Ahea Kali's New Slog

Swimming with the Manatees Video 12.17.11

2011-12-17T20:26:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ9GbkrkojI

Swimming with the Manatees 12.17.11

2011-12-17T20:07:00.000-08:00

After 4 full, and I do mean full, days at Disney World wetook it easy for a couple days. Well, aseasy as possible with Mom & Dad! Haha… We took off Geocaching onFriday and had a great system going, picking up about 20 caches in anafternoon. Saturday morning we ran someerrands & picked up a few more caches before heading back to the condo topack everything up and get ready for the road trip to Texas(and my folks back to Kansas).

But we had one more thing on our list to do before leaving Florida – go to Crystal Springsand swim with the Manatees. Woohoo!

We signed up with Capt. Mike’s Sunshine River Tours and hada wonderful Captain, Capt. Donna who took a group of 12 out to the CrystalRiver National Wildlife Refuge area. TheManatees flock to this area as there are warm water springs that remains aconstant 72 degrees and since they carry so little body fat, can only survivein water temps above 68 degrees.

After suiting up in wetsuits (an experience/show all initself, huh, Mom?! I know, we said wewouldn’t talk about that…haha!) we watched the mandatory ‘don’t harass theManatees’ videos and jumped onto a pontoon boat to go out to the sanctuary.

Arriving outside the King Spring we jumped in the lukewarmwater out to the Keyhole, between two sanctuary markers. We swam over to the area and watched &waited. Finally our patience paid off –we had several encounters. The first wasa mother and her calf, who was nursing.

The Michael and Mom had one playing with them….

This one loved getting it’s back rubbed and, just like adog, would roll over onto it’s back and have you rub its belly!

The whole experience was so amazing! There were hundreds of Manatees in the water,nearly everywhere you looked you saw more. Michael even kicked one on his swim back to the boat. Doh! :-) I was frozen after being in the water for anhour or so, so much so that I was shivering and Mom was having an asthmaepisode so we went back to the boat.

Ah…mazing. Wow…

More to follow…

Rene

Disney World Day 4 – Animal Kingdom 12.15.11

2011-12-15T19:57:00.000-08:00

We’re slowing down…haha! We were all pretty lazy this morning but made it up & outfinally. Luckily, the Animal Kingdomdoesn’t have ‘that’ much to do & see! And the park closes at 5pm so we’re planning on ‘hopping’ over to the Magic Kingdomto see the fireworks & parade.

We rode the ‘must do’ rides – the Kilimanjaro Safari wherewe saw lots of interesting wildlife (even if the driver tried to snap our neckswith her erratic driving!)

& Expedition Everest….

We watched the Festival of the Lion King show & FindingNemo show, checked out the 3D It’s a Bug’s Life show (too cute!!), and ofcourse, the Jingle Jungle Parade.

After the park closed, we hopped on over to the Magic Kingdomand made it just in time for the Main Street Electrical Parade…

And although we were all absolutely beat, hungry, andfrustrated at the poor service at the restaurant…Mom & I hung in there tosee the fireworks over Cinderella’s Castle, which were fantastic.

Ahhh….we can’t feel our feet, there’s way too many peoplehere tonight, and we’re bushed…we’re going home. Haha…

Tomorrow….sleeping in! wink, wink…

Rene

Disney World Day 3: Hollywood Studios 12.14.11

2011-12-14T19:53:00.000-08:00

The best thing about today was it was Dad’s birthday!! Woohoo! We got him a button to wear that said “Happy Birthday Dad” and made himwear it….much to his chagrin….as every employee of the park who saw it, as wellas some of the park goers made it a point to say ‘Happy Birthday’ tohim….all….day….long! Every time weturned around, someone else was wishing him a Happy Birthday!! hahaha…. I think he may remember that one for quite a while. :-)

The second best thing about today was going to HollywoodStudios. I think we were all lookingforward to this day the best for one reason or the other. The rides, the fireworks, the squishedpennies, the geocaches…it was all perfect.

We stayed busy again today, making sure to ride all of thefun rides. Toy Story Mania, Rock nRoller Coaster, the Twilight Tower of Terror (Dad’s favorite!), Star Tours in3D…

The Great Movie Ride, the Studio Backlot Tour, Lights,Motors, Action! Show, Muppet Vision 3D, IndianaJones…and more!

We found a spot to watch the Countdown to Fun Parade andthen walked over to the Osborne Festival of Dancing Lights on the Street. This is where the entire area is decked outin lights and blinks & flashes to the time of the music. You’ve seen them before on the internet butit was even better in person. The sheeramount of lights was astonishing and then we learned it takes 4 months to putup all the lights! Wow!

Oh but that’s not all! We saw another lightshow/fireworks/Character parade at Fantasmic. Nice… AND…managed to find all of the squished penny machines in the park. Woohoo!

We left the park around 9pm – another 12 hour day! We’re still having fun though! :-)

Tomorrow….Animal Kingdom and back to the Magic Kingdom

Rene

Disney World Day 2: Magic Kingdom 12.13.11

2011-12-13T19:47:00.000-08:00

Oh boy! Anotheraction packed day! Today we got an earlystart, had Mom’s squished penny machine maps in hand, & were ready to findour geocaches…in addition to riding the 7 rides I had plotted out, watching the3D Mickey’s PhilharMagic show, & seeing Cinderella’s castle all lit up withlights. No problem! :-)

First a mandatory photo in front of the Castle…

Then we were off! Werode Peter Pan’s Flight and soared like Tinkerbell, rode Space Mountain in thedark, were thrown for a loop at the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, wereabsolutely soaked on Splash Mountain, chilled out on the Winnie the Poo rideand Buzz Lightyear’s ride (I had high score!), got the bejeesus scared out ofus at The Haunted Mansion, and laughed like crazy at the insane narrator on theJungle Cruise. Whew!

We called it a day early as they were closing the park downfor the special Mickey’s Christmas party but stayed until the Cinderella CastleLight Show was over.

Another fantastic day. Again, we used our FastPasses when we could and stood in incrediblyshort lines at all the rides. This weekhas to be the best week to come to Disney World! Shhh….don’t tell anyone!

Tomorrow….Hollywood Studios. :-)

Rene

A week at Disney World – Day 1: EPCOT 12.13.11

2011-12-13T19:33:00.000-08:00

Oh boy, oh boy!! Aweek at Disney World! With myparents!! Yippee!!! :-)

Michael’s Mom has a timeshare and we found a place in Orlando, only a couplemiles from Disney World, that is a two bedroom with a kitchen, perfect! We met Mom & Dad on Sunday afternoon atthe condo & unpacked for the week. Ihad done a bunch of research on Disney World and learned there are severalwebsites devoted to how to plan your visit so that you can do & seeeverything you want to in a week. I hadpages of notes and poured over the attendance estimates of each park, decidingwhich to go to first.

As it turned out, EPCOT was the park to go to onMonday. So after Michael and I sittingthrough the mandatory, torturous, timeshare presentation, we were off! :-)

I had lots planned for EPCOT and to be honest, worried thatI was going to kill Mom with all of the walking. But she hung in there as we traipsed aroundthe park. Each of us had anitinerary: I wanted to ride all the‘main’ rides & see all of the shows/fireworks I could. Dad wanted to find the Geocaches in the park& Mom wanted to get all of the smashed pennies she could find. No problem! :-)

At EPCOT we went Soarin over California,made it out of Test Track in one piece, had a blast at Toy Story Mania, andalmost lost our cookies at Mission:Space. And the lines were zilch – thelongest line we stood in was ‘maybe’ 10 minutes but we still used our FastPassas often as we could – there’s something gratifying about walking to the frontof the line, even if it’s only a 10 minute wait.

We did all of the 3D rides & shows, designed our ownride in the Sum of All Thrills and were Storm Struck with a simulatedtornado. And that was just on the FutureWorld side.

We went to the World Showcase side next, making sure to rideMaelstrom and the Gran Fiesta while trying to take in all of the shows, pickingup pennies when we could find them, & making our way to the U.S.pavilion.

The one show I was most interested in seeing at EPCOT wascalled the Candlelight Processional which was a retelling of the Christmasstory by a celebrity narrator accompanied by a 50 piece orchestra and aglorious mass choir. There were 3 timesavailable – 5:00, 6:45, & 8:15 and we showed up around 4:45, just to seehow the lines were. I asked one of theemployees if we had a shot getting in and she said yes, for the 6:45 show. I took a double take and made her repeat herstatement. Yes, if we’re in line now (2hours early!) we would be able to see the show. Huh. Was it that important tohave all of us stay in line for 2 hours? Well….I really wanted to see the show….but 2 hours?! But Michael became the hero, volunteering tostand in line while we explored the area. I know, what a guy!!

And the show WAS worth it! The narrator that evening was Neil Patrick Harris, from How I met yourMother & Doogie Howser. He was greatbut the orchestra and choir were simply amazing. They walked in all holding a candle andconsumed the stage, singing songs during the telling of the ChristmasStory. They sang 12 songs in all – fromO Holy Night to Joy to the World and it still makes my skin tingle. The show was wonderful.

The final show of the night was IllumiNations, a show acrossthe water with laser lights, smoke, fire, & fireworks. Oh how I love fireworks! :-)

We were exhausted – it was near 10pm and we had been goingall…day….long! But what fun it was. While we did a lot, there is still lots to do& see that we simply didn’t have time for. Hmmm….sounds like a reason for another visit!!

Tomorrow…Magic Kingdom!

Rene

Surprise! A Disney Cruise to the Bahamas 12.11.11

2011-12-11T19:30:00.000-08:00

We’ve spent the past week sitting still at a Campgroundoutside of Port Canaveral. I know, itdoesn’t happen too often that we sit still but that’s exactly what we’ve beendoing. That and simply relaxing – doinga lot of nothing. Reading, sitting in the sunshine, walking,and not a lot else!

But since we had a few extra days until we met my folks in Orlando, we booked a last-minute 3 day cruise on theDisney Dream to the Bahamas– Nassau &Castaway Cay. Sweet!

This was our first Disney Cruise and we were both leery ofbeing surrounded by kids but figured we could hang for 3 days. Either that or we would be driven absolutelycrazy! Haha… But to tell you the truth, we both absolutelyloved it. There was so much to do wecame back exhausted and ready for another! I just can’t say enough good stuff about the cruise – everything wasspectacular. Not only the food, entertainment,& activities but especially the staff, which was one of the best and mostwarm & welcoming I have ever experienced. We couldn’t walk by any of the staff without getting a smile and a Hellofrom them. We have been on other cruiselines – NCL & Carnival – and this one topped them by far. In fact, we were both plotting when we couldtake the next one….on the Disney ship. Iknow, crazy, right?! Haha..

The Disney Dream is a gorgeous ship, commissioned just thisJanuary. The ship was incredible and wasdecked out with Christmas decorations. Christmas trees were around every corner, garland & lights were hangingeverywhere and Christmas music was playing 24/7 (and we didn’t even get tiredof it!).

Our cabin was a comfy size with an extra large balcony….nice…

Once we were on board, we threw down our stuff and quicklyscoped out the ship, making sure to spot all of the ‘adults-only’ places onboard. :-) We settled in to Cruise mode with a couplecold drinks with little umbrellas on top and before we knew it, it wasdeparture time!

We stood at the bow of the boat while the lines were untied& it started moving. We waved at allof the folks waving to us on shore and jumped out of our skin when the shiphorn blasted….though it sang songs! Like“When you wish upon a star” and the Disney them song. It was a bit overcast and chilly and by thetime we were about half way out of the Port, it started to drizzle on us. Our dinner time was 5:30 so we went back tothe cabin to get ready…but along the way ran into Minnie! Woohoo!! She gave us some Minnie kisses and we posed for a photo…

We met several of the Disney characters during the cruise asthere were meet & greets every day at different times & areas throughthe ship. Though there were lots ofopportunities to meet all of the Disney characters including all of thePrincesses, villains, pirates, and even Santa Claus himself! We saw most of them…and had photos takenwith…

Pluto…

Chip and Dale…

Goofy…

And of course Mickey!!

The meals on board were delicious – each item artfullyprepared with scrumptious ingredients. The portions were just right and the waitstaff helped us choose betweenthe many options. And if we couldn’t choose,they would bring us both! I had thatproblem one night, I simply couldn’t choose my entrée as both the black beancakes with chipotle sauce and filet mignon were both calling my name. I oscillated for a while and finally askedour server, Ronald, his opinion. He saidpolitely I should go with the filet and said the black bean cakes were not hisfavorite but then said he would bring out both. And he was right. Haha! This is the menu for the last night….whichwould you choose?!

I absolutely LOVE scallops so that’s what I chose….and itdidn’t disappoint!

There were 3 main restaurants, each one a different themeand decorated to the nines for the theme. One was an Enchanted forest which was from the Alice in Wonderland movie and was all inwhite & green and the lighting changed during the course of the dinner,simulating sunset. Another was calledAnimator’s Palate and had large flat screen TV’s on the walls and while waitingfor your food, Nemo & Crush & all the characters from the Finding Nemomovie came swimming by and talked to you….literally….and you talked back! I still don’t know how they did it but somediners had full on conversations with the characters on the screen (they didn’ttalk to us, sob!). It was way cool. Ourservers followed us to the different restaurants to take care of us. They were great – remembering what we likedto drink & having it ready for us when we sat at the table. They were very personable and we enjoyedchatting with them every evening.

After dinner every evening we went to the Main Event –Broadway style shows featuring the Disney Characters. The first one was called the “GoldenMickey’s” – similar to the Golden Globes…where they gave out awards fordifferent categories like Best Villain, Best Hero, Best Princess, etc. It was very entertaining. The next night was called ‘Villains Tonight’and it wasn’t my favorite but still cute. The last night was called ‘Disney’s Believe’ and was fantastic – I don’tknow if there was a dry eye in the room. All three were very professional & great shows.

And that’s just on the ship…not to mention our two stops inNassau & Castaway Cay. Nassau was…withoutsounding incredibly cruel….a dirty little town with gorgeous crystal clearwater & white sandy beaches.

It wasn’t my favorite. Maybe I would have another opinion if I wasn’t being dropped in theheart of tourist central but I wasn’t impressed with anything other than thebeach. We took a taxi to one of the mainresorts, the Atlantis, where we walked around the marina & beach.

We relaxed for a while, chatted & walked the area withanother family we had met on the ship, wandered through the shops & streetvendors, found a geocache, and eventually made our way back onto the ship justbefore departure. It was OK. I can say I’ve been there but wasn’t overlyimpressed.

The next day we were in Castaway Cay which was, oh sophenomenal. I can’t say enough aboutthis place – it was spectacular and we didn’t want to leave. We even asked that they leave us behind andpick us back up next week, but they wouldn’t go for it. Bummer. :-) Castaway Cay is Disney’s private island andtruth be told, I was originally not interested in this stop. I figured it would be too, ummm, kidsy? I know that’s not a word but there would besplashing in the water and crazy running kids disturbing my reading &relaxing. Spoiled, aren’t I?! ;-)

We received a map the night before and lo and behold….therewas an Adult only beach! Woohoo! Those Disney folks have thought ofeverything! Haha… We rented bicycles and set off to check outthe island. (An over the shoulder photo…)

We found the lookout tower and searched for another geocache(hey, is that a GPS in your hand?)

And went in search of the Adult-only beach…..and was notdisappointed!! :-)

This was heaven. Thewater was crystal clear & blue, there were lounge chairs & hammocks (which I fell asleep, I mean read abook in), friendly folks around….it was perfect. Lunch was served right on the beach and theyhad these amazing waiters who had an uncanny way of knowing exactly when youneeded your icy drinks with little umbrellas refilled. Oh my gosh, I did not want to leave. We were about the last people on the beachand it was all Michael could do to drag me back on board. Now this island is exactly what I had in mindwhen I wanted to see the Bahamas. No vendors on the beach, no traffic, nolines, just a white sandy beach. Ahhh….Ican still see it clearly.

Back on board we stayed busy…listening to steel drums ondeck while we sailed away, building a gingerbread house (my first!), watchingthe entertainment, laughing at the couples who were not having any fun at all(even on vacation there are arguments & disagreements - we know this for afact working in the industry and still find it funny). One of my favorite things to do was to watchthe Disney Characters interact with the kids, to see how excited they were (ornot!) to meet them, to have the special time with each of them. It was very heartwarming.

Oh and the fireworks! How could I forget!?! We knew acouple of the staff from working with them in Alaska – the Shore Excursions Manager,Jennifer, & the Cruise Director, Clayton – and were treated to a special,private viewing for the fireworks show on the 2^nd night. What a treat! The night was pirate night and they gave out special Pirates in the Caribbean bandanas for everyone to wear and had a fundance party where the main pool was before shooting off fireworks.

Oh geez, there is so much else we did & saw, I couldwrite a book! :-) As I said in the beginning, it was anincredible cruise! I can’t wait to takeanother Disney Cruise somewhere new….I hear they’re going to Hawaii….that maybe next! Oh and the wariness about beingsurrounded by kids during the cruise? Disney’s kids clubs kept them busy enough that I hardly saw and wasn’tbothered too much after all…smiles…

Wait – we’re not done with Disney! Next week…a week at Disneyworldwith my parents. Woohoo!! :-)

More to follow…

Rene

Florida Keys 12.2.11

2011-12-04T08:02:00.001-08:00

Key West….Key Largo….Marathon….GrassyKey…. Did you know there are over 800islands in the Florida Keys?! What a great place. I’ll definitely be back here – 5 days justisn’t enough time to explore the area and experience it. And there’s waaayyy too many places claimingto have the ‘world’s best key lime pie’ – I must try them all to decide! Haha… And I can't seem to get the 'Cocomo' song out of my head...

We left Miami and cruiseddown the waterway, stopping for what we had planned for the week in Marathon, which is at the mid-way point in the Keys.

The bridges were awesome….

We had waited until the last minute to find a campsite inthe Keys and found it was incredibly expensive down here – sites were startingat about $60 a night! That’s a littletoo rich for our blood (not to mention our budget!) but after some severesearching and lots of phone calls, thought we had scored with a site that wasonly $30 a night. We stopped & paidfor all week….and then were shown our site, located very close to thehighway. Hmmm…we figured we could stillstick it out but after one sleepless night, agreed it was unacceptable and wentelsewhere.

We drove down to Key West,the furthest South Key in the U.S.and made sure to visit the furthest spot South to get our picture taken…

We drove to the end of the road…

We went to Mallory Square for the Sunset celebration… During the sunset celebration, Mallory Square ispacked with vendors & street performers – some good, some amazing, and somejust asking for money. One particularperformer was a couple – one on the guitar, one playing the spoons, playingcrazy backwoods music. The only thinggood about their act was their dog who if you would hold out a dollar bill, hewould come by & take it and drop it in the tip jar. I guess whatever works! There was even a Jack Sparrow imitator, whohad his moves down great but wasn’t even close in the looks department. Haha… Like I said, a carnival/party town feel.

We sat on the pier and drank foofy drinks, listened to thelive music, & watched as the boats went by…

It was gorgeous & crazy. I thought it had a mardi-gras feel – a party town. We saw a one-man parade…he was riding downthe street on his bicycle that was decked out from head to toe in lights andwas blasting the same song over & over again. And people were walking down the streets withdrinks in their hands (my kind of town!) There were bars upon bars and lots of stores vying for you to spendmoney. One place had a guy who wasstanding outside hollering ‘Everything’s $5 inside’…and when you went insideand were looking, someone came by to tell you that everything was $5. Like you missed getting by the guy in thefirst place! Haha… The streets & restaurants were packed asthere were two cruise ships in town, Disney & Carnival. Michael and I both laughed as we saw a manbuy a case of sodas & a case of beer. He poured the sodas in the trash & stocked the beer into the sodacase, then placed a couple of sodas on top. Must’ve been off of the cruise ship! Haha…

Even the seagulls were posing…

Our campsite was located right on the water…haha! Well, it was located on the water near themangroves! And at a whopping $60!!

The next day we spent a few hours just lounging on thebeach. Ahhh….now this is more likeit! :-)

We left & went to a new campground called the JollyRoger Travel Park where we spent the next 3 nights. Now this was much more our style. Our campsite was located right on the seawalland we were rewarded with spectacular sunsets every evening.

And even went swimming…

We kicked back as we’ve been rushing along lately so we dida lot of nothing – meeting fellow campers, reading, and just plainrelaxing. Ahhh… :-) If it weren’t so darned expensive to campdown here we would stay the whole next week. Oh well…we’ll have to come back!

Heading to Orlando for 2 weeks…

More to follow…

Rene

Turkey Day with Elvira & Ramiro 11.24.11

2011-12-04T08:00:00.001-08:00

Our good friends Elvira & Ramiro from Mazatlan,Mexico came up to Miami to spendThanksgiving week with us. They were asight for sore eyes as we miss them terribly. Luckily for us, we spent 5 days catching up & checking out Miami! Shopping, eating, drinking, shopping, eating,sightseeing – we did it all. Michaeleven made Turkeydinner for Thanksgiving in the condo!

South Beach has beenmagnificent – gorgeous & fun. Thebeach is perfect – white sand beaches with powder fine sand. It’s been a little windy but the temps arestill in the 80’s. How can you not fallin love with this place?!

Next stop – Florida Keys!

More to follow…

Rene

NASCAR surprise! 11.20.11

2011-12-04T07:51:00.001-08:00

NASCAR surprise! 11.20.11

I researched things to do while we were in Miami and lo and behold, found there was aNASCAR race scheduled for the weekend we were arriving. Sweet! Although I have been to lots & lots of races, I haven’t been to aNASCAR race before and didn’t think Michael had either. And as it turned out this was a championshiprace – the Ford 400 Sprint Cup at Homestead-Miami speedway.

Talking with a friend who had been before, he told me tomake sure and get a Pit Pass and to get seats ashigh as possible. So that’s exactly whatwe did. The Pits were scheduled to openat 10am so we figured we would get there at 10. Punching the address into the GPS, we headed out and were exactly ontime….until we got within 4 miles of the racetrack. And then it was a dead stop. What the heck is going on? we wondered! Nothing…it was just the other hundreds ofpeople also trying to get to the track. We inched along, finally arriving around 10:45 or so.

