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