The Dream Continues

The months just keep clicking by. We have had such nice weather it doesn’t seem like winter at all. I am finally over my cold but still have some sinus problems. Since we are having a mild and warm winter, things have started blooming early. So it is a good thing I have The dreamallergy medicine. Birds are arriving and chirping in the morning and before the sun sets. Pretty soon they will be looking for a place to build a nest. The white tail doves are coming back and we hear their monotonous call. So far it hasn’t been bad, but when they start to mate they will be calling to each other all day long and will be waking us up as the sun comes up. We attended the Super Bowl party at a friend’s house and stayed for most of it. Then when Dave figured who the winners were going to be, we left. He added to the football pool, but didn’t win anything. It was fun and there was a lot of food! My friend Penny is back on her feet again so she was there. It was good to see and talk to her. We left this morning, the 6th, for Ensenada. Time to stock up on some needed supplies. It is suppose to rain in San Diego tomorrow which means Ensenada will probably get some rain too. As long as the roads stay decent it won’t matter. There is a section just south of Ensenada where they are repairing the road and there is a long section that is dirt so as long as that isn’t muddy it will be fine. It seemed to take us longer to get to Ensenada this time. We don’t know why. There wasn’t much traffic. Oh well. We arrived around 3:00pm and since we go right by the bank and WalMart, we stopped. Then we headed for the hotel. It was good timing as about an hour later the parking lot was filling up. We had thought about heading back to Home Depot after checking in, but once in our room, we decided we had enough road travel. We relaxed a little then went to McDonalds for dinner. I didn’t want much and the restaurant in the hotel was closed. We get our French fry fix this way. HA!!! Then it was back to the room to change clothes and relax. We watched T.V. then went to bed. We were up at 6:30am checked out by 7:00am and headed for Home Depot. We wanted to check out a couple things there and then we went across the street to Mega so I could get some of the items I couldn’t get at WalMart. Success!! Last stop Costco. It is fun to look at the outdoor furniture and whatever else Costco has on display for spring. It is fun to look and dream!! When we were finished at Costco, we fueled up and headed south to San Quintin. Dave made reservations for us at Jardines so we don’t have to worry about not getting a room. This place is wonderful and fills up quickly. No rain yet but it looks like it will tonight. Once at Jardines, we checked in then walked to the restaurant and had lunch. Afterward we came back to our room and Dave flipped through the channels to see what was available and I took a shower. Before long it was time to take part in Happy Hour at the restaurant so we walked over there and had a couple margaritas. We left the bar and went to the dining room and ordered dinner. I wasn’t very hungry as I had a big lunch so I ordered a chicken salad. By the time we were finished it had started raining so we got a little wet going to our room. Well we didn’t melt!!! Does that tell you anything about us??? Just kidding! We had turned the heater on in the room before we left for dinner so it was warming up nicely. We got comfy and watched T.V. When we went to bed we left the heater on low. The rooms are built with cement blocks and tile floors so they stay cold in the winter. In the morning we checked out and headed for the ATM one last time before leaving civilization! Then it was homeward bound. It was a beautiful sunny morning but we could see clouds south of us and wondered if it was going to be cloudy at home. We had a good trip but it was windy and we did hit some rain just north of Bahia. We got the jeep washed off which was good. It was cloudy in Bahia and it had rained but wasn’t at the time we arrived. It was starting to clear to the south. We fueled up, stopped to pick up milk, eggs and bread and headed for the house. We were told it rained here last night and this morning. Everything was wet and we had some puddles here and there. I don’t have to water plants for a while now which is good. We unloaded the jeep and carried everything upstairs and started putting it away. We had to run the generator later that afternoon to recharge the batteries and the great news is the windows I can’t reach to clean, got rinsed from the rain. Yahoo!!!! Looks like I need to get busy and wash the other windows now. I hadn’t washed them before going to Ensenada because the wind blew and it was cold. It’s on my list. We got back on a Wednesday and I played train on Friday with the gals. Some of the gals are starting to return so it is a fun big group!! After returning home from Train, I walked on the beach. There were all kinds of small fish coming to the shore. Dave took his fishing pole to see if he could catch some bigger fish, but he didn’t. We found out they were grunions mating. The female digs a whole in the sand just above the surf and the male fertilizes them. There were thousands of them. I have never witnessed such a sight before. It was awesome!! You could see tiny little pink eggs coming to the surface for the tide to take them out into the water. Awesome!!! Grunions are like smelt and I guess they come ashore every couple years to spawn. It is so great to be able to witness sea life. The down part of that though is finding dead turtles and baby seals on the beach. But it is the cycle of life and when these animals die it is food for coyotes, birds and other creatures. Today was grocery