My first impression was this wasn’t a race – it was anEVENT!! There was SO much to see &do, and the race hadn’t even begun. There were hundreds of vendors, freebies, contests, exhibits, you nameit! And we hadn’t even made it insidethe park yet. WOW…

Once we were inside we raced to the entrance to thepits….and waited….and waited. There werepeople who were griping about the wait and then people started to get out ofline! Apparently people had been in linefor over 2 hours but the President & Vice-president’s wives were there andthe line was because Secret Service had to search everyone coming into thepits. Huh, that’s a bummer! Is this not the 2^nd time thepresidential party has screwed up our plans!? Haha… We decided to wait it outand were finally rewarded with entrance into the pits with plenty of time tocheck everything out.

Wow – how cool!! Itwas amazing to see all the cars…

And the individual pits loaded with tires, getting ready forthe races.

I had my favorite…

And of course the two cars who were battling it out… Tony & Carl.

We even got to walk on the track, hiking up on Turn #4 tocheck out the view….

Though we didn’t get a Garage pass (next time!) we couldpeer through the fence to watch some of the teams still working on their cars.

All in all, it was way cool. And this was just the beginning!!

In addition to the Pitt Pass,I also got us entrance to the Coca Cola fan area where we enjoyed lunch, allthe soda & water we liked, and, most importantly….3 beers each! Haha… We walked from the Pits through the throngs of people & vendors andenjoyed some down time, food, & chatting with other folks before headingout to the vendors to see what was going on.

We waded through the many vendors & exhibits, picking upgoodies along the way – food & drink samples (my favorite was called ‘PerkyJerky’ – it’s a beef jerky with caffeine!), the Ford section had all of theirvehicles there, in addition to lots of contests (guess how many footballs areinside the cab, etc), and of course Coca Cola was there. There were cars from previous years, uniformsto check out, drivers to meet, it was almost overwhelming. Oh, we even saw someone famous! Recognize this guy?!

After all the excitement, it was finally time for the raceto start. We’d only been there 4 hoursso far. Haha!

The pre-race entertainment was great – the singing of thenational anthem, the fly-overs by the Air Force, the ‘Gentlemen….start yourengines’ by the first Ladies (I read about some people booing but really feelthis had a lot less to do with politics and more to do with the significantdelay getting into the Pits).

Finally it was time for the race to start….AND THEY’REOFF!!! 400 miles, 267 laps.

Oh my goodness – what a sound!!! The roar was tremendous, almostear-splitting, and it’s a noise that is indescribable. You could feel it through your entirebody! I will never forget that sound andthe exhilaration of the first few laps. Everyone was on their feet for the first 20 or so laps. Then slowly people began to sit until ayellow flag came out or until something happened on the track. And there were lots of yellow flags! Not to mention rain delays. There were 3 rain delays total, the first onethe cars continued moving around the track, helping to dry it out.

The 2^nd one though was a harder & longer rain(though only 5 minutes of so!) and it took nearly an hour to get the track dryand resume racing.

It was a close race – and made all the more exciting by thefans who were sitting around us, cheering for one driver or another. Finally, after 400.5 miles….Tony Stewart tookhome the checkered flag.

And with my handy dandy little camera, I managed to takethis photo, my favorite of the day…

As soon as the race ended, the skies opened up for one moredownpour and we decided to bail. Afterall, it was after 10pm! Onlya 12 hour day at the races! :-) But a very memorable one!!

More to follow…

Rene

Virginia to Miami in 3 days 11.19.11

2011-12-04T07:47:00.000-08:00

We hightailed it from Virginiato Florida, stopping for a short evening in North Carolina, South Carolina,& Georgia. We’re still seeking that elusive sunshine andwarm weather and hope we find it soon. Ithink it was about Myrtle Beachwhere we stopped and finally put our toes in the water. Brrr!! :-) Ahhh….but the sand was so nice!

We made it to MiamiSaturday around noon but since our condo won’t be available until after 3pm wefound a movie theatre and checked out the newest Twilight movie – and a fashionshow that was happening in the open-air mall.

We finally checked into our condo, a great place locatedright on South Beach – just inches from the water. I was so excited to be in one place for anentire week and in a large, 2 bedroom place, I unpacked the bags I’ve beenliving out of, repacked all of my cold weather clothes (FINALLY!!), and evenironed!! Oh what a treat! Haha…

We checked out the beach & boardwalk and found a niceplace for dinner, complete with a wonderful peach sangria to round out themeal. Ahhh…

Tomorrow is a surprise for Michael….I hope he likes it! :-)

More to follow…

Rene

NASCAR Opening Ceremonies Video

2011-12-03T08:39:00.000-08:00

I loved this - the singing of the Star Spangled Banner, the Fly-over, and the flag being driven around the track.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POvI7i_bRBc

Lee & Sara in Virginia 11.15.11

2011-11-29T12:38:00.001-08:00

A trip to Virginia wouldn't be complete without checking in on Michael's sister-in-law and niece, Lee & Sara. Jeez, just like my Aunt & Uncle, it has been way too long. We met at Cracker Barrel for a nice breakfast & chat and followed up with hanging out at the house until it was time for us to leave. We're so glad they had time to spend with us!

Aunt Sue & Uncle David 11.15.11

2011-11-15T17:38:00.000-08:00

We’ve spent the past few days visiting with my Aunt Sue & Uncle David in Virginia. We left Maryland and cruised down the coast, arriving Saturday afternoon to a wonderful reception. It’s been ages since I’ve seen them – we figured out we saw my Aunt about 5 years ago but it’s been 16 years since I’ve seen my Uncle. Wow! How time flies!!

We were treated with a stay in a hotel and they had placed some flowers and a lovely card inside, as well as stocking the fridge with water & soda to last our entire trip!
They were so lovely…

The visit was wonderful. We visited and ate – a lot! :-) haha… We were treated to their favorite restaurants – some of the best in Virginia. We got a tour of the Naval Base and got to see where Aunt Sue worked and many of the naval ships in port at the time. No photos…  We went to Virginia Beach and walked the boardwalk on a wonderful sunshiny (but windy!) day…

We hung out & watched football, ate pizza, & had a wonderful time visiting. They have two dogs, Buster & Bailee and poor Buster was frightened like crazy of us which is weird because I call Michael the ‘dog whisperer’ since he can usually get any animal to like him. But Buster just didn’t want to have anything to do with us. I mistakenly came in the front door when Buster was expecting David and think I traumatized him that evening! Haha…poor thing…

It was a wonderful visit and I miss them both like crazy. We all agreed that we wouldn’t wait another 16 years to see each other next time. We left Wednesday morning, headed for our next stop in Miami. It is in the 70’s!! Though there is severe weather heading this way…wish us luck!

More to follow!
Rene

D.C. Day 4 11.11.11

2011-11-11T17:32:00.000-08:00

Itinerary: Wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, WWII monument, & Vietnam Veterans Memorial and visiting the other monuments & memorials on the Mall.

Wow – today is 11-11-11. The weather turned for the worse today. Not only is it bone-chilling cold, but it is incredibly windy which made today terrible. It’s that wind that no matter how many layers you have on (I had on 4 tops!) it went right through you. Brrrr!!!!!

I had read all about the Wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery and everything I read said to be there 30 minutes prior to the ceremony. We arrived at Arlington in plenty of time and saw lines of people standing by busses that were not moving. No one seemed to know what was going on, but everyone was in the lines. It was a big cluster. We waited…..and waited…. We asked to walk up to the Tomb but were told no. As the time drew nearer and nearer to 11:00, we realized we would not be able to reach it by the ceremony. Then we saw the Presidential motorcade come in through the gates and quickly after the busses started loading up people to go to the Tomb.

Sure enough, when we arrived up top, the Guards announced that the Tomb was shut down and no one was allowed to go up there because the President was inside. Damn, damn, double damn!!! I was downright pissed. And cold. We asked how much time it would be shut down but no one had an answer for us, 1 to 3 hours we were told. Ugh…

I have been to the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier before and it was one of my favorite things to see, I really wanted Michael to experience it too but with the uncertainty of knowing how long we had to wait, we left. I was and am totally bummed we missed it. Next time, I will be there 2 hours before!!!

All of the roads were closed down outside of Arlington and as we were walking across the Potomac River, the presidential motorcade drove right by us! We stood and waved and Michael swears that some of them waved back. The President is in the inside limo.

We walked over to the Lincoln Monument, climbed the stairs & took in the view. Wow! The entire reflection pool has been ripped out & they are working on rebuilding it.

We raced over to the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial as there was no way I was going to miss this one. There was an area that was cordoned off that was full of folding chairs and a podium at the front. And hundreds, thousands maybe, of veterans & their families. It was an awesome sight – seeing veterans hugging & greeting each other. We stood outside of the cordoned off area and just watched as the chairs filled. There was a band and group of singers who were singing songs relating to the Vietnam conflict – those that were guaranteed to bring a tear to your eye. But the best part was when they played in turn each Military branch’s song and asked the crowd to stand when theirs was played. They started out with the Coast Guard and a handful stood, then went on to the Air Force and again, a handful stood. Next was the Navy and they played ‘Anchors Aweigh’ and a larger handful stood. Then the Marines and more stood to a chorus of ‘hooah’s’. And finally the Army, which was a majority. It still brings a tear to my eyes just thinking of it. The pride was evident without a word being said.

The ceremony was fascinating but I was freezing cold and we stayed for about 90% of it before heading out. It was an emotional experience and I’m glad I went. I thank all veterans for their service.

Because it was so cold & windy we pretty much zoomed by the remaining memorials, stopping for enough time to snap a couple photos and zoom to the next one. We saw the Korean War Memorial, one I particularly liked with 19 soldiers walking through a jungle setting and a reflection wall which symbolize the 38th parallel.

The WWII Memorial, that my Grandpa just got to see a couple weeks ago. It was really gorgeous and the backdrop couldn’t have been any prettier.

Wreaths were at all the memorials. This photo is of the wreaths and the gold stars, each one representing 1,000 soldiers that were killed in WWII – over 405,399 service personnel. Wow.

After visiting all of the memorials, we were finished – exhausted, cold, & ready to be done for the day. We jumped back on the Metro & went back to our campground to relax.

D.C. has been amazing and there is so much we still haven’t seen. But it’ll have to wait until the next trip. We’re headed to Virginia tomorrow and are going to spend some time with my Aunt & Uncle and visit Michael’s step-sister near Virginia Beach, yeah! :-)

More to follow…
Rene

A Tiger at the Zoo 11.10.11

2011-11-10T18:25:00.000-08:00

While we were at the National Zoo, we were watching this tiger pace back & forth in front of the doors and occasionally pop up to take a peek through the window - it was so cute! I caught it on video - enjoy!

http://youtu.be/XF2rvtt9Kr8

D.C. Day 3 11.10.11

2011-11-10T16:20:00.000-08:00

Itinerary: National Zoo, visit Georgetown, & a tour of the Kennedy Center at 4:30

We had another lazy morning getting up & around, driving to the Metro center & finding the route to the Zoo. It was a drizzly morning and by the time we made it off the Metro it was almost lunchtime….so we stopped for a quick bite before heading in.

The Zoo was very nice – I was most interested in seeing the Pandas…and was not disappointed! They were inside and there were several volunteers talking about their habits & answering questions. They’re soooo cute!!

We saw Tigers…

Monkeys…

Another favorite of mine – the Lemur – I couldn’t help singing the song “I like to move it, move it” all day long…

The rain was coming down pretty good when we left and the zoo exit was opposite the entrance so we decided to walk back to the Metro station….another long walk uphill. Oh my aching feet!!

We bailed on the Georgetown visit and went straight to the Kennedy Center, arriving just in time for the tour. Wow, what a gorgeous place!! The tour was amazing, taking us to all 3 of the performance halls & through the halls of flags.

Here is the Hall of Nations:

And the large bronze bust:

The sun was just setting when we completed the tour and was gorgeous, even if it was overcast.

Sigh…another day getting back in the dark. Oh well. We were exhausted, again, from our hoofing it around D.C. so we gratefully took the free shuttle from the Kennedy Center to the Metro and hit the same restaurant for dinner. The servers are starting to look at us funny… :-)

More to follow…
Rene

D.C. Day 2 11.9.11

2011-11-09T16:16:00.000-08:00

Itinerary: Bureau of Engraving & Printing & as many Smithsonian Museums as we can handle. Haha…

Day 2 started out much better than day 1! First of all, there was no appointments – so we slept in and got around much later than the first day. The Metro passes we purchased charged you extra if you traveled before 9:30 or between 3:00-7:00 so we tried to make sure we left the campground after 9:30, which was NO problem with me! Haha…

In fact, today we almost missed the 11:30 tour at the Bureau of Engraving & Printing. I had been to a mint before in Colorado but Michael hadn’t so I thought this would be right up his alley. And he loved it. Again, no pictures… But this is one of 2 places that they print paper money. It was amazing to see the process, the innovation, and accountability! Wow. Here’s Michael in front of a million dollars in 10 dollar bills.

After that we were off to the Smithsonian Museums. Our walk there took us right by the Washington Monument but unfortunately, because of the earthquake in August, it was closed to visitors, bummer.

Our first stop only because it was the first one we arrived at was the American History museum. I was most interested in seeing the original Flag of the United States (no pictures!) but found something almost as precious…

Dorothy’s Ruby Red Slippers!!

We checked out all of the exhibits, or as many as we could without being overrun by the hundreds of kids there on a field trip. Michael even pretended to give a presidential speech…

Then we were off to the Air & Space Museum, one of my favorites! The displays were incredible and it was just as I remembered from my visit many years ago.

Two museums and we were toast. We jumped back on the Metro and headed back to MD, still not making it by dark. We were so exhausted (again!) that we ate at the same place as last night and went back to the campground and crashed…again! The campground is perfect – not too many campers and quiet. We have a musician somewhere in the park and they switch instruments nightly – last night they were playing the violin, tonight they’re playing the flute. Ahhhh…..nighty nite!

More to follow…
Rene

D.C. – Day 1 11.8.11

2011-11-08T16:14:00.000-08:00

Today’s itinerary: White House, Library of Congress, Capitol, & National Archives.

This morning started EARLY!! Our first tour was at the White House at 8:30. I had contacted my Senator’s office 3 months earlier requesting a tour of several buildings in the area and the White House tour was one that was approved. The bad thing about the White House tour is that there is absolutely no cameras allowed. Zip, zero, zilch. You can’t bring in a backpack, any personal items, nothing. And because of 9-11, all of the lockers around town have been removed except for at the Amtrack Station at Union Station. So first thing this morning we were up & showered, drove to the Metro station & hopped on the Metro to Union Station. Once there, we located the Amtrack luggage counter and paid for 2 hours to store our backpack with a book, maps, & my camera inside. The total? $8!! Michael calls it highway robbery but it is what it is and that’s the only place to store items. It’s much less hassle than leaving everything at the campground and then going back to retrieve it.

We mistakenly stopped at the White House Information Building where we went through a screening and I had to be wanded because of something I was wearing kept beeping. We wandered around and checked out the place before going back outside to find where we were supposed to be in the first place.

The White House tour was a self-guided tour and knowledgeable Secret Service men & women were stationed in every room to both answer questions and protect the items in the room. The best part of the tour was all of the photos lining the wall. The rooms were opened but you were only allowed to look through the doorway, not go inside the rooms. We saw the Vermeil Room & the China Room, then headed upstairs to see the East Room, Green Room, Blue Room, Red Room, State Dining Room, and the entrance/exit. It was cool, not quite what we expected, but cool. The gardens were incredible! To get up to the White House we passed through no less than 4 checkpoints, each time requiring us to show ID and one metal detector where I had to be wanded, again. The tour itself took about 45 minutes or so and we left and jumped back on the Metro back to Union Station to retrieve our bag & camera. Fun!

It was a gorgeous day – cool but clear. Our next stop after the White House was at the National Archives where we saw the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, & the Bill of Rights. Again, no pictures allowed (a common theme, we learned) and we were required to go through yet another metal detector which I had to be wanded – again. It was fascinating. Not only to see the original documents, but the building itself. And the exibits. The exibit they were showing was about how the government’s view on how we should eat has changed through the years. It was pretty fascinating how the food pyramid has changed, and how they influence what kind of foods we eat.

We looked at the clock and realized that there was a tour starting at the Library of Congress in 30 minutes so we decided to hoof it over there. The one cool thing about D.C. is there is amazing architecture and memorials everywhere you look! We made a quick stop at the Navy Memorial, just around the corner from the National Archives to see the Lone Sailor….

And checked out the world map and pointed out where we would rather be…

And then the Capitol came into view….

And then we hoofed it up to the Library of Congress. If you haven’t been, it’s located on Capitol Hill and we found out why it’s called that! The hill just keeps on climbing….and climbing….and climbing! We made it to the information center just on time and had to run to catch up with the group beginning the tour. That’s gonna hurt! Haha…

The Library of Congress is absolutely stunning. Made entirely out of marble and with no space left blank, it is difficult to see it all! And the pictures just don’t do it justice. Our tour guide took us all throughout the Library and pointed out as much as possible in our 45 minute tour would allow. We saw Jefferson’s Library, the one he donated to the Library in 1815 after a fire destroyed the Library the year before, gorgeous carvings, & murals, stone work, stained glass, it was simply amazing.

By the time we finished the tour we were both ready for lunch and had another tour scheduled for 2:00 so we headed outside & found a great eatery where we sat for the first time since early this morning (ahhhh….) and ate with a great view of the Library of Congress building.

Our next tour was the Capitol and we had sort of scoped out as we were booking by and had an idea where we were going. I checked the instructions I was given and realized that we could not bring a backpack and we needed to take it to the Senator’s office to begin our tour. I walked up to one of the guards and asked him where this was located and he said, “Oh, that’s just up the street three blocks!” Doh!! Haha…

So we hoofed it, again, up the street to the Hart Senate building and went through yet another security checkpoint where I had to be wanded again. I was getting pretty used to this, unfortunately. We finally found Senator Murkowski’s office and met our tour guide as well as two other couples who were also going to do the tour.

My contact at the Senator’s office was phenomenal in setting up the tours and I can’t thank him enough for all his hard work! Our tour guide was Jason who was originally from Homer, AK, who worked in the Senator’s office. He was great, very knowledgeable and personal and one of the other couples was from Homer too so they were chatting all about people and places there.

The Capitol building was another amazing place. Since we were on a ‘special’ tour we got to take the cute little tram from the Hart Senate building underground to the Capital building. We arrived in the Capitol Building and Jason pointed out all of the hotspots to us & toured us through both the Senate Chamber and the House of Representatives Chambers where the President gives the State of the Union speech (no pictures & separate security screenings where I was wanded….again!) Both were very impressive.

In addition, he toured us through the rotunda, showed us the famous ‘Whisper Spot’ and explained all of the paintings & statues throughout the Capitol.

Fun! :-)

Finally, our 1st day was done, we gingerly walked back to the Metro as our feet were already starting to hurt and we gratefully sat for our trip back to Maryland. We had ‘planned’ to make it back to the campground by dark but because of Daylight Savings Time, it was pitch black by the time we found the van and we were exhausted so we found the closest restaurant possible and crashed.

More to follow…
Rene

Zoom Zoom to DC 11.7.11

2011-11-07T16:12:00.000-08:00

Well, we made it. We’re in DC, actually we’re in Maryland, but close enough! We found a wonderful little campground just 12 miles outside of DC, and 2 miles to the Metro station that is perfect – quiet, very few campers, & has a hot shower (yeah!). It’s called Greenbelt State Park

Our trip East was fine, but quick. We made a quick stop in Springfield, MO to visit with a long, lost cousin of Michael’s – Paula. It’s amazing, all the time I spent in Springfield while I was working, I never knew! We had a wonderful visit – stopping for a bite at the Bass Pro Shops restaurant (this was actually just a convenient stop as we were trying to find something here as well) and enjoyed catching up and learning all about her!

One fun thing about our road trip has been how many people wave at us on the freeway or talk to us at furl stops. It’s EVERY time! We can’t stop for fuel without either being talked to about Alaska or the Westfalia itself. It boggles my mind when people come up alongside of us & toot their horn or give us a thumbs up on the highway! It’s kinda fun but I guess we’re not blending in very well! Haha…

We’re off on our long list of things to do in DC this week! I can’t wait…
Rene

Family time in Kansas 11/5/11

2011-11-05T16:09:00.000-07:00

It’s great to be home. I miss my folks so much and love being able to spend time with them. We arrived late, and I mean late, Halloween night, driving straight through from Colorado. It was a long drive and we were exhausted when we arrived. We cruised through the towns of western Kansas, stopping only occasionally for gas and to stretch our legs. During the trip, we had a suicide bird hit the side of the van, luckily it wasn’t a deer, but put scratches down my side of the van. It was weird – we saw a flash of white, heard a very loud THUMP and a scream (me). Crazy… But a gorgeous sunset behind us…

Ahhhh…..it’s good to be home. We spent the week catching up and relaxing. They had worked hard prior to our visit to renovate a room in the house and it looked fantastic! Complete with a new bed, we felt like royalty. The first day we did the important task….of laundry. Haha… We really chilled and caught our breath from the trip and ate a wonderful home-cooked lasagna dinner (YUM!). The next couple days we were on the go. We met Mom & Dad’s American Red Cross friends at a dinner out…

We met up with Brian, an old Army buddy of ours and dear friend….

And couldn’t wait to see Michael’s son & grandbabies! We had a nice visit with Brandon & Alex and met Nolan & Mia for the first time. Soooo cute!!! 

There was not nearly enough time to visit everyone and we hopped all over town trying! We did make time for a little geocaching (of course!) and even a round of golf, a real treat since we can’t even remember the last time we both played.

Oh, and the best part? Getting time to spend with my Grandpa. It’s been a few years since we have seen him last and it was nice chatting with him. He recently participated in the ‘Honor Flight’ where he & my dad were flown out to Washington D.C. and taken to the WWII Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery and other places in DC. My brother even swung by to visit.

The 5 days came and went so fast it was mind-boggling. But we bailed on Saturday morning, headed for D.C. About 3 months ago, I had written my Senator and asked them to line up a White House tour and the approval just came through….for 8:30 Tuesday morning. Yikes!  We’ve got to scoot to get out there. It took us a month to get from Alaska to Kansas, now it will take us just a short 3 days to get out to the East Coast! Haha… We’ve got to get, get, get & go!

We’ll have to visit longer next time… Isn’t that how it always is!
More to follow…
Rene

Visiting Grey Max in Boulder & Lis in Colorado Springs 10.31.11

2011-10-31T08:23:00.000-07:00

Bill & MJ are our cruising friends from Mexico, our dock-mates for the past couple years, and one of our buddy-boats when cruising up and down the Mexico coast. Here’s Grey Max (their boat)….bonus points for telling me where the photo was taken…

And here’s how we usually look when we go for our walks….

