Goodbye Mexico, Hello Canada!

This is a quick post because the trip home is kind of a blur to me right now.   A fuzzy recollection of rest stops, fast food burgers, miles and miles of desert, and sleeping in cheap motels.  

We had a good drive home though.  We drove up through Mexicali and had no troubles at the border this year.  

Then we wound our way up the remote eastern edge of California.

No mans land...you can drive for hours it seems without any signs of life. 

Just when we were cotton pickin' tired of seeing the same dessert scenery...

we saw cotton pickers.

Something probably only a fellow farmer can appreciate.  

We made it home in record time of 3 loooong days.

  The kids traveled great, seasoned professional road trippers. 

The most miserable part was that it was slowly getting colder...and colder...and colder each time we got out of our car.  We had to trade in the flip flops on day two, and pull out the winter coats on day three. 

I don't have a picture of our roads coming through Alberta and Saskatchewan but they were nasty.  Very slick and covered in snow.   It made us feel like really dumb birds flying the wrong direction!

Home sweet home.  Lots of unpacking to do inside the house....and -20 degrees outside. 

Goodbye Beach

We've been home in Canada for nearly two weeks now and I need to get this blog caught up.  I just can't bare to move on without posting every last wonderful morsel of our trip.

This was our third and final day living on the beach in San Felipe.  

We knew time was short and we were determined to suck the marrow out of the day....that's kind of a gross expression...but you get the point.

We soaked it up.

and spent the entire day doing this..

and this...

...and lots of this..

"smile for the camera Cece"

Running to meet big brother.

These two are little love birds.

An amazing few days, with my favorite people,

at a beautiful location. 

Life is good. 

Goodbye San Felipe....it's time to go home.

One Hot Mama

We pulled up to a tiny little community, wondering if this was the "Puertecitos" we had heard about.   We wound through a few dirt streets until we saw the sign  "hot springs".    We had timed out our day to arrive at Gonzaga during low tide in the morning, and Puertecito hot springs at afternoon high tide.

"Is this it?"  I don't know what I was expecting when I heard hot springs, but this wasn't quite it.  

It was really cool though...or rather really HOT.

We walked down the little paved path with steaming hot water on either side, and the smell of sulfur in the humid air.  We just about lost Silas into a scalding hot pool but I grabbed his hand in time for only one foot to get dipped.  We walked further down to where the hot spring water mixed with the cool ocean water making it safe to soak in.  

It was like a hot tub, but strange how the temperature shifted and changed constantly.  

A completely natural, non regulated, hot spring is very very rare...probably because it's pretty darn dangerous.  Oh goodness, in the states where people sue over hot coffee something like this would never be allowed....which is too bad because slightly dangerous can be quite enjoyable.

This is my kind of swim.  So nice.   I could have stayed in there all day.  

As the tide changed we had to move and eventually it got so hot we had to evacuate completely.   We got a good long soak in the hot mineral water though. 

We were joined by some of the locals.  I was kind of envious of them...it would be pretty fun to have this natural spa in my back yard.  

After our soak in the spa we drove back to the little beach house, made up some bean burritos, watched  a movie, and then went to bed.  

Where the Road Ends...

On our second day in San Felipe we decided to go on a day long excursion south down the coast.   We drove as far as we could on the new highway and then traveled Baja style. 

The scenery was amazing!   The highway south from San Felipe will soon be completed down to Bahia de Los Angeles where it meets up with the main and formerly only highway #1.  Two of our favorite places now connected by one efficient road.   It really is a great little road trip if you enter Mexico at Mexicali and then drive south down the east coast of the penninsula.  The highway south of Mexicali is gorgeous, even divided for quite a distance.  I think with a nice highway this area is really going to open up....right now it's beautifully desolate.  

Heading down past any power lines, or highways.  Just desert....and us.

Construction on a new bridge as the highway stretches further south.  Sketchy work conditions!

After a couple hours of driving we arrived at Gonzaga , which is actually a remote little settlement of some Americans....which explains the attempt at English on the sign.  They haul in water and rely on solar panels to supply their little homes in paradise.  

This is an incredible little lagoon.  

So warm and shallow.  It was like a kiddie pool filled with marine life. 

For science this year we've been studying aquatic life with an Apologia text book.  

What a better field trip to go with our curriculum than this?

The kids played with hermit crabs,  collected snails, and Cece even found a small octopus!

Hello Mr. Crab.

This is how shallow the water was...this wasn't even up to Celina's shoulders.

Silas had a great time making trails on the beach.

It really is a breath taking in it's beauty and isolation.   I suspect since the highway to Bahia San Luis Gonzaga will soon be completed it will become more of a tourist destination....maybe next time we'll have to share the beach with other humans.

Time for lunch at Alfonsina's restaurant. 

The. best. Shrimp. I have ever had.   I'm not even a huge fan of shrimp...but this made me love it.  Cooked to perfection, and ridiculously fresh.  Gourmet....for less than a fast food burger at home. 

I left a pretty large tip because I forgot my purse hanging on the chair.  Thankfully I don't carry around my full of cards, all essential stuff purse with me...but it did contain some extra van keys, some Benadryl, hand sanitizer and I think about $200 pesos.   Oh well.  I have plenty more hand sanitizer.

Between San Felipe and Gonzaga we passed a military check point and another travelling one.  If you travel down here don't let this freak you out.  The first time you get stopped by guys in uniform carrying gigantic weapons it's a bit terrifying...but honestly in all our years of Mexican military checks we've never had anything but extremely cordial, respectful and pleasant interaction with these guys.   We're glad they're out here catching the drug traffickers and keeping these roads safe. 

Driving back up toward San Felipe.  I had to take a picture of this as we passed.  This is where the highway construction guys are staying. 

Pit stop.

Next destination the Puertecito natural hot springs!

...but I'll save that for the next post.