Saying goodbye to Yuma

We've been quite busy since leaving San Diego. Greg, Phoebe and I returned to Yuma for a last visit. We stayed a bit longer than intended (the place is a doldrum that we fall into and can't get out of ;) --not that I don't enjoy it there. We made a doctors appt for Phoebe and Greg took on the adventure of going to a dentist in Mexico. Algodones has quite a "dentists row"--a strip of dental offices all trying to grab a bit of the money from across the border. Its hard to pass up--US trained dentists that cost $25 for a cleaning appt! Greg hadn't gone to the dentist in far too long, but was fine--just the cleaning and a recommendation that he get his fillings replaced.

The highlight of the weeks in Yuma for me was adding several "lifer" birds to my life list--I found a Gila woodpecker nest just down the street in a saguaro and saw my first Costa's hummingbird, a beautiful little bird with a violet throat patch. The Costa's was up close and personal--having landed about a foot and a half from my head. I also found a Common ground dove nest and saw the doves for the first time. Greg and I laughed because we had been hoping to see more than just Mourning doves--there are several species of doves common to southern AZ, but thus far we had just seen mourning dove's. We must not have been looking close enough because once I saw the common ground dove, it seemed like they were everywhere around Yuma.