Magnifico Mexico!
Saturday, March 12, 2011 - The flight to Albuquerque was smooth and nice: no pressurization problems like the next Saturday. Not a full flight but I sat in the last seat as I didn’t have to change planes in Chicago. There was a baby on board close to me who was not a happy camper. I picture her as a stunningly beautiful adult as she was the ugliest baby I’ve seen in a long while: short, squat, like a little black haired dark eyed Troll, dressed like a Cabbage Patch doll of the 70’s in old fashioned jeans and a red plaid shirt with black earth shoes. She cried the whole way to Chicago (maybe she was protesting her outfit) and I think she might have crapped in her pants or else the nice looking young man next to me hadn’t showered in quite a while. They got off in Chicago and I had new, more normal seatmates. I had good timing on the landing, baggage and Mark and Stacey’s pick-up – smooth as could be. We came home; I had a pb&j sandwich and we all went to bed fairly early: Mark and Stacey both have terrible allergies, Mark has an early soccer game, the time changed and we’re all tired.
Sunday, March 13, 2011 – It was only 45 degrees upon wake-up so I opted not to go to Mark’s outdoor soccer game – been there, done that…..Instead I check my email and Facebook accounts and watched 6 Nations Rugby while crocheting. Stacey graded papers and made lesson plans for her return to school in two weeks. Mark lost 5-0 so I’m really glad I didn’t go. It was too windy for balloons but otherwise a beautiful day. Stacey and I went grocery shopping and Mark informed us while there that someone has been taking money out of their account via ATM’s in San Jose, CA. He had to cancel their bank cards, have them re-issue new ones and let the bank pursue an investigation. It appears they won’t be able to use their account while they are gone but at least Wells Fargo will credit the money already taken. We have grilled chicken, baked potatoes and salad for supper – very good! We watched some TV – a documentary about the Salton Sea. Now, we all want to go there…..They both have to work tomorrow so it’s an early night for them.
Monday, March 14, 2011 – I heard everyone leave but was too lazy to get up and say goodbye. So I just lumbered about: showering, computering, Face booking, crock potting and getting ready for Pauline Artery to pick me up at 11:30. She is Mark’s friend Joe’s Mom and we met last fall when Vivian and I were there. She lives right down the street from Mark and is a wonderful, easy to get along with, new friend. She picked me up right on time and we headed out to lunch at Garcia’s Mexican Kitchen before going to the Senior Center for line dancing. I met a bunch of great new people and we danced for an hour or more – what fun!!! I kept up pretty well and enjoyed myself immensely. Pauline has only recently moved from Colorado but has immersed herself into all of the great activities that Albuquerque has to offer. She has made some great new friends and hardly has time to stay home. She volunteers as a court appointed mediator, is active in her church, plays in a senior citizen chorale and is generally enjoying her time there. I’m glad she could squeeze me into her busy schedule. She dropped me off and I finished preparing dinner: spaghetti with meat sauce, salad and Italian bread. I also shredded the pork roast I cooked and divided it up into meal sized portions for later. I was crocheting again when first Mark arrived and then Stacey. We had dinner, watched some TV, relived our day and retired to bed.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 – Pauline once again picked me up and we went to the Bear Canyon Senior Center for her St. Patrick’s Day Concert. The center offers senior day care for those with Alzheimer’s, dementia and other senior related illnesses. They also offer plenty of services for those seniors not afflicted including pool and poker tables, weight room, income tax services, walking track, tennis courts, basketball and a lunch room. Those were only the things I saw…. The seniors were looking forward to the concert. The members of the chorale were dressed in green and someone had brought St. Paddy’s Day “halos” for them to wear. I took a seat on the side of the room with the residents and watched as the 23 piece band and chorus set up. There were 5 men and 18 women including one saxophone player (my friend Pauline), one accordion player, one piano player and one harmonica player along with a baton twirler and the MC; the rest were singers. There were the same numbers in the audience although they had more aides, attendants and workers. There were wheelchairs, canes and walkers; some slept thru the performance but most were attentive and sang along to the songs they knew. We had a wonderful version of Danny Boy that made me want to cry and a rousing McNamara’s Band complete with 80 year old baton twirler. I took a video of that because I didn’t think anyone would believe me. The concert lasted about an hour and when it was over one of the singers came over to me and said, “I’m so glad you came. I hope you enjoyed it.” I think she thought I was one of the residents. And one of the residents actually got up, said, “Thanks! That was great!” and walked on out the door pushing her walker in front of her. Someone finally realized Ms. Emma has “escaped” and they had to send an aide to go get her. She was halfway down the sidewalk to the parking lot before they caught up with her and brought her back! After the concert, Pauline took me to this wonderful sandwich shop where she bought my lunch: the original Albuquerque Turkey sandwich and some pretty delicious cole slaw. We came on home to freshen up and get ready for Kim’s Tupperware party. Stacey drove and we picked up Pauline and arrived just a little after the 6:00 start time. There were about 7 or 8 people there including Kim’s mom and mother in law, a co-worker and some neighbors. It turns out Kim met the Tupperware lady on a flight a few weeks ago and her name is Carol Sharp – as in Baton Rouge SHARP – as in Sharp Road, not far from my house! Small world, isn’t it? It was a good party with lots of new Tupperware items, we got lots of nice little prizes just for attending, great food provided by Kim and Guy (including Guy’s fabulous meatball soup), and the best part of all: she will ship my order to my house!!!! A good time was had by all: another successful day and an early night. Stacey only has one more day before she’s off.