Holiday Inn Express & Suites Yuma

Enjoy the native wildlife and amazing topography of the Lower Colorado River. The Lower Colorado River offers unparalleled viewing of desert canyons, the river valley, mountain ranges with vast wilderness areas, and the floodplain and associated riparian environments that are only accessible via the Colorado River waterway and adjacent lakes.

Many head for Los Algodones (Baja California), a village just west of Yuma, or for San Luis Rio Colorado (Sonora), a much bigger city to the south. Both have a heavy concentration of dentists, opticians and pharmacies, along with lots of souvenir vendors, restaurants and bars.

The Yuma Territorial Prison only operated for 33 years - but that was long enough to etch a fearsome reputation into the history of the Old West, a legacy that lives on in movies like "3:10 to Yuma." The prison opened in July of 1876, Haunted? Perhaps. No executions took place at the prison, but 111 persons died while serving time.

Yuma serves as the gateway to one of the nation's largest mass of inland sand dunes, which extend for more than 40 miles along the eastern edge of California Imperial Valley. Now a national recreational area, this natural sand box acts as a magnet for off-road enthusiasts.