On our walk today….

OK, so it’s a little bit different but still just as much fun. We made it to Boulder and drove the canyon to their house mid-afternoon. The canyon they live in was where the 4-mile fire was last year and the devastation was still apparent. There is much rebuilding and under a blanket of snow, it was still beautiful.

We had a great time catching up from our summers and felt just like being in Mexico while the girls chatted about beading & living gluten free while Michael listened to Bill play guitar. Well….almost like being in Mexico…. Though the snow on the ground reminded us we weren’t in Mexico anymore!

Our visit was much too short. We had so much fun with them both and was amazed how quickly the days went!

We left early Halloween morning and booked it down to Colorado Springs where we met up with Lis, a dear friend of mine from my early Army days.

Ahhh….Colorado has been good to us, bringing us together with some good friends. We’ll miss cruising with Bill & MJ and everyone else this winter! And it was great spending time with them both. Next time, definitely a longer visit…. :-)

On to Kansas!
Rene

Chicago is the windy city, my ass! 10.29.11

2011-10-29T08:05:00.000-07:00

On our way to Boulder to visit Bill & MJ, our cruising friends from Grey Max, we stopped for the night in Wheatland, Wyoming, near Cheyenne. We arrived at dusk and scoped out our campground then went to dinner at El Gringo’s Mexican/Chinese place (haha!). We settled in for the night at the campground and were rudely awakened at 3am with ungodly gusts of wind. They started slow but kept building and building….until finally we were both awake and worried that the whole top of the van would rip off (unlikely, but it sure felt like it!)

At about 4am with the wind getting stronger and stronger, we climbed down from our bed and decided to close the pop-top. It was a coordinated effort and we had to wait until the perfect time so that it wasn’t ripped back up into place. With the pop-top in place and 4am, we weren’t about to rearrange the entire back end of the van so that we could sleep so we curled up on the couch and floor and tossed the bedsheets & blankets on top of us and slept (yeah, right!) in the most god-awful positions for a couple hours.

The next morning I asked Michael, ‘how windy do you think it was last night?’ so he googled “Wheatland Wyoming Wind” and promptly learned that Wheatland Wyoming is the ‘Windiest spot in the nation’. Yes, in the NATION!!! How luck were we to have had the pleasure (yeah, right!) of camping there! I’ll bet no one else can say they’ve done that!! Yeah, yeah, so I’m sure no one would WANT to camp there…haha….

We were in such a hurry to get the hell out of there I didn’t even take a photo…

Until we were on the highway where we saw this sign… No shit Sherlock.

Thanks for reminding me! Wait….that means not only did we have to survive the gusts all night, we have to put up with the all day too?! Yep. Hmmm….I’m rethinking visiting this part of the country. :-)

Eventually we made it to Colorado where we were greeted with yet another view!

Pretty, isn’t it?! I think so. I haven’t seen snow like this for years. It was so pretty! And cold…. :-)

Next stop, Boulder!
More to follow…
Rene

Crazy Horse & Cousin Jim 10.29.11

2011-10-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

One cool thing about our blog is having friends & family follow us and participate in where we’re at. I had a vague recollection of my Dad being born in Coeur D’ Alene, but was reminded once I posted about visiting and then learned that my grandma and grandpa were married there! Cool! And on the day we were leaving South Dakota, Michael was contacted by, get this, Mike Ditton and told that he had another cousin, Jim, just down the road from where we were staying. Michael called him up and we stopped by to meet him!

Since it was a very last-minute stop, we could only stay a short while as Jim was expecting a phone call any minute. But we had a wonderful visit, and connected the dots on the who’s who of the family. (Jim recently made the chandelier – it was gorgeous!)

We backtracked a bit to go to the Crazy Horse Memorial. Before going, I was worried it would just be ‘another carving in the mountain’ and it was….but it was impressive and I’m glad I went. Mount Rushmore is massive, but the entire Mount Rushmore carvings fit into the face of this carving. When this carving is done it will truly be spectacular.

Did you notice the tractor on top of his arm? Or the people walking up there as well? Take another look. Yep, that’s how big it is….

Check out the actual carving under his arm….my attempt at art. Haha…

OK, we’re really outta here. Well….we did stop at a winery on the way out and had some fascinating berry wines. We purchased a Pumpkin Wine to give to our friends Bill & MJ on Halloween…..I hope they like pumpkin! Haha… Hic!

More to follow…
Rene

Mount Rushmore 10.29.11

2011-10-29T06:58:00.000-07:00

Wow. Another Wow – what an amazing place, again!! Mount Rushmore was one of the top things on my list when we were deciding the route for this trip and I am SO glad we did! You know that we’ve been watching the weather pretty closely as and I was worried when we took off this morning that our luck had run out…..it was bitterly cold and the clouds were everywhere. And even after being told at breakfast that it was too foggy to see Mount Rushmore, we went for it anyway. It was gorgeous.

Instead of driving on the main highway out of Rapid City, we took the back roads – the 79 to the 36 just outside of Hermosa, to the 16 or Iron Mountain Road. These are little 1-2 lane roads that wind through Custer State Park, through the stone tunnels that frame Mount Rushmore. It turned into another gorgeous day, with white poofy clouds, blue skies, sunshine, and crisp temperatures.

Our first glimpse of the mountain:

Driving through the stone tunnels…. Mount Rushmore was framed in the background

The roads & bridges along Iron Mountain road were absolutely gorgeous – beautiful wood structures with interesting names. A couple roads twisted around in a spiral and were called “pigtail bridges”.

We saw signs warning of wildlife all through the drive but the only wildlife we spotted were some black tail deer.

Once we arrived at the Visitor Center, we paid our $11 parking fee, kidded around with the gal about the swarms of people there today and parked in the main lot with about 40 other cars.

The Avenue of Flags greeted us as we arrived. There are 56 flags one for each state, commonwealth, district, & territory and we searched to find the 5 flags of the commonwealths, districts, & territories which was interesting.

Walking a bit further took us to the Grand View Terrace for some great views & photo opportunities!

There were so few people we had a ton of fun taking photos of other groups so they would take a photo of us, we met some very nice families.

Just below the viewing terrace is the Visitor Center where you can watch a short 12 minute movie about the carving of Rushmore and a nice museum with information, photos, & memorabilia of the carving. It was some feat! It boggles my mind that it took 400 employees a total of 14 years to carve the mountain! I know I’m young but I haven’t managed to work anywhere for 14 years in a row. :-)

Next we wandered along the President’s Trail, a nice meandering ½ mile walk through the grounds & back up to the Visitor Center. The Artist’s studio was closed (surprise, surprise) so we finished up by picking up some squished pennies for my Neice & Nephew and headed back to the van.

We spotted this on our way – can you see what’s out of place?!

Everywhere you looked there was a great photo of the mountain – even Scooby got a nice photo!

Amazing! A definite must-do and I’m glad we’re checking it off of our bucket list. ;-)

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at the Dinosaur Park in town where I ran into this horny little fellow…hahaha…

We’re leaving South Dakota, headed to Colorado! There are lots more photos of Mount Rushmore and our trip so far on our photo album located here. Enjoy!

More to follow…
Rene

The Badlands 10.28.11

2011-10-28T12:33:00.000-07:00

Today was one of the coldest days we’ve had yet. The upper temps are in the 40’s and the lows are dipping down into freezing. Because of this, we decided to check out The Badlands instead of Mount Rushmore because we would be in the car more! Haha…

Wow, it was gorgeous! The colors, the carvings in the rocks, the wildlife – it was amazing. Around ever corner were different views and carvings to see.

I was particularly taken by how dramatic the scenery would change – from grasslands to jagged cliffs & soil eroding away from every rainstorm. It was gorgeous.

One thing nice about being in these parks off-season is that at the drop of a hat you can come to a stop for photo opportunities – sometimes even going in reverse! During the entire day, we saw maybe 6 other vehicles in the park. And that’s exactly what we did when we spotted this fox! He was running/jumping around the tall grass and we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse.

Other than the sly fox, we also spotted some bighorn sheep – actually you couldn’t help but spot them since they were sitting on the side of the road! I told them they shouldn’t sit on the side of the road as we drove by but they didn’t listen.

And prairie dogs…

Outside the park was a whole family? Pack? Clan? Of all-white prairie dogs…cute little squeaky things.

Another great National Park….we really should have purchased the National Parks pass, which we did last time we were traveling California – I forget how each park has entrance fees! Yellowstone was $15, this one was $15 but I know in the next couple months that will add up! But so worth it…I may still get one. :-)

More to follow…
Rene

Wall Drug & Minuteman Missile (AKA Crazy Cows) 10.28.11

2011-10-28T06:55:00.000-07:00

What visit to Rapid City is complete without stopping at Wall Drug, the crazy tourist trap, restaurant, free ice water (not needed today!), 5 cent coffee, and souvenir extravaganza place. We had seen the million or so signs advertising it and had to stop and see what the big deal was.

From the outside it looked like an everyday small town shop. But inside was a maze of shops, incredible historical photos, an outdoor courtyard complete with a 9’ jackelope, and even a travelers chapel. Again, we were one of maybe 12 people inside and had our run of the place. There was every souvenir imaginable to the junky crap to beautiful art, to saddles, to walls and walls of cowboy boots, camping items, western wear, you name it, it was probably here!

We couldn’t help ourselves and took advantage of a Jackelope ride…

We left in a state of consumer overload (and lighter in the wallet) so we stopped for a quick geocache before heading to the Minuteman Missile National Historic site. The first stop was at the Visitor Information center where Delta-01 Launch Control Facility and met a wonderful NPS ranger who showed us a short video and answered any questions we had. They had control center tours but the last one had already left. Oh well.

Our next stop was a few miles down the road where one of the actual Minuteman Missile silos (Delta-09) is preserved. It was amazing that it looked like nothing – a concrete slab in the middle of ground with some posts & poles sticking up behind a fence. But to the imagination, it is the end. We looked down into the silo to see a replica of a Minuteman Missile, it was all very impressive! And to imagine that there were 450 of these sites scattered throughout the North Central states. Pretty cool. Though I wouldn’t want to be a missileer! The hours of boredom, the moments of stress, and the isolation….

Now the most crazy thing about going to the missile silo site was that once off the freeway, we had to drive on a dirt road with cows on both sides. I am positive that these cows are (said in a whisper) spy cows. I’ve driven past my fair share of cows and I’m serious when I tell you that they were just plain creepy. Their eyes followed our every move. Every. Single. One of them!! I’m thinking that their eyes were recording devices and was transmitting the information back to mission control or who knows? Possibly to Moscow!! Either that or they had some kind of mad-cow disease by being so close to the missile. There were even a couple right in the middle of the road that waited until the very last minute to move and when they did, they kept their eyes on us the whole time. Ugh, it still gives me the creeps…. :-)

More to follow….if we make it out of here alive…..
Rene

Camping in Rapid City 10.26.11

2011-10-26T12:31:00.000-07:00

Brrrr!!! It’s just downright cold. We were lucky last night, although it snowed, we just happened to miss it but it still dipped down into the low 30’s. The next three nights it’s supposed to get even colder. Luckily, we found the absolute perfect campground in the area. It has EVERYTHING we need!! Hot Showers, Wi-fi, right off of the freeway but quiet, not too many neighbors, and it even comes with Cable TV, a hot tub, and serves Breakfast too!

Uh huh, We like to call it ‘Michael’s minimum requirement for camping in the teens’ haha…

Camping in Yellowstone was fun but had it’s moments. One big thing was that because of the wild animals in the area, you were not allowed to leave any bits or scraps. You couldn’t wash dishes by the spigot, couldn’t wash them in the bathrooms (but of course I was forced to share the sink with someone doing exactly that), and in general that was a bit of a pain. So we simply employed the ‘lick and wipe’ method of cleaning dishes. Haha!! It works perfectly! Why haven’t we used this in the past?! Lick the utensils & wipe the plate with a paper towel. Works like a charm…

It was gorgeous and sunshiny when we were there and I wasn’t paying any attention to the altitude….and ended up with a sunburn on my face, not a good thing with new scars. Doh! I know, I know….that is the worst thing I could do! Oh well, live and learn… :-)

Speaking of people who are oblivious to the rules…. Have you ever noticed how there’s always ‘one’?! One person who the rules do not apply, one person who will leave dog poop, etc. At our campground in Yellowstone, they had a ‘no generators’ rule from 8pm to 8am. Yep, you guessed it, we had some jackass who was running his generator until after 10pm which we could deal with, but when they fired it back up at 4am, that was uncool. Still, during the four hours that we were spared generator noise, we did hear the bugling of the Elk and the amazing night sounds (or quiet!) and saw just spectacular stars at night. Aaaaahhhhh…..

OK, enough griping…the hot tub is calling my name. Back on to the good stuff! Tomorrow….The Badlands!
More to follow,
Rene

A quick stop in Wyoming 10.25.11

2011-10-25T19:56:00.000-07:00

We scooted through Wyoming on our way to South Dakota. Although there is plenty to see & do here, we are on a mission to get to Mouth Rushmore and enjoy it before it dumps snow on us so we hightailed it from Yellowstone with a winter storm right on our heels. We stopped in a little place called Buffalo, WY and had researched a campground on the internet. However, as we were passing through the town, Michael spotted another area that just seemed to call us so we stopped and checked it out. It is called Mountain View RV & Campground. The owner, Chuck, was incredibly welcoming and we immediately felt comfortable and he even set us up in the perfect spot for the weather coming in. We are expecting temps to dip into the 20’s with snow likely. Brrr!! 

The site was great – perfect hot showers with unlimited water (a necessity after no showers in Yellowstone!), a great courtyard with BBQ’s and chimeras that were burning for the evening. There were even Teepees setup right alongside our site and I couldn’t help but check it out….

Next stop, Rapid City!
More to follow…
Rene

Yellowstone 10/24/11

2011-10-24T18:08:00.000-07:00

Wow, wow, wow.

When we were in Idaho, we contemplated skipping coming to Yellowstone because there is some bad weather headed our way and when we looked at the weather report it showed snow & freezing temperatures for the time we were there. Not to mention the road closures in the. I am SO glad we decided to go for it!

We arrived at the North Entrance outside of Gardiner and went directly to the Mammoth Hot Springs Campground.

I had called for information on reservations a couple of months ago and was told there would be no problem finding a spot. Mammoth Hot Springs Campground is a first-come first-served campground that in the height of the summer all spots are taken by 9am (which is checkout time!) but had no problem today... The yellow slips indicate spots being used.

As we pulled into our spot, we were welcomed by a passing Elk who hung out on the hill beside us while we setup camp.

Yellowstone is an extremely diverse place and there is so much to see & do! Because of the road closures and weather in the area, we were only able to do the Mammoth Hot Springs to Old Faithful drive. But we saw so many different things in such a short trip!

Our plan was to high-tail it directly to Old Faithful first to ensure we didn't miss it and it was incredibly difficult not to pull off at every sight. We held out though, making notes of places we needed to stop on our way back. A couple of times we just couldn't help it though....

Like for the Elk that was sitting on the side of the road...

And for the Buffaloes who were also on the side of the road... (I liked this guy!)

Of course some things I couldn't help but take a photo of - like this one of the Geyser Basins. :-) It was chilly - with temps in the 50's - but the skies were clearing up and the sun was trying to come out. It couldn't have been more picturesque.

We made it to Old Faithful just before noon and went inside the Visitor Center to find the projected time of the next eruption to be in the next 20 minutes - sweet! We checked out the visitor center, learning everything we could ever want to know about how Geysers work. The Visitor Center is absolutely gorgeous as are the adjoining buildings, though it's obvious it's the end of the season as we couldn't find a Park Ranger or employee who wasn't a jerk! Oh well...

We went out to the viewing platform and waited, and waited... Old Faithful toyed with us a few times, kind of 'burping', and finally....

Let the show begin!

The show lasted a minute and a half or so. It was really amazing. So much water! Or steam, boiling water, vapor, or whatever it is! haha... The show was fun but the people we were sitting by and chatting with made it all the more fun.

We left Old Faithful and headed towards all of the spots we missed - Upper, Midway, & Lower Geyser Basins where many of the great colorful hotsprings - clear & calm deep pools - are located as well as Mudpots & Fumaroles.

On the way we were delayed as we had to wait until a herd of Buffaloes crossed the road. For some reason I can't get the song 'Home on the Range' out of my head... haha!!

Continuing on we stopped at Fountain Paint Pots where we stumbled onto this tree and had so much fun trying to get a photo with setting the camera on another log, setting the delay, and running around the tree. The best part was all of the spectators who were watching us intently. :-)

We continued North with stops at Gibbon Falls, a gorgeous Waterfall on the side of the road...

Roaring Mountain...

And finally to the Upper & Lower Terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs. The Terraces is where the interaction of water & limestone creat chalk-white travertine. The water flowing over them is different colors and great intricate patterns.

And truly so much more!! :-) Be sure to check out the rest of the photos taken during the day - on our photo album (click here)

The wildlife was amazing, the scenery was different at each turn, and there was so much to see & do! It's a shame that we have to bail so quickly but the snow & cold temps is headed our way and we gotta get outta here! But we will be back - we can imagine a motorcycle trip up here during the summer. Mmmmm...I can't wait! :-)

Thank you all for the well-wishes on a speedy recovery. I'm recovering well, the scabs are falling off, & the retainer is helping my front teeth significantly. Though I'm still not quite ready for any close-ups yet. :-)

Next stop....Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills, & Badlands!
More to follow,
Rene

Driving through Montana 10.22.11

2011-10-22T17:32:00.000-07:00

On the road again... :-)

Leaving Coeur D' Alene, we headed down the road towards Yellowstone. After spending most of the day shopping we only managed to get a couple hours down the road. Luckily, we found an 'all-year' campground (which are getting harder & harder to find!) that looked like it was in a perfect location.

We pulled off the highway onto a side road, traveled about 5 miles down the road when it turned into a dirt road. Hmmm... where is this place?! The drive was absolutely gorgeous! The leaves are changing on all the trees, the sun was just going down, we were driving along a stream...it was amazing! We finally found the place - Big Pine Campground in Superior. And it was truly amazing...wouldn't you agree?!

We arrived to a completely empty campground - fine by us! - so we picked out the spot by the creek. It's getting colder at night but it's still above freezing and do-able. We were lulled to sleep with the sound of a rushing stream just feet away.

On to Yellowstone tomorrow!
More to follow,
Rene

Coeur D' Alene, ID 10.21.11

2011-10-21T06:14:00.000-07:00

After visiting with Grandma Ditton, we zoomed across the Washington State border into Idaho where we stopped for an evening with our cruiser friends, David & Rebecca on S/V Liberte. We first met David & Rebecca in Mazatlan and have been hopping down the Mexico coast the past couple seasons. Though we never did anything socially with them, they've always been great 'Dock Buddies' through the years and Michael has been in touch.

We had a wonderful evening chatting away, as only cruising friends can, and sharing stories, dinner, wine, & puking babies! haha...

The next day Michael and I explored the town of Coeur D' Alene and met David for lunch before cruising down the road to the next campsite. It was a gray day but it sure was a pretty place. We had fun wandering the main street, checking out all of the cute stores, & getting a little Christmas Shopping in! :-)

Next stop.....Montana!
More to follow,
Rene

Grandma Ditton in Cheney, WA 10.19.11

2011-10-19T20:32:00.000-07:00

A trip to Washington State is not complete until we stop to visit Michael's Grandma, Grandma Ditton in Cheney, Washington outside of Spokane. She's 93 this year and is still as amazing as when I first met her!

We arrived late morning and chatted for a little bit but were both starving so we asked her if she was ready for lunch - yep! Great, now where to? We were both STUNNED when she replied 'Carl's Jr'! I gently tried to change her mind and suggest alternatives but nope, she was set. Carl's Jr it was. Now, I should mention, I still can't bite anything and haven't been to Carl's Jr in forever. But we loaded up into the van - she may be old but she can still get herself in the van!

We visited for quite a while and went back to her place where she showed us some old photographs and family history. We had a great visit and look forward to the next one! :-)

Next stop...Coeur D' Alene, Idaho!
More to follow...
Rene

Don & Ursula in Colville 10.19.11

2011-10-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had those friends where you just click with, that it feels as if you've known them for so long even if you've just gotten to know them, that you feel perfectly comfortable with in a quiet room? That is exactly how it felt to spend the past few days with Don & Ursula.

I have been lucky enough to work with Don in Ketchikan over the past couple years, not to mention the numerous fishing trips he's taken me on. Together, we are the top Captain & Narrator but more than that, we've been able to get to know one another and are great friends. Laughing a lot, trading good wine, and fishing for salmon & halibut are the weekly musts during the season and I can't imagine being up there without him. Here's hoping I don't have to find out!

I had only met Ursula a handful of times but instantly felt like we had known each other forever as we chatted away. Ursula is an incredible masseuse with a very successful business in Colville and does not normally come to Ketchikan during the summer. In fact, during our visit, both Michael and I were thrilled to receive a massage from her. Oh, I could easily become a massage whore!! :-)

We spent the past few days doing lots! We drove into Spokane for dinner, checked out the whole town of Colville, had lovely meals (and wine!), sat out by the fire, watched for turkeys & deer in the backyard, chatted, and all of the things that friends do. We even introduced them both to Geocaching! But most of all, we had a ton of fun & enjoyed spending time with both of them.

As Don said, it felt like being with family. And we miss them both already. Though we're looking forward to seeing them again soon!

On to see Michael's Grandma in Cheney tomorrow...
More to follow,
Rene

Baker Lake, WA 10.14.11

2011-10-14T19:12:00.000-07:00

We left Joe & Deb early Friday morning, taking two ferries to get over to Washington. First was Fulford to Schwartz Bay and then Sydney to Annacortes. We were a bit worried how customs and immigration would treat us as we could only imagine the questions they were about to ask! We were expecting to be pulled aside – separated and given spousal abuse literature. Thankfully, I didn’t have two black eyes and no one asked. We breezed through both customs and immigration, only having to give up our firewood.

It was a gorgeous day, nice & clear and we had gorgeous views of Mount Baker during our ride – gorgeous!

We didn’t arrive in Annacortes until nearly 3pm and needed to find a campground a few hours down the road. We ended up finding an amazing spot near Baker Lake called the Kulshan Campground. It is a campground offered by the Seattle Power & Light and is free of charge. We arrived right at dusk and were pulling into a spot as another guy was just leaving. Michael got out to see how level we were when the guy told us his spot had power – sold! We waited just a couple minutes and were soon plugged in and enjoying a nearly empty campground (only us and one other rig).

