Date Shake and Ancient Visitors

 Weather is still the same in Yuma

The next morning we had a good breakfast at the hotel and then talked about what we wanted to see. We decided that there were a couple of places we wanted to stop on our way back home and we wanted to get back before rush hour got too bad.

This was the carpeting in the hotel hallway. It doesn't really show it in the picture, but when I stood outside my door and looked towards the elevator, it looked like the hallway was going up and down.

We loaded up the car and headed out. Our first stop was at Date Land.  Jim and I used to stop here quite often when we were rving. 

Dateland  began as a road stop in the 1920s. During WWII, Dateland was the site of two of General Patton's desert training camps. In 1942 three airstrips were built for training B25 bombers. This area is still used for training purposes for those who will serve in Iraq or Afghanistan.

We stopped here mainly so Marilyn could try a date shake. Jim and I tried one years ago and I said that was enough for me. Pat tried Marilyn's shake and both agreed it was good but they probably wouldn't order another one.

We drove down the road to check out the date trees. Not very many of them back there.

 It was time for us to move on because we have another stop to make.

I don't know how many times Jim and I drove by the exit for the Painted Rocks Petroglyphs Site and never stopped. Well, this time we were stopping.

The site is only about 10 miles off I-8. There's even a campground there. The whole area has a small fence around it with a path you can walk. So after reading a few of the signs we started around the hill going to the right. 

 

We did not see any petroglyphs even though these basalt boulders were said to contain about 800 images. It's not a long walk to go all the way around so we kept going. And it's a good thing we did.

As we came around the corner everything was covered in images. Here are just a few pictures that I took. 

It was a great stop. And if you don't feel like a little walk around, just go off to your left from the parking lot.

We had lunch in Maricopa and I dropped Pat and then Marilyn off around 4. It was another wonderful adventure for us. We have a few more fun things to do and we're also planning our next overnighter.