Yuma Territorial Prison

While in Yuma, we decided to take a tour of the Yuma Territorial Prison. This prison was operational from 1876 until 1909. During that period, 3,069 prisoners, which included 29 women lived there. From 1910 to 1914 the Yuma Union High School occupied the buildings. They were referred to as the Criminals by a rival football team from Phoenix, because they won the game. Thereafter they referred to themselves as the "Crims."





After the depression the prison fell into disrepair. The community rallied and fought to preserve it as a city museum. Today it is owned and maintained by the State of Arizona as a State Park. It was an amazing place to see, as I wasn't prepared to see what it was like back then to be in a prison. Local people referred to the place as a country club. It is hard for me to imagine why anyone would think so when looking at the sleeping accommodations. Even with the passage of time, you can clearly see that this was not an easy life. Many of the crimes such as, adultery, prize fighting, and selling liquor to Indians, would not even be considered a crime today.






This building holds many artifacts from the prison. Many pictures showing the administrators, prison guards as well as some of the prisoners line the walls.

This is the main guard house.

Main entrance to the prison. I saw these buildings in an old pictures and they haven't changed much in appearance.

Pictures of prison guards and superintendents of the prison.

This small cell held 6 prisoners. Notice the triple bunk on either side. Pot in the center was all they had for bathroom while in cell. No privacy here.

Another area and more bunks.

Hallway with cells on either side.

No......It's not an electric chair. It is a very tattered barber's chair.

One of the prison yards.

Al had to bend way over to go through this. We were told that a movie called "The Badlands" was filmed here in 1958. Alan Ladd starred in it and this doorway was made for that movie. It was made short in order to make him look taller than he actually was.

Not sure what this cell was about, but only 2 beds in here.

I took a lot of pictures while we were here. It was difficult to choose which ones to show. I was thinking that showing what the actual prison was like for the prisoners was the best way to go. I could make a whole other blog on the artifacts in the museum, but I don't think I will. This place really left me feeling very sad. Even though these people did break the law, life here seemed very in-humane to me. I guess I'm glad we visited here, but I don't plan to return for another visit.

Castle Dome Mine Museum

Castle Dome Mountains.

On a recommendation from friends, Dick and Jackie, we decided to take a little drive about 40 miles north of Yuma to this cute little ghost town. The name of the place was The Castle Dome Mine Museum. It was even better than we expected. The remains of Castle Dome Landing were originally located on the banks of the Colorado River. The property which was previously Castle Dome Town and Mining camp was purchased in 1994 by Allen and Stephanie Armstrong and turned into the Castle Dome Museum. There are over thirty restored and recreated buildings. Seven are original to the Town. Those that were rebuilt, were built from old materials that would match the type of materials used back in the day. At one time there were more people living in this city than in Yuma. The Castle Dome Mountains made such a pretty backdrop to the whole atmosphere. I took a lot of pictures, and it was difficult choosing which ones to put up on this blog.

The admission charge for the museum was $6.oo and for an additional $4.00 we also took a walking tour of the mining area which was located across the road. This included some old mines, a graveyard and more buildings. This is definately a "must see" when visiting Yuma.

Not too much is left of these vehicles. Al says his first car was similar to the one on the right, only it was in much better condition and drivable.

There were neat walking paths between all the buildings. Notice the mountains in the background.

There was great attention to detail in these buildings and you could go in each one. Lots of neat stuff inside.

The Cook House

Kitchen Inside the cook house

This room definitely has a women's touch.

Sheriff's office located here.

More buildings and a courtyard. No grass to mow!

Loved the different roof lines and sizes and shapes of the buildings, as well as the one in center with a stone front.

Yuma, Arizona

Our main purpose for coming to Yuma was to attend the Passport America Rally held here a couple of weeks ago. The Rally was ok, but not really our type of thing. We had a good enough time though, in spite of the fact that it lacked in organization. The food wasn't great either, but the music was excellent.

There were three different bands playing here at the Yuma County fairgrounds where the rally was held. This is a local band called "Slick Nickel." All of them were excellent and mostly Country music was played.

One night for dinner we were served Cowboy burgers (hamburgers) and giant onion rings. Now, these onion rings were pretty good!!

After the rally, we decided to check out an area we heard about where we could boondock. We are only about 10 miles out of town in an area called Yuma Lakes. It is more of a pond than a lake, but is very nice here.

On our way back and forth to town, we pass by these cute sheep.

Lots and lots of palm trees around here.

We visited the Arizona Marketplace with our friends, Carol and Al from the Montana group. This is a flea market that is opened only Thursday through Sundays. It is huge! We didn't buy much, but did find a few things at a good price.

The two Al's checking out what I call "man toys"!!!

We met up with another couple from our Montana Owner's group, Dick and Jackie. They suggested we go to Lutes Casino in Old Town Yuma. They hadn't been there, but they had heard about it from friends who live in the area. It was a crazy kinda place (a must see kinda place) with all kinds of paraphernalia hanging off the ceiling and the walls. We had a really nice time visiting with them and a really nice lunch. We walked around the town together and checked out a couple of the stores there.

This is the building, Lutes Casino. It really isn't a Casino anymore, just a fun place to go and eat and hang out.

More of Old Town Yuma.

I guess you could say that Old Town Yuma has some modern features. Nicely landscape round-about.

Al insisted on taking this picture of me. It reminded him of Martha's Ice Cream back home! They also have a giant Chicken out in front of the place.


It had been a while since I updated the blog, but we are enjoying it here in Yuma, AZ. The weather has been fantastic. The sun shines everyday and it has been in the 70's and 80's. We decided to hang out here a while longer, as we really haven't checked out the area much, plus we really like it here. Later!

Old Town San Diego-Trolley Tour

We had a great time in San Diego and only wish we could have stayed longer. On our last day there, we met up with some friends from the Montana Club, Coleen and Ray. We had a great time touring the area. Since Coleen used to live in San Diego many years ago, that was an added bonus. It was a fairly nice day even though it had been raining the day before, and there were forecasts of more rain over the next few days. We were happy to spend time with our friends, and we were able to get a nice tour of the city and now have some ideas of where to go on our next visit. The San Diego Zoo is on the top of that list. We took the trolley ride which last about 2 hours if you don't get off and on. So, since we didn't start until around 12:30 pm, we decided to stay on it and only get off at a couple of locations. The tour guide pointed out places of interest on the trip, and we will probably just drive to the various locations next time we go there.







View of Bay from the San Diego/Coronado Bay Bridge

Another view of the bay and the city

This is the famous Hotel Del Coronado. This is the view from the street side.

There are many museums in this city. This one is "The History of Man"

This is another view from the trolley on the bridge.

We stopped at a Mexican Restaurant in Old Town. We were surprised that we were the only people eating there. It made us a little nervous, but the waiter told us this is their slow time. I don't remember the name of the place, but the food was excellent!

We started our tour in Old Town State Historic Park. Old Town San Diego is considered the " birthplace" of California. In 1968 the State of California purchased this property to preserve it's rich heritage that was considered San Diego from the 1821 to 1872 era. While waiting to meet up with Coleen and Ray, we were able to walk through the town and try to capture it with our camera. All is a short distance. You had your choice of unique shops, historical buildings, and restaurants. This is also where we started the trolley tour, so we also ended our day here and stopped for a fabulous meal at the Mexican Restaurant.

This is the General Store in Old Town

Another building in Old Town

We didn't have time to go into all the stores, but I think they still sell boots here.

We liked this flowered bush. Not really sure what it is called.

Grocery store

I heard this is a good place to eat!

Lots of little stores and shops in Old Town.