December 25, 2003—Sunrise…Sunset, in the Foothills of Yuma 

Our screen door faces west here in Yuma and affords us the perfect opportunity to view the nightly extravaganza of nearly neon colors that the setting sun throws off. Sunrises are almost as spectacular and we wake early to catch every one. We never saw the sun set in Bend, since it is hidden by the mountains long before it truly sets, so these desert sunsets remind us of vacations in the tropical islands, where the sun’s disappearance is the crowning glory to the day. This far south, we also enjoy daylight longer by an hour than our northern compatriots. But that’s fitting, since so much living is done outside here as it’s never truly cold.

                                                                    Yuma Sunsets

                              Morning Colors

We’re settled in for the winter in an area know as The Foothills, actually about 15 miles east from downtown Yuma, nestled up to a small, rugged mountain range of BLM country and the Yuma Proving Ground bombing range. The range is huge so we actually don’t experience much in the way of hearing anything and the jets we see are usually just tiny specks in the sky.

This subdivision allows for a variety of living abodes—site built homes, manufactured, or RVs. We’re in one of the newest phases and each successive phase seems to be upgrading (to a degree) over older ones. More and more homes or small guest houses are being built rather than park model trailers or single wide manufactured homes. There’s a golf course within about a block of us and it is surrounded by very nice homes. Another golf course is under construction to the north.

                 Early morning golfers                                                        View from a golf lot

                          Cute casita                                                                      Santa Fe style

RVers are an inventive lot and many have come up with innovative ideas for using these lots as their home base. A variety of “accessory” buildings are being erected, most in the Sante Fe style of architecture, done with stucco detailing like cactus, quail, coyotes or roadrunners.

                         Stucco detailing                                                                     RV garage

        Another style of RV support building

The lots are available directly from the developer in their raw state with utilities in the street from a price range of $27,100-70,000 for one on the golf course. All must have the Mexican brick wall fencing and the designs can get quite intricate. There are also resale lots available with all utilities, including two-three RV hookups, completed.

              Mexican brick fence detailing                                              Newest phase of lots for sale

We marvel at the foresight it took for the developer to envision what this has become—a Mecca for the snowbirds, now coming in droves to buy up their small piece of the desert. When this started many years ago there was nothing here for miles around as he started parceling out tiny pieces. The end is in sight however, at least to this section. It is as close to the mountains as it’s going to get. As with anything of dwindling supply, prices are escalating wildly. We think it looks like a good place to make money, so we plan to return next season and develop something of our own.  

For now though, life in the desert in the middle of winter is pretty darn relaxed. We’re enjoying it immensely, although we really haven’t ventured out much yet. We are busy with work and don’t feel the need to go sightseeing. It’s been enough for us to take daily walks through the changing neighborhood and dream about what we may build here next year.