Road Trip 2012, 2010, 2008 and 2007

Tlaquepaque, Tonala, Guadalajara, to Mazatlan

2010-08-13T19:40:00.000-07:00

Friday August 13

This hotel offers free long distance so I phoned my Dad. It was great to hear his voice, way down here in Mexico. I finally got through to his friend Fern's e-mail, too.

We had a nice continental breakfast, courtesy of the hotel. Then off to a neighboring city - Tonala. This day we had actual purchasing in mind.

We were about to go back and buy something and it started raining. We decided to go back to the car and that is when we saw the best art to buy, Good thing it rained.

Once back in Tlaquepaque we went back out shopping. In Mexico you can sample booze, especially tequila... so we did a little sampling. We got caught in the rain, came back to the hotel and changed. We actually decided to slow down long enough to have supper, with the cat.

Once back out again we made several trips back with purchases. We had fun spending money! We had a whirlwind shopping day.

Thursday August 12

I woke up from natural light not the alarm and at about 6:45 am. We ate at the hotel restaurant thinking our breakfast was included - we discovered it was not. It was very good - Huevos Mexicanas and Divorced Eggs (I can not remember the real Spanish name - ed. Huevos Divorciados). Then we continued on our journey to Tlaquepaque.

How Hippos are evolved from Cows

On our journey we saw huge, still lakes that looked like mirrors, two horses pulling a wooden plow - plowing a field and many rolling, fertile hills and some donkeys.

We stopped for lunch at a toll booth. I saw the biggest bug - likely a beetle - nice burgandy colour.

We had a picnic which was fun. We wondered around to a back field and took close - up pictures of corn.

The rest of the day's journey, in fact, the whole day went quickly.

We arrived near the end of the Tonala Market (Thursday), but still there was vender upon vender to check out. We will return tomorrow to purchase. It was very hot there, I think I got a bit of a burn - dumb! The whole town is a town of artisans, the little studios/stores are generally funkier than most laces I have seen in Mexico.
Quinta Don Jose was as wonderful as it was three years ago. Some art was moved, other art was replaced. The courtyard appeared nearly the same. Sadly the little dog Chiquita was no longer there to greet us.

Whirlwind tour back to Tlaquepaque - including lost driving by compass; again

2010-08-11T19:45:00.000-07:00

Wednesday August 11

We woke up to the sound of, no not nature, the "noise cannons". They shoots these off to keep birds away from orchards. We know because a guy on Gabriola used to use them for his cherry orchard. Anyway, in my half asleep state I thought it was gun fire somewhere close to us, but I was too tired to move. The camp had a cat.

When we drove into Cuernavaca we realized how huge and modern of a city it was.

We decided to go to the Centro as we usually do with all Mexican cities. It did seem rather upscale compared to many cities. Cuernavaca is a get away, spa type of place for those living in Mexico City, nicknamed "City of Eternal Spring" and the "Paris of Mexico". We had problems finding "Estacionamiento" - parking to all you English speaking dudes. Then we wanted to find a veggie restaurant, Oh, we found one at about two o'clock (after passing three others) - I was feeling I was so hungry. The heat, the noise, the part of the city we saw made us just decide to move on and head toward Toluca - beginning our long journey home. If we would have stayed we would have gotten soaked - it started raining.

We loved the windy road before and during the National Park.

After that things went terribly wrong. We got so lost and turned around, plus we were leary of Toluca.

Somehow after that, going through Toluca, driving was easy peasy.

We found a great hotel (Ixla) which ended the day on a positive note.

Tuesday August 10

This was the farthest south either one of us has ever been.

From Morelia to Taxco

We woke up in Taxco and ate breakfast out on the deck as basically the room was too small to eat inside of.

There were fruit trees like orange and tropical plants. We could see roof tops of other buildings below us. Ken dropped me off at the Silver Mercado that we saw the night before.

Ken went off on his own little adventure. He went to the south of Taxco to Reyes's place to get the oil changed. Reye's also topped up the auto matic transmission fluid. Meanwhile I was silver shopping. I have always wanted to come to Taxco ever since I knew of it's existence - I'm a "silver" girl not "gold", I am sure that is obvious. What was in those silver shops you ask. Well, there were chains, bracelets, rings and earrings, plus items you might not think of as being made of silver - picture frames, pens, etc. It was an amazing experience, one silver shop after another. One of my best all time shopping days!!!

Ken was all of a sudden beside me in one of the shops.

I was on my way back to eat lunch and Ken was on his way to get, me for the same reason, lunch. A tourist official took us to a restaurant with a spectactualar view of the Santa Prisca Church from its upper, outside level. This view was a 360 degree of the town.