day. Even though we just got back from Ensenada, I needed to pick up a few things for my menu plan for the week. Penny was going to come with me but her and her husband Murray went to Guerrero Negro. It was a quick trip for me to town and back. Penny and Murray are coming to dinner tomorrow night so I am making my Mexican Lasagna and Key Lime pie. When I returned to the house I put the groceries away that needed to be refrigerated then took a walk on the beach before it got too windy. The wind has come up a little so I am glad I took my walk when I did. Now it is back to putting groceries away, exercising, cleaning the bathroom and making lunch. The sun is back and we are having some beautiful picture perfect days. We had a great dinner and visit with Penny and Murray. She brought homemade French bread and I sent them home with some lasagna. Jo had the gals over for Hand and Foot and Pinnacle today, Monday the 13th. My partner and I didn’t win the pot but it was fun none-the-less. I got my walk in as I walked to Jo’s and home again. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! We have been invited by Penny and Murray to join them for dinner at Los Viento’s tonight. The dinner was o.k. but the night was great. We had a good time with Penny and Murray and we also saw some other friends that showed up. We got a rain storm finally. It rained off and on the whole day and washed more of my windows I can’t reach!!! Yay!! We have needed the rain and at least I don’t have to water any plants for a while. Tuesday, the 21st Dave and I are going to Guerrero Negro to get our teeth cleaned and also get my molar that broke looked at. There is an hour difference between here and there so we will have to leave at 6:30am to get there by 11:00am their time. It takes at least 2-1/2 hours to get there and hopefully there won’t be a lot of cars on the road. We got our teeth cleaned and got good reports. I had him look at my molar and he said if I didn’t care what it looked like I could just have a metal cap put on it. If I wanted porcelain I would have to have a root canal and then a crown made. I told him it didn’t have to be pretty so I will go with the metal cap. I have to come back to be fitted for it then 2 weeks after that return to have it put on. Finally getting dental stuff taken care of. For the teeth cleaning it only cost us $89. Pretty inexpensive!! He was gentle and nice. Glad we finally have a dentist. There is suppose to be a permanent dentist sometime in Bahia, but don’t know when yet. We already have 2 doctors full time which is really nice and comforting. Before the full time doctors arrived, we would have the Good Samaritans come every 3 months. Things are improving here which is really good. The town has enough gingos and locals to make it worthwhile to have full time doctors and a dentist. Now if they would only get phone service so we can have a bank and ATM that would be a dream come true!!! Little by little the town is making progress. After leaving the dentist we stopped at the Super Mercado and picked up some swiss chard for Lois and came home. Today ended up being a windy one from the southwest. It is warmer than it has been too. At least the sun is shining and I was smart enough to take my beach walk before it came up. My house is all clean for the week so now I am going to do some cross stitching. Still working on that dragon and castle cross stitch. It’s coming along. The other morning Dave and I watched 3 coyotes get food from the beach. We aren’t sure what food it was, all we saw is something in their mouths as they were carrying it inland to munch. Dave took the jeep into town to get the oil changed and I walked to my friends’ house. I wasn’t far from my house when a coyote passed in front of me with his prize. He ran a little bit away from me then we both stopped and watched each other for a few minutes then we continued on our way. After Dave was finished in town he stopped at Penny and Murray’s on his way back to help clean up her computer. She was going to bake Chocolate Chip cookies for him, as a thank you, but hadn’t yet. Murray was a little disappointed as he wanted some too!! She will bake them and bring them over when she is done. It took Dave pretty much all day working on Penny’s computer. She had a virus and a bunch of stuff that was taking up a lot of memory. Dave ended up bringing it home with him so he could do a diagnostic test and run some cleanup programs. It was with us for a couple days. He finally got the computer as clean as he can and it seems to be working a little faster. She still has pictures on her hard drive she needs to take off and put on a thumb drive, but other than that it seems to be working o.k. Penny finally made Dave’s chocolate chip cookies. I made my oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies and gave them a bag full. Dave doesn’t like them as much as just plain toll house chocolate chip cookies. I made a large batch so after giving a bunch to Penny and Murray, I gave some to our guard and our neighbor. That way I don’t have them in the house to eat!!!! Last week I won the money pot at Train which was a huge surprise because I usually don’t so now I have lots of quarters. Each game we play one quarter goes in from each of the gals that are at the table. When someone wins a game they give up one quarter to the pot and keep the rest. At the end of the game whoever has the lowest score wins the pot!! If we play with number 18 dominoes, that adds up to a lot of games and quarters. Yahoo!!! Will my luck continue for next week? Only time will tell. I leave you with a beautiful picture of a Blue Heron, taken on our beach. You don't see a lot of them down this way so it is always a pleasure to see them.

