Another Yuma walk #sol17 Day 10

I walk for exercise, to improve breathing, hold the line on bone density and stay healthier while exploring Yuma, but also because that's how I get around town. With minimal gradient and 2,000+ feet lower altitude, walking conditions are far more favorable here than in Mountainair. This morning, the ophthalmology tech called to schedule my pre-op optical scan for this afternoon instead of Friday. So I walked over. It was chillier than yesterday but somewhat less windy. I carried my folding camp stool (remember those from Scouts and camp?) so I could sit down to catch my breath as necessary.

Today's walk-with-a-purpose took me to Main St and what passes for "downtown business district," the opposite direction from yesterday's to the hospital on 8th Avenue. Out my front door, through a breezeway to the right and turning right again on 2nd avenue

Star Park, at the far west end of Yuma City Park (above) and adjacent to the former Fair Grounds (from years ago, now site of the new soccer field), is the oldest park in town is named for a concrete star formation in the southeast corner. After spending several decades underground, the Star was re-discovered in the summer of 2009 and subsequently rehabilitated. Some locals refer to the park as “Flood Park” because summer can fill the sunken park with rain water, becoming a natural kid magnet.

Continuing on 2nd Avenue past the park, my walk took me  past the boarded up Lett Hotel, which my grandsons assure me is haunted. It's hey day would have been when the California Zephyr still stopped at Yuma on its transcontinental route from Chicago to the San Francisco Ferry. Here are more photos from 1989. Known then as Tumbleweed Hotel, the hotel slipped into a less glam existence as a boarding house, advertising rooms for rent. 

According to Wikipedia, 

The Lett Hotel at 204 S. Ash in Yuma, Colorado, now known as the Tumbleweed Hotel, is a historic building, built in 1916, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was the longest operating hotel in Yuma, and had served 73 years at the time of its NRHP listing in 1990. 

It was deemed significant as "one of the most prominent buildings in Yuma", a building that has been photographed and painted, and having been "among the first of its kind in northeastern Colorado with modern conveniences of steam heat and hot and cold running water." At the time of NRHP listing, it was largely the same as when built by John Andrew Lett.

So far, I haven't come across any paintings or pictures earlier than 1989.

Crossing over to 1st Avenue, silos at the railroad crossing and intersection at Main. Just across Main is the Vision Center (below). There are more silos at different points along the track. One is just a few blocks over from the Manor and another behind the Community Center (another walk)