History Lessons in Yuma

Today we were up and on the road early to visit the 1875 Yuma Territorial Prison museum state park.  We still squeezed in a swim and a hot tub before we left.  Kyle got to spend the day with Kurt and Laura (totally spoiled).


The museum had a volunteer curator that provided a walking tour with very colourful narration. He truly enjoyed his job and worked the part, I wish I had video taped some of it.  We learned a lot of history and he made it fun.  There were movie posters from the original '3:10 To Yuma' movie with Glen Ford and the remake with Russell Crowe. I will post a photo album and link to Facebook Album of Yuma Prison so that I can explain the photographs.  I don't like how this blog software manages pictures.


The tour took only an hour but we took another hour to read the information in the museum section.  On our way into the park we saw a sign for the Visitor Information Bureau so we split from our friends and elected to take a walk along the Colorado River and see if we could hook up with the bureau.  It was a long hot but lovely walk.  People were swimming in the river, cooking on the outdoor charcoal BBQs and just sleeping in the shade.  The birds were so vocal.  I will take the video camera on our next outings so we can record their voices.


We found the info bureau and it turned out to be part of a very large state park historical site.  The site was an Army Quartermaster Depot location way back when, but in the middle 1900s, in the time of President Roosevelt and the building of the Hoover Dam, they also dug an underground viaduct, under the Colorado River, to provide irrigation water for the farmland South of the Colorado River.  It was another engineering marvel of the time.  It is still used today.  I took a photograph of the water boiling up and forming the beginning of the irrigation canal from seemingly nowhere.  The park was free admittance! 


We asked the lady at the info centre where to go for the best local Mexican food.  She made two recommendations, both on the same street, just blocks from each other.  She deserves a medal.  We picked the closest and were treated to better than we ever had at the Mexican Resorts we have flown to over the years.  There was a full table of State Troopers finishing lunch when we arrived, so we knew it would be good.


I had sizzling Fajita and Kaye had meat ball soup and then the lunch special Enchiladas.   We laughed at the amount of food she put on the table, this after a basket of freshly cooked tortilla chips and salsa that were served as we sat down. The waitress brought us three 'take away' containers and the couple who sat down just as our food was served laughed and asked if they could just join us and share ! 


Kyle survived his day away from Mom.  He got a special snuggle time on the patio couch before we left Kurt's.  The salt water pool here is terrific and it was well used tonight multiple times.  Temp is going to pass 100F by the weekend.