Spring weather in Baja

Happy New Year or Feliz Años Nuevo!!!! I am not feeling really bad, but not too energetic. I did manage to unpack and straighten up the closet, and then it was reading and napping the rest of the time. I sure hope Dave doesn’t get this cold. I haven’t had a cold for a very long time!!! At least it is just a head cold and not one that settles in the chest. What a way to start the New Year, but I have a feeling it will be a good one anyway. We are only going to be home for a few days and then have to head back to Santa Rosalia to get our FM3’s renewed. We are expecting John and Sandy Eltrich on Wednesday. I am feeling a little better but still can’t get my head cleared. Good thing I have Sudafed. We had a wonderful visit with John and Sandy. They arrived Wednesday afternoon and stayed until Friday. They are heading to La Paz where they keep their boat. They have been in the states for 3 months and they are anxious to get home. Sandy and I had a nice shell searching afternoon on the beach. She collects all kinds of shells for her projects and I helped her find some interesting and unique ones as well. At low tide Dave went out and got some small clams to cook for an appetizer. They were really good. After dinner they taught us a new card game called pegs and jokers. It is really a fun game to play with partners. Sandy and I won a game and Dave and John won 2. Oh well. We had fun. My head is slowly clearing and I am starting to feel better with a little more energy. It’s a good thing because we leave on Sunday for Santa Rosalia. The trip to Santa Rosalia was nice. There were hardly any cars or trucks on the road. After getting settled on the boat, Dave went up and checked in with Lily at the office. Tomorrow we will go to the immigration office and see about our FM3’s. The weather is windy and a bit cold. I had a hard time keeping warm. I resorted to wearing a sweatshirt under a fleece jacket and a scarf around my neck when we walked to town for dinner. Yesh!!! We took our FM3’s along with filled out the forms to the immigration office. We didn’t have to have pictures taken because we had some left over from last year. All we needed to do was go to the bank, sign a form, pay and bring a receipt back to the office. We needed a letter written saying we have our boat at the marina, to show residency in Santa Rosalia, and asked if they could do it or if they wanted Lily at the marina to supply it. The lady that was doing our paperwork said she would type one for us but it would cost us $200 pesos. Since she knew exactly what to write, we had her do it. It was worth it to us to pay the extra fee. We also got a copy of the letter which we didn’t the last time so next year we can type our own. After we finished with everything we asked when we could pick up our renewed FM3’s. They told us maybe Monday, which is a week from now. We asked if there was a possibility we could get them by Friday because we were going north in a few days, and they said they would try but no guarantee. We didn’t do much that day on the boat. Just took it easy. Tuesday is here and I am ready to clean. I vacuumed under all the deck plates that we can lift without taking screws out, the floor, dusted, cleaned the inside of the refrigerator, and wiped up the mildew and mold from underneath our head. That was a job both of us said we would do but never really wanted too. No one would see it unless they took the deck plate in front of the head up, but we knew it was there and it needed to be cleaned up. It was a healthy issue as well as an eye sore. These were things I had said I was going to do but never did until today. The boat looks good. I don’t know how the rest of this transpired, but we ended up moving the boat to a different slip. There is a sailboat moored at the beginning of the dock and it hardly has any bird doo on it. So Dave took a look at the slip next to the sailboat and also the one across from it and did a depth check at low tide. It is deep enough to get our boat in and out and not have it touch bottom at real low tides. After Dave was finished doing his thing he asked me to come with him to see which slip I thought was best. I chose the one next to the sailboat as it is less exposed to the panga and wind waves. Plus the finger pier that is between us and the sailboat is in better shape than the one on the other side of the dock. After the decision was made where we were moving the boat to, we went back to the boat to get her ready to move. Alberto, the man that washes our boat twice a month, said he would give us a hand when we came into the new slip. The only thing we had to be concerned about was missing the panga motors as we backed into the slip. They have a few pangas tied up on a small pier across from the new slip and the motors stick out so we wanted to be sure we didn’t snag one going by. Dave did an excellent job backing into the slip and we cleared the pangas by a comfortable distance. Once we got settled in our new slip I washed the dodger windshield and the windshield cover. Then Dave pressure washed the areas that had bird doo spots and surprisingly they came up. Hooray!!! I think we have more water pressure due to us being at the head of the dock. Now if we can keep the birds off our spreaders we will be doing great. I think I am going to like where we are. We get the sun in the morning and in the afternoon. In our old slip we got the sun in the cockpit in the morning and very little in the afternoon. I will have fun sitting in the cockpit now, in the sun, reading. That is until it starts getting too hot for that. Hopefully we won’t have the boat by then. One can only hope and pray. To our amazement, we had no cormorants sitting on our spreaders for 2 days prior to our leaving!!!! I sure hope it stays that way. We were in their flight pattern before but now that we are close to shore; they don’t seem to be interested in us anymore. All I can say is Halleluiah!!!!!! If the birds don’t find us, we may be able to keep the boat clean!!! What a novel concept!!! While we were on the boat we got a visit from a gal we befriended while in La Paz. She has a Hunter 42 and we became good friends. She was on her way to La Paz, as she lives in San Diego, to check on her boat and stopped by to leave us her card. She didn’t expect us to be on the boat. We chatted for a short time, and found out she wants to take her boat to San Carlos to have it hauled out and the bottom painted. San Carlos is on the mainland and if you leave from Santa Rosalia it is a straight shot across the Sea of Cortez. It is an overnighter as opposed to 3 or 4 days to get to La Paz. If we do that we will try and hook up with Marti and travel together. That would be fun. It was good to see her. Wednesday, Dave went to the Immigration Office to see how the FM3’s were progressing and found out they will be ready to pick up on Thursday. So that means we will be heading back to the house on Friday. That worked out great. Larry and Lois, our landlords, are back down here and they brought down some wine, a piece of ¾” plywood and paint for the deck. Larry gets what we need to keep up the house and we do the labor. They also brought down a new blind for us as another one bit the dust. The cords rot out within a year or two, depending on how much sun shines on them. I eventually want to get the honeycomb opaque shades. They will hold up and insulate better. But of course that is a long way down the road. I can’t believe the weather we are having!!! It is like spring. We haven’t had a lot of wind this winter which is unusual. We have had more cloud cover, however, as opposed to last year which means we have to run the generator at the end of those days in order for the batteries to charge. It is part of living off the grid and we like it. It reminds us of living on the boat so we feel right at home. We were invited to Larry’s birthday party on Sunday the 21st. He had just a few people over to celebrate, serving homemade ice cream and cake. Yummmm!!!! I’ve been walking the beach and looking for treasures. Sometimes I find really neat stuff and other times not so much. On one walk I brought my camera with me and took pictures of a bird I hadn’t seen before. When I got back to the house I looked it up and found it was an Oyster Catcher.

I finally got a picture of one of the coyotes that come around often. I would like to get a better picture but for now all I can do is share this one with you. It still has its winter coat and it looks like it has been running.

