A Relaxing Ensenada Weekend Getaway

The view of the marina and Pacific Ocean from our Hotel Coral & Marina guestroom's private balcony.

Life has been a little crazy in the full-time non-travel work sector, so I was ready to spend a weekend of relaxation away from it all.  The beautiful thing about having a destination like Ensenada so close to us is that while there are many things to do in Ensenada, there’s no pressure to experience them all in one trip.  So for this weekend trip to Ensenada we decided to take things slow, something we rarely do.  Our little Baja weekend getaway over the Valentine’s Day weekend included good wine, good food, a lot of relaxation, and a tiny bit of activity just so we didn’t feel like complete lumps. 

The coastal views on the way to Ensenada.

We stayed at Ensenada’s Hotel Coral & Marina, a beautiful place right on the ocean that makes it easy to just sit back and relax.  Every single one of Hotel Coral & Marina’s recently renovated 147 guestrooms and suites has a balcony and a splendid ocean view.  

If you’re able to tear yourself away from the spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean, an entire Ensenada weekend getaway can be planned just based on the offerings of Hotel Coral & Marina.  Here are some of the things you can get up to during a weekend trip to Ensenada.

Exploring Ensenada

After soaking in the view from our balcony while sipping on a complimentary beverage from the mini-fridge (I chose the sparkling water but there were also a couple beers available), we decided to head into town so we didn’t become people that never leave the resort (something that would be very easy to do). 

A colorful street in Ensenada.

Eddy, who had driven us from our home in San Diego to Hotel Coral & Marina, suggested a couple places in town for us to try if we liked fresh seafood and craft beer.  We followed one of his suggestions and visited Ultramarino Oyster Bar. 

Ultramarino Oyster Bar.

Just a half-block away from the pounding sounds of Papas & Beer, Ultramarino Oyster Bar is a small and quiet little place with a river rock floor, long bar held up by bottles, a few tables with blue pleather stools, and a chef cranking out some amazing seafood.  We had an early Valentine’s Day dinner planned but still managed to stuff ourselves with marlin burritos, oysters on the half-shell, and fresh shrimp ceviche, along with bottles of Cucapa beer.  Rome was pretty proud of himself when he discovered the new taste sensation of spooning the citrusy ceviche on top of his oysters.  Through the narrow window between the bar and kitchen we could see the chef’s hands fly as she deftly squeezed limes and stirred up the perfectly balanced mixture of citrus and heat, tasting a drop on the back of her hand each time to ensure perfection. 

While assisting us to our room with our luggage, Rubén clued us in on a special celebration happening in town that day, the Mardi Gras parade.  Having recently been to New Orleans and learning so much about Mardi Gras traditions, we were very excited to be able to join a Mardi Gras celebration.  Tourists and locals alike lined the street, cheering when each new float passed by.  The parade participants ranged in age from under 10 to over 70, all having a great time dancing to the music and tossing their throw, mostly baggies of colored confetti.  Within the first half hour the streets, as well as everyone’s hair and clothing, were covered in pink, blue, white, and yellow confetti. 

Hotel Coral & Marina provides shuttle service into Ensenada.  The taxi fare from Ensenada back to the hotel cost us $7.00.  Be sure to ask Hotel Coral & Marina’s drivers for suggestions as they are all certified tour guides ready to provide recommendations.

Pampering at the C Spa

C Spa relaxation room.

While we could have spent more time exploring the town of Ensenada, we had a romantic evening planned which started with a couples massage at Hotel Coral & Marina’s C Spa.  How I talked Rome into getting a massage with me remains a mystery, probably mostly having to do with me not giving him much of a choice.  Luckily the end result is he enjoyed the massage and, while not planning on seeking them out, is not opposed to future massage possibilities.  For a first-timer this was the perfect opportunity, as the couples massage obviously happens at the same time in the same room, and it also only lasts half an hour.  Upon arrival we were led into the his and hers locker rooms to change into robes and slippers before lounging, beverages in hand, in the waiting area, dimly lit with votive candles and sprinkled with rose petals in honor of Valentine’s Day.  Our massage therapists Margarita and Magdalena then took us to the couples massage room where we found more rose petals decorating the floor and massage tables.

