I will be visiting a friend in Yuma, AZ the last week of February. I know there is nothing to do there (based on previous posts and my husbands knowledge), but is there anything to do within an hour or two?
I think we will drive to San Diego one night and spend the next day there, but she will be working some the other days so just wondering if there are any options for me during that time.
As my screen name suggests, I am from South Louisiana. All we see driving for hours in any direction is marsh so even a suggestion for seeing the beauty of the desert would be helpful!

Unfortunately there isn't much to do in Yuma and it is pretty far from anything else. At lease you'll have cooler weather in Feb.
You might check out how far it is from Julian, in San Diego County. It might be an hour or so drive. That is a cute town up in the mountains and is a popular tourist spot.

You could visit the Yuma Territorial Prison while there. Also try the Yuma Valley Railway for a scenic ride.

If you're into swap meets head north to Quartzsite about 70 miles. It will take you four days to see them all. Pretty typical desert landscape on the drive there. We just returned from Quartzite and you can read about it here on my blog:

http://tinyurl.com/6p8qma

Pop down to Mexico for a few hours. San luis is a pretty easy to visit. Do try the prison, I was facinated by it as a kid.
There are also miles of sand dunes off I-8, get out and walk through them.

Thanks so much! I will look into these options. Without you guys, I'd be sitting at her house reading a book!

there are very few places in the united states that i would say i wouldn't want to spend a week in but yuma would probably be in my top 5. i really hope you have a good time. i would try to spend as many nights as possible in either san diego or palm springs - i'd try to "wing" it and not book anything until you see what the weather is like. and whichever one you don't do, i'd go see for a day trip (but that is only if you enjoy driving as they are over 2 hrs away from yuma). i've been to border towns in mexico many, many times but i would hesitate

Thanks, ltt. My husband has been to Yuma 3 or 4 times on business and has told me it is one of the worst places he's ever been. And he's spent at least one week a month for the past year in Guyana - that should put it in perspective. When my friend was offered the job there, I didn't have the heart to mention that to her!
We planned to have a few of us visit her but really go to San Diego, but I will be in Napa with family and stopping there on my way back. Her father recently died and she found out the week before that she is pregnant so this is mainly a support trip - not a fun one!

I am sorry for the residents of Yuma, but I tend to agree with the last 2 posts - When we spent the night in Yuma several years ago on the way to San Diego, it appeared such a wasteland to us that we actually joked about it. Unfortunately, 2 months after I returned from that trip a co-worker excitedly told me she had accepted a dream job in Yuma and she knew I had been there and wanted to know what it was like.

All I could say was that we had not been there long enough to give her any info.

Hey! I used to go to Yuma on vacation! Though I'm not sure we actually ever went into town. We used to go over there for water skiing on the Colorado River; it had nice water skiing April-June and Sept-Nov. I thought the river was somewhat scenic as a strip of life in the barren desert. I suppose you could go up to Lake Havasu to walk over London Bridge, but I'm not sure it is worth the drive. San Diego is probably 4 hours drive.