Mittry Lake near Yuma, AZ

Mittry Lake is a favourite spot of ours, especially for relaxing and enjoying the views. Part of the Colorado River, the lake is north of Yuma and well used by locals for fishing and boating. It's also near the Yuma Proving Grounds so we often hear test explosions and see military planes flying overhead.

This is our bad weather day, so we hike into the rocky hills south of the lake, taking advantage of the cooler temperatures thanks to the clouds. This canal runs through the hills to the many farms in Yuma, which is known as the "lettuce capital of the world". Workers are havesting the lettuce now.

photo P1120473 left justified] If one cairn marks the trail, what do a dozen mark? This hilltop has a row of these cairns for no reason we can imagine other than someone likes building them or it's a silent competition between hikers.

photo P1120475 left justified] Many of the campers along Mittry Lake are Canadian, and we have heard that Yuma's snowbird population is 60% Canadian. So we aren't really surprised to see our flag flying along this trail.

I think when we were here last year, we caught the rising of the full moon. And here's another one. This is the view from our campsite.

What would a trip to Yuma be without a trip to Martha's Gardens for a date shake? It would be unfulfilling - emotionally and physically.

The Wetlands trail runs through town along the Colorado River, and Brad and I hike it during a very hot afternoon. We then have an early dinner (since lunch was a date shake) at Da Boyz in historic downtown and return to Gateway Park to get this picture of the Ocean to Ocean Highway bridge. These are two bridges - one for vehicles and one for trains. Yuma was historically significant as one of the few crossings of the once mighty Colorado River. Today, irrigation consumes much of the water and dams control its flow.

Quartzsite, AZ

A panoramic shot of most of the rigs in our group (there are more to the right of us and under me since I'm standing on our roof to take this photo!) in Quartzsite, Arizona. This is a huge meeting place for RVers with numerous shows and swap meets occuring in January. We come to meet with our friends and enjoy social activities (aka drinking and eating).

Marguerita Night! Grilled quesadillas, margueritas, a pinata, a huge campfire and fabulous friends - life doesn't get much better!

Octogenarian Lee taking the first crack at the pinata. It took three people and about 8 whacks to open it up, and then we scrambled like a bunch of 5 year olds for the candy.

The entire group. Many thanks to great friend Carol Dwyer for herding the unruly cats so this shot is perfect! Carol is a wonderful professional photographer and we appreciate her generosity sharing this photo.

A day trip to the Desert Bar outside of Parker, Arizona. An abandoned mine site 6 miles from the highway in the desert, down a bumpy 4x4 dirt road, now a weekend/daytime only bar with live music and good food, not to mention good times with good friends.

A great pic of our circle and outlying RVs taken from Dave's drone (are we circling the wagons?). RVers love their toys! Dave also did a video of the RV Circle with his drone.  (Some of us are on the periphery; we are in the back centre.)

Most of the RVers here rarely boondock (park without water and electrical hookups), so this annual gathering is a challenge for some (it's not easy to make 100 gallons of water last for 2 weeks or watch the football game on battery power). For those of us who boondock all the time, the challenges are different. We have to learn how to reside in close proximity with others. I mean, that's why we boondock - to be ALONE! So for us, Quartzsite is all about socialization while ignoring the fact that we have to share our space. Still a good time catching up with friends.