It took Dave a couple days to pound out the old piece of plywood from the deck and get the new one in place. He had to take a 2x4 and from underneath the deck, pound on the edges of the bad piece of plywood until he was able to loosen it enough to pull it up from the top side. Once it was up we took the nails and screws, yes! Larry used both, and we left the old piece of plywood over the hole until he could get the new one in place. The next day he painted the bottom and sides of the new plywood with white paint to seal it, and then when it was dry put it in place on the deck. It was frustrating for him because he wanted to get it screwed down in one day, but his batteries to his drill were dead so he had to charge them overnight. Once the board was screwed in place, the painting of the deck and railing started. I began painting the railings from the bottom of the stairs to the top while Dave painted the deck. It took us 2 days to paint it all and the wind held off for most of it. We have some touching up to do but will do that when the wind stops blowing so hard. We ended up sleeping in the trailer one night because all the screens on the windows were rattling. This spring I think I will have to stuff something between the screens and frame to keep them from doing that every time the wind blows at a brisk pace. I’m glad we have another place to sleep when the wind decides to howl. Our neighbors, Mary and George, invited us to dinner the other night and they served halibut they caught the day before at a place called San Rafael, which is about 2 hours south of the house. It was really good. We had a nice time. Last night we celebrated Lois’ birthday at a restaurant north of town, called Los Vientos, meaning, The Wind. We had a nice time. Usually Dave wants to leave as soon as the festivities are over, but he was having a good time talking to a couple of the guys. It was good to see him getting to know some of the guys down here. We’ve been invited to a Super Bowl party, so we will probably show up for that but not stay for the whole game. We aren’t big football watchers unless teams we like are playing. I know-----kind of one sided, but that is the way it is! HA!! It will be fun to mingle with the group of people. It will also be good that Dave will mingle with the guys to get to know them better and them him. We have one more day left in this month and it was a gorgeous one. A nice breeze about 73 degrees and lots of sunshine!!! I chose to vacuum, shake rugs, clean my counters and dust. Woohoo!!! Exciting eh?! Well I decided I have been putting it off way too long so better get to it. I’m in the spring cleaning mode now. Tomorrow I clean the bathroom and start on the inside of the windows. They are soooo dirty we can hardly see out of them. When the sun shines through them it makes it worse. Just stuff that needs to be done. I don’t like to clean but I always like having a clean house. One nice thing about this house is it is small so it doesn’t take me long.

Frio in December for Mexico

We had a visitor the other day. I discovered a stick bug on the planter at the bottom of the steps! They are fascinating creatures. Here are a couple pictures.

December has roared in like a lion!!! We had 61 mph sustained winds and gusts of 69 mph starting at 10:00pm November 30. The news said that San Diego was going to get hit with high winds, but it missed them and came down to us. The northern part of San Diego got hit with hurricane force winds, but the southern part got nothing. At least we didn’t have hurricane force winds but it was strong enough to have us sleep in the trailer. Usually it is a lot quieter and we can get some sleep, but this time it sounded as though our metal roof over the trailer and bamboo room was going to fly off. It might not have been as bad as sleeping in the house with windows rattling and the toilet vibrating, but let’s just say we didn’t get any sleep. The sand was blowing everywhere and rocks were hitting the trailer windows. The worst of it was before dawn. Dave got up and moved to the bamboo room across the breeze way from the trailer and I stayed behind because I was warm and didn’t want to move. After about an hour (at least that is what it felt like) Dave came back and said it sounded like the roof was trying to fly away and we should get out of the trailer just in case. So we trudged to the house fighting the wind and sand as we went. It was hard to walk up the stairs but we held on to the banister and took it slow. At least the wind was from the south west so as we walked up the stairs the wind was partially blocked by the house. By this time the sun was working its way up behind the mountains so I started perking coffee. There was no sleeping until maybe later that afternoon. After the sun made an appearance and started to warm up the air, the wind started to subside. We went outside to assess any damage we might have incurred from the wind, and were pleasantly surprised there wasn’t any. The roof over the trailer was intact and all was fine. We did have the two beach signs I made come loose from the post they were nailed into, but surprisingly they didn’t blow away. They just dropped down on the ground and stayed there. So Dave will fix them in a day or two. Because the house isn’t tightly sealed, there was a ton of it inside the house along the window sills and doors. I spent the day vacuuming the blinds, window sills and of course everything else. I figured as long as the vacuum was out and the generator running, I might as well clean it all. Surprisingly I never took a nap that afternoon. It has appeared that our weather has changed drastically so we are experiencing cold temps due to the north winds and clouds. At least the clouds don’t stick around for a long time. The people that have come down from the States for the fall are slowly leaving to go back to the states for the holidays. Then after the 1st they will all start trickling down again until May or June time frame. The new guard is working out fine and he seems to be enjoying his solitude. Our neighbor Joanne had inverter problems so Dave is over at her house trying to figure out what went wrong. This is the second one in a year to go south on her. Needless to say Dave couldn’t find anything wrong with it. He thinks there is a design flaw since it has only been 7 months since she exchanged the first one that went belly up. She is leaving here soon so is trying to order another one and have her son bring it down with him when he comes to visit. Poor gal. At least she has a small generator she can run for lights. The time is arriving fast to when we will be leaving here and going to Santa Rosalia to start the process of renewing our FM3’s and going to San Jose del Cabo for Christmas. We have a free week at our time share so we decided we would take advantage of it and join Ron, Noreen, J.T., Carolyn and their 2 sons. We are really looking forward to it. The temps will be in the 80’s and we will have a blast!!! Chores don’t seem so bad when you have a fun trip to look forward to, so I have been busy with defrosting the refrigerator, washing clothes and cleaning. John and Sandy Eltrich will be stopping here after the New Year so I have their room all cleaned and the bed set up. It will be nice to see them again. I made chocolate chip cookies to give to the soldiers that work the military search stops. There are a couple military stops on the way to Santa Rosalia so I thought it would be nice to leave them a little taste of home for Christmas. Yesterday, the 11th, there was a quarter mile race in the desert flats not far from our house. I watched through field glasses to see when activities were going to start and cars showing up. After awhile I walked over to see what was going on. Just before I got to the festivities, there was a race with 2 horses so didn’t get to take pictures of it. There were a few Americans that hadn’t gone north yet so I talked with them and was introduced to a couple I hadn’t met before. I took some pictures of the horses and some other things, but after an hour of waiting around for more racing, it didn’t happen.

