On the road again!

On Monday we left Yuma and went as far as Parker.  We stayed at the Blue Water RV Resort. Along the way it was hilly and there were lots of ocotillo.  We drove along the west side of the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge for most of the way.  We also drove by the Yuma proving ground.

We have been seeing a lot of turkey vultures soaring in the sky.  They are amazing flyers, hardly flapping their wings at all.  We passed by the castle dome mountains.

It was a really nice drive and the campground was absolutely beautiful.  The Colorado River was very close by and other than enduring the hugest speed bumps at the camp ground we would definitely stay there again.
There was a really nice beach and a cantina. That night we heard an owl hoo hooing its heart out!

On Tuesday we headed for the River Island Park - it is near the Buckskin Mountain State Park. 
Across the Colorado River you could see California and we heard the burrows one day.

This is what we saw to one side of the park.  We were in a small camp ground that was bordered by the river, and then mountains on two sides.  It was a great place for a nice hike.

 To the right is California, and to the left is Arizona.  On the little island there was bamboo growing.  What???

The path, as well as going fairly high in elevation,  was loaded with flowers.   The desert is in full spring mode and we did see some bright pink cactus flowers as we drove along the last couple of days but none close up.

 There were lots of pretty little Lupines

Yellow Mustard Evening Primrose were everywhere along with pretty little Desert Hyacinth.

This morning before breakfast I walked over to the edge of the park to try to get pictures of all the birds I saw and heard the day before.  I saw a new warbler but have no idea what kind it was.  There were lots of house finches, gambles quail and of course doves, grackles and turkey vultures.

This little vermillion fly catcher was not going to let me get close and I finally had to settle for this.

Same with this phainopepla.  These birds look like a black cardinal.

Can you spot the little hummingbird?

I did not expect to see a grasshopper here.  This one was huge and he sure blended into his surroundings.

 This is the prettiest, most unusual tree I have ever seen.   It is absolutely loaded with buds ready to pop into these spikey little flowers.  Along side them are dried seed pods likely from last year.  I googled this and did not find out what kind of tree it could be.

This tree was loaded with these pretty little yellow flowers.  No idea what kind of tree it is either.

 Today on our way to Lake Havasu we saw a lot of these purple flowers which I think are wild heliotrope.  We are in a campground that overlooks the lake.  We went down by the London Bridge and had a nice lunch.

Seriously I still can't believe I had this lobster, fried egg burger.   That's Don's pizza in the background.  The temperature went up to 94 today so we had a short walk by the lake and then I hung out at the pool when we got back.  There were some interesting people in there to talk to.  One I will call Boston Rob and the other was a retired army guy, who runs a lot of marathons, and his wife.  Amusing way to cool off!  The temperatures are 15 to 20 degrees above normal.  Don finds this temperature too hot so he watched TV in air conditioned comfort.

The sunsets here are really amazing.  I forgot how nice they were.  There is a nice gazebo that they have in this park where you can go and sit and enjoy!  Good night