More shopping after lunch. Ken waited at the hotel lobby - the internet amused him. I only shopped until about 4:00 pm when Ken wanted us to leave for Cuernavaca.

To go from Taxco to Cuernavaca you had to drop about 900 feet. First we go up into the mountains.

We drove through a lush, semi-tropical area. We saw a few donkeys along the way closer to Cuernavaca the roadside stands had stacks of roses. Finding our camping stop was tricky because of "Church's" directions. Of course, without them we would not have known the campground existed. The last road was more a Mexican dirt road complete with potholes, large bovine, gumbo...Need I say more?

At sunset the fireflies danced like fairies floating between the trees. It rained much of the night and was windy.

Morelia

2010-08-09T11:45:00.000-07:00

Monday August 9

Ken parked "Pepe" the van outside the hotel - there was only one spot as Dr. Miguel Silva Avenue was very narrow and had one way traffic. We finished packing up Pepe. The Hotel's credit card machine would not work as appears to be common in Mexico. We had to walk to another hotel do do the transaction, We drove out passed the aquaduct, again leaving another beautiful Mexican city.

From Morelia to Taxco

Once we got to the main highway between Guadalajara and Mexico City we made good time. Government put signs up to display the prices of various commodities.

From Morelia to Taxco

Beautiful, green rolling hills with trees and lakes characterized the countryside.

Road construction was everywhere

Cactus are still part of the equation. Corn growing in the fields.

At Atlacomulco we turned south twards Toluca. "Church's" gook warns RVs to say on "laterals" in Toluca. Now do you really know what "laterals" are? They are....., I don't know either. Well, I guess we got off one and we got lost for an instant, pulled over to look at the blue dot on the IPhone. "Transitos" pulled us over and continued to baffle us with Spanish and BS. First he wanted 400 pesos for what Ken thought was a traffic violation (driving on a none main road). Then the guy upped the anti and wanted $400. We then knew it was a "shake down". He expected Ken to place the money in his little book. We both let him know we had no dollars. He went back to the four hundred pesos. Ken planted down the money and we left. After, of course, we realized we could have done things differently. We regained our bearings and were off to Taxco.

We found a great look out to a deep ravine with eagles overhead and turkeys on the ground.

Sunday August 8

We walked to the main road and discovered it was closed to traffic - nice touch.

We wanted to go get "Pepe" out of the parking lot where he had been for the past week. The lot, however, was closed until 8:00 pm. There went our plan to go shopping in the up scale shopping area. Ken was feeling better. I went out to scout out veggies and buns for lunch. Ken did more blog work. After lunch we walked to the main square. Artists were set up showing off their paintings. One particular artist caught my eye. His watercolours were colourful and included "his" Mexico. Wow, I almost purchased one for 700 pesos. While I was deciding I sat on some pink ice cream with my new, light cream coloured skirt. We had to return to the suite so I could change. Ken needed a long rest anyway. It started pouring rain as soon as we returned.

After super Ken revived and he was ok for walking to Mercado di Dulces (candy).

It was a great mercado, the best actually that we saw. We had to sort of hurry through as it was getting late. Then we wanted to check if my water colour artist was still at the square - he was gone unfortunately. http://bolasuriana.com/ found Javier and his art in the main square. There was, however, Tarscan dancers and musicians doing the dance of the old man and we also saw drummers and dancers, reggae style.

We walked to "Pepe". After sitting for a week he started easily. We packed most of our belongings for a quick morning get away.

Saturday August 7

Today Ken appeared to have the same sickness that I had or continue to have. I however, feel much better, almost "normal". I typed out the blog until I could not type anymore. When I reached that point I decided I'd join Ken and watch movies. Poor guy, he feels so sick! From what I can tell he seems to be sicker than I was yesterday. We think it is travelers flue and since I am almost better today that is the likely culprit.

I typed out two weeks worth of blog. I had to take many breaks.

I was going snakey and needed to get out of the hotel and Ken wanted to stretch his legs. Boy, yesterday I would not have been able to go anywhere except around our little apartment. We walked parallel to the main road, one block north.

Morelia, Michoacan

We walked to Las Rosa a big church. Across the street is a long strip of rose garden, with restaurants facing the church and gardens.

I found a little shop - Artist Popular - which had better, more refined art than most galleries. A bit expensive but the most high quality.

After about an hour Ken had to return to our suite. I walked to the Mercaco for veggies and returned to make Ken a nice stew. Love the light green squash here in Mexico.

Friday August 6

Ken was cheery and bouncy today. He finally got an extended time to work on the blog. He created the yellow sidebar that tells about restaurants and where we stayed. He used html code to make the sidebar.