The sun was going down and it was going on 4:00pm so I finally said goodbye and walked home. Apparently this race comes to Bahia about every 3 years. They travel to the different towns and I guess it is a fun thing. What I saw today didn’t seem very exciting, but at least I checked it out and got a walk in as well. Today is bathroom cleaning and packing for Cabo. We invited our neighbor Joanne over for dinner tonight as she is leaving to go to the states Wednesday and won’t be back until February. Dave took one of our propane tanks along with one from Joannes’ to town to get them filled. The propane truck came to town yesterday and started to head south to where we are, but turned around and headed north to La Gringa. By the time the truck serviced the town and La Gringa, they were out of propane. They told the people in La Gringa they would return next Sunday and service those of us who are south of town. Unfortunately, both Joanne and us will be gone so we had to take the empty tanks to Yolanda’s in town, and exchange the empty ones for full. Dave was hoping to get the jeep washed before leaving on Wednesday, but when he stopped by to see Sammy, he was really busy putting windshield wipers on cars since this is the first heavy rain we have had for a year. Sammy suggested Dave come back tomorrow. Little by little things both of us are getting things we need and want to get done, done. We got a little rain last night, but not enough to really wet anything. We are getting all the weather from the 4 corners, (clouds and wind) but at least it doesn’t stay for days and months like in Washington!! And it is still in the low 70’s!! We have received more rain in the last couple days then we have the 2 years we have lived here. We had rain again early this morning and we are still getting sprinkles from time to time. Dave took the jeep into town to get it washed and waxed. It looks as though it is really raining that way. The sun keeps trying to peek out from behind the clouds. I hope it does because I did a small tub of laundry and need it to dry today since we are leaving tomorrow, the 14th for Santa Rosalia. This morning we had a double rainbow and it was gorgeous!!! I took a couple pictures through the windows, so one is streaked with rain and the other one isn’t. It was raining too much to go outside and take the picture. The picture with the rain streaks is at the back of the house and the other is facing north toward town.

Just as I got my pictures downloaded for the blog, another rainbow showed up to the north so here are a couple better pictures. Rainbows are always beautiful.

You would have never known it rained yesterday. The roads for the most part were dry and the only indications of rain were puddles here and there. We left this morning for Santa Rosalia. We will be there until Monday the 19th then we will drive to La Paz. There we will stay for 2 days to check out availability for mooring our boat and the cost, among other things. Wednesday the 21st we drive to our timeshare at Royal Solaris, in San Jose del Cabo. It should be a fun trip. The boat looks really good and the stainless steel also. Alberto has done a wonderful job keeping it clean. We stopped at the bus station on our way back from dinner tonight and found out we won’t be saving any money taking the bus as opposed to driving. It will cost $1053.00 pesos for each of us one way and they don’t stop in La Paz. So Dave did the math with distance and gas and it works out to be about the same money, maybe a little less. That was the cost from Santa Rosalia to San Jose del Cabo. So we will drive to La Paz, stay a couple days then leave on Wednesday, the 21st for Royal Solaris in San Jose del Cabo. Since we are driving we can stop at Costco in Cabo San Lucas and get a few things. We went to the office of immigration in Santa Rosalia today and they were closed for an office BBQ, but Javier, the man we see for our FM3’s, was there and answered our questions. He doesn’t want to do FM3’s before January 9th, so we don’t have to worry about them right now. We will have a relaxing time on the boat before heading to Royal Solaris, and on our trip back we will stop for a night in La Paz then be on the boat the 29th. We will spend the night and head for Bahia and be home on the 30th. That means we will have to turn around and come back to Santa Rosalia on the 9th of January to process our FM3’s but that will be alright. Sandy and John Eltrich will be coming to visit us on the 3rd so now I can tell them we will be home before the 3rd. We weren’t sure what was going to happen until we talked to Javier and knew what we were doing with the FM3’s. So it is working out. We needed to get a new tarp to replace the one that is now on the boat and ripped to shreds. We walked down to the hardware store not far from the marina and as Dave was picking out the tarp, I snooped in the room where they have all the Christmas decorations and more. After Dave paid for the tarp we walked back to the boat and dropped it off and then walked to the other marina just up from where the hardware store is. Our friend, Jim has his boat there to have some work done on it so we stopped in to say hi and wish him a Merry Christmas. After talking for a few minutes we said goodbye and Dave walked back to our boat while I went on to walk the breakwater. The wind hadn’t picked up too strong yet so I got my exercise walk in. It was refreshing. This afternoon Dave noticed the bilge pump light went on and wondered if the bilge was full. I checked and it had a little water in it but not so much you would think it would trigger the switch to drain the bilge. We just blew it off. Well after getting back from dinner tonight and both of us sitting at out computers, Dave noticed the light go on again. This was a little unsettling because it doesn’t do that unless there is water coming from somewhere. So he checked all sources that water could drain into the bilge and they were dry. The next step was to check outside where the hose from the dock goes to the boat. He opened the back locker and found everything wet. Not a good thing to find. The hose from the dock is hooked into the water connector on the boat. This allows us to use dock water rather than draining our water tanks on the boat. Apparently water is leaking around the connection. So for tonight we aren’t using the water from the dock. We will either run from a tank on board or walk up and use the facilities before going to bed. Tomorrow we will empty the locker and let everything dry and then we will have a better idea what is going on. I get to clean sump pumps (2) tomorrow too. What fun!!!! Part of the boat life. Doing chores you really don’t want to do but HAVE to!!!! Dave found the problem to our leak. The washer in one end of the connector was shot. He put a new fitting on and also a check valve. It works great now. That was easy and it is really good that Dave bought a few of those parts to have on the boat. He also tried to fix the galley sink faucet from leaking. It is better but still leaks a little. He will need to get some sealant to put on it. We can get that probably in La Paz. I filled the forward water tank just in case of emergency if there is no dock water. That way we can still shower and flush the toilets and wash dishes. After doing that I cleaned the sump pump to the shower. It wasn’t really dirty, just needed the filter cleaned, so that was a quick and easy job!!! I didn’t need to clean the other one since it was clean. That is the one the refrigerator drains into. I walked to town and got a few groceries and stopped at the pharmacy to get Dave’s medication and my B-Complex pain killer. They had the medicine for Dave but not the pain killers so I will need to either go back tomorrow or Sunday. No worries!!! Dave talked to Alberto this morning and found out he won’t be washing the boat until around the 28th or 29th. So Dave pressure washed it to get some of the bird doo off and dust from the mine. We took the dinghy off the boat and put it on the dock and wrapped a new tarp around it to protect it from the elements. I think we are going to store it in the cockpit so Alberto can wash the deck where it was stowed. Since it sat in one spot for so long there is a stain on deck which we tried to scrub with oxi-clean and fiber glass stain remover but only managed to dull it. We will pick up some baking soda on our way back from Cabo and have it so to scrub the stain. That is what we used when we had the bird doo stains so bad before and it worked well. Of course it took a lot of scrubbing but it worked!!! I did a load of laundry today and will do another one tomorrow since we are leaving for La Paz on Monday. The dryers are hooked up to propane again so I don’t have to hang the clothes on the lifelines!! The tarp we bought the other day will be laid out and secured tomorrow, under the boom, so we can keep that area clean of bird doo. We are really pleased with the work Alberto has done on the boat. The cockpit was even clean to where I didn’t have to rinse it and the stainless steel has been wiped down. That was nice. After coming back from dinner and stopping at the crepe place at the head of the marina for desert, Dave was on his computer and I was reading when there was a knock on the boat. Dave went out to see who it was and it was Carlos the diver. There are some men here cleaning and painting the pilings and Carlos was one of the divers. He was bringing Dave back his car keys!! Talk about amazing!! Dave had gone to the jeep earlier to get his sunglasses and then stopped at the bathroom before coming back to the boat. Apparently he hung the keys on the hook of the door and walked off without them. Who says there aren’t good people in this world and in Mexico!!!!! I would have hated to have the keys fall into the wrong hands as we would be without a vehicle and that would suck!!! What a nice surprise!! Today is Sunday and the day to secured the tarp on the deck, shine some stainless steel, exercise, pack things up and do another load of laundry, as we leave in the morning for La Paz. Well things didn’t go as smoothly as we thought they would with the tarp. As it turns out we bought one that was huge, a 19x16. We needed a 10x12. So we ended up walking into town to the hardware store and getting one quite a bit smaller; but not a grey one which is the better quality. The blue tarps don’t last as long but for now it will have to do. Once back on the boat we laid it out and secured it. After the tarp was in place I cleaned the stainless steel stantions on the deck. It didn’t take long and at least they will be protected for another month or so. The laundry is done, so is the packing and all we have to do tomorrow is unhook water and power and close up the boat and we are headed south. Hooray!!! We are in La Paz and having a great time. We are staying at a place called Casa Buena, a Bed and Breakfast, which is a unique place run by some ex-cruisers. The place runs itself practically. Here are some pictures of the place and one outside our room.

