Two thumbs up

We've been home in Canada for a week now and I'm still firmly in denial.  Thus my continued posts about Mexico.   Besides, my pictures of Baja are way more interesting than pictures of me doing dishes, folding laundry and teaching how to add and subtract fractions with different denominators.  Back to real life.  

We only spent 3 nights in San Felipe but I took a massive amount of photos.  This is a little glimpse at the town.  Just the right amount of tourist comfort without being all resort-ish and completely Americanized.   It has a small fishing town feel but with some ex-pat artsy flare.  

Was a perfect little place for a family vacation.  We rate it two bums up!

Mariscos

No one in our family appreciates a fresh, abundant supply of sea food quite like Roman.

Perhaps because none of us are adventurous enough.  

This boy ordered the mixed seafood cocktail.  

His favorite was the octopus.  I had to remind him a couple times, as he expressed how delicious they were, that tentacles is pronounced with an "n"...not an "s".

Although being a farm girl...I must say they didn't look all that much different.

Now that you are thoroughly grossed out...

It's time to make you drool.

I love authentic Mexican food. (Del Taco doesn't qualify)

The atmosphere makes the food so much more fun.

Giant coconut shrimp!  Delicious.  

The best food we had was at "Mariscos La Morena".

Excellent customer service (of course...we are in Mexico!) and absolutely delicious food. 

If you ever find yourself in San Felipe for dinner ...

the enchiladas were amazing!

Roman eating the rest of my coconut shrimp.  They were huge!

I'm jealous of myself

Now that I'm sitting back home on the frozen Canadian prairie, in my bathrobe, trying to convince my children of the joys of multiplication, these pictures make me envious of myself 10 days ago.

Looking back, it almost feels like a dream.  Something I didn't really want to wake up from.  Our whole month in Baja was incredible, heart breaking, heart filling, and amazing but these couple days were down right FUN.

This is how we spent New Years Eve and New Years day.   We had a little mini vacation in San Felipe on our way back to Canada.   I'll show you more of the town and restaurants in another post but first...

the beaches of San Felipe, on the Sea of Cortez, North Baja, Mexico.    

Not a bad way to welcome 2012.

Kids playing in our "back yard"

Making some incredible family memories.

Enjoying some solitude and peace.

Just a little taste of paradise.

I want to live here.

Our beach house.   2 bedrooms.  2 bathrooms and the best back yard ever.

Well, we almost had the beach to ourselves.

except for our thoroughly traumatized bird neighbors.

Being adventurous enough to spend several days in an old unreliable car with 4 kids,  then drive around in the Mexican wilderness looking for a cool spot to stop may sound really weird or down right crazy to some people, 

but we like our kind of crazy.  

We might be weird...but last I checked, normal is pretty sucky.

Adventuras

After a few tears and goodbyes, we packed up our little house in the San Quintin valley.  Instead of heading for the American border we drove 5 hours through the mountains.  Our destination San Felipe.  A little fishing and tourist town on the Sea of Cortez.  A meca for Hobie Cat lovers like my husband.  Although his Hobie was stuck back home on the frozen prairie. 

We loved heading down some new roads and seeing new territory.

Once we arrived we found some good grub and searched for a place to stay.  We ended up staying at a privately owned beach house that is available for wandering visitors like us.  

It was perfect

and we got a killer deal on the price too.  I suspect the fact that tourism here is hurting (due to the crappy American  economy ) had something to due with their willingness to barter.  We arrived after dark so we didn't get to appreciate the view until morning.

This is what we woke up to.  The weather on the Eastern side of Baja was quite a bit warmer and the water in the sea here is so calm and gorgeous.  The kids didn't stay on the patio for long!

I think I found a new happy place.

8 am New Years Eve. 

Not a bad place to bring in a new year.