2009 MCAS Yuma Airshow

We spent a warm sunny day at the Marine Corps Air Station Yuma as one of their many guests for the day. This was their 47th annual air show and a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the air station. There were many aircraft on display, some amazing aerial acts and a breathtaking ending. The Commemorative Air Force put on "Tora, Tora, Tora" a live re-enactment of the Dec 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. At the end of the show a Marine pushed the plunger that started the record breaking Wall of Fire, at 10,173.8 feet. It was 15 stories high and we could feel the heat from it.

A perfectly restored B-17

A Marine Rescue Helicopter doing a demonstration rescue.

Navy F/A-18 Hornet simulating a landing on an aircraft carrier.

Looks like he's trying to land the Piper Cub on top of the pick-up truck.

Got it on the second try. Not any room for error.

Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier demonstrating it's vertical take off capabilities by hovering like a helicopter.

After posing nicely for the photos, he took off almost straight up and disappeared into the sky above. Traveling to over 13,000 feet in a matter of seconds. Very impressive!

A Super Pitts showing off for the crowd.

KC-130 Hercules tanker plane, refueling 2 Harrier Jets. What precision.

B-1 Bombers doing a fly by.

B-1 with it's wings back doing a fast fly by.

Air Force Heritage Flight with a P-51 Mustang from WWII and F-16 Falcon.

The Wall of Fire with replica Japanese Zeros.

This world record should hold for quite a while, as this was possible here because of their very long flight line, more than 13,000 feet. This is an alternate landing site for the space shuttle.

Ocean Beach, California

This is the day our daughter flew out of San Diego airport to head back home. We spent some time at Ocean Beach as it had been quite a few years since she had been to the Pacific Ocean. We wandered around the shops, took a walk on the long pier, and stayed to watch the sunset.

Looking back at Ocean Beach from the pier.

A nice little bus from Hodad's, a now famous eating establishment.

Our daughter enjoying the sand after a winter of snow.

Back up quick or your jeans will get wet!

The Ocean Beach Pier. The longest concrete pier on the west coast at 1971 feet. It was built in 1966 and is now used by many fishermen and tourists.

A colorful end to a wonderful week with our "favorite" daughter.

Mining History near Yuma

This area has numerous abandoned mines which are fun to visit. Most of the ruins have been vandalized over the years and there's not much left as the pictures of the Tumco Gold Mine area show. A nice surprise was the Castle Dome Mines Museum. It is a re-created ghost town with each building being it's own museum. Unlike most museums, the many artifacts are out for visitors to examine and enjoy. A few items are in locked cases, but that is the exception. Castle Dome mined silver galena starting in 1862.

A few of the two dozen buildings in the town with Castle Dome in the background. Along with the church shown here, you can visit the Sheriff's Office and Jail, the Mercantile, a Dentist's Office (ouch), a dress shop, the 2 story Hotel and more.

Our daughter at the hotel saloon.

Inside the gas station and repair shop. Looks like the owner just went out for lunch and did not return.

A card game at one of the smaller saloons. We noticed there are no numbers on the cards.

A pair of Levi's authenticated by Levi Strauss dating back to 1890.

We happened upon these beautiful desert lilies while out for a ride.

Some ruins at the Tumco Gold Mine.

A lizard enjoying the sun. Hope he remembered to put on sun screen.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

We left Yuma the last week of February and headed west into southern California. We decided the Long Term Visitor Area (LTVA) near Holtville would be a good base of operations for our daughter's annual visit. We sure enjoyed her stay with us, as we always do. While she was here, we arranged to meet our son, who lives in California, for the day at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. We took a short walk, enjoying the desert in bloom and had a picnic lunch at the park in the center of Borrego Springs. What a treat for us to spend the day with 2 of our 'kids'.
Just outside Borrego Springs we saw some large, unusual animal sculptures scattered in the fields. It turns out this is a privately owned desert estate which allows, picnicing, horseback riding, photography, bicycling, and camping for 3 days. A new adventure awaits around every bend in the road.

A large bird preparing to take off.

One of the many horses running through the field.

Adult and baby elephants, or perhaps some prehistoric ancestors.

Our picnic spot at Christmas Circle.

A small sampling of the beautiful wildflowers we encountered on our walk.

Kool Corner - Yuma, Arizona

We spent the middle part of February boondocking on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land just north of Yuma, AZ at a place known as Kool Corner. We took walks, visited with friends, shared meals with our neighbors and ate lots of lettuce. If the center part of the country is known as America's bread basket, this area must be it's salad bowl. It's incredible how fast the vegetables grow, are harvested and almost immediately a new crop is planted. This is amazing as the annual rainfall is only about 3 inches. Water for the crops is supplied by an extensive network of canals connected to the Colorado River. Yuma has the reputation of being one of the sunniest places in the country with over 330 bright days each year. Quite a difference from central New York, where it seems there are over 330 cloudy, dreary days annually. Well, maybe not that many, it just seemed like it. Almost every day was blue sky and sunshine, (we haven't gotten tired of that yet) but we did get one unusual heavy rain. We didn't plan for this and ended up with a moat around our door. Careful placing of some large rocks, provided some stepping stones to get to dry land.

Our spot at Kool Corner overlooking the valley.

This hummingbird was a common visitor.

Hard working laborers picking broccoli. Yum!

Patches of red and green lettuce makes an interesting pattern in this field.

Baby greens are picked by a machine that looks like a giant vacuum cleaner. It cuts off the small leaves and sucks them up.