San Ignacio

 We had a lovely day driving to San Ignacio - a couple of Federali stops but they basically waved us through one of them and the other one Glenn had to "sign in" and report how the stop was!!  They've had a lot of complaints on this Federali stop outside of San Ignacio - usually they search the cars pretty well but there was no search this time and a very nice guy there!

The yurts is always one of our favorite stops - so relaxing - and they serve an evening meal which was delicious!  Glenn had met a guy at the bar there whom we ate with and he was a very interesting guy!  He was a pilot and even flew private planes into Spa Buena Vista (where we stay) a few times - but then he went back to commercial flying - it's always interesting who we meet at the yurts as dinner is served family style and there's usually no more than 15 or 20 people max!

Unfortunately the "sleeping" wasn't quite as peaceful - from midnight on we kept hearing an alarm go off - it would wake you up but of course you would fall right back asleep!  Glenn even got up 2 different times thinking it was our car alarm!  Whatever.........

We found out the next morning that NOBODY had slept well because of that darn alarm - the owners, Paul and Bonnie had gotten up and drove just a few blocks to the OXXO station which is where the alarm was going off - they contacted the police but nothing was done!!  They had complained to the "delegation" before on this alarm but nothing was done!!

Bonnie had asked us if we wanted to take a walk and we said sure - so we walked up to the OXXO to also complain about the alarm - the guy spoke a little English and we complained about the noise of the alarm and he told us it was the Valentines Day decorations they had hung up that were blowing inside when something came on and that was setting off the alarm!  He told us they would be taking them down every evening!!  I hope they did!!

After a wonderful breakfast I took a few pictures of the river which is always pretty (and green!!) before we headed out!

And then we were off once again - it's a short drive to Loreto but it's easiest to do it this way because the last day we can get into Spa right after lunch and have plenty of daylight to unload the car and get the boat and ATV out of storage!

San Felipe

Because of our stop in Prescott, we decided to do a little different drive - Yuma is only 3 1/2 hours from Prescott so we had decided we would cross the border and drive to San Felipe for the night - that way Glenn didn't have a 10 or 11 hour drive to San Ignacio the following day!

We crossed the border late morning with no issues - and once again things at the border had changed!  Usually as soon as we go through, we are escorted to the side and someone takes me to the office to get our FMM's and other guards search the car while Glenn is watching them!  But this time there was NO place to park right by the office (which all looks brand new) so we had to drive a ways before we found a parking spot!  Then we walked back and found an office that took our passports to fill out the FMM's - no cash is accepted anymore - you MUST have a credit card to use for the cost!  And that was it!!  Super easy!

We only had about a 3 hour drive to San Felipe so that was nice!  But once we got into the town, we realized there was a race going on and it was packed with a lot of barricades set up!  We have a specific place we go to get our pesos but it was all blocked off - we finally found a place to park in a restaurant's parking lot with a promise to the guy directing us in that we would come back after we got pesos and have a drink!

Luckily, the peso place could give us what we needed - although the peso is NOT a great exchange rate to the dollar at this time!  Then we headed back to the open air restaurant and had a drink - it was SO loud as it was the ending spot for the racers - mostly side by sides and jeeps!

An extremely STRONG mango dacquiri with enough tejin around the edge for 3 people!!  Yes, I got a to go cup for it!!

We had a small cabana booked on the beach for our nights' stay - it was on the second row from the beach but we still had a view!  Cute place that was very clean and perfect for the night!  Luckily they had a restaurant on site so we could just walk to it - neither one of us like to get back in the car and drive for our evening meal!

The next morning was beautiful - we decided to just eat at the same place for breakfast - I saw this lounging cat and thought she was cute as can be!

We sat outside at the restaurant - I did have to use my translator on my phone as we couldn't decipher the menu that well - but it was all good and the hand squeezed orange juice in Baja is the BEST!

When they have low tide, it is SUPER low tide!

We packed up and headed out after breakfast for our leisurely drive to San Ignacio instead of our frantic
"hope we can make it before dark" thoughts!!  It's always a beautiful drive!

January Photo Dump

 I must interrupt our Mexico drive to finish up Jan. with just a few pictures!

Since Matias couldn't come to Estes Park, we had him and his girlfriend up so he could open his presents and have a nice lunch together!

A pretty SUNSET - it's hard to take pictures off our back deck because of all the trees but this one turned out nice!

After our fiasco that one weekend with the low temps in the house causing the smoke alarms to go off, I decided we needed a SMART thermostat so I could control it from my phone!  It was fairly easy to install after having to get another wire - but hooking up to my phone took a little longer!!  But I've got it all down now and can see the temp daily on my phone here in Mexico!

Henry was all ready to head to Mexico but the Christmas stocking hat wasn't going to work - so I ordered a set of straw hats (plenty to give the grandkids) and used velcro to secure it to his flat head - HA!  He loves it!!

Of course it would turn super cold right before we leave!!!

One last get together with the neighbors - we'll miss all of them while we're gone!!

And that's a wrap for January - time to continue the trip!!

Sedona/Prescott

 Next stop - Flagstaff - to get the car part!  We found Auto Zone easy enough and they DID have the part - Glenn put it on right there in the parking lot and it didn't take too long!  And it seemed to work as the engine light didn't come on - SCORE!!

Since we had plenty of time since Prescott wasn't that far away, we decided to go down Oak Creek Canyon and reminisce about our time living there.  We hardly recognized Sedona!!  But of course it's been 38 years since we lived there!!  The red rocks though are just as gorgeous as ever!!