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 – I’m up a little earlier today as Pauline and I are going on the train to Santa Fe. It’s another beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky. We get to the train station and can barely find a parking space: it’s a good thing she has a smaller car. Its spring break this week for most of the Albuquerque Public Schools and I think they all have the same idea as we do: let’s take the train to Santa Fe. But we manage to find two seats together and enjoy the ride. The conductor sells us tickets – I’m now officially a senior as they’ve just lowered the age to 62 – so I only have to pay $6 round trip: such a bargain! We disembark at the last stop but have to wait for a shuttle to take us to Old Town. As I said, it’s a beautiful day and we don’t mind waiting the 8 or 10 minutes for the next shuttle. When we get to the Square, we decide to have lunch at the French Creperie. Pauline has eaten there before and it is really good. I had what I think to be a quiche of sorts: it was a pie shaped wedge but had layers of egg, ham, broccoli, ham, egg in a delicious flaky crust – so good!!! Our waitress suggested a dessert crepe and so we split a blueberry one with fresh blueberries with just a hint of sugar. The crepe was so light and fluffy and the whole thing was served with a big bowl of REAL whipped cream and fresh blueberries. O Man was it good!!!! I was stuffed by the time we left but had to walk by the display case where I wanted some of the breads, brioches, crème puffs and other delicious looking goodies. The sign said "Everything Made on Premises." But I resisted and we went on to the Loreto Chapel with the freestanding spiral staircase to the choir loft. The story is that the nuns needed a carpenter to build a staircase to the second floor so they prayed a Novena. A carpenter showed up and built the staircase using only a hammer and nails with no visible means of support for the stairs other than his expertise. He asked for no money and the staircase still stands although it is no longer in use. The Diocese opted not to buy the chapel when the nuns closed the attached school and put it up for sale and so therefore it is owned by a private concern and is available for weddings, receptions and other uses. We left the chapel and wandered back thru the Square to the Palace of the Governors where we were able to listen to one of the guides as she gave some interesting history of New Mexico and the Santa Fe Trail. We watched a movie in the new part of the museum and lingered over some displays there. Then we went to a couple of souvenir shops and looked at the Indian jewelry vendors before sitting on the Square and watching people pass by. We made our way back to the train station and there was a train just about to depart so we took it. That will save both of us time as Pauline is expected at her daughter in law’s parents’ house for dinner and I’m going with Mark and Stacey to Rudy’s BBQ. We’re meeting Bruce and Michelle Smith along with Larry and Stephanie Garcia to make final plans for our trip to Mexico. And after hugs and kisses all around, we get our BBQ, settle in at the picnic tables and plan our menus for Mexico. We head home and again it’s a fairly early night.
Thursday, March 17, 2011 – Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Stacey is off for her first day of Spring Break and we take the opportunity to eat breakfast at Weck’s. She has the lovely French toast breakfast and I opt for a Bowl O’ Pappas: hash browns with green chili, two scrambled eggs on top and a large fresh tortilla – yum! Stacey heads out to the Talin World Market where I feel like I’ve gone around the world in 80 minutes: they have food, teas, merchandise, meat and seafood from lots of different nations around the world. Plus they have Louisiana products and live crawfish (although I didn’t see anything but the sign for them). We bought a few items for our trip including longans, a delicious grape type fruit we had in Thailand. We then went on to the more conventional Albertsons for the rest of our weekend groceries and beverages, filling up two carts worth of stuff: a lot of it liquid! We went home to pack up the dry goods and cook supper which was still in the fridge from Tuesday night Tupperware night: pulled pork with a homemade BBQ sauce (a little spicy) and hash brown casserole (do you notice a theme here?) that Mark wouldn’t eat because I said it had sour cream in it. You know, it wasn’t the best dinner I’ve ever cooked and sometimes even my failures are still edible and this was one of those nights. So we had ice cream for dessert which wasn’t much better as it was leftover from when Vivian and I were there in October and had severe freezer burn. We called it a night after that and went to bed!
