Organ Pipe Cactus Nat’l Monument, Feb 23-27, 2010

We just love all the saguaro cactus, each one has a unique personality.  Mysterious holes, many arms, and baby ones.

 

Bob spotted these tiny flowers, can you see them?

  Below is an ocotillo in bloom.  Usually they are just bare thorny stalks, but after rains they often leaf out and bloom.  This one has one bloom open.

Here Bob is standing in front of a huge organ pipe cactus.

In the foreground this skeleton of an organ pipe cactus is overlooking the valley.

We had planned on staying one more night here, but left this morning as there was a storm forecast with rain and high winds.  I like to have hookups during storms and the sites at the National Monument only have concrete pads-no hookups.   Now it is 4 pm and we are in Gila Bend with the sun shining.  Guess the storm was delayed.

Happy Birthday, Zachary Feb 26, 2010

 

These photos were taken of Zach this past August when he visited us when we were up in Washington and we visited Mt. St Helens.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU ZACHARY, # 11.  WE LOVE♥ YOU VERY MUCH!!

Preparations to leave Mexico, Feb 22-23, 2010

Here is a view from the restaurant at Playa Bonita Resort, right next to the RV Park.

 

 

 

 

Here is our coach getting washed and later waxed by the folks at Playa Bonita. ($1.50/ft)

This year we added polishing our wheel rims ($10 each)

Here is the finished product, I have never seen the wheels so shiny, and all hand done! 

 

 

 

 

 

When John and Judy pulled out, it made our route out to the right very easy, they had some maneuvering to to.  But with John’s trusty assistant Judy, they made it past the RV next door.

Here we are on the road out of Playa Bonita, we had just finished checking out our lights.

After driving about an hour and half we arrived at the border crossing at Lukeville, the line went pretty fast, only about 10 minutes.

John and Judy took lane 2, while we opted for lane 1, it was about a foot wider.  Our memory of Lane 2 last year was not pleasant, we made it but by inches. 

We were being questioned at the same time by the Immigration and Customs Guards. 

Below is a photo Judy snapped as they left, don’t think you can see, but Bob is smiling, trying to do everything he can to get us back in the US, it worked as he waved us on.  (They just wanted to know if we had any pork, chicken, or fruit – of course, NO, we don’t and we didn’t).

Since we were only going another 5 miles to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument for a few days, it was time to say good-bye to our traveling companions.  Safe Travels Juan and Joodie!!

Here we are at our spot at Organ Pipe.

Feb 18 - 20, 2010

We went back to the El Capitan Restaurant to accept John and Judy’s offer for a ‘Thank You’ meal for allowing them use our HughesNet internet connection while we were here in Mexico.

 

It is a good thing we went when we did as ever since Thursday it was been too windy to eat outside.  Thank you for a great meal with great friends in a perfect setting.

Just thought I would show you a perfect avocado…yes it was delicious!

 

 

 

 

Isn’t this a beautiful hibiscus bloom-the poor bush only had one bloom on it.  When these are dried they can be made into a wonderful herb tea called Jamaica.

 

Here we are lined up next to the 15 story condo, this has been home for almost a month now.  We are heading back to the states on Tuesday.

  Here we are celebrating Lynda’s birthday, come to find out I am about 6 weeks older than she is.  We actually surprised her with the party.   Earl and Lynda were already at the restaurant, Latitude 31, and we came in and sang  ♫♫ Happy Birthday ♫♫ to her.  Yes, she was surprised and embarrassed,  Earl even got a cake for our dessert.

 

I went out last night about dusk and looked up, this is what I saw.  Pelicans just flying around overhead, I bet there was a hundred of them.

During the night I was woke up about 1:30 with the sounds and feel (coach rocking) of high winds.  I came out and checked the monitor for the wind speed,  it was then 35 mph, so slept intermittently the rest of the night.  The sustained winds during the night ended up being 48 mph with gusts to 61 mph, these are the highest winds we have been in since we have gotten the weather station.  This morning our neighbor came and told us our slide topper was partially blown off.   We were able to release the small area that was still holding and now the topper is all rolled up into the roller.   We have a plan for its repair, but need to get back to the states to see if it works.

More photos from Mexico, Feb 18, 2010

What do you think the odds are in the photo below…who will win?

Feeding french fries to friends with wings.

Dinner at the Lighthouse Restaurant…wonder what I was talking about?

In yesterday’s post I showed a photo of where our RV was parked, well Bob had a better shot on his camera.  We are not facing the beach, but on the end of a row. Count 5 RV’s from the left facing the beach, we are right behind that 5th RV, John and Judy are beside us.

One day some friends from the RV America group, Mike and Kathy and Earl and Lynda who had also ventured down to Puerto Penasco had gone to a Children’s Home about 18 miles out of town.  They had taken toothbrushes to donate.  We also wanted to deliver a care package.  So off we go to the Super Ley to buy some powdered milk, hot dogs (two requested items), cookies, apples, and chocolate milk mix (that was Bob’s idea, he said, all kids like chocolate milk).

Here we are getting help carrying in the bags.  About 45-50 children are housed here.

Teeth cleaning time, Bob and I both got our teeth cleaned for $70, very thorough job!

Here is the fruit and veggie stand we frequent about twice a week.

Thanks to Earl we found a better place to buy shrimp, which is near the docks and shrimp boats.  We paid $8 for 1 kilo (2.2 lbs) $3.64 / lb.  If we had paid for them in pesos like John and Judy did the price would have been even better.   If you go into old town, the price goes up to $6 per pound, guess where we have been buying our shrimp lately.

Just had to get a photo of Earl’s new t-shirt!

Last night, it was deep fat fried shrimp, coconut shrimp,  asparagus, and sweet potatoes all home cooked at Earl and Lynda’s RV space.  Earl and John are busy here dipping asparagus in batter in the back of Earl’s rhino with the tail gate flipped down, I guess we could call it a Tail Gate Party.

 

 

The ladies were enjoying the sunset.

We then all enjoyed a delicious dinner.

Taking it easy in Mexico, Feb 17, 2010

It has been awhile since I posted, I am getting lazy.  I’ll post some photos and commentary to catch up.

This is a view from the Lighthouse Restaurant across the bay from Playa Bonita RV Park.  See the tall building in the middle along the beach, our RVs are parked just to the right of that high rise near that small triangle shape.

We did have a storm for part of a day, then came the rainbow.

 

 

 

and then a few nights later… this spectacular sunset.

Have also had some time to do some beading, Judy showed me how to do this ‘Right Angle Weave with Picot Edge Bracelet’.

Our friends from the RV America Group from Q, Earl and Lynda are here also, so one afternoon we joined them at their site to watch the waves come and go.

One day we all went, John and Judy, Lynda and Earl and us for a visit at a Tequila Factory.  They were quick to mention they do not make it here, but would show us a video and explain the process. 

We all enjoyed a very generous Tequila tasting, some straight shooters and some mixed with orange and lime  or beer and some with peach juice.  Yummm.  As you can see above, we did buy a bottle.

Then it was on to the finer things in life…homemade four tortillas.  About $1.50 (20 pesos) per dozen for them directly off the griddle, so hot you can’t hold the bag in your lap for the drive back to the RV park.

Adios Amigos