The next morning we were up & moving, headed to Colville, Washington via the North Cascades Highway...gorgeous!

We arrived at Captain Don's house who knew of my injury and was prepared....with an injury of his own! He had painted his front tooth black, and had even painted the tooth of his crazy dog, Maggie Mae! LOL!! You can imagine, Maggie Mae's was licked off within seconds, but the sentiment was there. It's good to be loved...

We're going to spend the next few days with our good friends Captain Don & Ursula and are looking forward to the visit!

More to follow...
Rene

“I feel pretty” – in Salt Springs Island 10.13.11

2011-10-13T18:53:00.000-07:00

I tried coming up with funny titles for this blog post – like “Canadian Skin Peel”, “Checking out the Canadian Health Care System”, “Drama Queen”, etc….but couldn’t come up with the perfect title for our 5 days here in Salt Springs.

We ferried over from Tsawwassen to Long Harbor with no issues at all on the Ferry. It was smooth sailing and we even saw whales on the passage! The BC Ferry system is so easy and convenient. We arrived at the check-in and had some firewood on top of the van, which put us over the limit. No problem, they said, we’ll just put you in the over-limit section, no charge. Sweet! :-)

We traveled the road to Fulford Marina where Joe & Deb were waiting for us.

Ahhh….it’s been so great visiting with them! We will miss them terribly this winter. We caught up a bit, had a wonderful dinner, a glass of wine, and fantastic conversation. We wandered the grounds and were out on the porch admiring the stars in the sky when I lost my balance and hit the ground.

Face first….

I was rushed to the Emergency Room as I had cuts on my face and hands and had knocked out my front tooth. I ended up with a broken nose, 7 stitches in 3 spots of my face, a re-inserted tooth, and lots of cuts & scrapes.

This picture was taken on day 2. Ewww…

The past 5 days have FLOWN by with lots of naps, being escorted everywhere I go, a series of Doctor appointments – the next day was the dentist, who came in on his day off (it’s Thanksgiving weekend here!) to take a look at me, then another dentist appointment for x-rays, then getting the stitches out (OUCH!!!), etc. Everyone has been so incredibly kind and I can’t thank Joe & Deb enough for being our chauffeur all over the island. And you should see Michael! He has been such a trooper throughout this whole ordeal – he was with me the whole time we were in the ER, except for when the needles started coming out, which there were lots of, when he would step out of the room for a bit. I'll tell you, he's been forced to dress me, check on me every hour like a baby, and escort me to bathroom breaks. Poor guy, I'm so lucky to have him!

I began to feel better by Thursday and we went exploring and venturing out of my little hidey hole. My favorite trip was the goat cheese farm we checked out, complete with lots of samples, our favorites being the “Whats its” that we look forward to eating on the road. Yum…

I can’t say enough about the excellent medical care I received. The doctor in the E.R. was amazing as were the doctors, dentists, nurses, & technicians who took care of me this week. I have never had such a ‘nice’ doctor. And it was amazing how many times we were told ‘I’m sorry this happened to you’re here!’ by everyone as well.

And where in the world does ‘I feel pretty’ come from? Well, the song of course. Every time we went out I would put on a pair of earrings and sing the song – I feel pretty, Oh, so pretty, I feel pretty and witty and bright! – and somehow it made me feel much better. Haha… I’m recovering fast and still have pain and we’re still hoping the tooth reattaches, doesn’t die, and situates itself in the proper place. Only time will tell! The doctor says the new scars will diminish and Michael will be the star of the blog for a while until they heal up. :-)

We’re leaving Canada on Friday, heading to Washington to see Captain Don & Ursula, dear friends from Alaska. Can’t wait…

More to follow…
Rene

Tsawwassen 10/7/11

2011-10-07T15:53:00.000-07:00

Today was total indulgence! It just so happens that our campground was right next door to a place called the Scandinave Spa and I walked over yesterday and booked massages for both Michael and I. This spa is known for its Scandinavian type baths – a hydrotherapy system of hot, cold, warm. First you heat up the body – choosing from a eucalyptus steam room, sauna, or hot pool. We chose the steam room first and were totally steamed up & hot within 5 minutes. Then we had to choose between either a cold pool (70 degrees) or a cold shower. This is supposed to shock the system and let me tell you, it does. Though I would call it more torturous than anything. But our massage therapists told us not to skip this important step…I personally think they are sit up in the massage tower behind those two-way mirrors laughing their ass off while they watch everyone get into the cold pools. The whole place is a quiet zone and it was all I could do not to scream like crazy getting in, but I quickly lost the urge to scream once I started hyperventilating.

After the shock of cold and it actually feels warm outside when it’s only 60 degrees, you go into a warm building and sit & let your body come back to its natural temperature. Thankfully, this only took half the day. Haha! No, it only took about 15 minutes and then you do the whole system again. It was really great. OK, well, not the cold part, that part sucked every time we did it but the other parts were pretty great. I could have spent the entire day there….

But alas – we had to get going and get to Vancouver for our ferry tomorrow. We left and continued down the mountain, through Vancouver, to Tsawwassen where we checked into a hotel for the night. Our ferry tomorrow morning is at 10:00 and we should be seeing Joe & Deb by early afternoon! Yeah!! We’re planning on spending 4-5 days with them. I can't wait to see them!! :-)

More to follow...
Rene

Whistler 10.6.11

2011-10-06T15:42:00.000-07:00

We left the Seton Dam Campground and headed down to Whistler. It was a quick trip through amazing windy roads going up & down mountain passes. This is the Canadian Rockies and the mountain views are just spectacular. Tony from the campground told us they had their first snow the night before so the tops of the mountains are dusted with a light snowfall. It's very picturesque.

We stopped alongside the road at one point by a lake that was crystal clear and had some of the most amazing reflections!

We made it to Whistler mid-morning and drove to the village to check it out. We spent a couple three hours wandering through both the upper & lower village which I can only describe as 'cute'. There are tons of shops, eateries, boutique shops, and coffee shops to check out.

During the summer the mountain is used for mountain biking and there were plenty of riders up and down the mountain.

As we walked up to the Upper Village, we stumbled upon a group of 3 bears munching on grass right near the lifts. Cute little guys!

But I couldn't help to take a photo of where exactly they were located...haha!! I don't know about you but I would keep my kids close...

And no visit to Whistler would be completed without visiting Olympic park where they had the medal ceremonies...

And the Inuit man!

Our campground tonight is just North of Whistler about 5 minutes and is another gorgeous site - though it should be for the prices they're getting! Even in the off-season a site is $35+tax. But it sure is gorgeous!

Another relaxing evening.... Tomorrow we splurge! :-)
More to follow...
Rene

Speedy Gonzalez….10.5.11

2011-10-05T14:58:00.000-07:00

That’s what you can call Michael. We made it to Cinema just before noon and decided to keep on going to our next stop, Lillooet, or Mile 0 on the Cariboo Wagon Road that was used during the Gold Rush in the 1850’s. It’s located on the Frasier River, which we have been following for some time.

The landscape has changed – from mountainous to more meadows. It’s not flat, in any sense, but more rolling hills than steep climbs. We are still enjoying the changing colors and the meadows have lots of hay bales rolled up ready for winter – horses, cows, etc. It has been an absolutely gorgeous day – sunshiny & warm with temps in the 70’s. Before leaving, Michael and John installed a new stereo system in the van that ROCKS and paired with my ipod, we’ve had good music to listen to.

Our campground tonight is at a place called Seton Dam and is provided free of charge through BC Hydro. It is another gorgeous campground just outside of Lillooet. We arrived just at sunset and found the campground with only a half a dozen spots filled.

As we were setting up, the camp host, Tony, was tooling around delivering firewood so we purchased an armful for tonight’s campfire – it was perfect. The evening came fast but it is absolutely crystal clear tonight. We are in a valley between two snow topped mountains and the half moon has just popped up over the top. Oh yea, this is what it’s all about! Roasted marshmallows, a warm meal, cold drink, ahhhh…. :-)

Tomorrow we’re headed to Whistler… More to follow!
Rene

British Columbia, Canada 10.4.11

2011-10-04T15:43:00.000-07:00

B.C. is sure pretty. We started in Prince Rupert and have traveled Highway 16 over to Prince George and then down Hwy 97. Our first stop was right outside of Prince Rupert in Port Edward at a place called Kinninnick Campground. It was outside of PR by about 20 minutes, convenient, & clean – but nothing to write home about.

The next morning we were up & gone, headed to a campground in Burns Lake, about 7 hours East. The drive was gorgeous – the trees, shrubs, & ferns are changing color from vibrant green to yellows, reds, browns, & oranges. It was cool & overcast but a nice dry drive for most of the way.

Scooby the van is doing great. It’s our 1983 Volkswagon Westfalia campervan that we love traveling in. It has everything we need – a nice bed, refrigerator, sink, & 2 burner stove. Michael worked this summer on a gremlin in the refrigerator and now it’s working perfectly now on all 3 settings – propane, d/c, & a/c. Yeah! The van is running like a champ and I think it is just as happy to get out and do what it was built for. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for an uneventful trip!

The landscape is mountainous with thousands of lakes & rivers all around. We spend most of the first day following the Skeena River as it would through the mountains. There are hundreds of small lakes dotting the area, cool bridges, & trees everywhere. I even spotted a black bear!

We arrived in Burns Lake around 4’ish and found our campground. I had researched ‘free campgrounds in B.C.’ before we left and this one popped up. It is sponsored by the Rotary, had about 8 campsites, and is an absolute gem! It is located right on Burns Lake, right alongside the curling rink, a kids playground, a skate park, and a little exercise park where all the equipment used your own body weight. I love that little exercise park!, dragging Michael from machine to machine and trying them all out.

You’re allowed 72 hours free and it is often patrolled by the RCMP. When we arrived it was completely empty so we had our choice of spots. We picked one that was level and provided the most protection from the wind. It was a perfect place – there was a picnic table & fire pit and a nice clean bathroom located at the park. What else do we need?! Michael fired up the BBQ and cooked us a brisket, mashed potatoes, & corn. Yum! The perfect 1st night dinner. And plenty of leftovers for sandwiches tomorrow.

I have been without internet for 2 days and was starting to get the itch. (Sad, isn’t it?!) And I couldn’t pick up any wi-fi where we were but remembered I had my Kindle! I opened it up and sure enough, the experimental web browser worked! I was at least able to check and make sure I didn’t have any pressing matters. Yeah! :-) Just one more reason to have a Kindle….hahaha!!

It was downright cold – temps hit freezing last night. But we were well prepared and both slept well – and warm! Though that means for me I’m wearing long underwear & sweats, a scarf, socks, & a hat. But it works! :-) Just before we left Michael picked up a little space heater that uses propane but it turned out we didn’t need it today.

Next stop….Cinema. More to follow!
Rene

Border crossings suck…. 10.4.11

2011-10-04T15:42:00.000-07:00

I’ll tell you, border crossings have never been good to us and we have come to the realization that no matter what border we’re crossing, we’ll be hassled. We have learned to accept this fact and each time think ‘it can’t get any worse’….wrong. Our border crossing at Prince Rupert takes the cake so far.

We had a great sail on the ferry from Ketchikan to Prince Rupert. It was gorgeous and sunny, with nice flat water the entire trip. Though temps were cool, it was still a fantastic day. We spotted porpoises and whales and even had a wonderful worker who escorted me down to the car deck to retrieve the food I was supposed to bring on board.

We arrived in Prince Rupert around 9:00pm and got in line at the border checkpoint. We drove up to the officer who asked the standard questions – where are you from? Where are you going? How long will you be in Canada? Do you have any guns or ammo in the vehicle? Do you have any meat products? Etc… pretty standard stuff. He went to the window and wrote down on the yellow paper something and told us to pull over to secondary. No problem, we’ve done this before. The problem was what happened next!

I was rifling through my purse looking for some lip muck when an officer came walking down the walk and ordered us to step out of the vehicle with our hands where he could see them and to walk to him. Okay…. that’s weird…. Then he asked us to take everything out of our pockets and place them on the table, one at a time. Michael dumped his pockets – wallet, car key, etc. I was next. I’m sure it’s a cruel joke on me that no matter what, every time we have a border crossing it’s ‘that time of the month’ and I have tampons in my pockets.

Then he asked us to turn our pockets inside out. Then I had to lift up my jacket so he could see my waist and lift my pant legs so he could see my ankles. OK, this is getting very weird, not to mention the guy was a total ass ordering us to do it too, the world ‘please’ was not in his repertoire. He would never make it in the hospitality business.

He asked Michael if he had been drinking – no – or if he had done any drugs – no. He said he was going to go through everything in the vehicle and he needed to know if there were any drugs inside. He stressed he would be going through everything. No, no problem officer, was our response. Then he asked if we had ever been in trouble with the law. I replied no, Michael replied no, and the officer said ‘ever?!’ to which Michael, ever the truthful one said ‘well, not never!’ Oh boy, you can imagine the questioning after that. What specifically? He was most concerned whether it involved drugs and Michael finally said ‘stupid kid stuff’.

We were ordered inside to sit and wait while he rifled through the entire van. It took about 45 minutes. He came inside and asked if we were on any medications and I remembered bringing with me a bottle of antibiotics so I told him I was taking antibiotics to which he ordered me (only) out to the van. While we were walking, he asked me if I was sick? Did I have the flu? Have an illness? No, I replied, trying to figure out what the heck he was asking! I found out…

He thoroughly scoured my purse and found 6 packets of single-use Bayer aspirin and in the glove box he found a bottle of Bayer aspirin with 2 other pills mixed in (ibuprofen). He asked again if I was sick and when I responded no asked why I needed so much aspirin. Are you kidding me?! I told him it was ‘that time’ and that we were going on a vacation and I just threw them into my purse just in case. He said ‘this is exactly what we look for’ when he said there was an open bottle of Bayer with other pills mixed in and asked what the other pills were. I dumped them out in my hand and calmly explained that the two brown pills were ibuprofen/Advil and the other were Bayer. He had opened up one of the packets which were white tablets and asked why they were different from the bottle? One was tablets, one is capsules. I don’t know!??! Good grief. This is all over a bottle of Bayer aspirin that we’ve had in the glovebox forever?!

He asked whose van this was – mine or Michael’s. I replied it was ‘ours’ – we’re married! He told me to go back inside and sit back down. Then about 5 minutes later, came in the building and said only “You guys can go, your passports are on the dash”. What a jerk. We came back out to the van to find it destroyed. Everything was opened up, contents taken out, and items either crammed back into spots or haphazardly strewn about. The cooler was rearranged and left open, my purse was sitting open on the passenger seat, all the doors open.

Welcome to Canada….

I sure hope our next crossing is better. Deep breaths…. I would really like to know why it is we always get profiled as drug runners – is it the vehicle? (though our previous worst experience was in the Jeep), is it Michael’s long hair?, are we too nice?, not nice enough? – tell us and we’ll stop!!!

Jeez, with all this just to pass in and out of Canada and Mexico, I’m sure not going close to Iran!! Haha…

More to follow…
Rene

ROAD TRIP!!! 10.3.11

2011-10-02T15:32:00.000-07:00

Now we’re talking! After spending the past 6 months landlocked in Ketchikan, it’s time to get the heck outta Alaska and head South.

We jumped on the Ferry from Ketchikan Alaska over to Prince Rupert and then will begin about a 12,000 mile roadtrip from Alaska to Florida, and back again. We have a 1983 VW Westfalia - Scoobey - which is perfect for the two of us. It has a stove & refrigerator and a popup top and we can sleep both on the bottom and on top.

He’s the general route:

Starting in Ketchikan, Alaska
- Ferry to Prince Rupert, Canada
- Travel through B.C. Canada down through Prince George, Whistler, Vancouver, etc. We will visit Joe & Deb from S/V Pacific Jade in Salt Spring Island, ferry to Vancouver Island, then to Washington
- Travel through Washington, stopping to visit friends on Whidbey Island and Captain Don & Michael’s Grandma near Spokane in Eastern Washington.
- Travel through the tip of Idaho, stopping in Coeur d Alene to visit some cruising friends.
- Through Montana with stops in Yellowstone National Park
- Over to South Dakota to go through the badlands, Mount Rushmore, etc.
- Then a little backtracking through Colorado to visit dear friends
- On to Kansas to visit family & friends
- Through Missouri where I would like to ride the Duck Tour in Branson…maybe
- Out to Kentucky to visit family
- Over to Washington D.C., where we hope to be for Veteran’s Day.
- Then down to Virginia to visit family
- Further down the coast, stopping in South Carolina
- And down to Florida where we will spend a month traveling from spot to spot – do Disneyworld with my folks who are coming to stay with us, a week in Miami with some dear friends from Mexico, and two weeks down in the Florida Keys. Mmmmm….warm!
- Then we will travel the southern route over to Texas, check on our property in Corpus Christi and check out our storage stuff (hopefully it all melted so I don’t have to deal with any of it!) hahaha…
- This should be right about Christmastime and Michael is jonesing to go somewhere cold, snowy, & very Christmas-y. So we’re looking for places to go – any suggestions? He is leaning towards NYC…. We’re thinking flying from wherever we are for a week or so.
- Travel through Arizona and visit friends there.
- And a stop California – we’ll spend some time with Michael’s family in Palm Springs and with dear friends in Ventura area. We have lots of things to do here – doctoring, taxes, etc.
- Then we will begin the trek back North to Alaska….we should get there in late January/early February, if everything goes right!

So shoot us a message if we’re missing anything or anyone! :-) I love getting suggestions on places to visit and things to see. And I would love to hear from you.

I will be updating the blogs on a regular basis while we are traveling, so please check us out! :-)

Our ship has come in…. 10.2.11

2011-10-02T15:30:00.000-07:00

And we’re getting off the Island! Haha…. The M/V Taku is taking us from Ketchikan to Prince Rupert, Canada. It’s a quick 8 hour trip and it is a spectacular crisp sunshiny day. We’re cruising through the Inside Passage, taking the same route that many of the Cruise Ships do After 6 long months of working & playing, it’s time to head out on our 4 month road trip. Woohoo!! :-)

We had a wonderful season up here again. Even after 3 seasons up here, we still manage to find lots of new things and have a great time here. Surprisingly, I don’t have as much ‘Island fever’ as I have had in previous years. Maybe I’m getting used to the place, who knows?!

We arrived in April and were off and running. There is a lot of work that goes into this business and a lot of it happens in the 30 days prior to the 1st cruise ship arrives. Hiring, scheduling, licenses, inspections, training, paperwork, cleaning, whew! It’s crazy.

The 1st Cruise Ship arrived on May 6th and the last one left on September 23rd. It’s a full 5 months of craziness with several 7 day workweeks! Michael has the same position as last year, he was the Operations Manager, who works down at the Ketchikan Visitor’s Bureau and is the master coordinator for about 30 employees, 4 Ducks, 5 Hummers, and the many Cruise Ships, in addition to talking to tourists looking for a tour to take. He has crazy days that start at 6am and are full of surprises. Days can be short, ending around 1pm and long, sometimes ending at 6pm. And that’s just on the dock. Once he leaves the Visitor’s Bureau he then goes back to the office and prepares for the next day. I’m tired just describing it! Haha…

On the flipside, I have a much more fun position. For 3 days a week, I am a Narrator on the Ketchikan Duck Tour. The Duck Tour is a fun, informative 90 minute tour of the land and sea. I get to entertain the folks who are visiting – get to be silly, have fun, laugh lots, sing, dance, etc. It’s absolutely fantastic and I love my job. I get to work with the best Captain ever, Captain Don. He is absolutely a joy to work with and we have become very good friends over the past 2 years. I’ll try to post a video of him in work so you get a feel for the beginning of the tour. For the remaining time, I am the Office Manager/bookkeeper for all of the companies. It keeps me in the office and there’s plenty of work to keep me busy.

But who cares about work?! We had some time to play this season and took every opportunity to do so. I have realized that I love, love, love to go fishing so I went out about a dozen times or so this season. We went fishing for halibut, crab, prawns, salmon, rockfish, cod, and other fun stuff. This season, I went ‘snagging’ for Salmon down at Herring Cove, the first time I’ve done that. It was hysterically fun.

You see, when you snag for salmon, you throw out a weighted, unbaited three prong hook and try to launch it as far away as you can. You let it sink and then quickly whip the pole back while reeling in the hook, trying to ‘snag’ onto a Salmon. Well… It sounds a lot easier than it is! First, you have to master the whole ‘throwing out a weighted hook’ process. And I had a few unsuccessful throws – to say the least. I’m pretty sure Captain Larry had several new dings and ‘hidden’ hooks in the anchor line from my wild throws. And those who know me well know I can be a little….animated…at times and am incredibly friendly. When we pulled up in the bay I was saying Hi to all of the fishermen and asking how they were doing. And was surprised at how most just nodded & smiled…hmmm, wonder why?! :-)

Anyway, we got anchored and started fishing. When I had wild throws we would all break into hysterical laughter, which everyone in the bay listened to. When anyone in the bay would catch a fish, we would hoot & holler, clap & laugh. It was a wonder we weren’t asked to leave. Haha!!! We were fairly unsuccessful snagging until I managed to snag on to one right under the boat. The fishing pole I was using was a brand new pole and I had not figured out how to operate it quite yet but I started reeling as hard as I could. Captain Don broke out the video camera and was videoing as we all hooted & hollered alerting everyone in the bay that we had one!!! I kept reeling, and reeling, and reeling… Finally Captain Don told Captain Larry that he should check the drag. Sure enough, that salmon had taken LOTS of line as the drag was wide open. Once the drag was tightened and I pulled back on it and shockingly a salmon jumped about 300 yards away. Now we figured for sure it was someone else’s salmon…..but nope! It was mine. I had a lot of work to do. Finally the salmon was coming my way when it decided to wrap itself around another boat’s anchor line. Of course!! We hollered back and forth with this fisherman and he assisted us in freeing the line and we finally had one on board. Haha!!! When we left the bay I believe I faintly heard a round of applause – I’m choosing to believe they were congratulating us on our catch!

Aside from that we always take time to hike the area. One of our first hikes this season was up Deer Mountain. It was a little early and we were only about to get about a mile and ¼ before it was too snowy to continue and we had to turn back. We’ll work on it again next season. But the views even at the 1 mile point were spectacular!!