I, however, was the opposite of cheery and bouncy. My activity level was nest to zero, getting only to walk down the hall. I was not feeling myself, feeling rather ill was an understatement. I made a few discoveries about Mexican televison. It has lots of good English movies playing, it has many of the same shows we do with Spanish sibtitles which appear to be a few years behind us, at least in some cases. Their televison appears to have longer ads but at less frequent intervals, with lots of ads for weight loss or getting in shape. Yes, all I could manage to do was stare at TV. I would have starved today if Ken would not have made me supper - a delicious one, too.

Ken discovered the Municipal Mercado which is about three blocks away from our hotel. It is huge and across the street was a mercado selling clothing. They were a bit too pushy for my liking.

Thursday August 5

We woke up early enough today but did not get going for a while, sort of tired from all the walking we did yesterday. We stretched out and my back feels better. We did work on the blog before heading out.

Once we got out into the city it was lunch time and we were hungry. I actually found a vegetarian restaurant about a block from the hotel. Good food!

Ken sold our iPhone that had decided to quit picking up the internet earlier in our trip. Dante helped translate for Ken and the buyer. I wondered around looking at shoes and jewellery, yes I know such a chore.

We went back to the Indepencia Mercado. I was too exhausted to enjoy the crowds of people and the heat so we moved on. We found a little restaurant in the front of a home. I was enchanted by their dog - like Joan and Kathie's dog Patch, at home. The owner, Maurice, introduced himself and invited us into his home to the his art. Wow, nice home - big wooden doors, art covering the walls along with stone sculptures done by and artist that sells out of Sotheby's. We walked along north of the aqueduct to a large park dedicated to Morelias.

and a beautiful walk way.

We saw a photo shot going on.

August 2010

In the Park was the Museum of Natural History.

And the Museum of Artes Populare.

Wednesday August 4

We sort of slept in this morning then worked on the blog. We were needing some rest. When we checked the weather we decided today would be best for the zoo experience, plus we decided to walk there.

Our walk to the zoo was eventful. To begin with I could not get a handle on the wardrobe matching the weather (required a return trip to our room). We discovered a huge mercado.

We met Rudalpho who wanted to practice his English. Realizing we should have eaten earlier with the big walk, we found a vendor with veggie beans, rice and napole cactus in a tomato sauce. That was lunch, so onward ho! Just about to the zoo Ken realized he was unsure of the location of the zoo entrance.

Morelia Zoo Entrance

We were down a residential street and a big, black dog was barking and growling at us. Ken put himself between me and the dog. Neighbors were even shutting their doors in fear of the crazed animal. Thankfully the owner came out and got the dog. Scary experience and it happened so fast.

I was afraid of the Mexican zoo experience, I am just too pro-animal. It was a great zoo, sort of what our Canadian zoos might have been like a few decades ago. Than animals looked well cared for and it was relatively clean. Most animals had lots of room (never actually enough in any zoo). An amazing variety of animals, some that were not even in the San Diego Zoo. The great part was you could safely get closer to the animals, not all, but most. A hyena wanted a pet, a water buffalo seemed quite interested in Ken. We saw a baby fawn that was close to being newly born. You could see some animals from the road as you drove by. We walked home and got caught in the rain.

From Morelia zoo

Putting the Giraffes to bed

Tuesday August 3

From Morelia

We got up when we felt like it today - ah, holidays! We slept in. The Hotel felt rather luxurious to be able to just walk through a hallway to the bathroom after camping for a week.

Hotel de Suites Galeria

We had a kitchen to prepare breakfast in today. Ken had rambutan for the first time. In case you too are stumped by this word it is a fruit similar to lychee but it has sort of spiny things on the outside.

Once ready and out the door we head toward the aquaduct, our closest Morelia attaction.

We took a few pictures but got distracted by a Mexican garage sale - we could not resist.

The aquaduct is made of stone as are most buildings in centro. There is not much green growth except in central courtyards of the big buildings. We decided our next mission was "coffee". We walked for a long time for just the right coffee place. Now if this was in the States we could have just walked around the corner to find it. The place we found turned out to be noisy, stinky and just plain disappointing.

We just walked the streets occassionally strolling through a store or a mansion.

It was actually fun. Different items to view.

Once we got hungry we returned to Guspacheo's and the cut up fruit. Chili and cheese are put over mango and jimici (sp). I also had watermelon and cantelop on mine. You could see the workers cutting up and preparing the fruit.

Traditional, no chile

Fruta with a little chile

We went to the Casa de las Artesanias.

We were in awe of the quality and carftsmanship of the work displayed. It was fortunate that we were able to take pictures.

