Located in the Yuma Crossing Heritage Area, three blocks south of Yuma Crossing State Historical Park, at 233 South 4th Avenue, the Coronado Motor Lodge is refurbished 1950s motel that offers large, clean, and comfortable rooms within easy walking distance of the Yuma City Hall, the two state parks (the Yuma Territorial Prison is the other), and the “historical” north end business district. (From Interstate 8, it is west on the Giss Parkway and right on 4th Avenue, half a block north of the Giss Parkway; the airport is south of the sprawling city. The Mexican border is 8 miles away.)
I think that all the rooms have some street noise from 4th Avenue. I did not hear noise from the neighboring rooms, and the thermal insulation seemed good. (The outside temperature got down to the mid-40s, but the room remained relatively warm.)
The television had a 27-inch screen and 90+ cable channels, though the picture was not as sharp as it might be. (The one premium channel is HBO). Each room also has a VCR and the office has hundreds of videotapes for guests to screen.
The room had a coffee-maker with regular and decaffeinated coffee, an ironing board and iron, an old-fashioned hair-dryer, and a heat lamp in the bathroom. The shower had flow-control to a fine mist and the water temperature plunged and shot up.
The queen-size beds had comfortable, firm mattresses. The table between them had an electric radio/alarm-clock and an lamp that was not adequate for reading.
There was one stuffed chair and one padded desk chair. The light on the desk was adequate for using my laptop. At night or with the heavy curtains closed, the room was very dark.
Check-in was slow given the inability of the desk staff to multitask. One of the tasks is issuing vouchers for breakfast at the Yuma Crossing Restaurant and Sports Bar, which is next to the hotel. The breakfast options (for the vouchers) are hot or cold cereal with a piece of toast, a small glass of orange juice, coffee or tea; or two eggs with bacon or sausage with a piece of toast, a small glass of orange juice, coffee or tea.) In marked contrast to the reception staff, the restaurant staff were able to multitask and were very efficient, even though their prospects for tips were dim (both on meals from vouchers and in serving dinners to the group of 27 on which I was part).
The Imperial Valley is the lettuce capital of the world, and iceberg lettuce was way too major an ingredient of the dinners and a lunch I had at the Yuma Crossing Restaurant and Sports Bar.
Just across the street is a supermarket (IGA), further augmenting the claim to “good location” (within Yuma, which is more of a stopover than a destination).
Mexico is 8 miles to the shout–through California, which is immediately across the Colorado River. The Salton Sea is a ways down stream. Though very polluted, many different kinds of birds stop by or breed in the accidental lake and in Martinez Lake, a planned reservoir.
The Coronado has a fairly large swimming pool as motel swimming pools go. It is heated during the winter. Well, I’m sure that it is heated during the summer, too, but by the brutal Sonoran desert sun. (Our local guide said that his pool was currently 56 degrees and was 96 degrees during August.) There is also a hot tub.
Room rates begin at $73.80. Pets less than 20 pounds are allowed for a $10 (per stay) fee.