At the beginning of every season all of the tours get together for something called “Tourist for a day”. Many of the tours that operate during the summer offer reduced fees and often times those fees are collected and turned over to charity. Every year we have tried different tours and this year was no different. One day we took a guided walk through the rainforest where we got to feed some reindeer and the next day I went snorkeling.

Yep, you read that right – snorkeling – in Alaska! Now before you ask, no, I haven’t lost my mind. The Snorkel tour is very popular in Ketchikan and often gets very high customer service scores from the tourists who take it and I just had to know what the big deal was! So I signed up. And let me tell you, it was simply spectacular. The water was about 34 degrees but I was bundled up in a ¼” wetsuit – no easy feat to put on! I had gloves, a hood, boots, everything was covered except for the top of my lip to just under my eyes. Luckily it was a sunshiny day and was close to low tide. When I waded in, I was expecting a super shock of cold but was surprised at how warm I was in the wetsuit. When the water hit my upper lip it was freezing fricking cold but I quickly forgot all about the cold when I started to see all of the amazing colors & views under water! The water was crystal clear and I could see down about 30-40 feet. We snorkeled around a rock pinnacle and sheer cliff at a spot called Mountain Point. The part I’m still amazed at is just how colorful everything was and how clear it was. I dove down several times, hoping to snap some photos but my fingers were encased in the ¼” gloves and I had a hard time pressing the shutter button. I’ll see about getting some videos up. After an hour of being in the water and seeing several species of sea stars, sea cucumbers, nudabrinks, and many more, I was beginning to lose feeling in my fingers so I decided to get out. After climbing the hill to get back to the truck, we were rewarded with piping hot water to pour into our wetsuit – which was heaven! What a great experience…

This year for our mid-season outing, we went ziplining! Michael and I had been ziplining before, down in Mexico, but had never in Ketchikan. We lucked out again with nice weather (read: no rain!) as it was just a little overcast and cool. We were split up into groups of 7-8 and our guides took us across 7 lines through the rainforest. Each platform held spectacular views of the surrounding areas & Herring Cove. It was exhilarating and tons of fun to do with our co-workers. After the fun Michael gave a rah-rah speech and gave out awards for the employees of the month. I’m pretty proud to tell you that I won the Narrator of the month award for all 5 months! Woohoo!!!! :-) And let’s not forget Captain Don, who also won the Captain of the month all 5 months.

The weather this summer was wetter than previous years but still OK. All except for that last couple weeks which, let’s face it, just plain sucked. It was the typical September/October weather – high winds, high rain, and cold. Ugh. Did I mention I’m ready to get out of here?!

What else?! Plenty of community events, dinner parties, bear watching, whale watching, time out with friends, & simply enjoying the area. I posted a bunch of photos from this summer on our website - http://photos.aheakali.com/

Oh!....and of course planning for our 4 month road trip! :-) But I’ll tell you all about that on the next post.

Welcome Back! 4.24.2011

2011-04-24T10:05:00.000-07:00

"Welcome Back!" That's the phrase we've heard the most since arriving. Friends & acquaintances, checkers at the grocery store, co-workers, you name it. It's great to be back 'home'.

Jeez, we've been here for 3 weeks already! How time flies when you're having fun, huh?! Oh, and Happy Easter everyone!

We've been in work, work mode since arriving. We had the thought of 'easing back into work' when we arrived. Yeah right! Our ferry arrived on Sunday morning and we had an interview scheduled for Sunday afternoon! haha... It was because the person was going out of town and this was the only day & time for 2 weeks. When we arrived at our apartment we were welcomed by an basket of goodies, flowers, & a card. We're so lucky to work for such incredible people! :-)

It took a week or so to get our hands wrapped around the tasks, namely hiring the rest of the team for the season and preparing everything for the beginning. It sure is a lot of organization and work! Ordering supplies, setting the schedule, trying to think ahead to anything we may need, training the employees - whew! Work.

But we've been playing as well, as usual. Daylight is about 14 hours and increasing everyday so it's light when we wake up and sets around 8'ish which gives us plenty of time to play. We've had birthday parties and dinners with friends and lots of 'let's get together for a drink' offers.

Yesterday, for Easter weekend, we decided to do our first hike. We started up Deer Mountain, a landmark here in town. The Forest Service labels the hike as extremely difficult but we figured it couldn't be that difficult, right?! We did fine for the first 3 minutes....and then the stairs & switchbacks began. Before we knew it we were huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf. It wasn't pretty. I guess we should have started with a milder hike, being our first one of the season. haha!!

But oh, was it worth it! At the 1 mile lookout, we were rewarded with this gorgeous view of the Tongass Narrows & surrounding islands.

Spectacular.

We rested for a while, searched in vain for a geocache, stepped on my brand spanking new sunglasses & broke them in two (CRAP!!!), met a bunch of other hikers on their way up or down, and just took in the sunshine & beauty.

Our legs were rubbery when we first arrived at the lookout but after resting we decided to push on and hopefully make the summit. Right before we turned back, the snow was up to 2 feet in depth and the deciding factor for turning back was that Michael's hiking boots had absolutely no grip (it's time for a new pair of hiking boots!) and it was getting a bit treacherous. Downhill was easy, after we got out of the snowline, and we cracked a bottle of celebratory water when we were finished. (The wine came later) haha... All in all a great day.

We cruised around town and caught sight of a group of eagles on a log - how many do you count?

The 1st Cruise Ship arrives in port in two weeks from today, on the 8th of May. This week and next is full of training for the employees, getting all of the licenses & passes secured for all the vehicles, completing the schedule, paperwork, blah, blah, blah. WORK!

Then the fun begins. The 8th kicks off with a bang with both the Disney Wonder (new this year) and the Carnival Spirit arriving in town. Sundays will be our longest days with the 1st ship coming in at 7am and the last one leaving at 8pm. Ugh...I'm not looking forward to such long days.

Next week is 'Tourist for the Day' on Friday and Saturday where the locals can try out some of the tours that are usually not available to them during the season for extremely reduced prices. I have high hopes of going snorkeling and ziplining. Whatever I end up doing, I'll be sure and share!

Here's wishing everyone a very Happy Easter!
More to follow...
Rene

Bellingham & the Ferry to Alaska! 4.2.2011

2011-04-09T13:33:00.000-07:00

Ahhh….what a relaxing morning! We slept in (well, as long as the inconsiderate jerks who were staying down the hall yelling at each other & slamming doors would let us), had a nice leisurely breakfast, drove to the Trader Joe’s and did our last-minute shopping, drove all over the town searching for geocaches that had travel bugs inside so I could take them to Alaska, then got to the Ferry Terminal by about 2pm. We were originally scheduled on next week’s ferry, only because I screwed up the reservation and missed getting this spot. So we put ourselves on the waiting list on Monday and showed up at the Ferry terminal nice & early….

And got on! Woohoo! :-) We were almost the last vehicle allowed on the ship. And we lost our outside cabin with a window and were stuck with an inside broom closet cabin but we made it! We’ll be in Ketchikan on Sunday morning around 7am.

The ferry was nice, as usual the surroundings are simply gorgeous. Trees that come all the way down to the water on gorgeous snow-capped mountains, eagles in the trees, cabins tucked into the woods, & mountain landscapes all around, it’s absolutely breathtaking!

The weather is cool & crisp. It was raining when we left Bellingham but this morning it was clear. Hopefully it’ll stay that way! As always, my photos just don’t do it justice…

I spent most of the time on the ferry going through my photos, catching up on the blogs, and getting everything ready to upload once we get into Ketchikan. Yeah! Don't worry, I'll keep the updates coming...

More to follow…
Rene

More photos & videos 4.1.2011

2011-04-09T13:31:00.000-07:00

As always, I upload many more photos into the photo albums than I put into the blogs. Check them out here…

And there are more YouTube videos on my ‘channel’….here.

Two days in Seattle 3.31.2011

2011-04-09T13:22:00.000-07:00

That’s it, only two days. And although two days doesn’t even scratch the surface of the city, we still had a great time. We did all of the touristy stuff – visited the Space Needle,

wandered the Pike Place Market – and saw the flying fish!,

did a brewery tasting at The Pike Brewing Co. (my favorite was the Kilt-lifter!),

rode the Duck Tour (of course!),

walked through Sculpture Park – what do you see?,

Viewed and made a contribution to the ‘Gum Wall’ – the #2 germiest place in the world - ewww!

Stopped for a photo with Hammering Man…

did the Underground Tour, checked out numerous pieces of public art, rode the light rail, found a couple geocaches, walked the waterfront, ate fantastic Asian food (twice!), drank gallons of Starbucks coffee & others claiming to be better, heard lots of jokes about Microsoft & Starbucks, & savored every nibble of the truffles we picked up at a highly-recommended Chocolatier. Did we miss anything?

Of course we did! But remember, we only had two days!! I think we did pretty good. :-) And we have to leave something else to come back to, right?!

Seriously, we had a great time. It rained the entire time we were there and was cold and windy, but we have to get used to the rain, right?! Once we were all bundled up it was no problem. Instead of driving the first day we just jumped on the light rail which was really easy – only a block from our hotel and it was $5 each for all day.

The Underground tour was very fun. I had no clue about the history of the town and enjoyed learning about the history almost as much as the tour itself. We were taken into three areas of the underground and heard stories of the way life used to be. It was pretty cool.

We decided to walk from the Underground to the Space Needle and walked along the waterfront, stopping at the Art Museum, Pike Place Market, lunch, and several stops along the way! The downtown is really beautiful with gorgeous architecture.

We would have loved to go to EMP but it’ll have to wait until next time. We Rode the Ducks – I had to check out the competition! – and enjoyed the tour that was given even though I think my tour is a million times better. ;-) We finished the day with the Sculpture Park and walking along the waterfront to find a place for dinner before jumping back on the light rail back to the hotel. It was a full day.

The next morning we left the hotel and drove into downtown. We had scoped out a parking structure right across the street from the Market that had a very reasonable all-day price and parked there. While we were purchasing our parking pass we were asked the normal question “you’re not from around here” from a woman waiting for us to finish. We were joking with her about how she could guess – figuring it was Michael dressed in shorts. Nope, she said it was because we were both so tan! Haha!! She said there were lots of crazies around who dressed in shorts, but no one is tan! We chatted with her for a while and she gave us her business card and a card for a discount at where she worked and told us they had excellent food. We decided to go there for lunch and were treated to two beer samplers – 6 different beers each from Pike Brewing Co. Wow! What a chance meeting her. :-)

We took a guided tour of Pike Place Market that was put on by the historical society which was interesting, though I wouldn’t recommend this particular tour again. I’ve heard the ‘Savor Seattle’ tours are a million times better – that’ll be on my list of things to do next time.

We finished the day by driving to Bellingham, which is where our ferry leaves (hopefully!) tomorrow.

More to follow…
Rene

Two short weeks in California 3.28.2010

2011-04-06T21:21:00.000-07:00

We flew out of Mexico on the 15th, bound for Palm Springs. This year we flew instead of driving as we were meeting our friends in Guadalajara so leaving here was very different! And with our decision to sell the boat, we packed as much into our luggage as humanly possible. Between Michael and I we had 4 bags that all weighed in at 49.5 lbs and 4 carry-ons that were about as heavy! The bags were so stuffed I prayed that they wouldn’t be sent to the secondary screening because once the bags were opened up I feared it would look a lot like a jack in the box with clothes flying out of the bags! Not only that but I doubt very seriously if they would be able to get them closed again! Luckily, at the airport they did open up every bag but only moved a couple of items around and we were there to help them re-close them. And we had one absolutely wonderful flight attendant who helped us in rearranging the items so they would fit in the upper storage area and put the remaining items under an empty seat. Whew!! :-)

We breezed through immigration & customs in Phoenix and hopped on the small plane bound for Palm Springs. I drew the lucky seat on the Palm Springs flight and sat beside a young mother with her young baby. Let me preface this by saying the kid was very cute an I have no problem with kids. We talked for a while about how the baby had not eaten since the morning since TSA had taken all of the baby’s food and she had only drank water & juice since the morning. We were about 10 minutes into the flight and she turned to me and said ‘I think I’m going to throw up, what do I do?’ Holy Crap!! I told her she should go into the bathroom. ‘Would you mind holding my baby?’ she asked….Sure, no problem. She gave me the kid and went into the bathroom. The baby was soaked and was soaking through the blankets she was wrapped in. The mom came back to her seat and said she was feeling better but 5 minutes later, she was not well again. I couldn’t get the vomit bag out of my seat back any faster and gave to her. She was holding the baby and vomiting into the bag….ugh. I went up to the steward and asked for some paper towels & a bag and he gave me a large, 25gal plastic bag & a bunch of paper towels and his condolences! Haha.. The poor girl got sick about 5 more times. Michael was sitting in the seat behind me and had to help as we were juggling the baby, a large trash bag, smaller vomit bags, & drinks. He said the guy to his left even pulled out his vomit bag ready to give it to her. It was a long 54 minute flight!

We've had a monkey hanging in the boat that Michael couldn't leave...and it didn't fit in any of our bags so onto Michael's back it went! It turned out to be quite the conversation starter, smiles from all of the security guards & TSA agents, and even the Mexican military!

We flew into Palm Springs and spent a couple days visiting with Michael's Mom, Dad, & Sister's family. Michael's step-dad, Pete, who has Alzheimer's has been slowly declining and we visited him on Thursday, knowing this was possibly the last time we would be seeing him.

We left Friday morning to go to San Diego to visit with Mike & Julie and pick up our 'tubs' of stuff they brought up from Mexico from us. On the drive to San Diego, Michael's mom called. Pete passed away Friday morning.

We visited with Mike & Julie and had a BLAST playing the Wii, hiking a nice path near their house, enjoying an incredible Thai dinner in town, & chatting away!

We left early Saturday morning and zipped up to Ventura to spend a few days with Sue & Dennis. We had made several appointments - Tax, Doctor, Van Repair, etc for that week and didn't have a lot of time to visit as we were running around like a chicken with our head cut off!

We left Ventura on Thursday and went back out to Palm Springs for Pete's services on both Thursday & Friday.

I don't think there's anything that makes you appreciate life & want to say "I Love You" to your friends & family quite like a funeral. So in case I haven't said it lately, I appreciate each and every one of you and am so glad to have you in my life.

We left on Saturday - headed North!
More to follow...
Rene

Getting the boat ready & leaving Mazatlan 3.14.2011

2011-04-06T12:22:00.000-07:00

To sell…. A horrible 4-letter word. We’ve spent the past few weeks doing lots of projects to make the boat ‘beautiful’er. J The teak was stripped & re-varnished, we had new foam put inside the cushions, had the dodger & bimini re-stitched, new covers made for the liferaft & winches, the inside of the boat was given a good scrubbing, those little beautifications that we’ve been overlooking have been done, fixes needing fixed, fixed.

She looks pretty good, doesn’t she?! She’s literally in the best shape ever. Everything is working perfectly, she’s all varnished & gorgeous, and is ready for a new owner. So if you know anyone looking for a ready-to-go cruising boat, this is the one!

Check out the listing here…

And of course, going through every nook & cranny on the boat and deciding whether the items should be left for the new owner, sold, packed & stored for later, or packed & taken with us on the plane. This job sucks. We’ve lived on the boat for 10 years and didn’t plan on doing this when we moved everything on. We sold so much stuff, gave away even more, and packed 8 Rubbermaid tubs that we’re placing in storage until we have a chance to come back down & pick them up.

You see, we usually drive down but this year we decided to fly. Looking back this was a bad decision but o-well! Nothing we can do about it now.

Our good friends Mike & Julie agreed to take two Rubbermaid tubs that had some of our ‘sensitive’ items – things that were heavy weight-wise and we didn’t want to fly with and we didn’t want to leave in storage. Things like Michael’s coin collection, pots & pans, knives, and a bunch of other miscellaneous stuff. Luckily for us, they were driving back with an almost empty van and they didn’t mind some other last-minute items as well like Michael’s guitar, my ukulele, a blanket, & a craft box. I don’t know what we wouldn’t have done if they didn’t take it for us!

But it’s done. There have been LOTS of tears, tough decisions, and difficult days. I’m glad it’s over for now. My most saddest day was when I had to leave my plants. Who knew I would be so sentimental over those silly plants?!

We’ve been staying at a condo for the last couple days which has made it easier to pack the four suitcases we can take on the plane and the four carry-ons. It’ll be a miracle if we make it through customs, immigration, & TSA without them being opened up and rearranged, which I hope the person who does remembers where everything went so they can get them closed again! They’re literally so packed I fear they’ll be like jack-in-the-boxes if opened – everything will come boinging out!

And of course, we said goodbye to our favorite little Dock 5 kitty – White Kitty with the crazy eyes….

We’re sad. Sad to leave Mazatlan, sad to leave the boat, sad to leave our friends. But a wonderful friend shared with us an Italian saying that goes something like “Leave the party while you’re still having fun”….and that’s what we intend to do. So we’re on to bigger and better things, a new chapter in our lives!

More to follow…
Rene

Carnaval in Mazatlan 3.5.2011

2011-04-06T09:54:00.000-07:00

The town has been alive this past week. Preparations are underway for Carnaval – the 3rd largest celebration in the world behind Rio & New Orleans.

This is our 4th time experiencing Carnaval and it is always soooo much fun! Julie and I have been walking in the mornings and one morning we went down the malecon to check out the paper mache figures that lined the beach walk. They were quite colorful!

And of course the Carnaval parade! With such colorful floats & costumes…

And of course….the Alka Seltzer man!

The bands were loud & crazy, the dancers were fun to watch. It was warm and the crowd was energetic. It was fun, as usual…

A day or so before the parade was the ‘burning of good humor’ and a group of us cruisers went downtown to check it out. We decided to check out one of our favorite places to eat downtown – street potatoes! It’s literally a street vendor who takes up residence one a corner in town after 7pm and sells a stuffed potato that is heart-stoppingly good. Or bad, whichever way you want to look at it. Either way, they’re yummy!!!

As luck would have it, the ‘raton’ that was to be burned (that looked just like a hedgehog) was being loaded & setup directly across the street from where we were eating! The dancers were all dressed up and were fully cooperating in getting their photo taken…

As the procession began, a group of 4 guys shot fireworks into the sky in front of a truck carrying the bad humor raton, and a marching band played and the dancers danced and passed out flyers to everyone in the street.

We marched past the cathedral, which is gorgeous at night.

It was great – and the burning of bad humor was just the beginning of the night. The fireworks that night were exceptional – they were almost as good as Disneyland!

Julie and I decided to get in the mood by applying fake eyelashes that were being sold along with stick-on mustaches, beards, and your choice of masks, hats, & crazy flashing things. Too much fun! :-)

Scott & Liz’s visit & passage to Mazatlan 2.2.2011

2011-04-05T18:06:00.000-07:00

Scott & Liz were supposed to join us in La Cruz on the 1st but had flight delays and ended up arriving on the 2nd. Eric & Sherrell from S/V Sarana made it into La Cruz a couple days earlier and we all had an amazing time catching up.

It had been about 4 years since both Scott & Liz and Eric & Sherrell had been to La Cruz so the first day or so was just spent checking out the town and catching up with old friends. Liz was great friends with Sylvia & Marissa and on the day before we left La Cruz, they invited us up to a ‘Ladies Luncheon’. Sounds great! The boys bowed out, which looking back, was a good idea.

The luncheon started out innocent enough – red wine & shrimp ceviche. It was a chilly day and we were outside so Sylvia gave us all a shot of tequila to warm us up. And then another, and then another, and then I lost count… Haha!

We had waaayyyyy too much fun… J We stumbled back to the boat to find two very angry men waiting for us. Oops…I guess we shouldn’t have partied the day before a long passage. I’m sure we’ll feel better in the morning!

Or not.

We woke up the next morning and were fine. We left La Cruz just as the sun was coming up, it was gorgeous…

And it went downhill from there. I lasted about 2 hours before I went down for my first nap. I was still feeling a little….green…but was doing fine. Liz was also feeling a bit under the weather and was sleeping up above. Michael came down during one of his ‘checks’ – checking to see if everything is OK and when he opened up the door to the engine room, it smelled like diesel. Uh Oh… After doing some research, we had a leaky injector – the first time ever on this engine. Michael & Scott timed it, measured it, throttled down, throttled up, tightening the nut on the injector, trying everything they could to get it to stop with no luck. This was a huge bummer as now we had to go the entire way to Mazatlan with a diesel smell in the boat. Now normally this wouldn’t be a problem at all….but with two ‘green’ gals on board, it made it a much more difficult transit.

Needless to say, the boys were none too happy. But we brought it on ourselves and only had Sylvia & Marissa to blame! Wink, wink!

We were nervous with the leaky injector (it was the first time it had happened!) and Michael didn’t want to turn off the engine in case air got into the lines and we would have had to bleed the air from the lines. So we endured. We motored the whole way, which was a huge bummer as we all wanted to sail! Oh well…

We made it to Mazatlan, pulled into the slip, and breathed a sigh of relief! ….And quickly opened up all the ports to get smell out of the boat! Haha…

We spent the next few days enjoying Mazatlan and shopping, shopping, shopping! You see, Scott & Liz live in Nicaragua, a 3rd world country, so even Mexico had better shopping! I’m pretty sure we shopped for 3 days straight. And of course ate at all of the ‘favorite’ spots in Mazatlan.

We had an incredible time – as always – with Scott & Liz. It seemed too quick for 12 days to scream by and we had to say goodbye again.

Until later….
Rene

A fun video 2.3.2011

2011-04-05T18:05:00.000-07:00

We had a treat in the marina today, a couple from France has financed their trip around the world on their sailboat by pulling into marinas and performing a fun, cirq de solei type show. They have two shows, one is a Laurel & Hardy type and the other, a more romantic’ish show.

They were amazing! So much fun to watch! The stunts they performed were both funny and awe-inspiring! Especially when the girl walked up the backstay using just her hands & feet. The music was fantastic and their expressions were hysterical.

This is the beginning of the Laurel & Hardy show – enjoy!

A difficult decision, to say the least!… 2.1.2011

2011-04-05T18:03:00.000-07:00

We’ve had another great season sailing the coast of Mexico these past couple months. We visited new anchorages, made new friends, spent time with old friends, and generally enjoyed life. It was also during this time that we sat & discussed and made a very difficult decision – to sell the boat.