Wine Tasting in the Valle de Guadalupe

One of Ensenada’s great draws is the Valle de Guadalupe.  This is where Baja California’s best wines are being created. We took a Valle de Guadalupe wine country tour offered by Hotel Coral & Marina, guided by another of the hotel’s drivers, Israel, to visit some of Baja’s exciting wineries. 

The Valle de Guadalupe, Baja's wine country.

We visited three wineries during our Valle de Guadalupe tour.  Vena Cava is one of the valley’s most popular wineries.  The tasting room is within a cave-like structure under an overturned boat.  Finca La Carrodilla has only been open to the public for six months.  This new winery is surrounded by 35-year-old vines and gardens that extend all the way to the upstairs patio which provides views of the valley.  We also visited Hacienda La Lomita, the sister winery to Finca La Carrodilla, which has been open for five years.

Related: A Winery Tour Through Baja's Valle de Guadalupe

Finca La Carrodilla's garden balcony with Valle de Guadalupe views.

In the midst of all our wine tasting we experienced one of the best meals we’ve ever had at Malva, the restaurant of Chef Roberto Alcocer.  But don’t just take our word for it.  Travel + Leisure Mexico agrees and awarded Malva the title of best new restaurant of Mexico for 2014.  While menu items unmistakably have Baja influence, they could be served anywhere in the world to great acclaim.  

The name Malva comes from a simple herb which makes a cameo in all of Malva’s dishes.  Our meal started simply enough with octopus sopes, but rather than the traditional green sauce, these were served with a tangy green sauce created with carrot leaves and green herbs.  Next came a salad which was slightly reminiscent of food we had in Scandinavia with pickled carrots adding an interesting layer of flavor to the beet and goat cheese salad.  Then our meal got really interesting, with a serving of grilled escolar, also known as white tuna, rarely served in restaurants other than sushi restaurants.  Next was oxtail, beautifully braised until it was falling apart and yet also with a crispy texture from being seared.  The oxtail was served with mole sauce, baby carrots, tomato, yellow squash, onion ash, malva, and peanuts.  The pièce de résistance came as dessert, a marshmallow chain perfectly flamed to a crispy melty texture accompanied by malva sorbeet and dots of yogurt.  If you want to impress your significant other, take them for a meal at Malva.

Stuffing Your Face at Brunch

Speaking of food, Hotel Coral & Marina has two restaurants from which to choose: BC Bistro & Cava and Marina Grill.  BC Bistro & Cava is the hotel’s fine dining restaurant, serving Baja-Med cuisine including seafood and steaks paired with wines from the Valle de Guadalupe.  The Marina Grill is the hotel’s more casual restaurant located on the Marina waterfront serving items like fresh shrimp cocktail and ribs.  The food served at both of these restaurants is very good, but where the hotel’s food really shines is at the breakfast buffet, especially for Sunday brunch.

What we didn’t know before that weekend is what a big deal Sunday brunch is at Baja hotels.  If we had known, we would have arrived at breakfast far hungrier.  The spread is unbelievable, and at an incredibly reasonable price.  In addition to the items that are always available at the breakfast buffet like omelets, chilaquiles, moles, tamales, fruit, yogurt, etc., at Sunday brunch there are delectable extras like quesadillas made with freshly made tortillas, crepes, raw oysters, chocolate clams, ceviche, and so much more.

Learn from our mistake, head down to Sunday brunch early and hungry!

Pedaling the Marina on a Hydrobike

After all that food you might want to do something active to assuage some of the food guilt.  Down at the marina Hotel Coral & Marina rents paddle boards, kayaks, and hydrobikes.  We’ve been doing a lot of kayaking lately, so we decided to try something new and test the hydrobikes.  Talk about fun!  Apparently the hydrobikes are the most popular rental because of how easy they are to manage.  They are very stable, easy to propel and navigate, and a fun way to tool around the marina and look at all the boats and yachts. 

Exploring the marina on hydrobikes.

If you are looking for a weekend getaway, either romantic or relaxing, Hotel Coral & Marina in Baja’s Ensenada is a perfect choice.  If you want to just sit back and relax and enjoy the amenities like the view, the spa, the pool, and the restaurants, you can.  If you want a little more to do like exploring Baja’s wine country, visiting the town of Ensenada, or even trying more active pursuits, those can all be booked through the hotel, making your Baja weekend getaway easy and stress-free.

Thank you to Hotel Coral & Marina for hosting our weekend in Ensenada and making this post possible.  As always, all opinions are my own.

