Hot Springs, Dead Dolphins and a Well Traveled Shovel

When Steve and I got together for the "last" time in 1995, we were traveling in his VW van along the Olympic Peninsula. He found this shovel on the beach and immediately kept it because he is a scrounger by nature. I have since made fun of him countless times about a man and his "shovel". That shovel has gone to Alaska and back with us as well as across the country to D.C. and other roadtrips over the years. Most of our friends know that when Steve hits a beach, out comes the shovel as he begins to dig gigantic ramps and mounds that turn into awesome castles with moats and barricks. Well today, "the shovel" got us out of a very very BAJA experience - getting out of the sand. Before we left for this trip, we read a lot of blogs about what emergency items you need to travel Baja. In our stash we have an extra 5 gallon water bottle, extra gas, a battery booster and inverter, oil, spark plugs and numerous other thingies that I don't know what they are. We also have the shovel. HAIL TO THE SHOVEL!



Yes, that is a dehydrated dolphin. We found three of them, one a baby. It looks like they got beached and someone dragged the bodies out into the desert. We're guessing they stunk. We took a spine piece and a jaw bone for Christmas presents:) They were really surreal to find where we did - so far from the ocean.



The last of the epic adventures today was our actual destination - the awesome ocean front hot springs of Puertocitos. It took us an hour to drive there and the veiw was absolutely fantastic. The hot springs were quite hot and the ocean was feet away. Apparently when the tide comes in, it somewhat cools them off but we had giant swells today and I wasn't digging the waves near the kids in the water. We stayed until it got too close and headed home. We finished the day off with naps for all three boys.

Updates

Well, it is week two here in San Felipe and today is COLD - like 60 degrees cold. Oh how that makes me giggle knowing it snowed again in Portland this week. But seriously, we have heaters on in the house here. We've been inside all day doing origami and paper airplanes and staring at our aquarium we've put everything from the tidepools in. We even have a baby octopus in there that ate a tiny craby last night. "That was so awesome" says Phelan.

I wish I had something exciting to tell you about what we do down here but really, it's not that exciting and yet, it is. We eat oatmeal for breakfast after watching the sunrise over the water - every morning. I'm confused by that because it seems like I'm looking south when the sun rises but I know that it cannot be and it is east. So much for that geography degree helping in my inabled spatial awareness. We hang out on the deck for most of the morning watching the ocean and picking through the tidepools. When we get ansy, we talk about possibly doing something. About half the time we do something and half the time we widdle the day away with reading, playing in the sand. The other day all the boys, including the big one, had a massive army fight in a giant bunker they made on the beach. They had their swimsuits on and sat in a hole in the sand, when big waves would come, they had to retreat into the bunker with their army guys ($1 store purchase on the way down). They were having so much fun. We watch the shrimp boats come in, we make food, we shop for food, we eat at the different taco stands. One thing we do every single day is go to a different panaderia. Our favorite one has apple fritters but another one has cinnamon sugary long things. Today though I got cabin fever. I ended up driving around to all the different campos to check out houses that gringos have built and locals. There are a lot of retirees down here and they build these giant houses that look like Arizona. It's a little weird but I suppose you get more for your buck.

Right now Steve is playing this game with the boys that we found in our campo. I don't know if I understand it but there is a stand made of PVC pipes and then there are a bunch of golf balls on strings. You apparently throw the golf balls towards the stand and try to get them to land on it. OK, that's it. Our luxury Mexico trip - sitting on our butts, playing in the sand, eating tacos and baked goods. This is why we don't have much to say. Here's a picture of the kid's favorite toy. Yes, it is an ice grabber for cocktails or in our house, a spaceship. Nice toy, eh. Only the best for mis hijos.

The 1/2 Weekly Photos

Campo Las Arenas, San Felipe

Taken tonight from our back porch. The stars were out, low tide, kids and hubby asleep.

Just me, a candle and a beer.

Phelan

This is what Phelan bought with his money. He calls himself the Green Arrow or sometimes the Lean Green Smackdown Machine. We had to make him take it off to eat dinner. Pretty, isn't it?

Ryder's Art Class

Ryder brought some money on this trip and wanted to spend some on local art. The problem was, he couldn't pick what to get. We came up with a solution using a little ingenuity. A very nice family here owns a curio shop and Maria paints the art herself. We simply asked her if Ryder could paint one. They kind of ended up painting it together - at times using grunts and gestures to communicate. He ended up having a one of a kind creation using traditional and Ryder's art styles.

