Nice Yuma Winter

ahschneid
1 day ago
9 min read

Our home 4 December 2025 – 4 March 2026

We were in Yuma from 4 December 2025 – 4 March 2026. We played pickleball several times a week and walked most days to get exercise. Steve went on the weekly hiking trips with the hiking group. Anita opted out of the steeper climbs but went on a few of the hikes. There were weekly potlucks on Thursdays and we attended a few of those. We also hooked up with the Yuma Audubon Society birding group and went out for a couple of birding walks locally and on two day-long birding trips to Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge and Cibola National Wildlife Refuge. We rode to Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge with Frank and Carol, a couple staying at Del Pueblo RV Resort in Yuma. They are a nice couple. Frank took up photography and birding in retirement and is now very knowledgeable about both. We actually saw a diamondback rattlesnake at Cibola National Wildlife Refuge! It was the first Saturday in February, so we were all surprised to see one so early in the year.

One of the hiking trips to see Petroglyph rock

One of the hiking trips

One of the hiking trips

Beautiful Arizona sunset outside our window

Birding trip to Sonny Bono Salton Sea NWR

Birding trip to Cibola NWR

Diamondback Rattle Snake (5 Feb 2026)

Birding trip to Cibola NWR

Diamondback Rattle Snake (5 Feb 2026)

Picture on Information Board at Cibola NWR that we saw but too far for photo

Vermillion Flycatcher

Birding trip to Cibola NWR

Snow geese and ducks (5 Feb 2026)

We saw this quite often during our stay at Sun Vista RV Resort which is not far from

Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS)

The Yuma Silver Spur Rodeo happened while we were in Yuma, so we went to that with Mike and Lisa and had a nice time. Unfortunately, one of the rodeo performers was tossed and possibly gored by a bull and taken away in an ambulance. We hadn’t seen as bad of an injury before during a rodeo.

Yuma Rodeo

One of the hiking trips

One of the hiking trips Blister beetle

Sun Vista Talent Show

Sun Vista Talent Show

The Quartzsite Big Tent show was happening 17-25 January, so we went one day with our new friends Mike and Lisa. We spent the better part of a whole day walking around and looking at anything and everything RV and remotely RV-related. Mike ended up getting something to secure their awning. We had scheduled for our suspension to be upgraded by a company we saw in 2025 at the Grand Design Rally in Quartzsite, Performance Braking. Performance Braking was at the Big Tent show so we stopped in and introduced ourselves and met the guy who would be doing the job on our rig. They came to our campsite on 15 February to complete the job. They noticed that one of our RV tires had a broken steel belt defect and was bad, so we got that replaced on our way out of Yuma the day we left.

Quartzsite Arizona Big Tent Show

Another thing people do in Yuma is attend the Howlin at the Moon festival. This 2-3 day event at full moon time each month is attended by thousands. Bands play, there are food vendors and people dance into the evening. When the moon rises, everyone howls, and shortly after that people our age leave. It was fun to experience one time. We went one evening with our friends Rick and Jocelyn. Some people go every month.

Howlin at the Moon

Howlin at the Moon

Howlin at the Moon

Howlin at the Moon

Us with Jocelyn and Rick

Howlin at the Moon

Howlin at the Moon

From Howlin at the Moon

Telegraph Pass Hiking Trail with people at the top...

Howlin at the Moon

In Yuma it is common for locals to go to Los Algodones Mexico, with the border crossing being just 12 miles away. Los Algodones is known for dental offices and getting dental work done for a fraction of the costs in US and Canada. We didn’t need dental work, but we went one day to check it out. We parked on the US side of the border and walked in. We walked around and looked in the shops and felt like we said “no thank you” a thousand times to pushy recruiters for their dental offices, not to mention merchandise vendors too. We had lunch and then headed home with having purchased a couple of T-shirts between us. We had gone to Algodones with our friends Mike and Lisa from Michigan.

