Iowa Memories

 We were able to see one of Maggie's soccer games while we were in Iowa - that was wonderful because we have never had the opportunity to see any of Maggie's or Chance's games!  It was pretty darn cold so we dressed warmly and borrowed a blanket from Leonard before we headed out!

Even though they didn't win their game, it was fun to watch her play and she even made a goal!  Afterwards, (despite being cold!!) we headed to Dairy Queen for ice cream! with the family!

Jim and Brenda had invited us to eat Mexican with them on Tuesday evening so the 4 of us along with Leonard headed to Ute to eat!  It was great to walk in with no masks!  I'm always amazed at the price of things in Iowa!  Between the 5 of us we ordered 8 margaritas (the strawberry ones were excellent), 2 appetizers and 5 meals and the bill was $83.00!!!!!  Granted it was Mexican night so the margaritas were 1/2 price but still!!!

We headed home on Wednesday - the drive sure didn't get any shorter!!  Jaime took us to Runza for lunch as Glenn and I to our knowledge had never had one - it was good but next time we won't order the cheese on it!  Since this post seems to be all about food, I must mention the truck stop on the way home - I knew Glenn and I had stopped at it on the way home once!  We decided to go ahead and get gas first before we stopped at Scooters for coffee!  But there was a Cinnabon inside the truck stop and I decided a cinnamon roll sounded better than special coffee!  Jaime and I had just ordered the small ones when we saw this:

It's the CENTER of the cinnamon roll (my favorite part) and then more butter and caramel is added while it's being heated!!  I knew I would need just regular coffee with that so both Glenn and I got coffee and 3 centers and we sat in the car and enjoyed it - oh my gosh - it was excellent!

Since Jaime's car was in Denver, we once again did that route and stopped there for adjustments and dinner that Jessi had in the crockpot!          And once again, it felt great to be home!

A Remembrance

 He left this world way too soon....there were special occasions still to be had with his daughter...there were fishing trips with Glenn to still go on.....and there were friends to enjoy life with....

It was a sad day on Monday when we all met for the funeral - and it seemed almost impossible that Todd was gone from this life - so we cried and we mourned his loss.

This is my favorite picture of our 5 kids - taken almost 10 years ago at a birthday party in Iowa along with a family reunion!  

Rest in peace, Todd.

Headed to Iowa

 We were out the door by 6:30am to head to Iowa along with Jaime who had gotten up really early and drove to Denver to meet us!  It was a little different route leaving from Denver vs leaving from our place!  The drive was fine - and it did take a couple hours less than usual which was nice since we were already in Denver.

Every time we had passed the Holy Family  Shrine at Gretna which is outside of Omaha, I always remarked that we should stop sometime and see it!  And since we had made great time (must have been due to Jaime's pedal to the metal when she drove) I looked it up online and saw that the church was only 3 or so miles off the interstate so yes, we were stopping!

It was a really cool chapel - I was totally impressed with it!

The chapel is glass walled with supports holding up the 45 foot roof.  You can see it off the interstate.

Out behind the chapel is a beautiful seating area where you can sit and reflect.

There is a man-made stream that flows along a path cut along the walkway to the entrance and then on into the chapel  - this photo shows going back into the gift shop area and is built to resemble the tomb where Jesus was laid.

The trees and bushes were in bloom here - beautiful!

It was a relaxing spot to take a breather before we headed into Soldier to stay at Patty and Leonards' place.    Patty wasn't there as she was helping out at Amys but it was great to see Leonard, along with my brother Jim who stopped by later.

Pre Start to Iowa Trip

 It felt pretty darn good to sleep in our own bed in Colorado!  There was lots of unpacking to do, mail stacked up pretty high, and decisions to make about Iowa.

We did a zoom call with the funeral home in Iowa to take care of the remaining details and with the funeral set for Monday, decided to drive out on Sunday.  My back was quite sore from riding for 4 days so we decided to head to Denver to get adjustments on Saturday, spend the night and head out early the next morning!