Friday, March 18, 2011 – Stacey went for a pedicure; I was afraid I’d incurably harm the technician so I stayed home and packed and repacked my stuff. Mark was home around 1 and we loaded the Excursion and left by 1:45. It’s another beauty day and not too windy. We picked up the trailer at storage and set up camp with Kim and Guy. Ryan, the Smith’s and Garcia’s are arriving a little later. We had a beautiful view of the Lake from the top of the electricals and had delicious grilled pork chops, fried potatoes and salad for supper: excellent! After the sun went down, I was lurking outside looking up at all the amazing stars when I saw a UFO! No kidding! It was two of what I thought at first to be planets, close to each other, but not in their proper place in the sky. As I watched, the lower one grew extremely bright and then winked out. A scant second later, the upper one did exactly the same thing. I looked around to see if anyone else had seen this but everyone was either inside or talking and no one saw it or even believed me. I still don’t know what happened there. Maybe I experienced the death of a star millions of light years away. Whatever it was, it was interesting. The moon was almost full and was just beautiful shining on the water. We heard coyotes just as the moon appeared about a foot or 18 inches over the horizon – just as Bob Wade once predicted. So I said a little prayer for him and relayed that story to anyone who would listen. We went to bed around 11 and I slept well in two hour intervals for some strange reason.
Saturday, March 19, 2011 – Happy Birthday Jamie! We got up around 7 to another beauty day. I missed sunrise over the lake by just a few minutes. Stacey fixed us all some breakfast sandwiches: ham, eggs and cheese on English muffins. Really tasty! We talked with those left behind who wished they were going and then made sandwiches and packed a picnic lunch for our journey to Tombstone. I think we hit the road around 9 or so but I can’t be sure of that. We saw lots of some sort of cranes in fields just west of Hatch. That’s where the good green chili comes from and it’s also a cute little town. There are several dairy operations there too. I suppose that’s because if you have too hot of chili, you’re supposed to drink milk to cut the heat…. We pulled into Tombstone and our campgrounds around 2, set up and were ready to walk the short block into town by 2:30. We toured some interesting shops and bars and Michelle and I toured the Bird Cage Tavern while the rest went for drinks at a saloon. The Bird Cage is an authentic, supposedly haunted, saloon, casino and whorehouse complete with the original “cages” hanging from the ceiling in the stage area, authentic to the period antiques, the original stage, bedrooms for the more affluent downstairs, poker tables, bars, and ghosts. After touring and with no ghost sightings, Michelle and I went to find the rest of the group and stumbled upon a group of would be cowboys in modern dress and foreign language but riding horses down the main street and actually going to the same bar as we were. There are also lots of people in period costumes wandering up and down the street and some of them came into the same bar where we talked with them and took pictures. We saw the beginnings of the Gunfight at the OK Corral but didn’t actually make it to the Corral for the finish. We ate at Big Nose Kate’s where Michelle and I split a delicious burger and a chicken sandwich called Kate’s Breast. Then we were off to the Four Deuces upon recommendation of Kim for drinks and entertainment in the form of a drunken hippie musician. He was actually very good and talented but so drunk they wouldn’t serve him anymore. It was nice to be able to walk back to the campsite which I did when I got tired. When Mark and Stacey arrived shortly thereafter, I went off to the bathhouse for a nice relaxing shower and was asleep by 11 to the sounds of nothing. We were packed like sardines (or in this case more like an RV show) into the campground (the owner called them “buddy” campsites) but we didn’t hear anything. Either everyone was out on the town or they were all hunkered down in their campers trying to maintain the quiet. I couldn’t believe how quiet it was for the amount of campers there in the middle of town on a Saturday night.
Sunday, March 20, 2011 – Mark and I both awoke with a start when the door came open a little before 7 – either on its own or by ghostly spirits, maybe one of the Hollidays or Earps. We got dressed still pondering why the door opened and had more egg a muffins. While everyone was eating and getting ready for the drive today, Michelle and I walked into town to see the historic courthouse. It was even quieter on a Sunday morning – hardly anyone about. The courthouse didn’t open until later but was very picturesque and on the National Historic Register. We hadn’t gone down this street yesterday and there were some interesting things there relating to the silver mining that brought all the people to the town originally. There was also an interesting saloon/tourist attraction called Helldorado that featured gunfights, fistfights and the like for the price of a drink or two. This is a very interesting little town but it was time to head back to the trailers and out of town on to Tucson and south to Mexico. Just on the outskirts of Tucson we started to see the amazing saguaro cactus popping up. I was fascinated by them and the various appendages that seem to have no rhyme or reason as to how they grow. We continued seeing them as we turned off the interstate on to the highway thru the Tohono O’odham Nation all the way to Lukeville and the border with Mexico. We passed by the Kitt Peak Observatory which was visible for many miles. We also stopped at the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument where we had lunch and I bought my National Park Lifetime Senior Citizen Pass. I also took a lot of pictures of the cactus but missed the most impressive saguaro on the way out when I couldn’t get my camera turned on in time. I should have bought one of the many books on cactus in the Visitor’s Center: maybe next time. The road to the border was desolate but serviceable and we saw many Border Patrol personnel in various types of vehicles scattered about the road and countryside. We had no problem getting across into Mexico although the agents on our side did stop us and ask a few