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The Walking Tours of New Orleans

A French Quarter courtyard discovered during our French Quarter walking tour.

New Orleans is a city of history and stories and locals who want to share those stories with visitors.  One of our walking tour guides said it could take months, if not years, for her to share everything we would need to know to understand New Orleans.  While travelers can certainly soak up New Orleans’ historic architecture, friendly people, mouthwatering food, tasty cocktails, and soul-stirring music while walking the streets of New Orleans on their own, they might miss the history and stories that define New Orleans.  Taking one or more of New Orleans’ walking tours will acquaint visitors with the pieces of past and present that make New Orleans the city it is today.  Here are some of the best walking tours of New Orleans and just a few highlights of what you can learn from them. 

French Quarter Walking Tour

New Orleans was founded in the early 1700s by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, and the city did not expand past the borders of the French Quarter for nearly a century.  Today the entire French Quarter district is on the National Register of Historic Places.  The site of the city was chosen because it is on the shores of the Mississippi River, through which the waters from 31 states drain, and the land in this small area is on slightly higher ground created by river silt buildup, which is why the French Quarter remained comparatively undamaged when the levies of New Orleans broke during Hurricane Katrina.  A French Quarter walking tour educates travelers on the history of the French Quarter from the very beginning. 

Bourbon Street – Some may think Bourbon Street is named after the alcohol because of its reputation for being a popular drinking spot.  However, Bourbon Street had its name way before the bars arrived and was actually named after the royal Bourbon Family.

Cajun vs. Creole – Creole means native-born, so a creole person was someone born in Louisiana and whose parents were from elsewhere.  Today creoles are descendants of these first generation settlers.  Cajuns are descendants of French Canadians who came to Louisiana.  Cajun and creole cuisine are also different.  Creole dishes are many times red because they are tomato-based while Cajun food starts with the holy trinity of bell pepper, onion, and celery, are browner in color, and are spicier.

Canal Street, the division between the French Quarter and the English section.

French vs. English – The residents of the French Quarter were primarily French.  The street names are French.  When the English came, they took up residence on the other side of Canal Street to the southwest of the French Quarter.  This is why all the street names change once you cross Canal.  Canal Street was neutral ground and even today street medians are referred to as neutral ground by residents.  Canal Street is 171 feet wide and was originally meant to be a canal.

Storyville – Storyville was the neighborhood just above the French Quarter.  Storyville is where New Orleans’ music scene started and was the location of the first jazz clubs.  The biggest seller in the area was alcohol, and prostitution was rampant.  It wasn’t illegal, but it also wasn’t legal.  Storyville was shut down in 1917 after the war started because the Federal government was worried about the spread of disease to the military.  New Orleans Mayor Martin Behram responded, “You can make [prostitution] illegal, but you can’t make it unpopular.”

The former residence of playwright Tennessee Williams.

A Streetcar Named Desire – A Streetcar Named Desire was written by Tennessee Williams in the French Quarter.  The Desire streetcar line used to run through the French Quarter.  The play was originally named The Poker Night, but was renamed to A Streetcar Named Desire, referencing this New Orleans streetcar line.

Great New Orleans Fire – Much of the French Quarter was consumed by fire in 1788.  856 buildings including the church were destroyed.  The fire occurred on Good Friday so the church bells could not be rung to sound the alarm.  Many of the buildings were made with cypress wood façades and the buildings were demolished within hours.  The Spanish replaced them with brick structures with inner courtyards, and these are the buildings that define French Quarter architecture.  In case you were wondering, all those balconies are called galleries if they are held up by posts that reach the ground.  Balconies are supported by brackets.

Garden District Walking Tour

Short-Favrot House with a cast-iron cornstalk fence.

A Garden District Walking Tour explores the Lafayette Cemetery #1 and the architecture of the Garden District homes along with a little peek into the lives of the rich and famous residents.

Lafayette Cemetery No. 1.

Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 – The Lafayette Cemetery, opened in 1833, is one of New Orleans’ many above-ground cemeteries.  New Orleans’ cemeteries are above-ground because the underground water is so close to the surface.  Because the people of New Orleans were Catholic, they couldn’t cremate their deceased, so family tombs were used.  One of the Lafayette Cemetery tombs has been used by a family since 1858.  More people are born, live, and die in New Orleans than other places, so many generations of a family use the same tomb.

