Castle Dome Museum

Bob and I have decided that we need to take advantage of the beautiful weather here and get out for some sightseeing before we leave Yuma, so on Thursday we took a drive to the Kofa Wildlife Sanctuary, about 45 miles north of us. 

I don't really understand this place. It is situated on a dirt road, in a remote area, far away from any real towns. That makes sense for a wildlife area. But it is also on the military proving grounds, so there are signs forbidding people to take photographs or make drawings, and you aren't supposed to leave the dirt road because there may be unexploded ordinances lying around. Which doesn't seem too conducive to wildlife viewing. 

But as we drove along the dusty dirt road we started seeing signs for a museum, so we turned in.  Castle Dome used to be a thriving mining town. In the 1870s it was bigger than Yuma and boasted a hotel, school, church, brothel, and five bars. For $10 apiece we could walk through it.

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Some of the buildings are original to the town and some were moved here from other areas, but all are authentic.

The hotel and sherif's office, from the outside.

Inside the sherif's office

Bob steps up to the bar at Carnelita's Cantina

Castle Dome hovers over this little town. We can see this mountain from Yuma, 45 miles away.

Inside one of the buildings is this old player piano. We had one just like this in our living room, when we were kids. The boxes on top each hold a different roller that plays a song. You choose the song, insert the roller into the front (behind the sliding panel) and start pedaling to play.

The desert here is just starting to burst into bloom and in another week you'd see yellow and pink flowers everywhere.

We were just a little early, but things are looking greener than it will later in the year. We are starting to get heat, though. Temps were in the low 90s, and despite the low humidity it felt HOT!