They have Mexican maids and the guests help themselves to what is in the kitchen for breakfast which is included in the price of the room. The owners have 2 children, a horse, 2 cats, and 2 dogs, thus the picture of the play house, which Dave said I would be in 7th heaven along with the toy riding cars. Ha!!

The place is very relaxing and it has been fun mixing with the guests. One guest was a guy named Dave who used to play for the Dallas Cowboys. He is retired now and enjoying life. We ate at a restaurant tonight called Banditos. We had hamburgers and onion rings. Mmmmm!! Very good! Dave took a pair of his dress shoes to the cobbler to have the bottoms replaced and should pick them up tomorrow before we leave for San Jose del Cabo. Noreen, Ron, J.T., Carolyn, Christian and Nathan arrive at Royal Solaris about 5:00pm. We will be there much earlier and will enjoy just hanging out until our room is ready. We went to see Andrea at Palmira Marina today to find out what they will charge for our boat after March. It’s a bunch!! We will have to think this through carefully so we have 3 months to mull it over. We talked to our boat broker and even boats our size aren’t selling. The advantages of having the boat in La Paz is the availability for people flying in to look for a boat, getting things replaced or repaired, and the biggest of them all would be no birds pooping on our boat. Today is the day we leave for San Jose del Cabo and I am anxious to be on our way. Before we go we have to wait for the shoe repair place to open so Dave can get his shoes. He is supposed to open at 10:00am but since we are in Mexico it is whenever. Needless to say we ended up giving money to Susu and asked if she would pick them up for us and we would get them from her when we return. By now it is after 11:00am so we had to go. We decided not to go through Todo Santos as we heard there was a lot of road construction and it would take longer than going along the Sea of Cortez side. It took about 2-1/2 hours and it was a nice drive with beautiful scenery. The last time we came this way was on a bus and it was at night so we didn’t see anything. The further south we went the warmer the weather. We are really looking forward to warmer temperatures. We arrived at Royal Solaris and got checked in and had some strong margaritas!!! Our room was ready so we were able to go straight there after check-in. We are on the main level and have a room that is on the corner which looks out to the beach and ocean and also to the pool. NICE!!!! After we unpacked we went to the lobby to wait for Ron, Noreen, J.T., Carolyn, Christian and Nathan. I got a gin and tonic and did it ever pack a wallop!!!! Welcome to the world of all inclusive and powerful drinks!! When the gang arrived we were so happy to see them and gave hugs all around. Then we went with them as they checked in. Then it was time for them to go to their rooms and unpack and meet us later for dinner. There is a French buffet at our favorite restaurant, Panchos’, so that is where we will be having dinner. Everyone was freshened up and ready to have a good dinner and a good time. Happy Christmas vacation to us all!!!! Christian and Nathan took off on their own and had dinner together and were exploring when the rest of us were ready to eat. The dinner was great and Noreen was very happy to have French cuisine. After dinner we went to the lobby to listen to music and dance. The guys, Christian and Nathan, were trying all kinds of drinks and having a great time.

