3:10 to Yuma

Did I already mention that one of the pre-trip homework movies was 3:10 to Yuma, starring Noah, Batman, and Percy Jackson? Let me just say that as much as they liked the gunfights, the boys had a hard time buying into the ending...

That doesn't make any sense!

WHY WOULD HE DO THAT ?!?!

Even though the location is never shown in the movie, we learn that Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) has escaped from Yuma Prison before and will have no problem doing it again. So, first thing this morning we headed off to see Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park for ourselves. 

I thought the museum was really well done. There were numerous artifacts on display, and they did a great job of presenting stories about some of the more notable prisoners who were incarcerated here. But the big payoff for me was getting that "aha!" moment when it all clicks for the boys...

Oh, I get it!  They were putting Ben Wade on a train to here!

The guard tower was built over the water reservoir to slow evaporation

Sally Port

Cell block

Prisoners were housed 6 to a cell

The most notorious inmate of them all!

The prison was built on a bluff overlooking the Colorado River. Since 2004, the wetlands along the river have been part of an ongoing restoration project.

Just a stone's throw away from Yuma Territorial Prison is Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park. The depot was established in 1864 to store and distribute supplies to frontier army outposts throughout the Southwest. Supplies were transported from California around the Baja Peninsula by boat, then brought upstream on the Colorado River by steamers to Yuma.

I have to admit that this place didn't hold our interest for very long, although R and I each got to enjoy a slice of homemade pie before we hit the road.

We crossed the river into California and took I-8 west all the way to San Diego for a quick dinner with my sister-in-law. The drive home from San Diego can be brutal, but thankfully today was *not* one of those days!