Palm Canyon

Palm Canyon is located about 20 miles South of Quartzsite Arizona. Perhaps the only native palm trees within Arizona are tucked away in this narrow, rugged canyons on the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. Since Palm Trees do not produce annual growth rings like shade trees, it's very diffcult to say how old the trees might be. In Palm Canyon, the palm trees are able to survive in the narrow side canyons where direct sunshine is limited but some moisture is available. The survival of these trees is directly dependent on the mircoclimate in this protected canyon. The walls of the canyon a formed from rhyolite, a volcanic rock.

Yuma Territorial Prison

We visited the Yuma Territorial Prison when in Yuma. The prision was in operation from July 6, 1876 until September 15, 1909. this prison has been written about in many western storis and movies. The living conditions at the prison are very diffcult, and add the summer heat (in tripple digits) with no air conditioning. For this time in history this was a very secure prison with cell wall amost two feet thick and reinforced with steel. In the following picture you can see the amount of steel reinforcing they used in the partical walls. This steel was intended to stop inmates from digging through the walls and get into the prison yard. There were also adobe walls around the prison yard.

London Bridge is not falling down

The London Bridge was bought by an American businessman and dismantled in London and reconstructed, block by block, in Lake Havasue Arizona. The bridge was reconstructed on dry ground and the channel was dug under the bridge after the bridge was reconstructed. The channel created a resort island in Lake Havasue.

Hiking in Red Rock Canyon

Red Rock Canyon is just west of Las Vegas Nevada. There are no slot machines and you can see the great out doors. As most poeple are aware looking out side is not possible from inside a Casinio in Las Vegas. This was a easy day trip about 20 miles west of Las Vegas. The nearest cloud was over Colorado five hundred miles away.

Quartzsite, AZ

Well we are now in Quartzsite, AZ. I guess it is all that I expected. For those of you who are RVer's, this is a camping mecca. However I think the season really has not started yet. I guess it really starts after the holiday season is over. For everyone else, there are RV's of all makes and kinds that are parked out in the desert whereever they like for nothing. They also have no hookups, meaning no water, no electricity, and no sewer and it is called boondocking. Most of the RV's have a generator and some have solar panels to generate electricity. Joe & I are not ready to go that route yet. We are probably what you call wimps. We are staying in an RV park with all the amenities, such as electricity, water, sewer, laundry etc. We will wander out in the desert and take pics and post them later.