It is great to have Ron, Noreen, J.T., and Carolyn here and I know we will have a ball. It is also great to see Christian and Nathan and get to visit with them a little. Of course they didn’t hang with us much. Ya think!!!! The next day we had some early morning cloud cover and it was cold to us but comfortable to the rest of the gang. We were disappointed because we have never been there when it has been cold before. Needless to say we had about 3 days of the clouds which burned off by noon and then became hazy in the afternoon. Us gals still donned the suits and stretched out by the pool. Sure hope the weather clears up. Tonight we had dinner at the Mediterranean restaurant. The food was delicious and everyone had dessert except me. I was stuffed!!!!! They didn’t have my favorite, Crème Bruele, otherwise I probably would have had dessert and then suffered for it. We left the restaurant and went to the lobby to listen to music, watch people dance, and of course dancing for us!!! Oh and drinking!! We old folks stayed until the band finished, which was about 11-11:30pm and the boys found friends their age and took off to do their partying and mischief until the wee hours of the morning. Today is a walk to San Jose to do some shopping and tasting of tequila. J.T. was going to take a cab as his hip was really hurting, but then ended up not going. He was hurting too much. So it was Carolyn, Nathan, Christian, Noreen, Ron, Dave and I. All of us bought something to take back with us and then there was tequila tasting and purchasing. By the time we got back to Royal Solaris it was about 3:00pm. Just enough time to chill before dinner. We are going back to Panchos’ tonight. J.T. got a massage while we were gone and was able to relax a bit. I gave him some of my B-complex pain reliever and he is feeling much better. We all met for cocktails in the lobby then at 6:00pm went to Panchos’ to have a wonderful meal and our waiter was fantabulous!!! His name is Ventura. He made Mexican coffee for us with the flaming tequila and did a great job. We are glad that art hasn’t vanished. Everyone in the restaurant got to watch him make it. It’s quite a show if you haven’t seen it and the coffee is wonderful!! We also had dessert and then left to go to the lobby to enjoy music. After the band was packed up and gone we retired for the night. Another fine day was had by all. Today is Christmas Eve. For the Mexicans it is their Christmas and Christmas day not much is going on. We ate at Panchos’ and ordered off their special Christmas menu. Again we had a wonderful dinner and Carolyn couldn’t stop taking pictures of the food as it was presented very well. We all were having a really good time and it was nice to be spending Christmas Eve and Christmas with good friends. After dinner everyone came to our room to exchange gifts; drinking brandy and almond tequila. Merry Christmas!!!! For us, it was a day of lying on the beach, reading, catching up with news about home, or snoozing. What better way to spend Christmas. And get this----the clouds have gone away and it’s warmer. It would be warmer yet if the wind would quit blowing. Tonight is what they call the Gala dinner where we will be outside. I sure hope the wind subsides. We all got dressed up in our finest and unfortunately we thought the wind was dying when it picked up again and we had to wear sweaters and jackets.

We had a fancy dinner and a band played music while we dined. Unfortunately we couldn’t wait for it to end so we could get somewhere warm!!! We had a good time and here are some pictures of the evening.

I did keep to my exercise program and even used the weight room to walk on the tread mill or use the elliptical. I had too as I was eating and drinking way more than I do. Hey----I’m on vacation from my vacation!!!!! HaHa!!!! Royal Solaris has a house tour for the owners and their guests so we went on a catamaran boat ride out of Cabo San Lucas. They take the boat out of Cabo San Lucas and motor to a spot for snorkeling. On the way you can drink all you want, if you could get through their powerful drinks. Upon arrival at the snorkel spot, those that wish to snorkel are given life vests, flippers and masks. The rest of us that don't go get first dibs on lunch. Nathan, J.T., and Christian snorkeled while the rest of us watched and took pictures and started lunch. Once everyone was back on board the engines fired up and we were jostling our way around other boats that arrived to do the same thing. Once out of the little harbor, we headed back to Cabo. Here are some great pictures as we were leaving Cabo.

The boat ride to and from the snorkeling spot was lumpy as the wind had been blowing for the last few days making the seas lumpy. I was glad when we were heading back to the marina. It was a fun trip but not as much fun as it had been in the past for us. They used a different boat than what they have had in the past and the cocktail tables were not bolted down so we had to be really careful not to push or pull on them and hold on to our drinks so when the boat rocked they wouldn’t go flying. We saw one whale but he was too far away to get a good picture. Unfortunately we didn’t see any more. The seagulls were out in force hoping to get some tasty morsels from the people on board.

As we got closer to the entrance of the marina, we saw people para sailing.

When we returned to Royal Solaris we recuperated in our rooms or by the pool until it was time to go to dinner. We met in the lobby for cocktails and then at 7:00pm we attended the Mexican buffet and show. There were some really tasty dishes and the show was on the history of dance in Mexico. Afterwards we went to the lobby for a while and then called it a night. Tuesday, Ron, J.T., Christian and Nathan got up at the crack of dawn to go fishing. Dave didn’t go since he has been 2 or 3 times before, and he wanted the rest of the guys to experience it on their own. Carolyn, Noreen and I agreed to meet in Noreen's room to watch the sun rise. So at 6:30am I walked over to Noreen's room, but no Carolyn yet. Noreen made coffee and we stood out on her balcony waiting. Finally Carolyn showed up before the sun rose. We got some really nice pictures.

