Valley of the Ciros

The Cirro or Boojum cactus has got to be one of the strangest ones. It is indigenous to Baja. It looks like an upside down carrot covered with roots. When it rains it grows leaves on its trunk and flowers on its top. When its dry it just looks like a silver carrot. It has a very thick bark and is pretty useless, although some unique furnature is made from it. It can grow to be over 30 feet tall and it will take ovder 300 years to get that tall. So, these cirros are very old cactus,double click on the picture and you will see Dawne and I standing at the base of a very tall cirro. These are very rigid plants, like many cactus they do not move in a strong wind which I guess is how they have survived many hurricanes.

Early Start - for us

These photos are taken from Estero Beach at Ensenada. The water was a bit chilly to me for swimming, however it was the Christmas/New Years holiday and there were many Mexicans enjoying the water. The dot of light you can see in one of the sunset pictures is the light on the ship - taken with my new Olympus camera.

We were on the way to the border by 9:15 New Years Day, had our visas stamped by 10, and were on our way! We were a bit worried that there would be no official in Tecate to stamp our visas, or even the possibility that the border would be closed New Years Day – but no – it’s a very functional border now, it even has new lights.

We had an early lunch at our usual stop and thought we would be in Ensanada shortly thereafter – no such luck. Most of the remainder of the road into Ensanada was under construction – what a mess! It took us forever. Well, we arrived about 2:30, made a quick stop at Walmart and were set to go on to Estero Beach (a nice resort on the south side of Ensanada). We met an Oregon man in the parking lot at Walmart who was completely beside himself. He was lost, was waving a map around and was quite desparate for help He had no Spanish and much to his dismay no one he spoke to could speak English. He was so glad he found us! He did have some info about El Faro Beach RV park next to Estero Resort. We had already been thinking of trying this park out so we escorted him there since we knew where we were going and he definitely did not.

Ensanada is a confusing city and its easy to get lost there. This would be something I would not like to have happen if I was this guy – he had a big truck with a huge hand built container on the back and was towing a 22 foot trailer. Not exactly a city vehicle. Also, in his state of mind he really needed to find a safe spot to just relax and chill out. He admitted he was a worrier and he had all his worldly possessions with him. He was planning on moving to Mexico. Interesting since he didn’t seem to have any idea what he was doing… and he spoke no Spanish. He was a victim of the recession and his response was to take off.

Meanwhile back at home…

We received a text message from Natasha to call her about the house. The inverter wasn’t working and she was concerned. Lorne had Mike go up to trouble shoot it, he turned it off since it was not working properly at all. Lorne set about finding a replacement on the internet since its toast. Good thing for such responsible kids! Michael has been requisitioned to install a new inverter once Lorne figures out which one to buy.

Onward
Next night at El Pabilllon – a beautiful white sand beach 4 hours south of Ensenada (at mile 16.5). We went for a quick walk to see if there was any progress on the new restaurant at the campground right next door. We met Fidel who practically begged us to stay at his place. The restaurant is not open, he and his wife are living in the building. There have been very few tourists and he was feeling quite discouraged. We promised we would stay at his place on the return. He claims his water is not salty like it is at El Pabillon. I had a very salty shower this morning – I guess similar to a salt scrub - I should appreciate it – women would pay lots for this kind of shower!! Well it was hot and wet and the showers are very clean and bright and roomy. I do feel much cleaner for it.

I watched the pangas come in this morning with fresh langosta (lobster) He offered it to me for 270 pesos a kilo. When I told him it was too expensive for us he told me it would be 400 pesos in Ensenada. This may be true but still expensive for us. (about $27 per kilo) We could never have got them any fresher however! Yumm!

Off through the Vale de Cirios to lunch and a walk at the Catavina Boulder Field near Santa Inis. Then on to stay a few days at Bahia de Los Angeles. We are hoping for a campground in town as there is a protected area to launch the kayaks and a beautiful sandy beach for an easy entry and exit.

