I discovered that the Yuma Territorial Prison, a small relic of a building under the auspices of the Arizona State Park System (a badly-managed state agency) is closing at the end of March. With President's Day this weekend, I suggested to Kevin that we check it out before it becomes defunct. The prison and its neighboring depot were quite (in)famous in the second half of the 19th century. Yuma, now a run-down bordertown more associated with Mexico and river crossers, was once the first sign of civilization that immigrants sailing down from San Francisco saw, and the first major stop-over for prospectors traveling west into California in the 1850s.
It's really quite embarrassing that a state such as Arizona, with so much natural beauty here, has to close so many of its state parks due to its mismanaged state budget. Arizona will soon be a mini-California. Only money-generating state parks will remain open: nine will remain while 13 others will close. At the rate the current state legislature is going, Arizona will have only the Grand Canyon and artificially-irrigated golf courses open for the blue-haired crowd.
With the migration season in full swing, I also want to explore the marshes along the Colorado River. I hope to see a few waterfowl, and perhaps some golden or bald eagles. I've located a camping area on the California side, but hiking seems to be sparse as the terrain is mostly ancient volcanic basalt and void of any trees.
All this depends on the weather, though. We are getting rain as I write this, and for the third time in as many weeks, more snow is forecasted for the mountains and more rain forecasted for the valleys. Earlier today a thick white mass of clouds topped the peak of our mountains, but that mass of clouds sank lower and lower to the foothills as the day progressed. By 3pm it began drizzling in town and soon the entire mountain range was shrouded in fog.
My sister in the Baltimore area got 33" inches last week, then 15" last Friday, and the last I heard her area was getting snowed in again today. I'm glad I don't live on the East Coast anymore. I think I would have gotten tired of the cold after 24".
http://www.pr.state.az.us/parks/YUTE/history.html
http://www.pr.state.az.us/press/2010/PR_01-15-10.html
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