This girl was SO glad to see us!  Facetime is nice but it just isn't quite the same!!  She had to show us how she could climb the tree!

Evan had a basketball tournament that day so Glenn took him to that in north Denver and got to see him play.  When Jessi got home from work, we grabbed some lunch and then went to coffee and to do a little shopping!  Glenn and I both needed some new dress pants and socks and luckily we found everything at Kohl's!

When Glenn returned from the game, he helped Gwyn do a couple of school projects!  Doesn't she look cute in her apron?

Looks like she's pretty impressed with whatever Papa is doing!

We enjoyed the day with the Keppys' and Jessi fixed a wonderful dinner for us!

In the evening, they taught us to play 5 Crowns which is really fun - must put that on my list of things to buy!  It sure was great seeing all of them again!

The Sad News

 We were watching tv on April 1st when I got a text from Neal, Glenn's younger son - it said "Have dad call me ASAP".  I knew right away something was wrong.  Glenn's older son, Todd, had been found dead in his apartment.  Devastating news..... news a parent never wants to hear....we as parents are supposed to go before our children.

There wasn't a lot of news - just that an autopsy would be done - and cremation would take place after that.  We were in shock  - feeling quite helpless as we were 2000 miles away.

We made the decision that night to just pack up and head home - we were still 2 weeks away from the end of our rental date but decided it just wasn't worth it to fly back home and then back to Mexico again.

Friday was "pack all day" day - Glenn took care of the outside stuff and I started on the inside - you would think it would be pretty easy to just pack your stuff away - but we keep 2 large tubs of items down there  (stored in the boat which is stored in a garage with the ATV) so each item of ours I picked up, had to be decided whether it was staying down there or going home with us!  And believe me, I bring a LOT of kitchen stuff down!

Friends stopped by all day to offer their sympathy and our close friends helped us pack.  It was a long, long day of sorting things out and it was hard to just concentrate on what I was even doing.

At 6:00am the next morning I said my goodbyes to the beach until next year and we headed out, knowing that we would be driving on one of the worst possible weekends of the year, Easter weekend which is the Mexicans biggest holiday!

The sun was just peeking through the clouds as we rounded the corner in Los Barriles.

The first day drive on the Baja wasn't bad at all - traffic was slow so we made good time on the highway and enjoyed seeing the beautiful beaches as we drove by.

Outside of one of the larger towns, Glenn asked me to drive - I did not make good time as was climbing up high with lots of switchbacks and curves - and then finally got on the straight away.  I was driving UNDER the speed limit and even slowed down some as a pickup had been behind me for a while and I assumed he wanted to pass - nope - it was the police and soon the flashing lights came on. REALLY??  The guy was very nice - spoke no English - we spoke no Spanish - and he talked for a couple of minutes.  We heard the word "speeding" and we both shook our heads and he finally said "Adios" and walked back to the truck and turned around and went back up the mountain.  WHEW!  Only drove about 10 miles and the cop stops me - I gave the wheel back to Glenn as I was kind of shook up!

We stopped at the yurts that we love for the night - they make a wonderful Pina Colada at their outside bar and we both needed a drink!!  Dinner was served outside there and Paul and Bonnie warned us there was an empty lot across the street that the younger crowd partied at over Easter.  Before dinner was even over, the music started with that loud bass  - and I mean LOUD!

Even though it was 55 degrees, we shut the windows, turned on the a/c and the sound machine and tried to sleep - I know eventually I slept but it sure wasn't a restful sleep - the music was still going at 6:30am when we got up......At breakfast Paul told us he had called the police to break it up but they refused to do anything due to the sheer number of people partying.  NOTE TO SELF - NEVER STAY AT THE YURTS OVER EASTER WEEKEND!  IN FACT:  DON'T EVEN DRIVE!