Shotgun Houses – Shotgun houses are narrow rectangular houses.  They are so named because you can shoot a gun through the front door and the bullet will pass through all the rooms and exit the back door without hitting a wall.  They didn’t provide much privacy, but rather were built for airflow.  Double shotgun houses are duplexes, usually occupied by the same family.

Filming location for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Benjamin Button House – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was filmed at 2707 Coliseum Street.  The house is an example of Greek revival architecture from the late 1840s.  Greek revival architecture buildings are symmetrical with columns and galleries and are painted white with black shudders and trim.  In front of the home is a large cement block used for getting into carriages.

Sandra Bullock House – Sandra Bullock’s house is nearby at 2627 Coliseum Street.  Her home is dark green with cast iron and large hedges blocking the view.

John Goodman House – John Goodman’s house is found at 2425 Coliseum Street.  It was previously owned by Trent Reznor of the Nine Inch Nails.  The underside of the gallery is painted New Orleans Blue, which is said to keep out ghosts and wasps.

The home of Edgar Degas' uncle Michael Musson.

Musson-Bell House – This large pink house at 1331 3rd Street was built by Michael Musson, a cotton merchant who may be better known as the uncle of artist Edgar Degas.  Musson’s blind daughter, Estelle, married her first cousin and Edgar Degas’ brother, René de Gas.  Estelle’s friend and neighbor came to read to her frequently.  René de Gas eventually ran off with Estelle’s friend.  Musson adopted Estelle and René’s surviving children and changed their last names.

Anne Rice House – Anne Rice, the author of The Vampire Chronicles, used to live at 1239 First Street.  The residence is transitional in style, which means it is a mix of styles, in this case Italianate and Greek revival. The house features a Greek keyhole doorway and cast iron that upon close inspection looks like either Carmen Miranda or a skull.

Archie Manning House – While I’m not much of a football fan, I am a Peyton Manning fan, so I was very excited that our Garden District walking tour included a pass by the Peyton family home at 1420 First Street.  Residents remember the Manning boys playing in the streets as children.

Cemetery Voodoo Walking Tour

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.

The cemetery voodoo walking tour visits another above-ground cemetery in New Orleans, St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.  This cemetery opened in 1789 and has some famous residents including Marie Laveau, Madame LaLaurie, and eventually Nicolas Cage.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel – Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel was first built in 1826 as a mortuary chapel.  To the left of the altar is the St. Jude Shrine, which contains a relic of St. Jude.  Don’t be surprised to find homeless people sleeping on the pews.

Marie Laveau – Marie Laveau was a yellow fever nurse, a free woman of color, and a Catholic.  She is known as the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans because she used roots and herbs for homeopathic cures.  In New Orleans voodoo was holistic and positive.  She married Jacques Paris, a free man from Haiti.  When he died she began calling herself Widow Paris.  She later began a relationship with Louis Christophe Dominick Duminy de Glapion, a white man, with whom she had seven children, two of which survived.  When she died some called her a saint while others called her a witch.  She is buried in her family's tomb.

Madame LaLaurie – Marie Delphine Lalaurie was a Louisiana-born socialite.  It is known that she badly mistreated her slaves.  It is believed she tortured and murdered slaves.  She self-exiled to France and died in Paris, but she is buried in St. Louis Cemetery #1.

Why Nicolas Cage, why?

Nicolas Cage – For some reason Nicolas Cage has a love affair with New Orleans.  He has owned multiple homes in the city, though those were lost in foreclosure.  He now rents a place in the French Quarter.  However, he does still own a small piece of New Orleans land in the form of a tomb in St. Louis Cemetery #1.  I’ve always been a fan of Nicolas Cage (I know, feel free to mock me), but seeing his Masonic style nine-foot deep pyramid tomb in the middle of the St. Louis Cemetery made me very sad.  It is said no respect was given during the building of his tomb to his cemetery neighbors.  Other tombs were injured during the process and the pyramid is completely out of place in this historic cemetery.

Easy Rider tomb.

Easy Rider Tomb – The New Orleans Italian Mutual Benevolent Society tomb was designed in 1857 by architect Pietro Gualdi.  What most people recognize it from is the movie Easy Rider, when Peter Fonda sat on the statue of Italia.  The group tomb has 24 separate openings.