After the sun was up and we chatted for a few minutes, I left and went back to my room to have coffee with Dave. The guys were gone all day and just got back in time to freshen up and change clothes for dinner. They had a great time and caught dorado. They released all but one and had that frozen. They were tired, sunburned, and happy fishermen!!! Tonight is Caribbean Night where we have dinner outside and it is a buffet with a show. It wasn’t as cold tonight as it was when we had the Gala dinner. The area where we are dining tonight is farther away from the beach and more protected from the wind. The food was delicious and the entertainment sublime. There was a band, fire twirling acts, a couple dancing and performing on stilts, drums, and dancing girls that could shake their bootie which pleased the guys!!!!

We received beads and masks and had a chance to get up and join the group dancing around all the tables. It was fun but really fun to watch Christian dance with the two dancing girls!!!

It was definitely a fun night and one everyone will remember. When the show was over, we headed for the lobby to enjoy more music and visit with the people around us. Fun, Fun, Fun!!!! J.T. and Dave made arrangements with Panchos’ matre’d, Juaquin, to cook the dorado the guys caught on Tuesday. This is our last night at Royal Solaris so we wanted to celebrate with the fish the guys caught. The matre’d, took care of everything for us. J.T. and his sons walked to San Jose together so the guys could show dad the town. Remember J.T. was hurting so he didn’t go with us the first time. Dave, myself, Ron, Noreen and Carolyn stayed behind and enjoyed a wonderful sunny warm day on the beach. The weather finally was like what we remembered it had been in the past. Of course we are leaving tomorrow, but at least we got a couple nice warm days in. Later in the afternoon we decided to go to the pool where it is only for adults. I needed to walk so I told them I would see them after I got back. I had a nice leisurely walk on the beach and when I returned to the pool I was told I had to get in. It was warm!!!! So I did and it was wonderful!! We had no idea it was a heated pool. Shoot we would have been hanging out by this pool most of the time. Oh well. It was something to file in our minds for next time. Dave didn’t join us at the pool as he had some things he wanted to do. That evening we went to Panchos’ and ordered a salad or soup, and then the fish came out. WOW!!!! It was so good!!! It was very tasty, flaky, and cooked to perfection. We asked to see the chef and when he came out we gave him a standing ovation. I gave him a hug and thanked him for doing a wonderful job. Then it was cheers to the fishermen!!!! We couldn’t have had a better dinner for our last evening here. We had dessert and ordered Mexican Coffee again with our favorite waiter, Ventura. While he did his act, we ooed and awed so that everyone in the restaurant was looking. We were drumming up business for Ventura. Most people don’t know you can ask for it. It isn’t printed on the menu. Actually for the owners it is a free service. Hopefully there were more people who ordered it. We said our goodbyes to Ventura, and Juaquin and told them we were leaving tomorrow. We thanked them for the wonderful dinner and service we received. Then we headed to the lobby one last time. Tonight is Karaoke and even though Dave hates it, he stuck around. Actually it wasn’t bad as most of the singers were kids. No bad singing this time. We hated to call it a night, but every good thing must come to an end. So we said goodnight and made plans to meet for breakfast. Well today is the day we go our separate ways. Dave and I need to leave around 11:00am to head back to the bed and breakfast in La Paz. Ron, Noreen, Carolyn, J.T. and sons leave around 1:00pm to catch a shuttle to the airport. While we were waiting for everyone to get together so we could have a group picture, Christian took pictures of the 3 hot Amigas!!!!

We had Mason, who was our concierge for our stay, take a group picture. Two of the pictures are with a Bell Hop. Mason didn’t realize until the 3rd picture that he was part of the group. Everyone is funny and great!!!

Here is the picture of the gang.

We said goodbyes in the lobby and then moved it outside as they were following us to our car. Carolyn wanted a picture in front of the fountain and then Nathan had to have his favorite picture taken. Needless to say, mom and Christian were not real happy to comply, but they did and here it is.

Then I got a great picture of the Thomas’.

We had such a great trip and were sad to say goodbye, but the good part is we will see them all in a few months when we drive to Washington State to see family and friends!!! So it is something to look forward too. Dave and I had a very nice trip back to La Paz. We decided not to go to Costco because it was closer to Cabo San Lucas and out of our way. Once back at the Bed and Breakfast Dave was able to get his shoes he was supposed to have picked up before we left for San Jose del Cabo. The man did a beautiful job and Dave is happy. For some reason I was really tired so I didn’t do much socializing. I went to our room and read and ended up falling asleep. Dave watched the Huskies play and lose, but he had a nice visit with the folks that stayed and watched the game. We were up early and since we were already packed, Dave paid the bill and we said goodbye to those who were up. We are headed for Santa Rosalia to stay the night on the boat. I know why I was so tired yesterday. I am coming down with a cold!!!! Blah!! Not too happy about that but at least I caught it at the end of our vacation. When we got to the boat, I washed clothes and we went into town for dinner then came back and went to bed early. It had been a long day in the car. I am looking forward to getting home. It has been fun, but it is always nice to come back home. We made really good time as it is New Year’s Eve and hardly anyone on the road. We extended our stay at Royal Solaris by a day as the rest of the gang made their reservations to end on the 29th. We had no problem keeping the room we had so it worked out just fine. We didn’t know until Noreen got there that they were staying a day more than us. No worries. We saw a truck that had driven off the road into an embankment which wasn’t a good thing. Luckily he crossed the road to the left instead of the right; otherwise it would have been very tragic. We did see an ambulance, but it didn’t have a siren going so hopefully the person or persons inside were going to be all right. Dave said the driver must have fallen asleep at the wheel, and commented about our lucky break when I did that. There is a God!! When we got home it was early enough for me to take a nap so I slept the afternoon away. We had hot dogs for dinner. Hey----at least they were turkey dogs and it was simple. I didn’t feel like cooking. We watched some T.V., had some brandy and about 10:00pm called it a night. Hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year. This is an Osprey in our yard ready to take off.

May this be a symbol for all of us for the New Year. May our year take off and be productive and full of life.