The final day on the Baja was filled with a lot of traffic, waits to get gas, an hour wait at a federalies stop, and many, many people parked on the shoulder of the road and walking down to the beaches.  It was kind of a night mare!!  Luckily, we found the border entrance and got in the correct lane (our usual border we go through shuts down at 2:00pm due to COVID so couldn't go through that border) with only a 20 minute wait to cross into the USA.  It's always a great feeling to cross that line!

Check out the temps as we drove - yup, 101 degrees at times!

It was extremely confusing on the times.  The night we spent at the yurts was daylight savings time for the lower 1/2 of Mexico - then we crossed over to the upper region which is a different time, then into CA and finally to AZ who doesn't recognize DST.  At one point, the clock in the car said one time, my phone said another time, and Glenn's phone said a 3rd time!

We spent the night in Yuma and then drove to Albuquerque for the second night.  It was wonderful to get home about 2:00pm to our house.  But then reality sets in and you remember the real reason you came home early - and then it didn't feel quite as good!

March Photo Dump

 Since we're past the midway mark of April, these photos seem kind of old!!

The morning after my dog bite episode, my friend from up the street brought this baby turtle over for me to see - there were 3 of them on the beach, trying to get to the water and they were so cute!

I forgot how much "fresh" garlic we go through in Mexico as we do fresh garlic sauteed in butter over most of the fish we cook!!  Chopping it up isn't so bad, but trying to get that darn skin off takes me way too long!  So I did the next best thing - got on Amazon and found the BEST garlic chopper and had it shipped to Joleen so she could bring it down!!  Do I love it????  OMG - it's amazing!!  I love the chopper itself (although cleaning it is a pain, but it's still worth it!) but the green sleeve in the picture is the absolute best!!  You just put the garlic glove in it, and rub it back and forth on the counter pretty forceful and out comes a clean garlic - just like magic!!  No more complaining about doing garlic!

I wanted to post a picture of the famous "potato night" potatoes!  The ones that I get 3 meals out of!!  I already miss them although they certainly would be easy to duplicate!  

This was taken from Mark and BJ's house behind us, up on their roof!  It was very windy that day as you can tell by the trees blowing but it's a nice picture of the curve of the bay and Los Barriles and Buenos Aires in the distance!

I just thought this was really cool!!  It's hanging in our friends' house and it was Del's mom who had it done from a collection of very old buttons!  The buttons are all SEWED on - imagine doing that!

We usually eat breakfast on the front porch - this day Glenn was out fishing and I just decided to take a picture of the way I start my day after my morning walk!

And one final picture of the pink sky at sunset, taken from the hot tub!  

Our Final Days in Mexico

 Our new friends, Mark and BJ, who were renting the house behind us, had to move out on a Saturday and because they only were borrowing an ATV, asked if we could move their belongings in exchange for dinner at El Gecko!   Absolutely!!  It's one of our favorite places as it's the spot where they make the tableside guacamole AND make the best mango daiquiris!

We loaded them up mid-afternoon and took them to the other side of Los Barriles, actually right across the dirt road from El Gecko!  They had a cute casita rented with only the owners' main house in front of them so they had great views and were very close to the beach!

After unloading, we headed into El Gecko and were very disappointed when they told us they could not do the tableside guac due to being short staffed - oh well!  We ordered our drinks and they sure didn't disappoint!

We all just decided to order appetizers and split them which was a great choice!  That way we weren't too full to have dessert which was key lime pie!  Granted, it really doesn't look like key lime pie - in fact it didn't even taste like key lime pie but it was EXCELLENT!  

Streams of pink sunrise coming through the palm trees is always a pretty sight!

Glenn and Chuck (our next door neighbor) took the boat out and Glenn once again caught a big one!  We had absolutely no room in our freezer for more fish so we gave it all away!

While Glenn was out fishing, I was enjoying special coffee on the front deck!  No wind in sight!

Although it wasn't a magnificent sunrise, I love that I caught the birds in this picture.  And little did I know at the time, it was to be the last pretty sunrise for us!

