Day 4 Arizona West RV Park Yuma, Arizona

We packed our lunch and loaded up the bikes. We drove to the Yuma Historic Riverfront at West Wetlands Park. It was a little chilly and windy as we began, but the sun was shining!

I know two little boys who would love this playground!

There is a designated multi-use path that runs along the canals and the lower Colorado River.

Border Patrol searching along the water’s edge.

The Ocean to Ocean Bridge was the bridge that finally made it possible for travelers to cross the United States without taking a ferry to cross the Colorado River. Arizona on the right and California on the left.

I like these pictures because they show what much of the landscape in this area looks like…farmland, canals, gravel/dirt roads, and mountains ahead.

There is a lot of work going on to restore the area along the Colorado River. The river banks have been stabilized and trees and other native plants have been reintroduced. The best evidence that the project has been successful is the return of wildlife, particularly “wintering, migrating, and resident birds.” We saw snowy egrets, herons, hawks, osprey, hummingbirds, a roadrunner, and ducks. This hawk was perched in a tree before he took off to hunt for lunch.

This train engine is in the exact location where the first train came into Arizona in 1877.

We ate lunch overlooking the river and the rode our bikes to the Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park.

The view from the prison yard.

The watch tower.

The museum was very interesting. I spent a lot of time at the medical exhibit. The medical care the prisoners received was supposedly topnotch for the time.

Pill bag.

I also enjoyed the Bad Girls Exhibit.

The prison was ill prepared to accept women and it apparently caused a lot of trouble when women were incarcerated here…go figure!

We walked through the cell block.

The prisoners were treated surprisingly well. They learned skills during their confinement and they had flush toilets and electricity. Yumans were aggravated and called the prison the Country Club on the Colorado.

Train passing by as we toured.

Solar farm at the park.

We stopped at Sprouts Farmers Market on the way “home.” We had sushi for our dinner.