Yep, our ‘dreams & goals’ have once again been adjusted. Sniff, sniff…

After we finish this cruising season, we will spend one more summer working in Alaska, then we’ll do a 2-3 month ‘Road Trip’ across the U.S. to the East coast and then back out to the West coast. This should land us back in Southern California somewhere in January 2012. Once we get back, Michael is planning to begin a career in professional speaking. Over the past few years he has been working towards this path, writing a book, preparing a handful of speeches, building a website, and working with a friend in the industry who has been kind enough to guide & encourage him to share with others the things we’ve learned while achieving our dreams & goals over the past 10 years or so.

To give Michael’s dream every chance of succeeding, we need to ‘buckle down’ and focus. While we’d love to continue cruising during the wintertime, we have come to the realization that it just doesn’t make sense. This decision will ultimately take us out of cruising for at least 2 years and most likely closer to 5. Yikes!

Leaving her for such an extended period of time would not be fair to Ahea Kali or to us. We decided to put her up for sale and find someone who will love her the way she deserves instead of making her sit and wait for us. We have put a lot of blood, sweat, love, money & tons of tears (especially while making the decision!) into her over the years and in return she has provided us a comfortable home, a vehicle to visit new places, meet new people and safe passage on all of our voyages.

Now emotionally, this decision is one of the most difficult we have both ever made. Although it is just a boat, she is definitely NOT ‘just a boat’! But logically, it’s the right decision. We know how much time, effort, & maintenance, not to mention money, it takes to keep the boat in the tip-top condition she’s in and we just can’t imagine doing it from afar.

Here's the boat listing, if anyone knows of someone looking for a GREAT boat! :-)
http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1975/Fuji-Ketch-2309817/Mazatlan/Mexico

We’ll keep everyone posted on this next chapter in our life as it begins to develop.
More to follow!
Rene & Michael

A Special Blessing of the Fleet…1.31.2011

2011-04-04T18:44:00.000-07:00

Speaking of the Blessing of the Fleet, I mentioned meeting Debbie, well, she has a house right on the water and a couple of years prior, the Blessing cross that was tossed out into the water washed up onto the beach outside of her house. She cleaned it up and decorated it inside her house and adds boat names of her friends, those she wants to keep safe. We were thrilled to be added to the cross!

More to follow…
Rene

The La Cruz Vortex strikes again…. 1.30.2011

2011-04-04T18:27:00.000-07:00

Yep, it’s happened. The La Cruz Vortex has pulled us in and refused to let go! We were planning on leaving La Cruz and heading South for a few weeks before coming back here for our next group of friends coming to visit in February. Scott & Liz, our friends from S/V Ocean Lady, were cruisers for several years and were searching for ‘the perfect wave’ (they’re surfers!) and found it in Nicaragua. They sold Ocean Lady and have been living in Nicaragua for the past 3-4 years and are who we stayed with on our visit to Nicaragua, and who we visited with during our stay in Guadalajara! During the Guadalajara visit we talked about them coming up and sailing with us and they did! They booked a flight arriving on Feb 1st into Puerta Vallarta and leaving from Mazatlan 12 days later. Woohoo!

So we were in La Cruz and are waiting for a good weather window to head South and one of our group picks up a cold. Doh! OK, no problem, we’ll just wait for the next one! So we waited & waited and the cold was passed around. Finally, a good window was opening up around the 18th or so and Michael and I decided to stay put in La Cruz until Scott & Liz arrived. It seemed silly to run around the corner and race through the anchorages, just to have to turn around a week or so later to do it all over again! So we stayed in La Cruz.

Most of the time we were out in the anchorage though we pulled into the marina about a week before Scott & Liz arrived to have some time to get the boat cleaned up & ready. We parked on Dock 11 in La Cruz marina and parked beside “Alarife”, and got to know the owner – Debbie, and captain of the boat, Sandy. We spend the week getting to know them and had a great time – sunset sails, dinners, drinks, & chatting on the dock.

We were in La Cruz for the annual ‘Blessing of the Fleet’, a celebration where the local fishing vessels decorate their pangas & fishing boats with flowers, balloons, & ribbons and then parade out into the water & throw flowers & leaves overboard as well as a large cross decorated with flowers. It is in memory of those lost at sea and a blessing to keep them safe this year.

Another part of the celebration is that the pangas ‘beach’ themselves, which is a ton of fun to watch. We made it to Bucerias just in time to see the craziness. Both the town and the beach was absolutely packed with people and we wound our way down to the waves.

The surf was way up, which was bad news for the panga drivers! But they were not deterred. One by one, the pangas timed the waves & followed them into the beach where hundreds of guys on the beach would surround the panga and push it further up on the beach, outside the crazy pounding waves. The occupants would bail out, they would turn the boat around and push it back out into the waves.

There were a couple of pucker moments – when a boat would get sideways, the waves wouldn’t be timed right, and one spectacular time when a panga jumped a wave about 15’ in the air! But everyone made it safe & sound, maybe a few scratches & some wet people. It was crazy to watch!

The town was in complete celebration and there was dancing, incredible food & drinks, horses, dancing, and row after row of carnival booths selling everything you can imagine and then some!

Haha… The thing I found interesting was that they had the same carnival booths as we have in the states – ring toss, dart into the balloon, etc. But the big difference is in the prizes – instead of stuffed animals & chochkis that you’d find in the U.S., they were playing for food! Buckets that had cookies, toilet paper, soda, cereal & more! Haha… Michael said he’d rather play for cookies than stuffed animals.

There were other funny things – like rats on a string for sale… And I don’t think I have ever seen ‘The Hulk’ in Mexico! :-)

More to follow…
Rene

Catching up… 1.5.2011

2011-04-04T18:16:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year!! Oh and Merry Christmas too! :-) Yep, it’s been awhile….again! haha… I finally had time to write & catch up on our photos & videos while we were on the ferry. So what in the heck have we been doing since December? Good question…

Last I wrote, we were moving into Paradise Village in Nuevo Vallarta because our friends – John & Jillian Malouf were coming for vacation in the area and we wanted to be close & available to see them. Although being in Paradise Marina was nice, it was a bummer being away from our boating friends who stayed in La Cruz. Though we were able to keep in touch via radio and they even came over for Christmas Eve on the beach which was great.

We met John & Jill and the kids twice during their visit – once in Bucerias and again at their rental house in Mismaloya. We enjoyed getting together with them and meeting their family. We spent an afternoon at the beach in Mismaloya and a group of us went snorkeling out at Los Arcos – some caves & rock formations just off the beach.

The water was brrrr cold!!! Michael would call it ‘refreshing’ but it definitely took your breath away when you jumped in! Still we had a great time. The fish were so colorful and they were swimming right beside & underneath us!

This video was taken at water level!

We joined Bob & Marlene from S/V Selah for Christmas day dinner again this year and had a fabulous time, as usual! We met some old friends, gained some new friends, feasted on knockout cuisine, and enjoyed every minute of it. We love spending time with Bob & Marlene, and their two daughters – they’re so much fun. It’s a bummer we didn’t get to head South and see them on the boat this season. Oh well, another time!

Time flew and before we knew it, it was New Year’s Eve! Michael had picked up a cold just before Christmas and when he went snorkeling he lost his voice so we decided to hang low for New Year’s. We had dinner at the same Mexican restaurant that we had been to 10 years ago (that was still just as terrible! Haha) and went back to the boat and watched movies until it was nearly midnight. Then we walked out onto the beach, pulled up a couple lounge chairs, and watched the incredible fireworks shows that were going on in the bay. There were easily 6 different fireworks shows at the different towns & resorts and it was incredible to watch them all!

Oh, so remember how our outboard was stolen? Well, I put a post on Facebook letting everyone know what had happened and told them to be sure & ‘lock up all your stuff’! Some good friends of ours, Chris & Sandy, from S/V Faith, said they had a used outboard they would ‘gift’ us, which was such a blessing! The only catch was that they were in La Paz and wouldn’t be down in La Cruz until the end of December. Well, they arrived in Mazatlan and Michael called up Elvira – the marina office manager in Mazatlan – and asked her if anyone was headed down to La Cruz that wouldn’t mind bringing a dinghy engine with them. As luck would have it, S/V Irish Diplomacy was headed down to La Cruz and when she asked they said SURE!! Now, as fate would have it….they contacted us on the day we were leaving La Cruz anchorage, headed to Paradise Marina! Doh! No problem, more cruisers to the rescue! Haha… You see, Mike & Ceacy from S/V Ramble on Rose had to fly back to the States and left their vehicle in the hands of Bill & MJ from S/V Grey Max. So when Irish Diplomacy arrived in La Cruz, Grey Max went over and picked up the engine, put it in Ramble On Rose’s truck, and brought it over to us. Whew! What a lovely community we live in!!

Our time in Paradise Marina was fun – the grounds are so beautiful & clean, it’s like you’re not even in Mexico. And the prices reflected it! But it was a nice getaway, a change in pace, & a treat for us. But 10 days was enough – we’re headed back to La Cruz now…

Leaving La Cruz….for Paradise! 12.19.10

2010-12-19T07:22:00.000-08:00

Ahhh….it’s been a great couple weeks. La Cruz is always one of our favorite spots along the coast as there is always soooo much to do!! We’ve had a great time though – catching up with friends, eating at amazing new restaurants in town, and exploring new places.

We found a new ‘hot spot’ on the beach called Don Bidou’s which is serving $1 Margaritas or Beers.

That place is dangerous, beware. We speak from experience. The drinks are good….too good in fact. Joe & Deb, Bill, and Michael & I decided to go ‘check it out’ on Sunday. We had just come from the local Organic Farmer’s Market where they had amazing items and before that had met the whole gang for breakfast at the Huanacaxtle Bar & Grill. Randy & Thea were in for the day off of Lost Elvis and were heading down the coast so this was our only time to see them until later in the season. We had another amazing meal and then spent an hour or so roaming around the Farmer’s Market. It was about lunchtime so we all decided we would go check out this $1 beer special.

We had one. Then another. There’s really no use counting after that. We had strong arm competitions....apparently!

We left as it was getting dark, stumbling down the street. That’s when things get fuzzy for me, well, black really. Somehow we made it back to the marina, made it into Bill & MJ’s dinghy, made it onto the boat without anyone falling in the water, & made it below. I do have vague memories of mooning Lost Elvis when they left the marina. I sincerely hope they don’t have pictures!!!

All I can say is we had fun! Of that I’m sure as everyone who didn’t come with us are quick to point out. MJ had decided to stay with Ceacy on the boat and she turned out to be the smart one. Though she had some stories of things said & done that still stun us!! Haha…

Amazingly though, no one had a hangover the next day. Sure, we weren’t feeling too hot and we all had enough tequila for a few days but we didn’t have the headache/queasy/hungover feeling. Must have been good tequila! That’s a reason to go back….in a few weeks…..when they forget what we look like…. Haha!!!

We took 3 trips into Bucerias to get Joe’s tooth looked at and the root canal done, we have gone in town to Philo’s (a must-do) for pizza & internet. I’ve done Yoga with the girls, have beaded with MJ, and have enjoyed time on the boat out in the anchorage. Life is good.

This year has been exceptionally cool temperature & water temp wise. Where last year we were doing anything we could to get air moving through the boat, this year I’m in sweats & a long sleeved shirt by sundown and every morning. Don’t take that as a complaint, it’s anything but! I’m just pointing out the differences between years.

When we arrived in La Cruz anchorage there were 12 boats. Today there are almost 40. And over 50 boats are checking into the morning Banderas Bay net.

Another amazing thing about this year is the phosphorescence in the water! It never ceases to amaze me when we’re zooming around at night how incredibly cool it looks. It’s by far the most heavy? strong? bright? I’ve ever seen. The other evening we were leaving the marina and Pacific Jade was just behind us in the dinghy. I was convinced that somehow they had their light shining inside the dinghy as it looked like it was a hover boat. But it was the super shiny phosphorescence that lit up all around the boat, underneath, & everywhere. They got closer and it was even more vivid, the water surrounding them was lit up and the water shone as fish darted away from the dinghies came close. It’s nearly indescribable and impossible to photograph. It’s simply amazing, and we’re so lucky to be experiencing it. We’ve seen lots of phosphorescence in previous years but everyone agrees, it is a million times better this year. At anchor, each individual link glows green/blue and you can see about 2 feet down the chain with the glow of the phosphorescence. Way cool!

We’re moving into Paradise tomorrow. Well, we’re in paradise now but tomorrow we’re moving into the Paradise Village marina where we’ll spend a week getting things cleaned & repaired and will spend a fair amount of time at the pools & resort. I’m looking forward to taking a ‘vacation’ from our vacation. It’s a splurge but we’ve never been here before and we’re looking forward to relaxing & enjoying Christmas there.

You’ll find us by the pool, a drink with a little umbrella in our hands, soaking up the sunshine and finishing our books. Or you may find me in the yoga studio. Michael may be teeing up a golf ball. Who knows! But you’ll see us with smiles on our faces…

Merry Christmas everyone!!

More to follow…
Rene

The La Cruz de Huanacaxtle vortex effect 12.17.2010

2010-12-17T12:43:00.000-08:00

We’re currently anchored in La Cruz, outside of the city of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, in Banderas Bay which is a large bay that is most known for Puerta Vallarta. We arrived here on a Tuesday after a way rolly night in Jaltemba. I took a video of that as well, though this is nothing like what we experienced during the night.

La Cruz is known for its vortex effect as there are so many people to see, places to go, restaurants to visit, beaches to explore, and activities to enjoy! Some people like to say it’s like a big rubberband….it pulls you back each time you get ready to leave. So needless to say, we’ve been caught in the vortex.

We arrived mid-morning and threw the hook in the anchorage and enjoyed a nice, quiet, non-rolly evening. The next day started it all up. We hitched a ride in with Bill & MJ from Grey Max on their dinghy and went into town to get some dinner and listen to Mike from Ramble on Rose and Russell play music at the Huanacaxtle Bar & Grill.

On our walk to the bar we stopped and chatted with Barry & Ana from Ana Banana’s and had a couple drinks. After getting all the interesting news about town, like for instance there are 30 restaurants in La Cruz now. 30!! For such a small town, it’s an amazing number.

We finally made our way to the restaurant and had an amazing dinner there and listened to Mike & Russell play. The restaurant is a must-do if you’re in the area, very yummy food and great prices!

The next day we loaded up Michael & Ceacy’s truck with 8 of us and cruised up to Sayulita for a beach day for Bill’s birthday! It was a great day and Sayulita sure has changed. This summer there were huge storms that ripped through the area leaving bridges destroyed & homes & businesses teetering on the edge of the side of the rivers. Sayulita was no exception but instead of it turning into a bad thing, it increased the beach by about 3 times!

It’s amazing. The beach was great - sunny, the surfers were out & it was the perfect temperature.

Bill had a great time with his Birthday Hat!

We enjoyed the beach for a while and then made our way up to Rick & Leslie’s house, some friends of the group.

What an incredible view! Their house was at the top of a driveway that seemed to go straight up and once we arrived the panoramic view was breathtaking.

Rick & Leslie had two other couples at the house and we arrived with 8 of us. The drinks were flowing, the appetizers scrumptious, and the conversation was never ending! What a way to ring in a birthday. Oh, and we spotted some whales out in the bay too – something Rick & Leslie said they have never seen. We all piled back into the truck and made our way back to La Cruz and back out to the anchorage. What a great, great day….

Our time here has only begun and we’re booked almost solid for things to do & places to go. The vortex is pulling us in…. :-)

More to follow…
Rene

P.S.....I sure do miss The Big Bang Theory this season!!!

And just like that…. 12.17.10

2010-12-17T07:20:00.000-08:00

What a difference a day makes!! Michael woke up this morning and decided he needed to work on the generator. Before starting he took off all of the raw water hoses and blew through them, making sure there was no restriction in the lines. Nope, no problem. We fired it up and as usual, after about 20 minutes it tried to die. But instead of turning it off, he just turned off the Charge setting and let it recover. About every 20-40 minutes it would happen and each time Michael would run into the engine room and look to see what exactly was happening. And time after time he discovered the fuel solenoid was not shutting down, it was wide open which means there was nothing wrong with the generator other than the fact as it was starving for fuel. Hmmm…. He looked through the system and the only possible thing it could be was a restriction in the fuel filter. This baffled him though as it’s an oversized filter and really hasn’t had a lot of fuel going through it since it hasn’t had to strain anything out for 2 years since it has been that long that it hasn’t been working properly. But he decides to replace it anyways.

Everything looks fine and the new filter is installed and….wait for it….wait for it….it WORKS!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!! We’ll keep our fingers crossed this was the fix of the season and hope it continues to provide us lots of power through the years.

Since he’s on so much of a roll he decides to tackle the shower sump pump. Part of his yearly maintenance is to pull it from its hole and clean out the layers and layers of hair that always gets wound around the pump housing. It’s evident though that this maintenance wasn’t done at the end of last season or the start of this one as there is a whole head-full of hair that has wound its way around until it is unable to function anymore. And so begins the not so fun job of unwinding all that hair & cleaning the pump. But, dropping it back inside it’s hole it is revived and pumps the remaining water from the shower sump. WOW….he’s REALLY on a roll!!!

Should he try for yet another fix?! He decides yes and fixes himself a sandwich. Two fixes in one day is something to celebrate. It’s time for a much needed rest & finding out the secret of “The girl who played with fire”, the book he’s reading at the moment.

We got some super good news today too on some other ‘fixes’. Our autopilot reversing pump is on the fritz and after a quick call to the manufacturer, they just happen to have a couple new pumps sitting in the back and they’ll happily ship us one for about ½ the price we could find it elsewhere. They shipped it to Alaska and we waited with baited breath to find out if it actually got there in time for John & Jillian to bring it with them on Saturday when they fly to Puerta Vallarta. And….it made it! Woohoo!!!!!!! We are meeting with them on Monday to pickup the pump and get it replaced before we leave in a week.

Not only that….are you sitting down?! I posted a message about our stolen outboard on our blog which links to Facebook, where a lot of our ‘cruising friends’ catch up on news. Well…Chris & Sandy from S/V Faith responded to the post and said they had an old outboard they’d give us if we would like it. WOW!!! We were speechless (and still are!) It’s such a nice offer and we gratefully accepted it. We have been in touch with them as they were just leaving La Paz and were going to spend the holidays in Mazatlan and would not be in La Cruz (where we are now) until after the New Year. We’ve been trying to figure out how to get it here. We could take the bus up to Mazatlan, pick it up, and bus back to La Cruz which would take 2 days. We could rent a car and drive up but would more than likely drive back the next day, still taking 2 days. Hmmmm….. Finally we contacted Elvira, our good friend and Office Manager for Marina Mazatlan and asked if she had anyone coming down to La Cruz that we knew (or she knew) that wouldn’t mind lugging a dinghy engine down for us. It turns out….she did! Another boat, someone we don’t know yet called Irish Diplomacy was leaving Saturday and said he would bring it down to us, no problem! We contacted Sandy on Faith and told her the news, Chris got in touch with Elvira, got in touch with Irish Diplomacy, and just like that, the handoff was made and the dinghy engine is on its way down the coast. How cool is that?! The kindness of the cruising community strikes again.

So here we are, sitting in an absolutely gorgeous anchorage, things appear to be on the mend and functioning properly right now, all in all. We still have a leaky watermaker but have a temporary appointment with a repairman for Wednesday to have it serviced. Once we have the reversing pump for the autopilot in hand we will schedule an appointment with a repairman hopefully for the following day. Michael’s finger is doing OK and he’s been having fun wearing my ‘unique’ bandaids. Today’s looks like a piece of bacon. Yep, bacon wrapped finger….yum! ;-)

More to follow…
Rene

Dolphin Video 12.16.10

2010-12-16T12:41:00.000-08:00

Here it is….the long awaited dolphin video! Again, please ignore the crazy squeals of delight and me talking to them….I do get so excited to see them!! Haha… Enjoy!

One of those days… 12.15.10

2010-12-15T14:43:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had one of those days where nothing, and I mean nothing seems to be going right? That everything you touch breaks? Yep, that was Michael's day today, and if truth be told, yesterday too!

It started last night. He was taking a shower when the sump pump (the pump that pumps the water out of the boat) malfunctioned. It had been sounding ‘a little funny’ lately but, well, we ignored it! That was mistake #1.

Waking this morning we started the generator, which after 20 minutes, died. Oh GREAT! What the hell!!! And before you ask, the answer is yes. Yes, we just got it working, finally, after it being dead all last season. That’s #2

We had noticed a leak in the watermaker so he decided to leave the generator be and take a look at what was going on with the watermaker, which is mounted underneath the settee in the main cabin. He went to grab his big flashlight, which didn’t work. So he went back and grabbed his headlamp which was also dead. (We have been using rechargeable batteries on board for several years and in the past 2 seasons have noticed they do not hold a good charge anymore) So he decided to remove the batteries from both flashlights and put them in the charger, incredibly pissed off. Now Michael has been using his headlamp for about 4 years and just recently a small piece on the battery holder has bent, teetering on the edge of breaking. As you can imagine…it broke at this exact moment.

By now, Michael is pretty close to exploding. He’s frustrated. More than frustrated he’s trying to hold his frustration inside which is not helping anything either!

Since he has a broken headlamp he decides to fix it, it should just take some super glue, no problem. We purchased 4 tubes of super glue before we left Mazatlan. I know what you’re thinking, you think they were all dried up, right?! Wrong. Dead Wrong. He couldn’t find them. Now as a side note I will tell you that we have a ‘junk drawer’. Everyone does, I know it, it’s one of those drawers where you put those things that you need to have at the ready or you just don’t know where else to put them. We have one that has a lighter, scissors, candles, rubber bands, twist ties, etc. That’s logically where I would have put the super glue. But no…..Michael wanted to put them ‘away’ when we got them. So I don’t have one iota of where he has put them.

He begins looking. Inside the crate under the floorboards….nope. Inside many crates underneath the other settee….nope. Inside the tacklebox in the engine room…..nope. The frustration continues to mount. He can’t find those little tubes of super glue ANYWHERE!!! And for some reason I don’t help a bit when I mention if we had just put it in the junk drawer we’d be able to find it! Boy….he sure is sensitive… ;-) I’m only trying to help! Haha… But I think it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Finally he gives up and jumps into the dinghy to scrub the hull as we have millions of little teeny tiny barnacles clinging to the starboard side of our boat. He takes some of his frustration out on the little barnacles and comes back inside for lunch. He says to me in his most exasperated voice “I can’t believe I can’t find the super glue! I remember putting it in a ziploc baggie and putting it in a logical place!” And he opens up the first place he looked first thing this morning and just like magic, there it is. Inside the little ziploc baggie, inside the first tub. Aauugghhhh!!!!