The Weekly Photos

Giant Squid

This is a giant squid we found on the beach! It was huge, alive and we rolled it back out into the water and it swam away. Now it just sounds like I'm making it up - but seriously, it was the size of Phelan. No joke. For anybody that really knows me - they know this made my year probably! My cousin would call me a nerd but that was the coolest thing evah! Yesterday was filled with firsts. We saw tracks in the sand from snakes, lizards, rabbits, bobcat and roadrunners. Then the squid rolled up to shore with its eyes blinking and it blowing water out of its propulsion hole. Lastly, to top it off, a fisherman checking his nets gave us a bag of sea bass for dinner - because he thought Casey was cute. The kids ate fried fish - the whole thing, with the skin. Oh yeah, Obama was inaugurated. It was a big day! Hope all of you are good.

We've Arrived

So, for those of you that follow Ryder's blog, I'm taking over temporarily to catch-up on what Ryder and his family have been up to - I'm his Mom.

We left Portland, Oregon on Monday, January 12th at around 6:00 a.m. The kids ate in the car wearing their PJ's and had a great day traveling. Our new car configuration with the baby between the big boys worked out perfectly. Casey was happy that he could see all of us and they could help him eat, drink and play. It was great. We arrived that night at my Mom's house in Sacramento and spent a few great days playing and biking with her bike club. Both Steve and I got some nice rides in and the kids got to ride in the golf cart and Grandpa's old truck as well as hit golf balls and they also saw some wild turkeys and river otters. It was quite fun. It took two more days to get down here to San Felipe, Mexico but boy, have we arrived. It's gorgeous here - 78 degrees today. I left the man boys building a sandcastle and walked to town (about 1 mile on the beach).
We found a great little market yesterday and stocked up on all the necessities such as limes, salsa makings, avocados, homemade tortillas, black beans, spices and carne asada. The food is really cheap here and our new friend "Dunie" told us on Sundays the groceries are 20% off. I have no idea why though. We went out to eat last night at a taco stand and had dinner with drinks that came to $8.00. We'll take some photos soon of all these places for ya. the kids thought it was so much fun when we took giant water containers to a place that fills them with fresh drinkable water for $1/five gallons.
San Felipe is a very sleepy town this time of year. When we came two years ago, it was exactly the same. You can tell in summer this place is packed with people and hotter than heck. I'm glad to be here in the winter. Last night at around 8:00 we had chips and guacamole on the deck overlooking the water with candles and drinks. Steve and I were showing Orion to the kids in the sky and listening to some pelicans squaking on a nearby shrimp boat. I just kept thinking how epic this was going to be for the boys.
This afternoon "George" comes by with the shrimp boat to our campo. He sells fresh caught giant shrimp for about $6/lb. Our campo is a group of houses that have kind of an association. There is a manager of the houses that takes care of garbage/gas/ broken stuff, etc. She also watches out for the safety of the houses. There are 45 houses in our campo and only 12 are on the water - they're called first row. Our new friend Terry told us we were lucky to be first rowers. He's lived here 22 years after retiring in the states. Ryder likes him because Terry has 4-5 dunebuggies in front of his house. Ryder thinks he'll let us borrow one. Hmmmm, I keep saying.
The boys are definately getting different takes on things because of their separate interests. Ryder keeps talking about renting dunebuggies, ATV's and bicycles for the beach. He wonders how the shrimp boats actually catch the shrimp and he was obsessed with going through our garage looking for beach toys as well as setting up all the chairs and umbrellas for the decks. Phelan loves the birds. He watched them this morning through the binoculars and collected seashells. He's talked about how much he wants to see a rattlesnake and a scorpion when we're in Mexico. When he saw his first giant cactus he yelled so loud it made Casey cry. Then there is Casey. He's obsessed with taking his hat off and climbing to tallest chairs he can find. He's kind of scared of the camp dogs including the one that apparently comes with our house "Osa" - a very sweet black dog that puts his head on your lap when you sit in a chair. So far, they are all very sweet dogs.
OK, I apologize for the length but we are also using this as a way to communicate with family, etc. We wanted all of you to know that we are fine and happy and healthy. Epic adventures ahead!