Dam Road; E County 6th Street; Yuma Lakes Resort

 

November 22

Today was a hang around the park day.  For us, we have seven days to decide whether we want this membership and we wanted to check this park out thoroughly since this will be one of the main ones we use.

Here is our site:

Pretty roomy.  This is the view out our front window:

Now I know we are on an end and may not have a view like this all the time but as we walked around, it is okay.

I did the laundry – laundry facilities are pretty good – just like an Escapee Park.  Then this afternoon, I went to the beading group – great bunch of ladies.  So I will be joining them next week.

From there I took a walk around the park.  They have these neat “animals” made from trees:

The clubhouse, pool, hot tub, and restaurant:

The lake:

   

I stopped at the office to get more questions answered – so far so good.

The restaurant serves meals that are extremely reasonable.  Tonight was hamburger night – a cheeseburger, potato salad, macaroni salad, and chips for $3.50 – can’t beat it.  We sat with another couple who have been members since 2003 and basically picked their brains on the membership.

So are we going to keep it? – yes, I think so.   Is is the best for us? – Well, only time will tell.    So far, I am impressed with this park – lots of activities and the people are very friendly – sort of like an Escapee Park.

Tomorrow we are off to Algodones for dental work for Andy so stay tuned.

Enjoy today.