Loreto/Spa Buena Vista

 Breakfast is served early for people that like to get on the road - going down, we're not in a hurry as it's just a few hours to our next stop but on the way home, we eat really early to get on the road to get all the way to the border.  But it's a hard drive so we may want to reconsider that choice - we're sure not getting any younger and Glenn does all the driving in Mexico!

Anyway, we ate a leisurely breakfast with wonderful homemade jam and took our time drinking our coffee!  After booking for the way home, we packed up and hit the road!

It was only a 4 hour drive to our next stop, Loreto - we always park the car and go walk around the square - coffee for me and ice cream for Glenn is a must!

We sat on a bench and enjoyed our treats - then walked around the square some more and back the 2 blocks to the car - when we got in the car, I reached in my purse for my phone and oh my gosh, it wasn't there!  I emptied it and was in tears as then I realized I had left it on the bench we were sitting on!

Glenn started the car and drove up as close as he could get to the square and I raced over to the bench and couldn't believe my eyes when  my phone was STILL there!!  It was black of course and blended right into the bench!!  WHEW!!!  Sometimes when we have stopped there, a cruise ship is parked in the harbor and the square is packed with people!!  Luckily it was pretty empty when we stopped there!

We drove on a few miles and got to our hotel for the night, Hotel Tripui - it's a beautiful spot also - hardly anyone was there which was strange!  Our room was on the second floor so we had a nice view!

We ate dinner there and breakfast too (which is included in the price) and then on our way to Spa!  The drive was good and we even made it through LaPaz without getting lost!

Arrived in Spa about 2:30 - this is the road down to our rental on the beach!

It was really cloudy when we arrived and even rained a little bit!  We unloaded the car and Glenn went over and started the process of getting the boat, ATV and all the stuff we leave here, out of our friends' garage!  We went out for pizza with good friends Jo and Norm that night!

And here's my first cup of coffee at Spa!

But the clouds went away and we had beautiful weather the next afternoon!  Lots of unpacking and rearranging and cleaning the next week but it's so nice when it's all done and we are ready for beach life!

The Yurts/San Ignacio

 We're always tired when we reach San Ignacio as it's a long days' drive but the yurts are a nice, relaxing place to be!  Paul and Bonnie, the owners, welcomed us and Mario the bartender soon fixed me a delicious pina colada and got Glenn a beer so we ready to relax!

Their new bar and dining area was all complete - when we stopped on the way back last year they were building it (due to a fire that took out the old one) and it's really nice!

We walked around and I got some pictures - I'm sure I take the same ones every year but it's so pretty there with the river and all the palms!

They served dinner and we visited with a nice couple from Flagstaff - there were also 5 French ladies at the large table - they just spoke minimum English and I certainly don't speak French!!

We were in a different yurt this time and it was very nice with a huge bathroom!  It was nice to relax and unwind before we headed to bed!

Border Crossing/San Felipe

 It was nice that the hotel provided breakfast EARLY!  Usually some of them don't start until 6:30 or 7:00 and this one started at 6:00!  So we grabbed a quick bite and were out the door by 6:30!  It's always confusing as as soon as we get to the border, the time changes to CA time, an hour earlier!

There was no wait at the border - we parked to the side as usual but there was no one helping that spoke any English so they used their phones to translate - it's amazing how many things DON'T translate well at all!  Anyway, they wanted to charge Glenn for our spare tire!!!! (If you bring anything into Mexico, like tools, motors, etc, they assume you are going to resell it and charge a tax - one year Glenn brought a trolling motor and the regular motor for the boat and we had to pay $65.00 tax).  Glenn argued and argued that the spare tire WAS a necessity and they finally said OK - GEESH!

Then we asked about the FMM paperwork that is required when you enter by land and the guy said the person that does it doesn't arrive till 7:00!  Oh gosh - so we had to just sit in our car and wait till he got there - He spoke good English of course and we filled out our paperwork and got out of there!

We stopped in San Felipe to change our money into pesos - unfortunately the exchange rate is NOT good right now so that's a bummer!!  But the lady was very nice and we got to exchange the amount we wanted to - usually they say only a specific amount!

Since we were parked right by the malecon, I suggested we walk a little ways and take some pictures!