Peace

 This morning I felt complete peace - in my own back yard, or should I say on my wonderful front porch!  It's been an exhausting and emotional 2 weeks (and I will back up and blog about it all).  And since we've returned from Iowa, the weather has not been cooperative - it's been snowy and gray and cold, not typical Colorado weather with all the gray skies!

But this morning promised cold but sunny skies and I decided no matter what the temperature was, I was going to make "special coffee" and sit on the front porch!

And that's exactly what I did!  It was a balmy 30 degrees out but the sun was shining and that's all that mattered!  Coffee on the porch was just what I needed!  I sat and stared at that mountain for a long time, just basking in the sunshine and reflecting on life.

The snow was melting off the roof, the deer walked by and life just seemed pretty darn amazing this morning!  I'm happy to be back in my beautiful mountain home - missing Baja friends, but knowing that I have a completely different and unique set of friends here in Colorado - and routine life is just around the corner.

Here's to peace in the mountains!

El Triunfo

 What a busy week!  Our friends invited us to go to El Triunfo for lunch and to go through their mining museum!  It's about a 45 minute drive but it's pretty and scenic along the way!

We were quite disappointed to find that the hotel restaurant was only open for carry out - that's the place that has the beautiful baked bread that we saw last year!  But it was a no go this year!  Hillary and Eric had been to the other restaurant in town, El Minero, so we walked there and were happy that it was open!  They make homemade sausages with different fillings and your choice of sauces!  Very good and the one sauce was excellent!

I love the walkways in this town!  But you definitely have to watch where you walk as it's pretty uneven!

We ate outside in this huge courtyard with a couple of statues - I was planning on crawling up on the horse to get my picture taken - but discovered the seat was HOT, HOT, HOT!  I opted to just stand beside it!

On some days, they make paella in the center of this large circle - there's seating almost 1/2 way around the circle so it's pretty unique looking!

Linda and Hillary and I - I tried to research who this particular statue is of but to no avail!

Eric and Hillary

And after lunch we found out the museum was closed - even though the website said it was open!  Darn!  So we walked around a little bit and then decided to stop at Zopilotes in San Bartolo !  We had went there last year with Patty and Leonard on our ATV's - and Patty had ordered the crepes with mango ice cream inside and fruit to add!  I KNEW that's what I was going to get and it did not disappoint!!  I even managed to get the entire thing down, even after a large lunch!

An Arroyo Ride To The Waterfalls

 Time was passing and we hadn't made our yearly journey to the waterfall!  So we invited Mark and BJ to go with us!

As the days are getting warmer, we opted to leave mid-morning to miss the heat of the arroyo! About 5 minutes after getting on the ATV I started sneezing - oh no - allergy time - something was blooming!  Luckily I had plenty of kleenex with me and later on even opted to take an antihistamine!  And later that day talked to other people that had the same thing happen so something was definitely blooming!

Before we got out of town, we saw the small herd of donkeys along with a baby one - so cute!

They arroyo sure didn't get any less bumpy driving through the sand!  We were surprised to see water when we got within a mile of the waterfall as it's been so dry in southern Baja this year!  We parked the ATV's and waded through the streams of water for about 1/3 of a mile to reach the waterfall!  The canyon walls were as cool as ever!

Guess Blogger decided to head to the other waterfall!  It's a short drive on the ATV but kind of a treacherous walk to get back here - if you didn't know it was here, you would never find it!  The hanging rope to help you get around one of the rocks was still there - thank you!

Mark and BJ wasted no time getting in the water - I had decided ahead of time not to get in as my dog bite wounds were still healing and I didn't want to take a chance on infection!  I was surprised here that there wasn't MORE water coming down the waterfall!

Glenn and I relaxed on the edge while they swam a while in the cold water!

OK - now we're back to the first waterfall and here are some of the canyon walls!

Mark has a long arm so was able to take this selfie!

We ended our journey at a little loncheria that Hillary and Eric had taken us to before - they make great "torta" sandwiches and the BEST french fries - which I hadn't eaten any of since I've been in  Baja!

What a fun day!