THE PRINDLE FAMILY: Picacho State Recreation Area

We've wanted to check out the camping/boating/fishing on the Colorado River for a long time, so we headed out to Picacho State Recreation Area at the beginning of Parker's spring break. It's located just north of Yuma, on the California/Arizona border, and is on the Lower Colorado River. We figured that this would be a good time of year to go there, since the temperatures would still be fairly nice before it starts to get as hot as 120 degrees in the summer. We thought that there might not be much to do in this spot without some kind of a boat to get out on the water and fish, but learned that Jared's fishing boat wouldn't be suited for this part of the river, and knew that fishing in the kayaks with the kids wouldn't really be possible. So, on the day that we were planning to head out to the river, we picked up a small plastic boat at West Marine and drove way far away to Bonita to buy an outboard motor that we saw listed for sale on Craigslist. Needless to say, by the time we had made all of our purchases, it was too late to head out on our trip. Luckily, we were able to stay with Dee and Niki in Point Loma for a night, and then start our trip the next morning.

Our camp site was about an hour and 45 minute drive down a dirt road, and the scenery was really pretty. The place where we camped had four designated camp sites right on a beach, but the sites are literally on top of each other, and the beach was very small. There was no one else there when we arrived, but by dusk two truck loads of guys arrived and camped next to us. Despite being bummed that we weren't going to be camping alone, we really lucked out that the people who arrived were really nice--if they had been drunk and loud and obnoxious, it would have been a serious nightmare.

We were able to get the boat out on the river for a little exploring before sunset. The current was moving pretty quickly, although I wouldn't call it "swift." The boat handled fine, but I was still a little nervous about the current since it's something I'm not really familiar with. The mosquitos were about as bad as we expected, and although we made an effort to cover up and use bug repellant, by the time we got back home from our trip we realized that we were all bitten nonetheless. Parker seems to be the yummiest member of the family, and is covered in bites on his hands, lower legs, and hairline (pretty much everywhere that was exposed). Luckily the bites don't seem to bother him too much, and he didn't swell up like he has in the past.

Sadly, we only camped one night before heading home; when we woke up in the morning, a fierce wind began to build until we were being full-on assaulted by a dust storm. The other group of campers hurriedly packed up and left, and we did the same. When the sand began to blow too hard, I'd stick the kids in the car while we packed. After we were pretty much packed up, the wind died down enough to head out on the river one more time. Jared caught two largemouth bass, the first fish he's ever caught on the Colorado River. We headed back to shore as the wind began to pick up again, concerned by the haze that covered the horizon in the distance, obscuring the mountains like fog, guessing that it was probably sand blowing on a really large scale. This confirmed our decision to call it quits, and we headed back out the long dirt road to the highway. We drove home along the 8 in the strongest winds and craziest sand storm I've ever seen in my life. When we got home, I read in the news that winds had gusted in the deserts over 80 mph. It was truly amazing, and bad timing for a camping trip! We've got the second half of the spring break week to fill now, so we're trying to figure out what our next adventure will be.

On the drive out there:

Parker playing Angry Birds...

... and Levi is a goofball. He loves making "tents" and forts at home, and put this towel over himself in the car, then asked for me to give him books to look at under there.