Quartzite Arizona

Quartzite is a very strange place. In the summer it is incredibly hot – like 125! And there are hardly any people there. In the winter, starting about now, but more in January, the snowbirds arrive and the desert around the little town fills up with motor homes. Like 10s of thousands! Why do they come there? Don’t know for sure except there is a huge rock and gem show there in the winter months – there are warehouses full of beads, warehouses full of crystals, precious and semi precious stones from all over the world, stone carvings, teak, you name it. This is where the wholesalers come to get their bargains. It looks rather like a very large swap meet. The first picture is a warehouse filled with cool things made from rocks, geodes and crystals. The display is of lamps made from salt crystals and further inside the warehouse are big slabs of rock that can be used for a variety of things, hung in a window to show the light coming through, as a table top.... whatever you want. The next shot is of several pallets of geodes from Brazil - mostly amethyst. The next is a street view of the site. Lots of venders!

Its $40 for a long term stay to camp on the BLM lands (Bureau of Land Management) – 2 weeks. However, if you stay further away from the town you can stay for free or a very cheap permit. Just pull up some ground. There is a place right next to Interstate 10 that is also free but it would be noisy. We found a spot in an RV park where there was internet, power, water, showers and laundry. We do like to be in touch. The next afternoon we rode our bikes over to the show to do a bit of shopping.

We were hoping for a bright and early start, however, we had to return to the show to buy a few more things, gifts for others and gifts for us. We left Quartzite at 12noon, stopping for lunch and last minute groceries at Yuma and hope to arrive at Portrero for New Years Eve dinner – king crab legs and steak and champagne with Dawne. It is 5:30 now and we have 30 miles of the twistiest part of this route ahead of us. Here’s hoping we arrive in Portrero before we get too hungry!!

Well the road sign says 55 mph but we went about 35 most of the way – very twisty~ we arrived at 6:30, were greeted by Dawn and had a wonderful New Years Eve dinner of King Crab legs and wine. Dawne and I then serenaded Lorne with our music and we brought the New Year in with champagne (Calgary time) and turned in.

Season's Greetings

We arrived in Los Angeles December 23rd and it took 3 hours to get to where we were having dinner and then another hour to get to Megan (my God daughter) and her husband Reginald’s house. Not that the traffic was exceptionally bad – it’s just that LA is huge! It goes on and on in a maze of freeways leading to the many cities that LA is made up of. Megan lives in a very nice community called Mission Viejo. This was their darling little boy Ethan’s first Christmas. He is now 8 months old and such a sweetie! Megan's mom Sandy and Megan's sister Shannon are visiting from Victoria for the occasion. We feel very special to be invited to spend Christmas with them too. Check out Ethan's website – such a photogenic baby. He has been scouted already (only in LA) but they turned the offer down.

http://ethanlavender.blogspot.com

We had a lovely Christmas Eve dinner at my good friend Sandy’s sister Donna’s house, fabulous food and a great way to spend Christmas Eve. Sandy’s two other sisters and their families were there too. Sandy’s other daughter Shannon flew in from Victoria with her cute little dog Lucy and arrived about 5:30 – just in time for dinner.

Christmas day we spent at Megan’s and had a fabulous brunch and met some of their friends and Reginald’s sister and her family. The girls ended the day with a great soak in the hot tub in the back yard. All in all I ate way too much over the past few days.

We are now at Miguel’s shop getting the coach attended to. It is very cold here – I’m wearing my down winter coat and my hands are freezing as I type this. There is nothing seriously wrong – it’s just an old vehicle (1976) and needs regular check-ups. Just like us…..

We are thinking about zipping over to Quartzite or seeking out some hot springs for a few days before meeting Dawne at Tecate.

A friend and unexpected activity

Just as we had settled in at the Crescent City RV Park, each on our own laptop, there was a tapping at the door, know it wasn't Santa – I said “I’ll bet its Dawne!” Sure enough it was! She has been here in Crescent Beach for a few days and was planning on pulling out in the morning! I thought we might run into her here, I remember that Dawne spent time here before with Ian and Debi and they liked it a lot. Well, we would like it too if it wasn’t raining sideways, foggy, lighthouse foghorn harmonizing with the tiedown straps for our kayaks… It really is a spectacular beautiful place, however, if we were seeking this kind of weather we would have stayed at home!

So, we will travel with Dawne in the morning to Vichy Hotsprings Resort just outside Ukiah. This about 200 miles south of Crescent Beach. Hmmm…. Driving a twisty turny narrow road in the pouring rain… fun.

December 21
Well, it was exactly that – twisty turny narrow and pouring! However, the good side was the amazing redwoods! These are incredible trees – massive, tall and straight – as high as 300 feet! Wow!

