Christmas 2012

In our holiday jamies on Christmas Eve.  This year the boys got plaid and the girls got polka dots. From left to right:  Serene (Shad's twin sister), Jim, Bev, son Paul, daughter Ashley, grand daughter Mia, SIL Shad.  Grandson Marshall was sleeping.

Another jamie shot.

Three-year-old Mia has a great Christmas morning.

It doesn't get much better than a castle that's 
also a marble game.

Bev and Jim with a gift of home made goodies sent by 
daughter Season and SIL Lee of Portland, OR.

Marshall.

Shad and Marshall.

Paul in a reflective mood.

Ash and Marsh.

Mia and Grandpa.

Going home for the holidays

Whoa!  I haven’t posted since Saturday.  Since then we’ve gone to a movie (Lincoln at the matinee at the Yuma Palms Mall - it was packed and we may have been the youngest people there.  Then again, I may be flattering ourselves); to the Yuma Downtown Farmers' Market; to a couple of farm stands between the Yuma Proving Ground where we are staying and the city of Yuma (Jim is now an affectionado of date bread); and we visited another nearby wetlands called Mittry Lake.  

Plus we've been cleaning the rig prior to storing it here at the army base and heading home in the tow car for the holidays.  We leave tomorrow morning. I probably won’t be posting often, if at all, until we are back on the road in early January.  Merry Christmas everyone!  Have a wonderful holiday and talk at you next year.

A coyote staring at us on our way to Mittry Lake.  What Jim really wants to see is a burro.  I may have to buy him one.

Mittry Lake near Yuma on the lower Colorado River between that river's  two southernmost dams (Laguna and Imperial).  The Laguna Dam was the first dam built on the Colorado River.  

Ducks on Mittry Lake.

Jim on the Mittry Lake dock.

And Happy 92nd Birthday yesterday to my Mom.

Wellton, AZ

Yesterday was a “let’s drive and see what we find” day.  

We decided to go to Wellton, a small town east of Yuma and about 40 miles from where we're staying at the Yuma Proving Ground.  We’d read that it has a lot of RV communities and Jim had researched nearby hiking routes.  So we just wanted to take a look.

About 1800 people live in Wellton year round but the population doubles when the winter snowbirds show up.  The town’s amenities are very basic:  a small grocery store, a Circle K, a school, a thrift store. 

  

The main event for us was a hiking trail in the nearby Muggins Mountains.  We weren’t prepared to hike -- I was carrying my pink purse (Jim says I have to get a different one; he doesn't think it makes me look I’m prepared for anything except Nordstrom) and wearing my canvas Toms.  And we didn’t have any water.  But we just wanted to find it for “next time.”  

We drove on roads that took us through all sorts of lettuce, broccoli, and other vegetable fields where harvest was in full force. After the paved road we took a rough, hilly, dirt road to the trail head.  Jim was driving;  he watched the road for potholes and cliffs, while I looked ahead in case another vehicle was headed our way on the very narrow road.  I didn't see any cars, but I did see a man walking with hand weights like he was on his daily exercise walk.

Turns out he was a local vegetable farmer (my dad was a farmer, too, but I can’t visualize him walking the back 40 carrying dumb bells - what do you think, Mom?) who had lived in Yuma all his life  Anyway, we walked with Mr. Farmer toward the trail head and got a short history lesson plus some hiking trail tips. 

Holiday decorations in downtown Wellton, AZ.

Bev on the trail.  Jim made me hide my purse for the photo.

Jim taking a photo of what Mr. Farmer called  Coronation  Peak. He said the conquistadors named it that because it looked like Queen Isabella's crown.  Per Mr. Farmer, the explorers sent the queen a drawing of the peak that is still in possession of Spanish royalty.

Coronation peak as it looks from the lettuce fields.  

I snapped this shot of harvesting equipment as we drove back from the trail head.  

Christmas decorations at the Moore Farm.

The irrigation here continues to fascinate me.  You can see the deep trenches between rows (or in this case between about three rows) that are sometimes completely filled with water. We think this crop might be cotton.