Hello From Yuma, AZ - 12/19/2010

Typical Sunset In Yuma

We haven’t updated our blog in quite some time so to those who don’t know, we left our home in Port Orchard around the end of October and headed south on our annual trek to our little home in Yuma. Since arriving, we have settled in with Karyl working 3 days in the park café and me (Ron) doing mostly nothing. I was playing a lot of Ping-Pong but about a month ago I badly hurt my knee going after a side shot. After going to the emergency room where they diagnosed it as a sprain I have been trying to strengthen the knee by lots of walking and bicycling but I think something bad has happened in the knee as I have a funny pain with certain positions. I can’t get it checked out until we return to Port Orchard because of my insurance limitations.

We took a short 4 day trip to some sights in SE Arizona, south of Tucson. We left Wednesday morning in our little Winnebago View motorhome and drove about 290 miles to Kartchner Caves state park and camped in the adjacent campground. That late afternoon we took the last guided tour of the day to go into the caves. There where only 2 others with us so we had the guide almost to ourselves when normally there are up to 20 people on a tour. These caves where first discovered in 1974 and became part of the Arizona State Park system in the late 1990’s. They have done a great job in developing the site and protecting the caves. We had to go through 3 airlocks before we entered the caves. This maintains a constant temperature of 70 degrees and a humidity in the 90’s. For further information click on: http://www.azstateparks.com/Parks/KACA/index.html

Kartchner Parks Campground

The next day we headed to the town of Tombstone, about 20 miles further south and parked in a campground across the street from the famous OK Corral. The town is very commercialized but still interesting with lots of gunfight shows and museums. We went to one gunfight show (disappointing), a mine tour, and the courthouse museum which was great. It was fun walking around the town and imagining how it was back in the 1880’s. That night we had our first rain since we arrived in Arizona over a month and a half ago. It sure smelled good to have moisture in the air but the next day was dry again.

We debated the next morning to stay another day in Tombstone or head further south to the town of Bisbee. We decided to make a day trip to Bisbee and after checking out the town head back to the Kartchner Caves campground to spend the night before heading back home to Yuma on Saturday.

Downtown Tombstone

Bisbee is another town that developed because of mining. Whereas Tombstone was developed because of silver mining, Bisbee’s mining was copper and it is said that more copper was pulled out of the area mines than any other mine in the US. Now the economy is based on tourism with many artsy-fartsy shops populated by 60’s hippies. When we arrived Friday morning, Karyl and I parted ways. She went to check out the shops and I went to the local museum. We got back together around lunch time and went to one of the local places that was recommended for its soup and sandwich fare. Afterwards, we walked around the town checking out the architecture. In this part of Arizona, it is very hilly, even mountainous and Bisbee is built on these hills. Some of the houses are way up and it looked like the only way to get to the house was up a huge flight of stairs, maybe 2 or 3 hundred feet up. The town claims it has the best climate in the country. Click on http://www.discoverbisbee.com/ for further information. That afternoon we drove back to Kartchner Caves campground for the night and Saturday morning we headed back to Yuma. All in all, a fun trip.

Downtown Bisbee, AZ


MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR