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Wednesday morning Rich got up and headed back down to Algadones to pick up his new glasses and I'm happy to report the glasses have turned out well. Rich was back around 10:00 a.m. so it was a quick trip with no waiting in line like yesterday.
I went to the exercise class and did a 4 mile walk, it was a very good and sweaty workout. By the time I got back to the 5er and got cleaned up, Rich was back from Algadones, so what to do with the rest of the day? We decided to go and check out some of the produce stands we saw when coming into Yuma.
We visited two stands and both of them were closing up shop this weekend. The farmers are switching from their winter crops of lettuce and vegetables to the summer crops of alfalfa and cotton. We came home with a ton of veggies like tomatoes, avocados, romaine lettuce, dates, grapefruit, lemons, strawberries to name a few. It was a lot of fun.
After lunch the afternoon was spent at the pool swimming and reading. We BBQ'd for dinner and then had a relaxing evening watching American Idol.
Thursday
Was a pretty kick back day. We did our exercise class and did a little exploring of some of the other RV parks in town and definitely decided we made the right choice to stay here at The Palms.
After our afternoon at the pool, I came back and made some fresh salsa and fresh guacomole with some of the produce we purchased yesterday. It was sure yummy.
The resort was having a Mardi Gras dance this evening so at the last minute we decided to check it out. The Palms has a lot of concerts and dances that the community can also attend and this was no exception. They had a live band that played very well and we really enjoyed. We sat at a table with a bunch of Canadians from the resort, we were the only Americans at our table. We have met quite a few Canadians this winter, I'm surprised at how many winter down here. We enjoyed the dance and were glad that we decided to attend at the last minute. In talking to one of the couples at the table, the dance was pretty lightly attended because a lot of people in the resort have already headed north.
Friday
Today after our exercise class we were headed to visit the Yuma Territorial Prison. It was a very interesting visit. Things are sure a lot different now days as far as comfort compared to what the prisoners experienced back in the late 1800's. The prison was only operated for 33 years before it was closed. I will attach a bunch of pictures we took today and let them tell the story.
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| Guard Tower, water cistern is located underneath the flooring of the tower to help keep the water cooler. |
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| View of Colorado River from the guard tower |
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| some of the prison cells |
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| Entrance to the museum |
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| cells held six inmates, the white bucket was their toilet |
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| more cells |
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| read the sign to see why they went to iron bunk beds instead of wood.....yuck! |
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| I think it would take a long time to saw through the iron on these doors, they were pretty sturdy. |
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| This is where you went when you misbehaved in prison. They stripped you down to your underwear and in you went with only one meal of bread and water, no bed or toilet. |
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| Standing just inside the doorway of the dark cell and it was very dark.... |
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| Inside of dark cell - and I have no idea what the metal in the center of the floor was for.....this is with a flash from the camera which is why you can even see anything. The only light in the cell was from a tiny hole in the ceiling....trust me, you didn't want to misbehave in this prison. |
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| Empty cell but you can see a prisoner etched their name in the stone on the back wall. |
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| I believe this is a woman's cell and yes, they did house women at this prison |
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| Trail to prison cemetary |
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| Prison cemetary grave sites, the piles of stones were the graves, yikes they look pretty shallow but luckily we didn't see any bones or anything like that..... |
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| Ocotillo bush - notice the bright orange blossoms at the tips and the rest of the plant looks like dead sticks with lots of thorns |
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| Look how big that cactus is |
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| Blooming cactus |
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| more cactus blossoms |
After our visit to the prison, we decided we needed a date shake. When we were at the produce stand on Wednesday we asked where we could get a good date shake and the answer was "Martha's Gardens". If you've never had a date shake, you should try one, even if you don't care for dates, they are wonderful.
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| Date orchard |
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| Home of the best date shake, they were very yummy |
After we got home we cooled off in the pool for a bit and then came back to the 5er and got ready for some visitors. We invited Doreen and Sandy to come by and help us eat up the fresh salsa and guacomole I made yesterday. Again, we had a very pleasant visit and hope to keep in touch. They are planning on coming back here to Yuma next year so we'll have to see if our paths cross again. If anyone is planning on visiting the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, they have a "suite" for rent - you can see the info here VillaNara Vacation Suite. They are a very nice couple and we enjoyed getting to know them a bit.
Tomorrow we are heading down the road, so our next post will be from Indio, CA.
Hi Kelly - we just got into Yuma last night (Sat night). Are you still here? Marilyn
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