He glues his little headlamp battery holder and decides he’s done for the day. He figures he might as well quit while he’s ahead and goes up into the cockpit and reads his book. I am working on the computer and ask him if he needs to check his e-mail before I shut it down. Sure, he says. He comes below, touches the computer, and the little 3G dongle we use to connect to the internet bleeps out (which it often does and is not his fault but doesn’t do anything to make him happy about it anyway). What’s that like #5!

We make a journey into town as Joe broke his tooth in while we were anchored in Mantanchen Bay and needs to have it looked at. He has a root canal scheduled at 6pm at the dentist in Bucerias. So Michael, Deb & I go to the restaurant just across from the Dentist’s office and have dinner while Joe’s getting his tooth worked on. After he was finished we wandered the streets of Bucerias looking for the Posada celebration that we had heard about and finally find it, though it was winding down and we decide to get back home.

Now I’ll bet you’re thinking this is the end of this sad tale….I wish it were. We get back to the boat in the dinghy and Michael is getting the dinghy setup on the davit system so we can lift it out of the water, which requires clipping a snap shackle onto a padeye in 3 places on the dinghy. I’m below in the back cabin when Michael yells to me “Rene, please bring me a couple of paper towels as fast as you can”. Uh Oh. I ask what the problem is while I’m getting the towels but he’s unable to answer. The short story is that he got his finger caught in the pinching end of the snap shackle just as the boat lurched as it does in rocky seas. It’s pinched him before, but this time it took a chunk of finger with it. He’s bleeding like a stuffed pig and it hurts like mad. He gets aboard the boat and we lift the dinghy into place and go below to take a look. It’s about a dime sized wound, it hurts a lot, and is still bleeding. We wrap it up and he sits still and patiently waits for it to calm down. Finally we put a bandage on it…..and go to bed. Yep….that would be it for the day and it’s enough for today! With days like these, who needs bad ones!

Please tell me tomorrow will be better… :-)
More to follow…
Rene

The little dinghy engine that could 12.13.10

2010-12-13T14:38:00.000-08:00

On our 2nd day in the anchorage, we checked into the morning net and announced we were looking for a small outboard, something to get us by until we figured out what we were going to do for a replacement. Immediately, a boat named ‘Puddytat’ called us and told us they had a little Honda 2hp dinghy engine that they were looking to sell and to swing by when we had a chance. Luckily, they were the boat right beside us in the anchorage so Michael dropped the dinghy in the water and rowed over to their boat. They were asking a little too much ‘coconuts’ (It is illegal to sell anything in Mexico unless you’re a legal citizen) for the size and shape of the outboard but to our surprise said that we could borrow it while they were in the anchorage as they were going to sell it anyway and it could use some exercising. Wow, GREAT!

I have mentioned the Cruiser Karma account and this is one example of how the cruising community really comes together, always helping out a fellow sailor in need. You see, we have had such good fortune in the past few years with having things working well on the boat but always lending a hand when someone needed it, a spare part if we had it, etc. Now we’re blessed with having a total stranger in the anchorage loan us a little dinghy motor. How kind is that?! We’re surrounded by such wonderful people, it’s humbling being on the receiving line of this kindness.

However, the little dinghy engine that could turned into a bit of a nightmare as it was always dying. For no reason! The first day we used it, it was….problematic but we seemed to be able to get it functioning. Well, kind of. We were going into the marina and were following Bill & MJ in and got 2/3 of the way in and it died. Bill & MJ turned around and we told them we thought it might be low on gas so they zoomed over to their boat and grabbed their little 2 gal gas tank and brought it to us as Joe & Deb towed us into the dinghy dock. Doh! We filled up with gas as we were getting ready to go back out to the boat, it fired up, made it to the main channel…..and died. OK, this is really starting to get frustrating! We were towed back to the boat by Bill & MJ. The next day Michael calls David from Puddytat and tells him of the issues and David tells him it’s OK to tear into it. Michael figures it has to be fuel related and begins with the injectors, cleaning them up.

Day #2. With fresh injectors, Michael hooks it up to the dinghy and does a circle around the boat. No problem! Woohoo! We attempt a trip into the marina again, it gets 2/3 of the way…..and dies. Damn it!!!

Day #3. He tears into it again and finds a leaking gas tank. Maybe that’s the problem! He replaces the thing-a-ma-bopper at the bottom of the tank so it won’t leak anymore and does 2 circles around the boat. Woohoo! Things are looking up!

Day #4. Another attempt into the marina. We make it ¾ of the way in this time and….it dies. You’re got to f$(#%&ing kidding me!!! We row into the dinghy dock and go into town anyway. We’ll row back to the anchorage, no problem. We didn’t time it quite well enough though because as we were leaving to go back out to the anchorage it was about 3pm. Now if you’ve been to La Cruz you know that the winds pick up around 2pm and blows about 15-20 knots until about 6pm’ish. So we have the wind against us. No problem, Michael’s muscles can handle it! A funny story too, as we were rowing out of the marina there is a group of Mexican fishermen who are playing a card game on one of the pangas we have to pass by while rowing out. They’re having a great time, laughing and joking. We row past….whosh, whosh, whosh. And one of them looks out at us and gives us the universal sign for pulling the ripcord on the dinghy engine to get it started!!! Hahaha!!! So THAT’S what we forgot, to pull the cord!!! We explain to them that it’s not working and they go back to their game while we whosh past. Silly gringos….

Luckily for us Herb & Juliette from Synchrony are zooming into the marina and offer to tow us out to the boat. Michael didn’t argue so Herb dropped Juliette off and swings back by to grab a line and tow us to our boat. Michael’s going to give it one more chance as there is a little in-line filter at the bottom of the gas tank that he’ll check. After that, it’s going back to the owners, this is getting ridiculous.

Day #5, maybe 6 as he took a break from working on it for a bit. He checks the filter, all is OK. He takes it on a circumnavigation of the boat….and makes it 3 times though he can tell it’s still not right. He decides to call David on Puddytat and take it back to him. David says something about it sounding like it might have an air lock and Michael decides to investigate the fuel cap, making sure it is open. The fuel cap has a little valve on it that is open but for giggles he takes the cap 90% off as well and…..whalah! It’s fixed. He does about 10 doughnuts around the boat and it’s running like a champ. And the angels sing…..aauuuuuuuuu!!! haha…

So for the past couple days it’s been working like a champ. No fuel leaks, no stopping 2/3 of the way in, no tows back out. All is right with the world. Or at least all is right with the little dinghy engine that could. We sound like a mosquito buzzing through the anchorage, and it takes us about 30 minutes to get anywhere, but by golly, we’re making it in and out!!! :-) Keep your fingers crossed it keeps functioning until we leave!

More to follow…
Rene

Hanging in Chacala 12.5.2010

2010-12-05T12:14:00.000-08:00

We have spent the past few days in a lovely anchorage called Chacala. Our first attempt at leaving Mantanchen Bay was on Thursday. We were out about 4 miles from the anchorage when Grey Max reported trouble with their engine – it was acting up. They diagnosed the problem – a part on the fuel line had split and air was getting into the line. Their engine was not functioning at all. Ahea Kali to the rescue – or at least tow rescue! We hopped in front, threw them a line, and towed them back to the anchorage where they fixed the defective part and the engine was happy again. Whew! It was just after noon when everything was fixed so we decided to stay the night again and get an early start the next morning to Chacala. All in a day’s cruising!

The next morning we were out of there with no problem. I will admit, I was glad to be gone. Since having the engine stolen we slept with one eye open and any new noise woke us up with a start. I put it all behind me as we left the anchorage, though I couldn’t help but wonder which one of them had my motor…

We had an uneventful motorsail to Chacala, though we spotted a few whales and lots of jellyfish! Maybe I should have had lycra Laura make me a jellyfish suit afterall! Naw… ;-)

We anchored in Chacala, which is one of the anchorages that suggests both a bow and stern anchor. Although we were the first 3 boats in the anchorage, Pacific Jade and us decided to throw a stern anchor. We all kicked back on the boat and made plans to go in town the next day. By the end of the day we ended up with 4 other boats, one in between Pacific Jade and us.

The first night at anchor the wind picked up significantly and crazy swells pushed us all around. Our stern hook didn’t hold (doh!) and about midnight or so we spun around. Thankfully the small Hunter beside us was just out of reach and there was no problem with us swinging, though Michael stayed on anchor watch the remainder of the evening.

The next morning we re-set our stern anchor, deployed the dinghy, and rowed into the beach. In Chacala, there is a small reef and a nice protected dinghy landing where the fishing boats are worked on and we all 3 rowed into shore here.

We walked into town and found a palapa that served cold beer. We decided that we would walk the town so we went ahead and ordered some food so we would have enough energy for the walk. The walk around town consists of about 2 short blocks including two tiendas for groceries and 3 stores for all other goodies. It was a Saturday afternoon and before we knew it we had seen & shopped it all so it must be time for dinner! :-)

Since Mantanchen Bay, Deb had been craving….I forget the name…but it’s a type of preparation of fish where the fish is smoked. We found a palapa that had it on the menu and they had a 3 kilo dorado that looked perfect! YUM!!! It was incredibly scrumptions. The fish was filleted into 3 slices and smoked to perfection. We all scarfed the fish, rice, beans, lettuce, tomato, onion, & salsa. Mmmm….

When we returned to the dinghies we found a group of young kids playing around them and fishing for little fish and they instantly took a liking to our dinghy. We had about 4-5 kids ‘helping’ us move it around back into the water and when we were pushing off they all had hands on the stern and were kicking their feet…propelling us out! They became our motor! I chatted with them for a while and as the last one left us he yelled back to us ‘hasta la vista baby’! haha….

The next day I went over to Grey Max and MJ helped me re-string & fix my favorite broken anklet while she made herself a new anklet. She has such talent! I wish I could do half of what she can!! Once that was finished we all rowed into shore again for another day on the beach. We went to the same palapa for drinks (no one could argue we’re not creatures of habit!) and walked the entire beach.

Apparently there used to be a really nice RV park here that is now shut down & guards have been placed at the entrances. They have signs on the property for no camping….and, um….no pooping too… ;-)

When we arrived back at our dinghies we found that the group of kids playing in the are were using it as ‘base’ or ‘safe’….as they were chasing each other and then running and jumping into the dinghies. All 3 of us cleaned a ton of sand out but nothing was harmed.

The sunsets here are absolutely spectacular here and we spend each evening looking for the ever elusive ‘green flash’. It’s absolutely gorgous….

We’re heading to Jaltemba tomorrow and will spend a couple days there. That’s the plan! :-)

More to follow…
Rene

Leaving Mantanchen…a lot lighter 12.2.2010

2010-12-02T15:56:00.000-08:00

Mantanchen strikes again. Apparently it’s just not our spot – it’s such a lovely place and I really do love coming here….but it doesn’t like us. Our dinghy motor was stolen off of the boat while we were sleeping on the first night we were here.

We had anchored and took it easy all day and went to bed early. At some point in the night (I didn’t look at the clock) I heard what sounded like a bird hitting the rig. It woke me out of a dead sleep and I laid there listening, thinking that still something wasn’t right. I climbed over Michael and stumbled into the door (stupid sprained ankle!) and came into the main salon where I stood and watched/listened. Something still wasn’t right so I grabbed the flashlight and came into the cockpit and flashed it all around, looking for the source of the noise. Not finding anything I convinced myself it was probably nothing and went back down to bed.

Later in the morning, Michael woke with a start when he heard a noise on the stern rail of the boat and raced out of bed and up into the cockpit only to see the dinghy engine being lowered into a panga. He yelled out to the guys who at the same time fired up their engine and roared away….with our dinghy motor.

Now we always, always lock everything up. In fact, Michael had locked everything else earlier that day in preparation of going in town the following day but because we were planning to go in the following day, the dinghy was just secured with lines, not with a lock or cable. Who would have thought that someone would stealthily unscrew it and remove it while we were sleeping? We’re pretty convinced that they didn’t come onboard, but more than likely stood on the toe rail and definitely held on to the stern rail as there were plenty of handprints.

To put it mildly, it fucking sucks. I know it happens everywhere and accept that it’s ‘part of it’ but it still is a huge bummer. And yes, I know – lock everything up – every time! It has taken the fun out of it the past couple days as we have had to report it, which was no easy task, to the Port Captain and the District Attorney’s office.

Reporting it to the District Attorney’s office was frustrating. We had to report it in 100% Spanish and thank goodness we had a patient gal who worked with us to get the facts. The frustrating part was that she didn’t understand living and cruising on a boat. For instance, she asked where we lived when we weren’t on the boat. We explained we lived on the boat full-time and she was insistent that we couldn’t possibly do that. Also, she didn’t understand what the dinghy was….even though we explained that it was the small boat that was used to get us to land. She kept insinuating that now we couldn’t leave because we had our motor stolen. No, this was an auxiliary motor, for a smaller boat that lived on the big boat. You can see the confusion. We probably spent 2 hours talking to her, and most of the day dealing with it. Thankfully, we are cruising with good friends – Joe & Deb on Pacific Jade, Bill & MJ on Grey Max, and Mike & Julie on Slacker who have been shuttling us to and from the beach so we can deal with it and hanging with us while we report to the authorities.

After doing the official report, we met with everyone at the San Blas Social Club, a must stop, and visited with Laura & Augustine. And had the requisite ½ pound burger and a couple ‘Martin & Lewis’ specials – a beer & shot of tequila. In fact, as we left the San Blas Social Club I had forgotten all about the damn dinghy engine.

The next morning Julie from Slacker and I went for a long beach walk while Mike from Slacker came to the boat to help Michael try to identify the hiccup in the generator. Michael met me back on the beach and we went in town to report the theft to the Port Captain. Funny enough we hitched a ride into town and an old man stopped and picked us up in an old beat up pickup truck. I climbed in front and Michael jumped in the bed of the truck. The old guy and I had quite a conversation, all in Spanish, and I told him about the theft. I don’t know many swear words but I know for a fact that they were flying as I described what happened. He was so incredibly pissed and apologetic and then he told me he was not only a farmer (growing yaka & mangoes) but also a fisherman and before we left the vehicle he said he’d keep his ear to the ground and would keep an eye out and would report anything to the authorities if he heard anything. It was so nice – what a kind, kind man.

We met with the Port Captain who also expressed his embarrassment and frustration and said he would alert all of the other Port Captains in the area and would be on the lookout for it. We thanked him but know that the engine is long gone and we doubt we’ll see it again. Sigh…

But life goes on. We will figure out getting to shore until we can rummage up another one, hopefully we can find one in Puerta Vallarta/La Cruz area. Until then we’ll be rowing into shore when we can, hitching a ride by our amazing friends, or just swimming! :-) It’s not going to ruin the entire season. We’ve made our $2K donation and hopefully that’s all it will cost us this season. We’re counting our lucky stars that no one was hurt and that the generator is treating us good right now!

Oh, and one ‘nice’ thing that happened the day after the motor was stolen we were up on deck getting things organized for the trip into town when a pod of dolphins, maybe 8 of them, came right to our boat, swam around it, under it, talking away, and then swam away. Now logically I know they must have only come to our boat because we had the tastiest food underneath but I have to also believe in my heart they were coming over to remind us to appreciate the beauty and to make us feel better. That not everyone is bad. I choose to believe that anyway, and it did make me feel better to see them.

We’re heading out tomorrow, next stop Chacala! Hopefully it will be better to us there…

More to follow!
Rene

Dodging Shrimpers 11.29.2010

2010-11-29T15:54:00.000-08:00

Stone Island was, as always, a welcome getaway and the perfect spot to test out all the systems and get into ‘cruising mode’ before jumping off down to the next anchorage. There was a mass exodus from dock 6 at Marina Mazatlan as Slacker, Pacific Jade, Grey Max, and us bailed around the same time and anchored in Stone Island.

Stone Island is so gorgeous in its simplicity – miles of beaches, a calm anchorage, a protected dinghy landing, and palapas on the beach for your cerveza and food orders! Benji’s is a must-stop for their world class garlic shrimp pizza…yum! We spent a total of 3 days there – Turkey Day, Friday & Saturday, and left around noon on Sunday, next stop Mantanchen Bay.

We left the anchorage and motorsailed (mostly motored as there was no wind to speak of!) down the coast. It was about a 22 hour sail and we stayed close to Pacific Jade & Grey Max until the last hour of the cruise when we kicked in the turbo and cleaned out the carbon that builds up when we’re running low rpm. There was another boat out there called Sea Dream who kept in touch with us periodically as well. It was spectacular – nice calm seas, lots of wildlife, a gorgeous day. We navigated around, through, & away from the Shrimp fleet successfully and cruised through the slalom course into the evening. Michael and I love to eat a nice warm dinner on night passages and we’ve found (luckily) some frozen lasagna/manicotti dinners at Sam’s that we pick up each season just for this occasion. Yum!! Night fell and we were rewarded with beautiful clear skies with millions of stars & a crystal clear milky way. When the moon rose, it was humongous & lit up the entire horizon. I could be caught singing ‘That’s Amore’… :-)

One thing I like the most about night passages is the phosphorescence and it was very active last night. Both sides of the boat were lit up and, well, I find it funny to watch it swirling around when I’m pumping the toilet….I might be a little weird though. Haha!!

Night passages can be pretty boring – staring out at the darkness looking for new lights, watching the radar for new blips, watching the chartplotter & compass to make sure we’re headed the right direction, etc. and I usually read a book or pull out my star constellation book and try to identify new stars or something like that. This time in addition to reading, I downloaded a movie onto my iTouch and watched the movie! How cool! :-) I sure love that little thing!

We finally made Mantanchen Bay around 9am and found the anchorage empty, dropped the anchor in about 8’ of water, and had a celebratory beer while we were putting everything away. Whew! We’re glad to be here, it’s gorgeous, one of my favorite places along the coast if it wasn’t for the no-see-um’s. The last time we were here we were chased out by the threat of tsunami (from the Chilean earthquake) and the time before I ended up in the hospital. I’m going for a non-eventful visit this time though just before we left Stone Island I rolled my left ankle when I stepped wrong. It’s a small sprain, not at all like earlier in the year on the right side. Who knew I would have weak ankles! It’s time to work on strengthening them. We’ll be here a few days before we continue down the coast to Chacala…depending on the weather. We’ll see!

Until then…
Rene

Happy Thanksgiving!! 11.25.2010

2010-11-25T14:48:00.000-08:00

Up and at ‘em early this morning, we shot out of the marina around 9am and motorsailed South down the coast a few miles to Stone Island where we’re currently anchored. The weather couldn’t have been better, well, we could have had some wind to do some true sailing, but other than that it was perfect – calm seas (almost glass-like), sunshiny skies, & clear.

The Slackers were ahead of us and Pacific Jade behind and about half way here we noticed some disturbance on the water near Slacker and watched closer….to see about a bazillion dolphin surrounding the boat, jumping out of the water (getting 6-8’ of air!), doing all kinds of acrobatics. Luckily we weren’t too far behind them and within a couple minutes we had them all surrounding our boat, racing along our bow. I was able to get a silly video (please don’t listen to me scream with delight as I will never get tired of seeing dolphins race the bow!!) and will post it when I get a chance.

We’re sitting at anchor in about 13’ of water, it’s 75 degrees and the water is a chilly 68 degrees. But we’re out…and with our 3 best buddies – Slacker, Pacific Jade, & Grey Max. We popped a bottle of champagne when we arrived and will be enjoying arrachera flavored turkey breast, mashed potatoes, & cranberry sauce for dinner. We’ll hang here for a couple days before heading South. There are some interesting weather fronts heading our way so we’ll see where we end up. We’ll be watching the weather closely.

A friend of mine recently wrote about Thanksgiving and what it means to him. I personally don’t feel I really ‘got’ Thanksgiving until we came cruising. Before it was a holiday from work, one that would require twice as much work the next week to catch up, where we would race out to the family’s house 3-4 hours away (if traffic wasn’t backed up), spend some rushed time with family, and race back home. Being here I realize that Thanksgiving is one my most favorite holidays as it’s not based on who we are, what we are, or what we believe or worship, it’s simply a celebration of life & each other. We celebrate (or take the time to realize) our friends, our blessings, our families, and our life!

I hope everyone has an incredible Thanksgiving and enjoys what or where you are.

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump
May your potatoes and gravy have never a lump
May your yams be delicious
And you pies take the prize
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!! :-)

More to follow…
Rene

All out of –ed’s 11.24.2010

2010-11-24T14:45:00.000-08:00

We have spent about 4 weeks in Mazatlan getting the boat ready to sail South for the season and have finally run out of must-do’s! Woohoo!

We’ve scrubbed, scraped, sanded, varnished, contemplated, organized, exercised, painted, hoisted, packed, waxed, bumped, replaced, sweated, repaired, reorganized, sold, shopped, provisioned, walked, folded, washed, agonized, vacuumed, pumped, rinsed, grinded, prepped, taped, glued, typed, rewired, tied, stacked, yogad, stowed, hung, hmmm….is there anything I’ve forgotten? Probably plenty, it’s called ‘cruise-heimers’! haha…

It sure is a ton of work getting the boat ‘ready’ for the season but oh so rewarding! Ahea Kali looks like a million bucks and she’s tugging at the lines telling us it’s time to get out of the marina. We had ‘plans’ to bail out on Sunday and head North but time, repairs, & weather did not cooperate with that plan so it’s on to plan B…..get out of the marina, go to Stone Island, and determine a plan while sitting at anchor.

We have been social butterflies, as usual, and have been enjoying getting together with friends and catching up. We almost over-did it (is there such a thing?) this week beginning on Sunday meeting up with friends every evening plus lunches – Elvira & Ramiro on Sunday, John & Gay on Monday, Ken & Lori and Darrell & Rita on Tuesday. Whew! We’ve loved every minute of it.

Last week a small group got together & went to the Mazatlan Venados’ baseball game, which was a blast as usual.

