Dad Dude & Yaya

A couple of dusty weeks parked in the desert in Yuma – actually at Pilot Knob RV Park in Winterhaven, California, a few miles west of Yuma. Main attraction here is the proximity to Los Algodones, Mexico and its supply of cheap medicines, eyeglasses, dental work and even plastic surgery. Hundreds of RVs litter the landscape on the American side of the border, “dry camped” in the desert on land owned by the local Quechan (Yuma) Indians.

Almost every day there’s a line-up to get into the parking lot at the border, where thousands of people walk across into the cheerfully hustling carnival/flea market that is Algodones. (Note: Algodones means “cotton pickers” – local laborers worked picking cotton on irrigated fields on both sides of the border.)

We’ve been over to Algodones twice – the first time was overwhelming: lots of friendly vendors inviting us to buy at “special price, just for you”. The second time we went to an optometrist and got Linda a new pair of glasses – eye exam and glasses cost $50.

We spent hours at the Yuma Crossing State Historical Park – there’s a lot to learn and appreciate here.

This is the quartermaster’s house – the wide porches surrounding the house helped keep the house cool in Yuma’s blistering summers.

Ken checks out an early model travel trailer.

A beautiful old steam locomotive.

Ken plays Casey Jones in the old steam engine.

Ken mugs in front of the steering wheel of a Colorado River paddlewheel steamboat.

We went to “Yuma Crossing Day” – a history-themed festival in Yuma. The main street was a pedestrian shopping mall with too much neat stuff to buy. Various local historical sites had events going on all day. There were “re-enactors” in period costume strolling around – everything from Spanish grandees to gunslingers to World War II soldiers.

We also spent time at the Yuma Territorial Prison State Park and toured the grim cells and exhibits, then enjoyed a “gunfight” staged by a couple of guys done up in Old West costumes.

There were 6 men in each cell – thin straw mattresses on hard board bunks.

We then went to the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation and toured the Quechan Indian Museum.

Then we went home and had a nap.

Tags: festival, History, Mexico, Travel

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 18th, 2006 at 1:47 pm and is filed under History, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.