questions, like where are you going, how long are you staying and is there anyone in the camper? There were no cars lined up going in, I’m guessing because it’s Sunday afternoon. But the other side is another story: a line of cars, trucks and campers approximately two miles long is waiting to get out. It’s the end of spring break and everyone is going back home. There are vendors selling souvenirs including wooden monkeys with beer cans in their paws, jewelry, wind chimes and carved wooden figures, people selling food and drinks and beggars in wheelchairs asking for money. The border closes at midnight and by the looks of the line and the people in it, I’m not sure they will all be thru by then. We just bumble along in awe as we finally come to the end of the line near the center of the town. It’s another 60 miles or so to Puerto Penasco and the road is just as desolate here as in Arizona. However, there are a few subtle differences: the road has shoulders, is better maintained and the signs are in Spanish. We finally start to see signs of civilization although one could take it for an abandoned civilization with ghostly campgrounds and empty businesses. Things start to perk up a little closer to town but Mark takes us on a less direct way to the campground than thru the center of town with stops at every corner. We pass by some very unusual residences which confirm that we are not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy: shacks and lean-to’s made of cardboard and pieces of plywood, very close to the railroad tracks, with people milling about and eyeing us suspiciously. But once thru this area, we get back on the main road to the campgrounds and some very beautiful condos. We can see the water which is that beautiful Caribbean blue with roiling breakers coming ashore. Our campsites are right on the beach overlooking the Sea of Cortez with pyramid-shaped mountains to our west and an empty shoreline with those same condos in the distance to our east. After getting situated with our campsites, we realized we had one space between each of us but no one scheduled to use those until after we left. We didn’t know why they hadn’t put us all together but hey, when in Mexico….. It was very windy. Let me re-phrase that: we had gale force winds coming in off the water. It wasn’t cold, just cool and a bit uncomfortable. So the guys found a place that was somewhat protected from the wind (like right in front of the camper or the back as the case may be…) to grill our steaks while the gals put out the rest of the food. We ate in Bruce and Michelle’s trailer since it was in the middle and we had steaks, cheesy mashed potatoes, muffaletta salad and tossed salad: really good. We finished up and huddled in a group to our respective trailers and were in bed reading by 10:30. It was a windy, windy night with a rocking and rolling trailer and reminded me of riding on the train with the unkempt tracks, jerking from side to side. The wind seemed to get worse during the night so I took a PM pill and slept fairly well even though it was like sleeping thru a hurricane. At least the trailer is parked in cooperation with the wind and not crosswise or else I’d have nightmares of tumbling over and over. As it was, I already thought that might happen. I can’t imagine what it would be like in a smaller trailer, a pop-up or a tent. Or even one of those RV’s parked across the way from us where the wind would hit the side…..thank God for small favors! But we did sleep some…. And when we asked, all the locals said that the wind was very unusual and strong.
Monday, March 21, 2011 – It’s still windy and a bit cloudy. Stacey revs up her computer that says the wind is 22 mph. But we don’t know where they are gauging that and we all agree that it’s not right or at the very least it’s sustained at 22 mph. I’m thinking tropical force winds but they don’t have those types of warnings here. Plus the good news is it’s not that cold – just windy. In fact, so windy that the women are prisoners in the trailers – we can’t hold the doors open long enough to get in and out. It’s predicted to rain later in the day so we just have a nice leisurely morning around the camp reading and napping and decide to go into town for some sightseeing, shopping and seafood later. Mark informs us that Stacey’s “bus” is leaving for town at 1 so we get ready and load up in the Excursion for an Expedition. The town is small and there’s lots of construction going on in the tourist/shopping district. However, Mark finds a close parking space and we go into some shops just browsing. Eventually we end up at a restaurant overlooking the water and crashing waves where we all had fabulous meals. Mine was shrimp with vegetables and Tequila, rice and steamed vegetables along with a great Margarita – just very good!!! We left and did some more shopping and I think I was the only one who didn’t buy any souvenirs. I did however, buy $35 worth of really big, good looking shrimp for dinner. We tried to find the Tequila Factory on the way home but somehow missed it with its bright neon blue flashing TEQUILA FACTORY sign on the side of the building right on the corner two blocks before our turn. There were only seven of us looking for it, so you can see how we missed it….. The wind is finally dying down so we sat on the beach for another beautiful sunset and explored the rocks and tidal pools for crabs and shells. The difference here between high and low tide is amazing – something like 33 feet with the full moon in effect – I’m used to more like 3 inches – so it was disconcerting to walk out in the morning and have the tide right up close to the trailer and then in the afternoon have it out in the sea about ¼ mile. Shortly after sunset, we put the shrimp on skewers and cooked them on the grills, then took them inside to make shrimp tacos. Stacey made this incredible cucumber salsa for the tacos and we ate more muffaletta salad, cole slaw and key lime pie for dessert. Pretty darn good!!! And we had shrimp left over for another meal or two = maybe shrimp Creole if we have time. This is a delicate subject but I feel I have to say it: I plugged up the toilet pretty bad (or good, if you’re me….) but feel so much better that I headed off to the bath house for a long hot shower and then to bed where I slept the sleep of the dead, even though the wind picked up again. The whole rest of the trip is gonna be good after that....