Sometimes Blogger reverses all your pictures which it just did so we'll talk about the first 2 pictures later.

The water was beautiful that day!

This is the malecon that you can walk on - it was virtually empty that day!

But the guy selling sunglasses said he would take our picture which was nice of him!  I always love signs like these!

Back to the car after this and a delivery truck had pulled in crazy like and we couldn't get out - we waited and waited and finally I just told Glenn I would get out and guide him and hopefully he could get around - took a little bit but at least he got the car out and we were on our way!

A lot of people think there are no mountains on Baja - just complete desert all the way down - but that's not true at all!  As you can see from the top 2 pictures, there are lots of mountains!  And we travel through them in several areas - narrow roads with switchbacks, just like in normal mountains!

Lots of clouds that day but it made for a beautiful drive!  And soon we were in San Ignacio!

Mexico Bound

  Our take off date for Mexico this year was Monday, Feb. 5th!  Were we ready?  YES!  Were the roads clear?  Mostly yes and once we got past Co. Springs it was smooth sailing!  I always have mixed feelings about leaving - I LOVE Mexico but I LOVE Colorado and our home even more - and it's hard to leave the kids and grandkids, but knowing I can facetime them and call whenever I want to makes it OK to leave!

It felt like we had just been on the road south - probably because we just HAD when we went to Eagles Nest, NM a week and 1/2 ago!!  It's always a LONG first day but we love staying in Winslow, AZ - our hotel is great and we've found a wonderful place to eat dinner - Relic Brewing Company!  Their burgers are 1/2 pound so we always split one and it's served with a huge pile of hand cut fries so we're always full and happy when we leave!  And a few steps away are the statues and place that is known for the Eagles song, Take It Easy - it's always fun to sing that song in your head, "Well I'm a standing on a corner in Winslow, AZ, and such a fine sight to see - it's a girl my Lord in a flatbed ford, slowin' down to take a look at me"

I always have Glenn take my picture with Glenn Frey!!

Instead of continuing west, we drove south to Payson to have breakfast with our former neighbors and friends, Jim and Kathy!  It was a gorgeous drive and I felt like I was back in Colorado with all the pine trees and some snow!

We met them at a diner and enjoyed breakfast and talking a mile a minute to catch up on their news and telling them ours!  After lingering over coffee, we really had to get going but first drove up to where they're having a new house built - awesome views!  Since I forgot to take a picture of them in the diner, I leaned over and took one out the car window - caught BOTH of them with their eyes closed and of course didn't peek at the picture before we drove off - oh well!!

Jim texted us later and said it was a good thing we went south instead of west as that big snowstorm DID come in and they shut down the interstate going west.

Phoenix is ALWAYS busy when we go through but we use the bypass around it to lessen the traffic which helps!  Made it to Yuma in great time in the POURING RAIN!!  It was coming down SO HARD we could hardly see our exit to get off!

We actually parked to the side of the hotel as it was pouring so hard and waited a little bit till it let up - then I went in to get our room and they didn't have our reservation - WHAT?  I do most of my booking through Booking.com and have never had a problem with it - but the guy was nice and basically said I had to call THEM to get it straightened out - we finally found a number to call and the gal was very nice (although hard to understand) and my booking was there and paid for!  Apparently there was some glitch with the emails they had sent the hotel - after 45 minutes, I FINALLY got our room!

Glenn napped a little bit before we walked over to Cracker Barrel and ate dinner - it's so nice to NOT have to get back in the car and drive to find a place to eat, especially in the city at night!

And then it was up and headed to the border!

SNOW SNOW SNOW

 I really thought my next post would be of travels to Mexico!!  But BEFORE we left we had another big snowstorm!!  I guess before we left was MUCH better than DURING the time we would leave!

It snowed some on Friday night but the majority of the snow came on Saturday and then more during the night!

I had plenty to do on Saturday as I was packing for Mexico but it was a beautiful snow (with not a lot of wind) and I loved watching it come down!

We decided we got between 15 and 18 inches of snow!  It was piled up pretty darn good!  Sunday morning we woke up to even more but the sun was out and it was beautiful!

This was probably my favorite picture of our tree right out front with the sun starting to hit it!

And I thought this picture came out nice also - it's the window above the bed in our bedroom and the snow was so deep on the trees!

