Yuma, Arizona: I don't know if you remember, but
last year DT and I spent Super Bowl in Yuma with my Dad and Mary - it was so much fun, we decided to do it again. Here is my report from this weekend:
We hated to leave lovely Borrego Springs yesterday. Five nights wasn't enough. We had such a great time, again! We hiked, ran, golfed, shopped. And dined. Tuesday we had tacos at Carmelita's. Diane made a lovely margarita. Wednesday found us seated at the bar at a very busy Carlee's, where I had a healthy salad and we ran into acquaintances from our last visit to Borrego Springs We visited the French Corner Thursday evening and had classic French dishes - duck confit and beef bourguignon. Not healthy, but delicious and the boys always remember us and are jealous our home in Oregon is in "pinot noir" country. We saved the Krazy Coyote for our last night, but our meals were just okay. Nothing special. I was a bit disappointed... but after all that exercise yesterday, I was probably just too tired to chew. I had a piece of grilled salmon. Feh.
The drive from Borrego Springs to Yuma is less than three hours and we had reservations at
Yuma Palms RV Resort. I should have known everything would not work-out as planned though - I was on the phone for 30 minutes a few weeks ago to make our two-night reservation at Yuma Palms. Seriously! I made sure to get the clerks name, because I had a feeling we would need someone to blame. The office at Yuma Palms is closed on the weekends (!), so they took our payment in full at the time I made the reservation and gave us our site number. I was instructed to give this information to the gate guard and he would escort us to our site.
The guard at
Yuma Palms RV Resort did indeed expect us and escorted us to our assigned site. Except... our site was already occupied! The guard was on a walkie-talkie for a while and then escorted us back to the "unhitching area" to wait until he could find us a site. There were no sites. The park was full. I don't know about you, but this sort of inefficiency is just irritating. Thirty minutes to make a two-night reservation (at a park we have stayed in many times before), taking full payment in advance and then not having a site is not the customer service one would expect from a classy park like Yuma Palms. I was in no mood to be driving around Yuma looking for another campsite.
After waiting around for a while, I finally drove the Honda to a supermarket to pick up a few things we would be needing for the Super Bowl Food-O-Rama tomorrow. By the time I returned, DT had been backed into a site that was UNDER CONSTRUCTION! It had full hookups though, so we are fine. The security guard told DT he would find a site for us tomorrow and we would move. DT told him we would NOT be moving - we were only here for two nights.
So why stay here? It is across the street from my Dad & Mary!
Kwityerbitchin, Terry.
So anyway... we went to dinner with Dad and Mary last night and had a lovely time, but there was no rest for us last night because Woody & Kathy's daughter was in labor! I napped between text and email updates. I am happy to announce Kathy & Woody are grandparents to a perfect little boy, Will. Isn't that just the best news!
Woody & Kathy with their first grandchild, Will
Baby Will
After more texting and emailing, I fell asleep and slept through my planned three miler. Oops. Well, life happens like that sometimes. Reader Paula stopped by this morning to introduce herself. Always great to meet new friends on the road!
Dad and Mary have a huge group of friends in Yuma at the RV park where Mary owns a spot. Every year this group throws a big Super Bowl party - before the game. They smoke two turkeys and fry four turkeys in oil. That is six turkeys, people. We were here last year, and didn't want to miss this fabulous food fest... so here we are! I brought
Green Chile & Jalapeno Pizza Rollups and a caprese salad.
Dad made
Jalapeno Poppers for the appetizer table. After everyone had enjoyed a few snacks, we played women v men in "baseball". Here I am "at bat" by tossing a bean bag through a board with holes marked with 1st, 2nd, 3rd base, home run, out, foul, etc... I was "up to bat" three times and struck out every time. Otherwise, it was a BLAST!
I'm not going to quit my day job
Mary was the first woman to throw over-hand
My Dad (in the hat) actually made it on base, as did My Driver
The men beat the women (for the first year ever!) 11-1, then it was time to eat!
All of the turkeys were out of the deep fryer.
The head chef, Chuck, carved the birds...
... perfectly. I wish this website had smell/taste-o-vision. The turkey was so tender, so juicy and the skin was so flavorful.
Drool.
Everyone brought side-dishes - this is just part of the salad section.
And then we ate. And ate. And ate. And ate.
40+ RVers, seated in an empty campsite - chowing-down on juicy turkey and delicious side-dishes. I am sorry, but I neglected to snap a photo of the dessert table. It was loaded with scrumptious sweets. I especially enjoyed a home made coconut cake and really want that recipe!
After the festivities, Dad and Mary came over to our RV to watch the game. I am still not sure who was playing or who won, but some of the commercials were funny.
Until my next update, I remain, your Yuma correspondent.
RV Resort: Yuma Palms RV Resort (see above).