It’s triple A baseball so the game itself is great but what makes it so much fun is everything else! Each section has a dedicated beer vendor who serves you ice cold beers in a blink of an eye, right at your seat, all for less than $2. There are the standards of any ballgame – peanuts, cotton candy, etc. But also available is pizza served by the slice, cups of fruit, sausage, ceviche, salchicha (chunks of sausage), coconut stacks (I LOVE these!!!) and other interesting items. Of course I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the hats that just make you smile...the salchicha (sausage) vendor wear a crazy one with a big sausage on top (would that make them a dick-head?),

the crazy antics of ‘Venny’ & ‘Pollo’ the mascots, rating the outfits of the Tecate girls, Bimbo girls, Fire Extinguisher girls, the crazy music, dancing, & singing, etc. It’s a cultural experience!! ;-)

We absolutely love Mazatlan. It is one of our favorite places in Mexico and we consider it ‘home’ (for 6 months of the year!) We enjoy visiting our favorite places, favorite restaurants, & the general atmosphere of the area. And don’t forget our favorite people! We always have too much fun here….but get restless and, like now, are READY to get the heck out of here!!! We’re headed to Stone Island tomorrow which is only a stone’s throw away from Mazatlan but is out of the marina, so an improvement already.

More to follow…
Rene

What’s New? 11.6.10

2010-11-07T09:43:00.000-08:00

Well, we’ve been here a week and it’s as amazing as we remember, only better! Haha…With one week under our belt we have been asking ourselves what’s new?! Hmmm….let’s see…

- new bruises, scrapes, & ‘boat bites’ OUCH!!
- shorter fingernails & ripped off toenails as we learn the hotspots of the boat, again…
- bug bites
- new spots to clean
- sunburn
- new ways for parts to wear out &/or break
- new muscles (I know they are new because they're SORE!)

It sounds awful, doesn’t it?! Yep, I wouldn’t wish this on just everyone! But once we make it past those little annoyances, we’re constantly rewarded…

- new friends
- new experiences
- new food to find at the grocery stores
- ‘jellygate 2010’

Oh the list goes on and on!

We’ve had lots to keep us busy this past week! All of the sails are up, electronics are back in place, the bbq was revamped, about half of the insides have been scrubbed & prepped for this season, the dinghy engine’s part that has been a problem for the past year or two was repaired (in perfect time for a dinghy trip to Deer Island!), a large part of our provisioning done, and lots & lots of other minor things done. The generator was torn apart and the pieces dipped to try to get it up and running properly this season. We should know by early next week how that’s coming along. We’ve been busy!

And of course we have to enjoy Mazatlan and our fellow cruisers too so we’ve had lots of opportunities to play. Monday was El dia de los muertos (the day of the dead) and Mazatlan puts on quite a show so a group of 10 cruisers got together & went to Plazuela Machado for the festivities. This year was similar to years past except for a longer, different route (which was better), AND….this year they actually re-filled the kegs about half way through the parade, something I’ve never seen. There was a vehicle parked along the route with full kegs and they would simply swap out the empties for a full one. Very handy! ;-)

The donkeys were there, pulling the carts…(the burritos alongside the burros) ;-)

Everyone swarmed around the carts to get their cups filled...

The costumes were amazing….

There was dancing in the streets….and you participated!!

We had a great time! :-)

Wednesday we decided it was time for our annual dinghy blast out to Deer Island to cool off in the clean, amazing waters & enjoy some sunshine (that’s where the sunburn came from!) Michael had to jump through some hoops as one part on the dinghy engine has been giving us fits for the past couple years but this time he pulled it apart, put some goop in it (this is the technical explanation), sealed it up, let it sit for an hour or so while the dock party was hopping, and when it fired up, it was working perfectly! Woohoo! We blasted over on a beautiful sunshiny day (when is it not beautiful & sunshiny!) and beached the dinghys just long enough to disrobe & jump in the cool water.

It was…amazing!! Ahhh….. We’re planning to do this every Wednesday until we leave…we’ll see if we make it happen!

Thursday, Joe & Deb from Pacific Jade arrived and we spent a few hours getting caught up on all the happenings. Friday evening we went to dinner at Ray & Jeannette’s – an incredible shrimp curry dinner that was to die for! Great food, great friends, what could be better?!

Today is Saturday and we have a ‘Welcome Back Cruisers pool party’ to attend starting at 2:30. It will be great catching up with old friends & meeting new ones. Bill & MJ from Grey Max arrived yesterday and have been on the dock (we’re dock finger-buddies) – it’s great to have some life on Dock 6! More and more folks are showing up everyday and it’s getting exciting!

We’ve made a tentative plan….something new this year! Joe & Deb from Pacific Jade want to go North to La Paz this year and we would also love to go….so instead of staying in Mazatlan for Thanksgiving, we are tentatively planning to leave Mazatlan around the Sunday before Thanksgiving and head North to La Paz/Sea of Cortez to play around for a couple weeks before going South again. We’ve never been that way and have always wanted to so we figure, why not?!

More to follow….
Rene

Back to the boat 10.29.2010

2010-10-31T08:27:00.000-07:00

I know, I know….it’s been more than 6 months since my last post! I’ll be working on filling in the gap but in the meantime let’s get to the fun stuff!

After spending a fun 5 days with Scott & Liz and Eric & Sherrell in Guadalajara we jumped on a bus to Mazatlan. The bus ride was uneventful and NICE! We took the Primera Plus bus which has super nice seats, showed us 3 movies, and even gave us a little bag of food! We were stopped once by the Federales and 4 other times at checkpoints (fruits/veggies, drugs/weapons/Immigration) without any issue. When we arrived in Mazatlan we were greeted by our favorite person in Mazatlan, Elvira!

On Dock 6, it was dock party time, so we didn’t manage to get past the gathering without a cold beer being placed in our hands. Ahhh….welcome home! The Slackers (Mike & Julie) really know how to make a person feel welcome! Haha…

We took our baggage to the boat, went onboard to open her up & joined the gathering. There are only 5 boat owners on Dock 6 right now – where is everyone? The marina is sure empty of people!

The boat looks great, we haven’t stumbled upon any issues yet, that we weren’t expecting. (whew!) And after a full day of sorting, organizing, unpacking, & cleaning it looks almost livable! Today Michael is working on putting up a sail. The weather has been a little funky – warm & steamy (high humidity) and cool in the evenings. There has been a fog bank come in each morning that cools things down, but steams it up when it leaves!

We’re planning to leave Mazatlan around Thanksgiving or so and have a LOT of things to keep us busy in the meantime…Day of the Dead celebration tomorrow, dinghy ride to Deer Island Wednesday to soak up some sunshine & swimming, ‘Welcome Back’ pool party on Saturday, the list really goes on and on so I won’t bore you.  I’ll be keeping the blog updated and feel free to friend us on facebook as we’re also posting updates there.

More to follow!
Rene

Guadalajara 10.24.2010

2010-10-24T09:11:00.000-07:00

Yeah!! Guadalajara!! We hitched a ride to the airport from Walter & the kids and flew from Palm Springs to Guadalajara with a quick stop in Phoenix. The flights were fine and we made it without issue. We met a nice guy on the plane who was engaged to a local gal and chatted with him during the flight. He had me worried because he made a big deal about how NO-one speaks English here and that if you’re not fluent in Spanish, you’re screwed! Me! The non-worrier, I was worried. But as we exited the plane and breezed through immigration and customs with no issues, finally I relaxed again. Green light….go! :-)

The plan was that Scott & Liz were to arrive about 45 minutes before us and would meet us at the gate. Hmmm….they weren’t there. We called Eric & Sherrell who hadn’t heard from them either. We wandered around the airport for a little while and spotted them! Woohoo! They had one bag that didn’t make it on the flight so they were dealing with lost luggage. We hopped into a taxi (that had to strap all of our luggage on top of the car) and took off looking for the condo. We were in the general area and the driver was asking us if we knew the cross street (we only had the address) or where to go! Luckily Eric & Sherrell were already at the condo and stood on the street flagging us down, after the driver stopped to ask another taxi driver. Haha!

The condo was great! A 3 bedroom, 2 bath condo with a fully furnished kitchen, internet, everything you could ask for, all for about $100/day. The main plan for the week was for Liz & Sherrell to get their medical checkups (they both had breast cancer) and to enjoy! Doesn’t sound too difficult to me! :-)

And enjoy we did… Sherrell & Liz did their tests on Monday morning while the rest of us figured out which way to go the rest of the week. When they returned, we all 6 hopped into the compact car that Eric & Sherrell were driving and went to an incredible Chinese restaurant. Stuffed, we went next door to the grocery store to stock up on necessities for the week, the bank & a computer store.

Tuesday we went in search of a guitar for Liz. We went to downtown Guadalajara, which is simply amazing – block after block of small stores with tons to check out. We made our way to the block of musical instruments and found a perfect one for her. Then we wandered around the downtown area, checking out the squares, churches, fountains, statues, & vendors. This month is ‘fiestas de Octubre’ and there were lots of art exhibitions where the artists were creating their masterpieces. Lots of stone artists, it was amazing. Everywhere you looked was beauty and so inspiring!

Wednesday we took another road trip to Tequila, to visit the Jose Cuervo factory & take a tequila tour. We decided to take the ‘Familia’ tour, which was incredible! The tour began with the ‘standard’ tour through the plant. Here we saw how tequila was made, the ‘flowers’ from the agave plant harvested,

put into a steam room for 24 hours,

sliced & juiced to remove the good stuff. Then fermented and either bottled immediately or stored in barrels (similar to wine). We were given samples during the tour, of the agave plant when it is first cut, after it is steamed, a sample of 100% alcohol (after the 1st fermentation), and 2 samples of the finished product.

But the tour didn’t stop there! We broke off from the group and were taken into a private tasting room where we were seated & were instructed on the ‘proper’ tequila tasting process, which included observing color, clarity, the way the tequila ‘sheeted’ on the glass, the particular smell (we compared it to the smell of lime, coffee, cinnamon, and the agave plant), ‘how’ to smell it, and finally, how it tasted. We had 3 glasses and performed the tests one each of them.

Once we were schooled on how to test a tequila, we were taken to the ‘Cava de reserva a la Familia’ (the family’s cave) where we were allowed to drink a special, 5 year old tequila reserved for this tour.

Yum just doesn’t describe it, it was amazing. Back at the courtyard, we enjoyed a cold margarita with the gal who took the tour with us and then stumbled our way through town to find food. The tour was great and the extra cost for the reserve tour was well worth it. We had a choice of either doing the tour in English or Spanish and decided on Spanish. If I had it to do again, I would choose the English as I’m sure I missed out on some of the info. On our way out of town, we stopped and picked up a tequila barrel for the boat (what boat would be complete with out one?) and Scott & Liz picked up a larger one for the house.

We spent the following day shopping & just enjoying the area, packing up for the next day when we were all leaving. How quickly 5 days rushes by when you’re with friends! It was an incredible week.

It’s time to get to the boat!! Mazatlan here we come! We have a Taxi scheduled for the morning & are leaving on the Primera Plus bus to Mazatlan, which should take us 5-6 hours to get there. Woohoo! I can’t wait to be back on the boat….

More to follow!
Rene

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2010-04-13T20:41:00.001-07:00

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Back in Alaska 4.11.10

2010-04-11T20:42:00.000-07:00

We left Palm Springs on Wednesday, flying up to Ketchikan with a quick stop in Seattle. We’ve always prided ourselves on how little we actually need with us. In the past 3 years we have traveled in our own vehicle and boat and it seemed like we had so little! Well….our flight brought us to reality! We had 3 bags weighing 50lbs, 1 ‘overflow’ bag with about 25lbs – and 2 carry-ons each. That’s a total of 8 bags! Haha… And NO….before you blame me for bringing a ton of clothes, I brought just what was needed….well, and 5 pairs of shoes! Haha… But we did pretty good. I’ve only found one item I forgot so far that I can’t replace here – a type of dental floss that is not sold here, go figure! I’ll have to order it and have it shipped up I guess.

The flight was fine, we chatted away with the passenger beside us on the first flight – the entire flight! It turns out him & Michael had a lot in common, grew up in the same area, went into the Military at the same time, etc. And it all started because he was reading a book written by the same author that I was. I don’t think I have EVER talked the entire flight with the passenger beside me!

Once we arrived in Ketchikan, which is on Gravina Island, we took the ferry over to Revillagigedo Island and John, the owner of the company we work for, picked us up and brought us to the apartment we are staying in this season. John & Jillian had us over for an incredible dinner of geoduck clams & linguine (YUM!!) and we chatted over a great bottle of wine for the rest of the evening. It was nice after the hectic day to just relax & catch up.

The rest of the week we have been getting the apartment in order for the season & getting settled. We left a box-o-goodies here last season with some of the items we needed but there’s always lots of ‘staples’ that are needed. You know – paper towels, Ziploc baggies, coffee filters, groceries, etc. Plus this season we splurged on some items that will make our place more like home - two desks, chairs, our requisite pan that we seem to buy every year, and just homey stuff. :-) We’re all unpacked, the apartment is cleaned, & the fridge is stocked!

We went into the office on Thursday and Friday and have a lot of work in front of us! What were we thinking?! Haha… I’m sure it’s ‘normal’ but the first day and even into the 2nd day I was stuck thinking I had SO much work to do….but not a clue where to start! Luckily, John & Jillian are patient with us as we get back into work mode! It’s quite a change from cruising life! We even have to wake up to an alarm clock!

On Friday, we participated in a ‘Fam’ with Carnival Cruise line, which is a familiarization tour with the shore excursion managers & directors who are working both on the cruise ship and in the corporate office. One of the Ducks was brought down to the dock and a group of 10 Carnival employees boarded. We had snacks & beverages and toured the town on the duck, explaining how the tour worked & answering any questions they had. It was fun & nice to meet the folks we will be working with this season.

The weather has been COLD! Temps haven’t gotten any higher than 45°! Brrrr!! We arrived and it was snowing. It has snowed every day since (except today).

Luckily, it isn’t sticking so no worries driving. Of course, Michael is still wearing his shorts. He refuses to wear long pants the entire time he’s here. And you can imagine – folks around here look at him and say ‘You’re not from around here, are you?!’. Haha!! We were walking into the grocery store the other day and someone looked over at him and turned to his wife and said ‘Geez!’ We’ve also had several comments about how tan we look and since we’ve been back in the U.S., I don’t think I’ve seen the sun more than once! Funny… But today it’s sunny and 50°. In our apartment we have a wind chime that has a mini solar panel that spins the middle spinner and makes noise when it sees sun. Today is the first day we’ve heard anything! Layer, layer, layer – that’s my mantra.

So after all that complaining – I’ll tell you too that I sure missed this place! We’ve missed our friends, the breathtaking views, trees, natural beauty, & lifestyle.

We have reconnected with a couple friends from last year and have a list of others we need to track down. It has been fun to be walking through the grocery store or driving down the street and seeing & catching up with friends from last year. And we’ve only been here 4 days! :-)

Most of the downtown merchants are still shut down for the season but there is a TON of work going on in the city to prepare for Cruise season – less than a month away! The docks are getting spiffed up – new pylons & planks – the bollard ropes are getting their spring pressure wash cleaning, buildings downtown are getting spiffed up, part of the town is getting a new sewer pipe so the streets are torn up right now, but will be finished soon.

So that’s about it! In a nutshell – snow, cold, moving in, setting up & WORK! Haha… It’s all good…

More to follow!
Rene

Easter in Palm Springs 4.6.10

2010-04-06T19:56:00.000-07:00

We left our incredible beach house on Saturday and drove to the Palm Springs area to spend Easter and the few days before we leave for Alaska with Michael’s family. Most of Michael’s family live in the area – his sister’s family, Mom, & Dad. We had a wonderful time with them and look forward to seeing them again when we pass back through in October. My niece & nephew, Gracie & Nolan, are getting SO BIG! What a difference 6 months makes. I’m so glad we got so spend time with them.

We had a wonderful Easter dinner at Muriel’s house. There were 10 people at the table and we had all the fixings – ham, potatoes, zucchini frittata, rolls, and most importantly – family and friends.

I was bummed that Doug, Michael’s dad could not make it but we were able to see him the following day. We set him up with our boat computer which replaced his old Win 98 computer & visited for a couple hours before meeting him again at Jennifer’s house for dinner. I had my work cut out for me as Jennifer put me to work on her computers, checking some items off of her ‘to do list’ by getting printers, wi-fi, & programs updated. No problem! I’m glad I can put my skills to use every once in a while!

We even had a chance to go see Pete, Muriel’s husband who has alzheimers, who recognized both Muriel & Michael. The weather in Palm Springs was heavenly – temps in the 70’s and even up to 80’s a couple of times. Though it was certainly cooler than I expected in the evenings.

Gracie & Nolan took us to Boomer’s – a mini amusement park type place with mini golf, go-karts, bumper boats, rock climbing wall, & video games. We had SO much fun! OK, I may have had the most fun… Michael wore flip flops so he couldn’t do the go-karts and Gracie & Nolan both needed to ride with an adult….and luckily I qualified! So I got to ride both times and screamed my voice hoarse going around the corners.

In the bumper boats we all got soaked and I couldn’t stop laughing trying to maneuver those little boats. We screamed through mini-golf and video games and Gracie showed off on the rock climb wall by reaching the top 3 times. Bummer, my ankle is still giving me troubles or I would have been right there with her!

I was surprised when one of my friends who moved away from Ventura messaged me on Facebook and said she would love to see us while we were in Palm Springs. It turns out, Linda, a good friend and fellow bunco player lives on the street caddycorner from Michael’s mom’s house. Cool! We hooked up at Starbucks for a quick coffee & catch-up episode. It was a nice surprise and I’m so glad I could catch up with her!

We left Tillie, our VW van, at Michael’s dad’s house for the summer and hitched a ride with Jennifer & the kids to the airport. We left sunny, warm skies….and arrived to 40 degree temps and snow in Ketchikan! What a difference a day makes… :-)

We had a good time visiting with family and look forward to seeing them again in October. But now, it’s time for Alaska!

More to follow…
Rene

Hanging out in Ventura 4.1.10

2010-04-01T19:33:00.000-07:00

We have spent the past couple weeks at Sue & Dennis’ house in Ventura. It is always so nice to visit with them & get caught up on everything. And you can’t ask for a more amazing house – right on the beach – and the weather was incredible (except for a couple days of rain). It was so nice to spend a week relaxing before preparing to go to Alaska. Sue & Dennis caught us up on some TV shows, we had incredible dinners & wine, and great conversation. We miss them both and look forward to seeing them!

We were plenty busy while we were there too, of course. We picked up and went through the stack of mail we had waiting for us, took care of our taxes, had lunch & dinners with many friends, and spent a few days just vegging out. We were always coming and going, getting everything ready for our 6 months away...again!

Spring has definitely sprung in Ventura and it was great seeing all of the blooming wildflowers & trees everywhere. The beach was packed as it was Spring Break and sunny & warm.

We were also rewarded with the amazing weather as Sue took some long overdue photos of Michael and I on the beach at the ‘magical’ time of day. They turned out GREAT! Sue is an excellent photographer!! We're lucky to have her as a friend. As always, there's lots more photos in the photo album...

We're heading to Palm Springs to spend Easter with Michael's family...
More to follow!
Rene

Ahh...it's good to be back in the U.S. 3.22.10

2010-03-22T10:10:00.000-07:00

Yeah! We're back! The trip up from Mazatlan was beautiful. Rolling hills, beautiful blooming trees & flowers, and clear sailing through the border. The entire trip was great, the traffic was light, the temperature perfect, and no vehicle troubles.

We breezed through most of the checkpoints - being stopped at only one for a secondary check. One Military checkpoint was especially fun. We were pulled over for the secondary inspection and the guard asked if we spoke Spanish and one thing I've learned over the years of traveling Mexico, my Spanish is horrible when it comes to understanding mainland Mexico Spanish. We've been stopped at several checkpoints where we have a hard time understanding what we're being asked! They seem to talk at warp speed and don't enunciate clearly enough for me to understand what they're asking. Anyway, the soldier asked if we understood Spanish, we said we spoke a little. What helps me a lot is when a question is being asked, I translate it into English and say it out loud - it helps Michael too. So they guy kept asking us questions in Spanish and I would translate them into English. We got out of the vehicle while the soldier inspected the vehicle, looking for drugs & guns. While I was standing outside, two other guards came over and began asking me if I understood Spanish. They told me they were learning English and would I help them translate some phrases into English. Sure, why not! Haha... They would give me a phrase in Spanish, I would translate into English. Simple things like "Open the trunk", "Where are you going", "Where have you been", and even "I'm looking for drugs and guns". There were about 15 phrases they wanted translated. One of the guys even pulled out a piece of paper and I wrote down the phrases in English, then he practiced it in English, then he wrote it down phonetically below the english translation. What a riot! Standing in a military checkpoint while my vehicle was being gone through, trying to help non-english speakers say words correctly. The Spanish language doesn't have the same sounds as the English language, especially the W's and Y's so we tried and tried to get the correct pronunciation of 'you' (would come out 'ju'), 'work' (not guerke), 'what' (not ghwat), and 'where' (not guere). I was working with the two soldiers while Michael was following the guy who was searching the vehicle. At one point I was so cold I was shivering so the guy let me back inside the vehicle and let me use my blanket to warm up. The one searching the vehicle found our English/Spanish dictionary & workbooks we take with us everywhere we go and seemed entranced with one book in particular that had a lot of everyday phrases listed in both English and Spanish. After he was finished searching the vehicle, I gave him the book as a gift, hopefully it'll help him and his buddies! He was thrilled but a little hesitant - maybe they aren't supposed to take gifts. The whole ordeal was positive - they were very respectful, cordial, & kind. They were young guys just doing their job and trying their best to make it easier to communicate with us.

We made it to Hermosillo and found a very cool hotel in the downtown part of town that we stayed for the night. The hotel was first built in 1861 and was fascinating. It was built in a U type shape, with the open area of the U hosting a garden & lobby. Two large trees were growing up through the glass roof and up taller than the 3 flights of rooms. The hallways wound up & around the entire building with crazy staircases & passageways everywhere. They had pictures of the original building (with little buds of trees growing in the exact same spot they still were), copies of the building receipts, and old relics from the early 1900's displayed all around the lobby & along the walls of the hotel. It was a great place to stay and the best part (I thought) was those trees were home to some beautiful songbirds so in the evening and early morning, the birds were singing away just outside our door. When we pulled into the parking lot, I noticed a cage on wheels with two tigers inside!

We asked the security guard & found out that there was a performer that just finished up his shows of what I think translates into a show like Siegfried & Roy - magic & tigers. They were beautiful cats and the security guard even got close enough to touch one of them.

We were up early Sunday morning and headed for the border in Nogales. There were many cars ahead of us and we spent about an hour in line at the U.S. Border. We made it through the border around noon or so and stopped for lunch in Tucson - Arby's! Oh....I do miss Arby's. haha!! We zoomed on through Arizona, stopping in Yuma for the night.

Ahh....it's good to be back!

Rene