Homer Plessy – Another resident of the St. Louis Cemetery is Homer Plessy.  Homer Plessy was a free man of color born during the Civil War.  He was seven-eighths of European descent and one-eighth of African descent, but was still classified as black.  He was arrested for sitting in a “white only” train car.  He took his case all the way to the Supreme Court.  Unfortunately the Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896 resulted in the separate-but-equal doctrine, allowing segregation to be the law.  This doctrine remained until 1954, when it was overturned by Brown v. Board of Education.

New Orleans’ Original Cocktail Walking Tour

A Hurricane at Broussard's.

New Orleans is famous for its cocktails.  A New Orleans cocktail tour will introduce you to the many cocktails of New Orleans and some of the best places to find them.  We joined the original cocktail tour of New Orleans with Gray Line, where everyone starts with a welcome drink in a go-cup and then visits bars around the city with the opportunity to purchase additional cocktails.

The Court of Two Sisters – The Court of Two Sisters is a restaurant which used to be a notions shop owned by two sisters who died within two months of each other in 1944.  Outdoor diners are shaded by a 100-year-old Wisteria tree in a courtyard that may be the largest in New Orleans.  The cocktail featured at The Court of Two Sisters was the Bayou Bash, a Southern Comfort, juice, and wine drink poured in layers and which tastes like sangria.

Broussard’s – Broussard’s is one of New Orleans’ famous old-line creole restaurants.  This restaurant has the oldest living Wisteria in the French Quarter.  Paul Gustings, a 35-year bartender, poured two classic New Orleans cocktails, the Pisco Punch and the Hurricane.  The bar also offers Absinthe service.

Richelieu Bar at Arnaud's.

Arnaud’s– Arnaud’s, another old-line creole restaurant, has two bars, French 75 and the Richelieu Bar.  While French 75 is the more popular bar, the Richelieu Bar is actually the original bar of Arnaud’s.  The drinks offered here were two more classics, the French 75 and the Sazerac, the official cocktail of New Orleans.

We took our French Quarter, Garden District, and Cemetery Voodoo walking tours with Historic New Orleans Tours, Inc.  Tours are small and cost $20 per person.  Reservations are not required.  Guests can just show up at the pre-determined meeting place.  If a lot of people show up, the tour guide will call in for another so groups can be split and kept small.  Historic New Orleans Tours, Inc. also offers a cocktail tour and a haunted tour.  We took the Gray Line New Orleans’ Original Cocktail Walking Tour as it is the original cocktail tour of New Orleans.  Guided walking tours of the French Quarter and Garden District are also included with the City Sightseeing New OrleansUnlimited Hop-On Hop-Off bus ticket.

Thank you to the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau and the New Orleans Hotel Collection for hosting our trip to New Orleans and making this post possible.  As always, all opinions are my own.  For updates on what is going on in New Orleans, follow the New Orleans CVB on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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A Small Town Wild West Weekend in Yuma

A weekend visit to Yuma offers both the charm of a small American town and a unique glimpse back to the days of the Wild West.  Yuma has less than 100,000 citizens, though it is estimated its population doubles in the winter when the snowbirds come to town.  Yuma has quite a mix of things to do that highlight its small town charms and Wild West history. If you’re looking to get off the beaten path, Yuma definitely fits the bill with the types of attractions that can only be found in a small town.  

Cars and More Cars

The Cloud Museum began in 1989 when proprietor Johnny Cloud rented out his farm land and got stir crazy with nothing to do.  He started collecting and displaying his collection on his property for his own enjoyment.  People began driving by and stopping to take a look around, so he built a small fence and started charging $1.00.  Then one day someone stole some gas pumps, so he put up a bigger fence and started charging $5.00. 

The Cloud Museum’s collection includes cars, trucks, tractors, tools, household equipment, and more, and the collection continues to grow.  Johnny Cloud rattled off the numbers of his collection so quickly I retained practically none of the list except that there are Model As, Model Ts, and 99 of one of those, so while the sign says there are more than 110 cars, I’d say the number is much, much larger.  Romeo could have literally spent all day examining the collection, and I had fun trying to identify all the random pieces of household equipment and discovering some I had never seen before.