Tuesday, March 22, 2011 – I slept like a log and didn’t hear a thing until 7:30. The wind has died down sometime in the night and the day is just beautiful. (It never did rain yesterday – I think it was because I dragged my raincoat with me all day….) We got dressed and sat in front of the camper watching the tide go out and caught a glimpse of the occasional dolphin swimming by. I crocheted a washcloth for Steph using the last of my yarn: this is a first for me! I’ve run out of things to do: I’ve used up all the yarn I brought and read all the books I brought. I still have plenty of fabric to make quilt squares but it’s too windy and they keep blowing away. So I’m at a loss…..We had a big community breakfast buffet – scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, red chili with pork, tortillas, coffee cake, biscuits and leftover shrimp. It was really good and we ate outside on the beach with the calm sea in the background – no bugs, no birds, no dogs, no other people even. Pretty nice! Vendors started coming up and down the beach selling all sorts of things: jewelry, carved wooden items, wind chimes, slingshots, firewood, pedicures, shrimp, fish and even one old guy with a donkey and a couple of dogs collecting cans. I could get used to this. Bruce even found someone to wash all three vehicles for $38 and we saw someone else (although I think he was an American camper) grooming dogs and another team painting murals on campers – they were really nice. The propane truck came by to see if we needed propane but we didn't. We decided after making our various purchases (jewelry and wind chimes for me, pedicure for Michelle, slingshot and wooden turtle for Larry, can deposit for Stacey) to go on the sunset cruise and left for town around 5. Mark negotiated the cut rate price of $20 per person (down from $30) for the cruise, dinner, entertainment and all the beer and margaritas you could drink – what a bargain! He also got a young girl to stand watch over the car for 100 pesos – about $8, I think. (I hoped it wasn’t like the young New Orleans dudes who I paid to watch my van during a Mardi Gras parade years ago only to come back and find they had cleaned it out…..) We got on the boat and were again bombarded by people selling jewelry, blankets, cigars, candy and lots of other things. I resisted the urge to buy (see Michelle’s “Mexican Standoff” picture) and just generally enjoyed the scenery and never ending Margaritas. The vendors were made to vacate around 6:30 and we were underway along with a few evening shrimp boats. It was pretty chilly and windy up top but the sunset was beautiful. Of course, once it was set everyone else went inside. I had the whole top of the boat to myself. I pretended I was royalty until even I got too cold and it got kind of dark. So I eventually went down one floor to look for the rest of the group but found the wheelhouse. I took a couple of pictures of the captain and then noticed he was beckoning me in. I thought he was going to make me delete the pictures but no; he wanted to know if I wanted to drive the boat!!! So I did and he took a couple of pictures of me. His name was Captain Sherman (I think they go by first names here) and told me they had brought this particular boat, The Fiesta Cruiser, all the way from Hawaii sailing to California and then down around Baja Mexico and back up the Sea of Cortez. It must have been a long and interesting journey. The boat reminded me of the Natchez only without the paddlewheel and I was honored to have been given the privilege of piloting it! I left there and went down another level where I found everyone else enjoying their beer and Margaritas. The many waiters and waitresses brought our dinner which consisted of a spoon of rice, a touch of salad and a piece of delicious fish plus six Saltines – surprisingly good but sparse. Mark has warned us it would only be a snack so we were prepared! We enjoyed the live band (a guitar player, a singer and an accordion, do I detect a pattern here?) and Bruce and Michelle’s dancing. We got back to the dock around 8, found our car to be in the same place, untouched and with the girl still on guard, loaded up and headed back to the campground. I was hoping we wouldn’t get stopped as everyone had had a whole lot to drink: what can you expect from free beer and Margaritas? But we made it without incident – although a lot of laughing and loud talking when we discovered the Tequila Factory we all had missed when sober – and home to the trailers and bed. An early day ensues tomorrow!