Glenn spent a LOT of time plowing on Sunday!  Not only our place but 4 of the neighbors!  Our road didn't even get plowed till late on Sunday - I KNOW those county snowplowers worked hard to get everything plowed as soon as they could!

January Photo Dump

 It's February - and you know what that means - it's time to pack for Mexico!!

But let's wrap up January before that happens:

This was my pile (before the luggage even got out there) to go to Estes Park for 3 days!

I love this picture of Evan when he went with Jessi to pick up their new puppy!

Glenn finished up his lift and it's now in service!  He says it's so much easier to change the oil now!

One of our gorgeous sunrises!

Kenzie's bearded dragon Spiro cracks me up - she's always doing something fun with him!

Parker at his first wrestling match - yes, he won by points!!

And since I already downloaded this picture to the blog (thinking it was MINE but it was actually Jessi's I think???) I'll just say it's a darn good sunrise!!

We have a storm coming in tomorrow night - of course we do - it's almost time to head to Mexico!  Luckily it is supposed to stop late Saturday night - we shall see!!!

New Mexico Ice Fishing

 It was time for our annual trip to New Mexico for Glenn to go ice fishing!  Unfortunately the day before I woke up with a bad cold - I wasn't too bad on Wed. but when we left on Thursday, I was feeling pretty rough - luckily I grabbed some dayquil and nyquil along with my microwave heating pad and a cozy blanket to stay warm!

Our trip down was nice - once we get off the interstate, it's a beautiful drive! We even saw a herd of elk so that's always a bonus!  Luckily we could get into the cabin early - Glenn was itching to fish so we unloaded the cabin stuff, grabbed a bite to eat and he was out the door!

I heated up my microwave warmer and when I opened up the door, OH MY GOSH!  The thing had busted open and I had tiny little balls not only all over the microwave but on the floor!  I finally got the microwave free of them and then had to try sweeping them into a pile with this little broom that was in the room - oh my - we found those darn little balls all over every day!

I had BIG plans for getting pictures organized and caught up on my blogging!!!  But I didn't feel great AND the internet that day was non-existent!!  I was excited when Glenn came home to ask how many fish he caught - this is the lake where he ALWAYS gets his limit of 40 perch per day!!

What a shock when he came home and said he only caught 2 fish!!  WOW!  I had brought dinner for that evening so we ate and watched some TV.

I always love the view from the cabin window!

Check out this potato chip I found in the sack!  Almost a perfect heart!

I felt lousy all day so didn't get much done, especially with no internet!

Al and Debra arrived that evening about 6:00, just as Glenn was getting home!  And the fish??  2 again - really?????  That was depressing!!  The 4 of us headed over to the "saloon" for a drink and dinner, only to discover the kitchen was closed due to leaky pipes or whatever!!!

But someone mentioned there was one other place up the street that was open - this town which is very small basically shuts down in the winter so we knew there would be little open in the evenings!  We found the Thai place and it was 6:55 - the place closed at 7:00!  But we peeked our heads in and asked if we could eat and she said of course!  

In the meantime, Robby AND Parker had both texted that Parker had won his first wrestling match - this is a new sport for him and he'd been to a 2 day camp I believe and had practiced a few times but that was it!  We were so proud of him!  Robby called so he could download the video (because Glenn of course wanted to see it and advise Parker since Glenn was a wrestler in high school) and I advised him the internet was not hardly working but he showed me how to use my phone as a hot spot!  That was wonderful as the next day I could blog!

Saturday was actually a tournament out on the lake - I scrolled in so I could see all of the tents out there - pretty cool!

Alan ended up catching a couple of fish, but no perch!  Glenn did NOT even have a bite all day!  He was pretty discouraged!

Even though the fishing wasn't great at all, the guys and Debra had a fun time fishing!  The saloon was open that night but we opted to sit in the restaurant portion since the music was SO LOUD!  Dinner was just OK - nothing to write home about!

We packed up the next morning and headed home!   Here's a picture of the Spanish Peaks!  Beautiful!

Glenn decided he's not going back to Eagle Nest for fishing - he thinks the lake is just fished out and needs to be stocked!  Who knows?  So he'll be on the lookout for another great fishing spot for perch!