Los Algodones Mexico

Los Algodones Mexico

Us with Lisa and Mike

We attended St. John Neumann Catholic Church while in Yuma. They have a 4pm mass on Saturdays and we mostly went at that time. While we were in Yuma, the Man of the Shroud exhibit came to St. John Neumann Catholic Church. From the Internet: The Shroud of Turin has long been venerated by the faithful and is believed by many to be the burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth. The Shroud is one of the most scientifically studied religious icons in history. As science has progressed, so has the speculation on how the image of the crucified man of the Shroud was made.

Man in the Shroud of Turin Exhibit

Friel Center behind St. John Neumann Catholic Church

Man in the Shroud of Turin Exhibit

Friel Center behind St. John Neumann Catholic Church

Man in the Shroud of Turin Exhibit

Friel Center behind St. John Neumann Catholic Church

Man in the Shroud of Turin Exhibit

Friel Center behind St. John Neumann Catholic Church

Man in the Shroud of Turin Exhibit

Friel Center behind St. John Neumann Catholic Church

In our first month in Yuma, our next-door neighbor in the park, Mark, went on a fishing trip with a local senior singles group the week between Christmas and New Years. They went to Puerto Penasco Mexico and caught lots of trigger fish. We tried to find out of this group goes regularly or if they were going while we’d still be in Yuma. It turned out they planned a trip to Puerto Penasco for 19-24 February, so we went with them! Our friends Mike and Lisa shared a two-bedroom condo on the beach with us. Mike and Steve enjoy fishing so they fished on the fishing charter the group booked and then a couple more times from shore. The four of us went on the chartered fishing trip which was disappointing for the fishing. No large fish were caught, only smaller sea bass. We were on the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California). There were lots of pelicans following our boat and waiting for us to reel in fish so they could try to gulp them down. The only good part was being on the water. After being in Yuma in the desert, the water was a very welcome sight. We also saw fin whales spouting from the boat, and we had seen some in the distance from our condo balcony. The condo we stayed in had a great beach view and we could see the pools and hot tubs from our balcony as well. We had a relaxing time with long walks on the beach and just hanging out. Lisa and Anita went “window” shopping in the Malecón (downtown) of Puerto Peñasco one of the days that Mike and Steve were fishing. Spending 5 days straight with new friends could make or break a friendship, and our friendship with Mike and Lisa was cemented on our Mexico trip. We're sure we'll see them again in our travels. The big deal with the Mexican Cartel in Puerto Vallarta happened while we were in Puerto Penasco. We were over 1000 miles from Puerto Villarta and would not have even known anything was going on had we not gotten a call from friends in the states. We kept an eye on the news after we heard about it, but really never felt anything from it. With that being said, we were all happy to cross the border back into the US on the 24^th.

Peurto Penasco Mexico Trip 19-24 February 2026

View from our balcony...

Peurto Penasco Mexico Trip 19-24 February 2026

From the boat the day we fished on a charter boat - a group of sea lions

Peurto Penasco Mexico Trip 19-24 February 2026

From the boat the day we fished on a charter boat - Heermann's gull

Peurto Penasco Mexico Trip 19-24 February 2026

From the boat the day we fished on a charter boat - Wooden Shrimp boat

We actually saw hundreds of shrimp boats in Puerto Penasco...

Peurto Penasco Mexico Trip 19-24 February 2026

From the boat the day we fished on a charter boat - RV Park

Peurto Penasco Mexico Trip 19-24 February 2026

We walked the beach at low tide one morning...

Peurto Penasco Mexico Trip 19-24 February 2026

We walked the beach at low tide one morning...

Peurto Penasco Mexico Trip 19-24 February 2026

We walked the beach at low tide one morning...

Peurto Penasco Mexico Trip 19-24 February 2026

We walked the beach at low tide one morning...

Peurto Penasco Mexico Trip 19-24 February 2026

We walked the beach at low tide one morning...

Peurto Penasco Mexico Trip 19-24 February 2026

We walked the beach at low tide one morning...