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011 – We were up at 7 after a fitful night’s sleep for me. The car washers are supposed to be here at 7:30 and the escort from the Bird Island Cruise is supposed to pick us up at 8:30. We had to change from Tuesday to Wednesday because of the wind and weather. And today is another beauty with calm seas and no wind to speak of. Of course, we’re in Mexico and everyone is late but they do show up which is good! The trucks get washed and after a drive-by of the Del Mar Charters truck, we think could that be the guy? The booking agent, Esther, told Mark that his credit card would be charged if we got on another charter once we were here and her company name was Santiago Ocean Services: not even close to Del Mar. So we didn’t want to go with him. But he pulled up and said, “Hey, I bet you guys are waiting for the Bird Island boat, aren’t you?” Esther had turned our reservation over to him, and then gave him the wrong campsite number. Ah, Mexico! We got to the boat which was docked at the same exact spot as the cruise the night before (see, we didn’t need directions or an escort), parked the van in pretty much the same spot without the watch girl, pay our money and then listen to the “Bossman” Craig, tell us about his son, a soldier who after being severely wounded himself, carried several of his troops to safety and is going to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor this spring. He was very proud. We were introduced to Captain Oscar who is quite personable and handsome. He took our burrito order, proclaimed he’d be back in 7 minutes and heads off to get our burritos. He comes back within the time frame and leads us to the boat which was a bit smaller than any of us suspected: a 31 foot twin engine cruiser. Since I was on first, he tells me he has a special seat for me and from years of boating with the Lake Group, I know to take what direction he has to offer: I get the co-captain’s chair. See, being a “silverback” has its advantages. We had the seven of us and another family of four: Nordic looking with a beautiful 18 year old blond daughter and a handsome 17 year old son. They willingly took the front of the boat and he put the rest in the back. We took off for Bird Island, about a 45 minute ride away some 27 miles from the dock. We saw dolphins feeding along the way and plenty of bird and sea lions when we got there: 3800 sea lions to be more exact. They live their whole lives (average 15 -18 years) on the island protected by the government. They have a great place to live and all the fish you can eat. The tides of 23 – 33 feet bring in fish twice a day for them and they don’t appear to have any natural enemies there – there are no sharks in this part of the sea. Oscar knew a lot about the island and its inhabitants and was enthusiastic in telling us. After circling one side of the island, we settled into a cove and he passed out our burritos along with your choice of either beer, margaritas and soft drinks. It was fabulous and I took lots of pictures both stills and movies. Three of the other family members went swimming and snorkeling with the sea lions leaving the mom in the boat with us. That was really cool and I know that everyone in our group wanted to go. But the water was still too cold for any of us at 63 degrees. Oscar said October is the best time to come and swim with the sea lions as the water and air temperature are both in the 80’s so we’ll seriously considering doing that. We stayed about 2 hours and then headed back towards the home port in less than calm seas. However, Oscar was not only a good guide but an excellent seaman and kept the boat from hitting too many wakes. At some point, I got the clown nose out of my backpack and put it on giving everyone a good laugh, including Oscar so when we got back, I presented it to him to use on unruly customers. He had Mark take a picture of the two of us with him wearing the nose and said he was going to put it on their website. But when I last checked he hadn’t done that yet. He was a great guide and a really nice guy who even ran Mark’s forgotten straw cowboy hat to the car when he found it while cleaning out the boat. He told us about Lolita’s restaurant where we had great food and interesting acoustics from the beautiful brick domed ceiling. Their architecture includes many domed roofs which made me think of the Middle East although I was told it helps with cooling – guess that would make sense for them also. Anyway, after that wonderful meal (Mark/Stacey and Bruce/Michelle had their seafood platter for two with some of the most exquisitely prepared fish and shrimp; Steph had a baked stuffed flounder and Larry and I had Mexican dishes, mine a light and tasty tostado) we went back into the shopping section of town to pick up souvenirs. I had a list and made a one stop shopping event and a nice young Mexican girl very happy she stayed open for me. We got back to the campsite just after sunset to find two campers and several tents moved in next to us but no one home. They arrived shortly after us and it’s a huge family group with lots of kids and dogs. Hope they’re not too noisy tonight as we hope to make it an early night and head out of here by 8 AM. One of the tents is only about 3 feet from my bed but they’re not too noisy once it gets dark and we all settle in for a last night on the beach. This trip is ending all too soon!