Heavy Artillery

On the way from the Cloud Museum to the Castle Dome Mine Museum we passed through the Yuma Proving Ground.  After agriculture, the military is Yuma’s second largest economic source.  The Yuma Proving Ground is part of the United States Army and is one of the largest military installations in the world, used for testing military systems and equipment.  Yuma is the perfect location for such a large test range because of its big empty spaces and the fact that it holds the Guinness World Record as the sunniest city on earth, meaning tests can be run year round.  Along the road are random pieces of military equipment like a helicopter, tanks, and missile launchers.

Ghost Town

While Rome could have spent all day at the Cloud Museum, the Castle Dome Mine Museum was my favorite.  Castle Dome was a silver mine and the town was bigger than Yuma in 1878.  The mine was in operation from 1864 to 1979, when it closed because the price of silver plummeted and the process of mining silver was no longer profitable.  Castle Dome City had small beginnings with a brush house, an adobe house, two tents and two fenced lots.  Over time it gained a school, five bars, two stores, a church, a sheriff’s office and jail, a blacksmith shop, and family homes. 

Today Castle Dome Mine Museum contains what is left of Castle Dome City’s buildings.  I loved being able to explore these remnants of the old Wild West. The ghost town museum is located in the middle of Kofa National Wildlife Refuge and is reached by following a gravel road for a few miles, with nothing around but desert.  There are two sections to the museum.  The first has the highest concentration of buildings very close together, while the other has a few buildings spaced out with a dirt trail to follow which also passes the Castle Dome cemetery and leftover mine shafts.

Festivals and Rodeos and Shootouts, Oh My!

In addition to the always available things to do in Yuma, Yuma is constantly hosting special events.  On any given weekend there can be five to 10 special events occurring around the city and outlying areas.  We visited over Martin Luther King weekend and attended three special events just in one day. 

Feeding into the small town vibe of our weekend getaway, we visited the neighboring town of Wellton, about 30 miles east of Yuma but still part of Yuma County, to attend the Wellton-Mohawk Tractor Rodeo.  The tractor rodeo, sponsored by the Foundation of Yuma Regional Medical Center, is held every third Saturday in January and 2015 was its 37th year.  The tractor rodeo takes place at the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation & Drainage District grounds and feels very much like a small town county fair.  We sat on bales of hay and watched the Antique Tractor Pull, a display of the power of classic and antique tractors.  Restored tractors line up and take their turn at trying to tow a tractor pull sled down the entire length of track as a weight shifts forward to make it heavier and heavier.  The goal is to make it to the end of the track without the weight becoming too much for the tractor, making its wheels spin in the earth when forward movement has halted.  In addition to the tractor pull, there are rides for the kids, antique car and tractor displays, old engine displays, live music, a biscuit and sausage breakfast, and a barbecue beef lunch.

We next headed out to the N.R. Adair Park shooting ranges, 15 miles east of Yuma, for the Territorial Prison Breakout, which has been put on by Yuma MatchMasters, Inc. for the past 20 years.  I’m not really into guns, but I am really into competition and skill, and by the time we left the match I was almost ready to sign up with the SASS (Single Action Shooting Society).  The Cowboy Division, or Colorado River Shootists, is a SASS affiliated club and holds monthly matches, but the Territorial Prison Breakout is a two-day annual match that is held every Martin Luther King weekend.  The shooters dress up in their old western wear and shoot old west firearms on a course of different shooting stages which are set up with old Wild West props like saloons, livery stables, and general stores.  Spectators are welcome at the matches as long as they wear eye and ear protection.  At first we felt a little out of place, but as we watched the matches there was always a club member or two who wanted to engage us in conversation, explain the rules, and answer any questions, and a few even tried to recruit us to join the SASS.  The thought of shooting at targets while dressed in western gear is very tempting, and the activity was perfectly suited for the Arizona desert.

For the fourth year in a row Das Bratwurst Haus hosted German Fest on Madison in Downtown Yuma.  German Fest is a small block party with German beer, German food from Das Bratwurst Haus restaurant, German music, dancing, and activities for the kids.  It’s a small festival spanning two blocks and attracts people of all ages who want to have a bite to eat and a little entertainment.

We had such a great time visiting quirky museums and attending the types of events that aren’t easy to find in a big city.  Yuma’s eclectic mix of attractions and events allow visitors to experience what it’s like to be in a small town with friendly people and a Wild West past. 

Thank you to the Yuma Convention & Visitors Bureau for hosting our trip to Yuma and making this post possible.  As always, all opinions are my own. 

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