We planned on meeting Dawne at the Hotsprings – however, by the time we got to Ukiah it was 6:00. It was very slow going for us on those twisty roads. Dawne had checked into the Days Inn and was making her dinner so we agreed to meet at the hotsprings in the morning. Just as we pulled off the highway one of our back tires went flat – Lorne heard it – I opened the door and then I could hear it too - ssssss! And indeed within seconds and before my eyes it went from an inflated tire to sitting on the rim! Very fast! We are so lucky that it didn’t do that on the freeway. So – we had dinner, Good Sams came out and changed the tire for us and told us where to go to get the tire repaired in the morning.

In Search of a Tire
The store they told us about didn’t have the tire we needed and they said they wouldn’t repair ours as the piece of shrapnel that punctured it also ripped a belt – this thing was a piece of steel ¼ inch thick, an equilateral triangle with sides as long as my index finger – about 2.5 inches. So we cancelled the hot springs. Dawne went on to Calistoga Hot Springs, and off we went to Costco in Santa Rosa (who were supposed to have our tire). They didn’t have it either so now we are on our way to the Costco in Modesto who does. We will meet up with Dawn at Potrero on New Years and cross over at Tecate.

South Till the Butter Melts!

Friday, December 18

Well we managed to get all packed up on Wednesday and over to Mike and Kate’s as planned – around midnight as predicted. We had the bulk of our stuff put away and off to bed by 1 am. The grandkids were banging on the door by 8 am! Needless to say we were a wee bit tired, so tired that Lorne incorporated the knocking into his dream! He was very confused when I told him the kids were at the door. It was nice to see them and to say goodbye before leaving for 4 months. Four months is a very long time from now. I miss them already.

After getting some last minute errands done we were on the 1:00 ferry and to Tulalip Casino (near Seattle) to meet John and Sharon for dinner (see last years post about these folks and their tank and their . It was very great to see them. Nether they nor us went to Toquart this year so we haven’t seen them since our return trip from Mexico last April. After not a long enough visit and some serious video poker we rolled into bed by 10 and up and off south in the morning (after a quick trip to my new favourite clothing shop at the outlet mall nest door). We are spending tonight at the Columbia River RV Park in Portland.

We are spending Christmas with my God daughter Megan and her husband Reginald and their son Ethan. Megan’s mom Sandy(my younger than me old friend) will also be there. We plan on having Miguel look over the coach right after Christmas and before crossing over into Mexico.

With luck we will meet up with Dawn (one of my mandolin players) in Potrero State Park and we will cross at Tecate and travel into Baja with her. Actually we are hoping to run into her before that - perhaps at a hot springs somewhere along the way....

Saturday

Spent the night in Portland – a very nice city, we will come back to visit for sure. Drove to Seven Feathers Casino today for way too much dinner at the buffet. I remain puzzled that with a fridge and cupboards full of food and treats I never eat at home (or the motor home) the way I gorge myself at some of these buffets. Of course looking around we see that about 99% of the patrons do the same as I do. My tummy hurt! Lorne doesn’t seem to do the same….. he has learned from his experience of many sore tummies I guess.

On the recommendation of our friend Ian, we decided to go to Crescent City (on the Pacific) and continue south on 101. The weather is mostly cloudy but not to cold. We may return this way too, it’s a beautiful drive through a very mixed forest including arbutus and redwoods, if we do we should plan to stop at Cave Junction to visit some cool caves. There is also a rest area just after entering California where we can stay overnight (8 hours).

4:00 pm - We just arrived in Crescent City California - crossed through the redwood forest and over the Siskiyou mountains. Incredible trees, some 300 feet tall and straight, we had a bit of a wet walk in the forest with the mist and the rain. We are staying at The Shoreline RV Park right on the ocean and next to a light house. Its foggy...... the light house is haunting..... hope it clears soon..... especially before bedtime! And we had complaints about our roosters!!!

Hugs,
Catherine

Just Testing

Yes we are getting ready to leave. Yes we have snow. Therefore we are leaving too late - AGAIN! Out of here on Thursday for dinner with Sharon and John at Tulalip. Then more southward on Friday. Hopefully we will find a hotspring in California somewhere. We are having Christmas with my Goddaughter Megan and her husband Reginald and their beautiful new son Ethan and Ethan's Nana, my good friend Sandra. Fun. Happy Holidays!