Thursday, March 24, 2011 – We were up and packed up and pulled out close to 8. Again, it’s another great day, not too windy so not bad for Mark’s long drive. We made a picnic lunch to eat along the way. I think we all had a good time and everyone is thinking of coming back. The time went so fast, we didn’t really have time to just sit and stare out upon the water. We headed out of town and back thru the desolation to the border town where this time, the only trouble we encountered was the fact that Bruce and Michelle got stopped and boarded by the "boarder" patrol. They went thru their fridge throwing out the eggs and limes that they brought with them – go figure. The guy asked Mark how long he’d owned the trailer and he said 3 days thinking the guy had asked him how long we’d been there. Everyone had a good laugh over that when Mark realized what he said. The border patrol knew it was a mistake because why would anyone go to Mexico and buy a trailer???? I didn’t even see a place you could get one repaired if you needed to. Anyway on the long desolate ride back to Tucson, I had lots of random thoughts. I thought everyone was very friendly in Puerto Penasco and most people seemed to be working or had some sort of job. We encountered no problems at all. We did see several armored vehicles on the road with masked armed soldiers aboard. And on the way out, we saw two of those vehicles that had a car stopped between them and were searching the car with guns drawn. I wanted to take pictures but Mark wouldn’t let me. Most everyone spoke English and I never saw a peso (which I always bring home and save for Demetrius): although we did find a Euro in the dirt at the campsite the last night – curious. The food was excellent and I come from the Gulf Coast where seafood is not only good but plentiful, cheap and fresh. The way the dishes were prepared made all the difference in the world. The fried items were not heavy or greasy: they were very light with a light batter. There were lots of fresh fruit and veggies but once again we didn’t find a grocery store. The liquor here was not as cheap as Nuevo Progresso so we just brought our own. Their soft drinks are made using sugar and not corn syrup and they did taste better – more refreshing. Although I only had a Fanta Orange and a 7-Up. I preferred the lovely margaritas and they weren’t as sour as the ones here so maybe they use sugar in them also. The reason Puerto Penasco exists is because of American Prohibition. Apparently Al Capone needed a place to sell his booze so he located this little gem, built a hotel, restaurant and bar and then brought people down. The place still stands, is still open and sits right in the center of town. There are lots of little shrines on the very desolate road between Puerto Penasco and the border. It reminded me of all the temples in the yards of homes all over Thailand. Only these were not only in people’s yards but just in the middle of nowhere – complete with statues, flowers, and candles. I don’t know who tends them. I wondered as we passed thru the Sonora Desert if you can “bonsai” cactus. The ocotillo was in bloom and it is starkly beautiful. I hope the one in Mark and Stacey’s yard is only half as pretty as the ones in the wild. Oscar says they only receive 2 inches of rain a year: we can have that much in an hour here. We passed by Kitt Peak Observatory and I know why they put it here: the brilliance and millions of stars. There was no light pollution for hundreds of miles. But there were many border patrol vehicles. As I’ve said before it is a very desolate area and I suppose anyone walking would be subject to deportation. We would go for many, many miles and not see even one house. We dropped the Smith’s and Garcia’s in Tucson for the night where they were meeting up with relatives: Michelle’s sister and Bruce and Steph’s brother. I always think of my Uncle Bill and Aunt Ruth when I think of Tucson as I remember as a child hearing them talk of a vacation and seeing pictures they took from there. We stopped at a tourist trap gas station advertising “The Thing” where we paid one dollar each to walk thru a series of buildings with curiosities in them including The Thing: the mummified remains of someone who appeared to be holding either a doll or a baby – very strange and no explanation. Near there we passed a huge llama farm – I think I would have preferred to visit that but they didn’t sell gas. We stopped near there also at a rest area Stacey refers to as Bubble Rock for our lunch. She’s becoming quite the picnic lunch queen. Stacey was enthralled by a YouTube video of the Jerry Lewis Goat bleating out “Whhaaattt?” It’s one of those things that you have to laugh at. We drove past miles and miles of pecan and pistachio trees in Arizona and New Mexico. I didn’t realize they grew there as there are many pecan farms in Louisiana and Mississippi and the weather to say the least is dissimilar. Mark claims the difference is in the pronunciation: pee-khan v. pah- con. I don’t think that works for pistachio….. One gas stop was like an episode of Twilight Zone. Stacey stayed behind to walk Boo and I headed into the large truck stop. I noticed people in the vestibule of the store, three of them just waiting for me to walk up and open the door to let them out. The continued their conversation and didn’t acknowledge me at all, no thank you or even nod of the head. I don’t know what they would have done if I hadn’t opened the door for them. I guess they’d still be standing there. I went on into the bathroom and started to go into a stall where the door was half open only to hear someone say from inside, “Hey, Wait a minute!” Then I was going to buy an extended lottery ticket for Wil – you know one pick for the next 10 drawings. He likes to check the morning after the drawing to see if he’s won anything. I’ve bought these kinds of tickets in Texas and Ohio so I just assumed you could do it in New Mexico. Well, getting someone to wait on me at all was tricky; it was like I was invisible. Two customers came in and each got waited on before me. Then one cashier picked up her cell phone and made a call while the other one opened his cash drawer and started putting his money in order. I just stood there and finally said to him, “Can I buy a lottery ticket please?” He was a tattooed gay bald headed wonder. Most of the tattoos were your ordinary run of the mill kind except for huge red “sealed with a kiss” lips on either side of his neck. I told him what I wanted and apparently they don’t sell lottery tickets that way in NM. Mark said he had never heard of it either but I think they’re missing the boat. They get the money for however many drawings you want to buy a ticket for and most people never even check to see if they’ve won. I might suggest it to their lottery commission – maybe they’ll give me a lifetime ticket. Anyway, when I tried to return to the car after this experience, it was so windy I almost blew away. Now that would be some wind. But the good news was that we only spent $3.83 for diesel this time as opposed to the $4.29 we paid on the way down. I noticed as we headed north on I-25 that the sun was setting and we had a pretty neat shadow of the vehicle with camper attached so I tried to take some pictures. Mark couldn’t figure out what the heck I was doing but a couple of them turned out pretty neat. See if you can spot my efforts in my pictures. We finally got to the Butte at sunset and set up quickly. Then we went to La Cocina for some more great food: steaks for Mark and me and tacos for Stacey. Then back to the camper for soft clothes and bedtime reading. It’s “coolish” outside – good sleeping weather.