We decided to head to the Village of Oak Creek which is where we lived to see if we could recognize our first house we lived in when we moved there - I did NOT remember the address but knew it was just a little over a block away from the Circle K gas station because that is where Jaime walked to catch the bus!  And a cute story remembering that - The Village and Sedona actually got an inch of snow that first winter - pretty rare!!  I sent Jaime down to catch the bus (this was in the days where you didn't have to worry about your child walking by themselves!!) and she waited outside like normal for a while - finally the checker at the Circle K walked out and asked why she was still waiting out there and Jaime replied she was waiting for the bus - the checker told her school was cancelled because of the snow!!!  So told her to go back home!!  I still chuckle about it to this day because we were from Iowa where they might cancel school if you got a foot or so!!!

Anyway we drove around several blocks but could not see the house - more than likely it had been torn down and a new one built - if I would have known we were going to be stopping there, I would have grabbed a picture of that house out of the box of pictures from that year!  So dang, we never found it!!

And then it was off to Prescott to see Jeff and Karen!  It was so fun to see them - Karen and I never stopped talking that entire afternoon and evening!!  HA!!  Glenn took a nap while Jeff, Karen and I went for a lovely walk in their neighborhood!!

Happy Hour time - YUM!

We had a nice evening with a wonderful meal - sure enjoyed visiting before it was time to head to bed!

Thanks Jeff and Karen for a wonderful time!  

Mexico Bound

 And before we knew it, it was time to head to Mexico!!  That last week and up to the day we left, I was under the weather with upper respitory issues!  I could still pack and such but sure didn't feel great and I was glad I had done so much in advance!!  It was mostly a bad cough the last few days and even through the begiining of our trip but it could have been a lot worse!

And we also had a car issue before we left - the engine light kept coming on and Glenn did the code deal and figured out what it was - so he ordered the part off Amazon and it was to arrive on Monday - well due to the big storm in the east, it was delayed but did say it would be delivered on Wednesday!  We were leaving Thursday morning!!!!

Waited ALL day and evening and no part......in the meantime Glenn had called Winslow, AZ Auto Zone to see if they could have it waiting for us - nope - but Flagstaff had it!!  So he put the car back together, we packed up and got left on Thursday morning!  The first day is always a long one!

Stopped in Raton for a quick bite of breakfast and I got some EXPENSIVE coffee to drink on the way!!  It's always a nice drive, just long!

We pulled into our usual spot to stay right off the interstate and were completely shocked to see a HUGE truck stop had been put in RIGHT beside the hotel!!!!  WOW - it was big!!

Glenn took a quick nap and then we were off to Relic Brewing - our favorite place to eat there!  The drinks and food were great as usual - yes we split as it's 1/2# pound of meat!!

And then it was a quick walk down the block for the mandatory pictures of  "Standing on a corner in Winslow, AZ"!!

We both got a great nights' sleep and enjoyed their breakfast the next morning!  And then we were off to Flagstaff!

The Northern Lights Again?

 I could hardly believe my eyes when I read there was another chance of seeing the northern lights!  It was COLD out that night so I peeked out the back but didn't see anything - and then I remembered that sometimes you can't see them with the naked eye, just your camera!  SO I walked out the front and sure enough I could see some purple (last time was red)!!  Back in to put on a heavy hooded coat and boots and walked back out so see what I could capture!

I wasn't disappointed!!  But didn't stay out very long due to the cold!

I love the 3 different shades of purple as I walked further each time!  WOW - once again I was amazed!

After coming back in and checking facebook to see if anybody else had posted any (and of course they had!!), I came to a local news channel that was asking people to send in their pictures!  SO I DID!

I was ready for bed at 10:00pm so decided to tape the news, JUST in case my pic would be on - and sure enough the next day when I watched it, there it was!  I was extremely pleased!

It's the little things in life that make you secretly smile to yourself!

Volleyball

 And the following weekend we headed to Denver for Kenzie's volleyball tournament!  Rayna and Jaime decided to come up too so we all met at the house to get adjustments!  Gary and Glenn stayed home to watch the Broncos game - and yes, another win!!  

The rest of us all went to the meet which Day 1 was at Kenzie's regular training place - there's sure not a lot of seating but we did get to sit right on the court and it was "watch out for flying volleyballs"!!!

That girl can jump!!!  And she's great at spiking the ball!

Support from her family!

They won 2 of their 3 games and played great!  In between the 2nd and 3rd game, the 4 of us went to a sandwich place to eat dinner - the sandwich was good BUT Jaime had to order on gluten free bread and her order took 20 minutes!!!  Not acceptable!

By the time we got home that night, we were all tired so it was an early night!

Since the team had lost 1 game, we knew the next day their games would be at Golden!!!  YAY - a chance to see Evan!!

We all got up pretty early - Jessi had frozen cinnamon rolls so she had laid them out and cooked them in the morning and Gary had made and cooked an egg casserole the day before so we just had to heat that up for breakfast which worked out great!

Jessi drove our car over with me and Kenzie and one other player as the girls had to ref early - Gary, Gwyn and Glenn came in Gary's car!

We met Evan in the lobby of his dorm and all enjoyed cinnamon rolls and coffee!

Evan opened up his birthday card since we'll be gone once again around his birthday!

Then he gave us a tour of the campus and we really enjoyed that!  It's hard to believe that Jessi went there for a year as I sure didn't remember much of that!

Then it was the first game in their smaller gym at the college - again, you sit right in front of where they play so had to watch out for the balls again!!  They won the first game and it was a real nail-biter!!!

Unfortunately they lost the next one but they played excellent and it went into overtime!!  A fun game to watch!!

Glenn and I with the kids!

We had packed a lunch so walked over to where the cars were and enjoyed a picnic in the sun - it felt good to be outside, even though it was a little bit windy!!

And then it was time to say our goodbyes and head back home!