Rolling along!

If you have been following along you know we are waiting for tires for the trailer - gone through both spares already.....Yay! the truck arrived this afternoon.

Were you imagining a semi-trailer truck with a load?  I was...hum.....We arrive just as the pick up truck was backing into the shop, so we'll wait while they mount the tires on the rims.

New friends Brian (11) Naiomi (10) and Daria (5)... Papa works at the shop.  We had so much fun practicing English and Spanish all the waiting and worrying was forgotten.  Such an fabulous experience learning from these kids.

A recap of our days in La Paz;  Todos Santos trip...Here is a picture of the beach where we camped 10 years ago if you look closely you will see a big hotel in the distance that marks the spot!

Tecolote beach was another camp spot from the past. Still a beautiful beach.

Saturday was a trip south to Los Barriles, new territory for us - beautiful drive over mountains, across valleys  along arroyos.  A stop at the Music/Piano Museum in El Triunfo, then bit of a delay waiting for an accident to be cleared didn't leave us much time for a visit with our Coyote beach group.  

Here we are enjoying La Paz -

having keys cut

Catedral de La Paz

listening to music

ice-cream break

Lunch at a sidewalk cafe, and another new friend, it was Carlos' 5th birthday and he insisted on sharing his candy with us.

Nice little holiday in the city of La Paz.  We'll be heading back toward the beach tomorrow, more adventures await us there.

the Vacation

Off we go on a vacation from Beach life....John says its his first holiday in years - have to keep reminding him that his life is a holiday!

South to La Paz – this first picture is taken as we drove over the Sierra de la Giganta (translation = big mountains) the darker blue patch in the V of the mountains is a glimpse of the sea of Cortez looking back toward Peurto Escondido.  

Our first stop is Ciudad Constitucion (la Mission RV park, formerly Manfreds) 10 years later finds it much improved, the new owners have put in much TLC and hard work, everything is looking good. Cervesas by the pool after the day’s drive.

Chili Relleno dinner at the little restaurant by the RV park - probably the best we have ever eaten.
Mucho Bueno

a segment of the 80 kilometer straight stretch! no kidding not a curve or turn in sight

Next stop La Paz - but first lets have a flat tire!  yay!  We were lucky we were at a good spot to pullover and change it - very quick change up (it must be all the practice)

Arrive at Maranatha RV park 11 km north of La Pas (we're told its the best & only one in the area) nice clean, flat parking areas, hot showers, cold pool, laundry, playground etc. and we were greeted by friends from the beach! Bob & Tom (Jackie and Pat were in town shopping)

Our mission for the first afternoon in the city is find a tire dealer and get a spare (2).  third place we were  lucky, now we have 2 on order from San Diego and will be here Friday.  I'll let you know how that turns out.

Day 2 in the city we spent biking the Malacon - not much change in the 10 years since our last visit, it's extended by a few kilometers and fixed up nicely.  

 Lunch stop at an upper deck restaurant - just for the view!

Who's eating whom????

Day 3 (that's today) was a trip to Todos Santos, an artsy, touristy town 50 km south on the pacific coast.   The place we camped 10 years ago is gone!  hotels, condos, construction of what have you going on there - lucky we had the boon docking on the beach experience when we did.  More about that side trip later.

The WIND Event!

Oh yes we had big winds for a few days, the waves were crashing in to the beach and the wind was howling - gusts over 30 knots!

The tent survived but just barely!

After the wind John decided to make a wind screen.  Got the tools and some supplies and went about modifying the palapa.the part wall and doorway......

It is now hinged and swings out to make a super wind block....

A rare calm morning for a kayak trip - you may see a lot of this view, my spider tripod mount hooks onto the front opening of the cockpit in my kayak, works great for paddling and clicking away.

The old baja highway - John & I hiked one afternoon, this was a good place to be in the lee of the wind.

The local fishermen in the bay dropping nets right out front here.  The pelicans are surrounding them waiting for the leftovers.

Beach life never seems to change – but it does – there is a sameness and a newness to each day.  Our days are so routine already, morning walks and afternoon reads, John is on his second third book already!  January is typically windy and the coldest month, we were lucky to get a nice kayak trip on a rare calm day last week.  The ocean was super clear, so many beautiful fish so see along the shoreline.

Now the water is turned over and much colder, we will have to wait for another calm day to get out kayaking and check the clarity.

Old News

I know, I know, I said no pictures of Christmas morning! but I was wrong, John had some.....

 Jeff, Nancy, Addy, Kiera, Alexis, Barrett, me.

 Gabe and Alexis

We were a total of 18 gathered around the tree; it was every bit as chaotic as it looks!  Adrian and Barrett’s house is nice and big and accommodating.  Great fun for all the kids, young and old!

 One rainy day! you see my reflection thru the window as I take the picture, and the raindrops splashed all over the window.

 This is our second spot on the beach - just after the rain.  Not much beach in front here, high water is almost to our mat.

 Now this is the third and final camping spot!  Lots of room in front for all the toys.

Looking out from the back of the trailer - great view!

We Have Arrived!

We are here!  at the beach….the trip was good.  A fabulous Christmas in Santa Cruz – thank you Garners – no Christmas day pictures to post, here is one from Christmas eve at the beach with the ‘kids’ sunny warm and fun.

Of course there was the usual events to sort out along the way – detour because of weather!  Interstate 5 chains only, possibly closed so Grants Pass to Crescent City is the alternate route, here we go

 Oh, yes – this is the detour route!

Yet again – plumbing issues – leaky faucet in the galley sink….not much working room for John but the master plumber wins again…..new taps! (is there a best customer award at Camping World)

Palm Springs was very relaxing for a few days – sunny and warm – good for John to do some trailer brake re-wiring…..

….I am finally getting the idea the ‘fixes’ are never ending!!! (I won’t even mention the little leak in the right front axle shaft seal)

Now we are settled in at the beach, made one move already.  We arrived in time to ‘select’ the last available palapa – at the south end in the high rent/high density area!!! what were we thinking?? we are not city folks…so 3 days later we move to the middle beach, no palapa but on the end we call the suburbs, our next neighbours are in the country! 

 Here we are all set up - we did bring our big tent, and are using it for storage, or a guest room???

Looking north to the country.

 looking south, you can see the south end high density area. 

Our first days are busy setting up, re-acquainting with our winter community, movie night, craft classes, yoga, Bertha’s dinner special, happy hours, it’s just like we never left……

Yesterday was our first kayak trip, out to the island we go, Steve, Nan, John & I.  The wind picked up so we returned without the circumnavigation as planned.  Oh well, manana…..