Friday, March 25, 2011 – Well, all good things must come to an end. I tried to get up early to take a picture of sunrise but I missed it by an inch or two. So I read, trying to finish Mark’s camper book before going home. We had a great breakfast of scrambled eggs and ham, hash browns and English muffins. I had cleared my clothes and suitcase out to the outside picnic table for packing so we packed up the bed and actually ate at the inside table. But I must admit it was nice leaving the bed/table down and things plugged in with easy access to the suitcase and bathroom. And speaking of which, it’s going to finally be a triply good day and I think I could do an ad for Activia…..if you know what I mean. After all that, I packed up my clothes (no clean ones left: I’ll have to do laundry first as Mark suggested…) and souvenirs while Mark and Stacey packed up the inside (bedding, clothes and food) and cleaned everything in preparation for their next trip. It was actually kind of nice: just the three of us. That’s not to say I didn’t miss Wil or love my time with the Smith’s and Garcia’s. Just that I love Mark and Stacey a bit more. I called Wil to let him know that we were back safe and sound. He said he never got my texts saying we had arrived in Mexico and/or left. His good news was that he had officially been extended with his job until the end of July with bonus money. Maybe we can buy a camper with that…. Luke went to Wil’s chiropractor who found many back problems most likely stemming from some major trauma about 15 years ago: no one can think what that might have been. Hope he can work things out, maybe find a different job within PepsiCo. Wil befriended a female gay midget Jewish clown at the Mansion. I just know there’s a ton of stories in that place…. He helped her with some computer problems and I think she wanted him to front her some gas money to get back to San Francisco. He also met the new cleaning lady who told him she was Justin Wilson’s, the Cajun Chef of days gone by, daughter. Wil wondered what she was doing cleaning houses if she was Justin Wilson’s daughter. After talking to him, I tried to call Mom but she was out playing bingo with Faye. So I talked to Norma who wasn’t feeling too well from their previous day’s bus trip to the Casino. I told her to hang on until May and we’d go again. By this time, Mark and Stacey had cleaned the trailer and packed the car and we headed to the car wash for a thorough scrub down before putting the Prowler back into storage and heading back to Albuquerque. We had a nice drive home, unloaded in record time, unpacked and started the laundry. Mark grilled some chicken for dinner with a nice green salad and couscous: very good. We were in bed by 10 with big plans for my last hurrah!And they had the whole weekend ahead of them before heading back to work on Monday.
Saturday, March 26, 2011 – Well, I have to go home today at 2:30 or that’s what my Southwest Itinerary says. But first, I’m up at 7 for a shower and repacking job of all my clean clothes. Stacey said she awoke in the middle of the night to what she thought was Boo nuzzling her – she petted and patted and then realized Boo was purring: There’s a cat on her pillow. She woke up Mark and he took it outside. He waited at the door and the cat tried to get back in the house thru the dog door so Mark locked it and went back to bed. They think maybe the cat was in the house when they were gone. It’s a pretty big, grey tabby with a flea collar and gorgeous eyes – not a kitten but full grown. It stayed in the yard and mewled at us all morning as if to say, “What are you doing in my house?” Boo never saw it either last night or this morning – she’s really old! We finished getting ready, went to pick up Ryan and headed to Weck’s for one last breakfast – Huevos Rancheros for me. The green chili was hot today and I wished I had my bowl of Pappas instead. But it was Weck’s and it was still good. Then we went to the RV show – WOW! I saw plenty I liked: some even not too expensive. We saw Larry’s brother Jim and his wife, Margaret along with Mark’s friend Jonathan and wife Kaylee and their two boys who were in the process of dealing on a new trailer. It was time to leave all too soon but the ride to the airport was short and sweet and saying goodbye was even shorter and sweeter. I had a wonderful time and really hate to leave but I’m already anticipating my return. The plane rides were uneventful except for another screaming baby but this time I was far enough away to ignore him. And he wasn’t ugly either. It’s the first time I’ve travelled anywhere that I ran out of things to do: I read 4 books and went thru 4 small skeins of yarn. I think I said this before but that’s a first for me. So on the plane ride home, I wrote two short plays to further Michelle’s acting career. Well, I don’t know if they’ll further it or finish it off but I wrote them. And Wil was right on the money in picking me up. We even got to eat at Trey Yuen’s on the way home. I texted Mark to let him know I made it OK and he said when they got back from the airport, that cat was curled up asleep on their couch. Boo was in the bedroom and didn't even know it was there. I think they have a new resident.....she can take my place!
Here's a link to my pictures:
Linda D.
April 2011