A rest was in order around 6:00 but it started to pour rain. That did not deter us from food at an exquiste restaurant in a very old, two story stone home. It was decorated in antiques and art.

The walk home was fresh after the rain.


Morelia Michoacan

Patzcuaro and area

2010-08-08T14:35:00.000-07:00

Monday August 2

To day we woke-up early, once up, you could tell by the sky it was going to be a great weather day. We enjoyed our last breakfast overlooking the scenic pond and all of the trees. We packed everything up. Off we drove to town, something we rarely did in Patzcuaro. We still had to walk several blocks as parking in Centro Historica would be impossible.

Ken went for coffee at El Patio, I went shopping at Eleven Patios, a collective of artist's, mostly fibre.

I wanted to find napkins, etc. One shop had an owner who spoke a little English and was very helpful. After I made my purchase se crossed herself, kissed the money and put in away. Ken and I think she was in tune with the suspicion that the if the first customer of the week buys it says something for how sales will be the rest of the week. Hope she has great sales this week. Ken went to a shop that sells coconut fibre - flower pots, etc. He was getting information for Michael.

We went and paid for our camping wee, walked by the pond once more and struck off for Morelia. The libre road was exceptional. Rich farmland with rolling hills was our scenery. It was under an hours drive to Morelia.

We looked at a few hotels right in the centro historica of Morelia. We drove away from centro a few blocks and Ken stopped said,'Do you want to try that hotel"? When I got out I realized it was the art gallery hotel I wanted to go to. I had seen brochures at Villa Patzcuaro. Each room is fashioned after a different artist. I had thought it would be very expensive but we received a weekly rate.

Sunday August 1

We got up early today to drive around the lake and especially go to the market in the city of Quiroga. It was a nice change to have a driving day instead of a total walking day, well nice for me anyway. Maybe not for Ken the chaffeur. We drove north towards Tzintzuntzan seeing the ancient ruins only from the road. At about the same time as we spied the ruins stone carvings came into view, an unfathomable amount of stone statues. Just beyond the statues more artisans at a roadside market. Straw, wood, clay, embroidery art dominated the market.

Tzitzantzun Market

When marketing got overwhelming we stepped into the nearby church yard - peacefulness again. We found a very old church yard , monastery of San Francisco and the weirdest and biggest old tree trunks they are of olive trees planted over five hundred years ago.

Monastery of San Francisco

Arriving in Quiroga we ate in a restaurant that had Michoacan dancers. Little boys dress up as old men and dance like them.

Quiroga market was not what we expected from reading travel guides. It appeared to be a big, noisy, dirty city.

The rest of the road around the lake was peppered with traditional villages with a central church yard and adobe homes. The road ways were rough, not Pepe's style.

I have a particular affinity to burros, I do not know why. this was donkey trail heaven - from fuzzy babies to herds of the beasts. We saw many, I feel another donkey quilt coming on.

One kind burro even demonstrated how to do the gator for us.

This guy, hangin round the highway, is why we don't speed in Mexico.

Saturday July 31

Today we wanted to expand our horizons and drive to a few other places in the Patzcuaro area. Our first stop was Santa Clara de Cobra. It was a scenic drive out of Patzcuaro through a curvy, tree lined road.

Once we arrived in Santa Clara we saw workshops overflowing with copper. Into the town proper there were narrow, windy streets with copper artists. In the centro were copper artists. We wondered through so many "copper" stores selling copper sinks, bathtubs, lamps, earrings...the big vases and sinks ere m personal favourites. One workshop had the artist at work hammering a big pieces of heated metal. Each man taking a turn at hitting the piece in a rhythmic fashion

It was hard for me to want to eat in a town were half a skinned cow was hanging from the side of a truck. We did find a little family run business with excellent food and a "wanting to please" attitude.

We met a couple, at the restaurant, originally from Northern California who were in town to buy a copper sink. They then had to drive the five hours back home to the coast just to have come to Santa Clara. They blew out the water pump in their truck here as well. Buy the way, I had to buy some copper items, too.

We drove down about two thousand feet to the city of Uruapan. Caught up with a few burros on the way.

Then the drive to Zirhuen Lake was over 26 kilometers of road Ken describes as "picturesque".

Frommer's guide had such good things to say about it - tropical vegetation, avocado plantations, etc.

It was a big, stinky city.

At our parking spot in the City of Uruapan

Best thing - near were we parked was a very old, historic hospital turned museum, art gallery (in the centro). A university student saw us milling about debating whether or not to come in. He walked up to us and asked us to come into the art opening and drink some wine. A classmate asked us to have some snacks. Nice of them to do so!

Friday July 30

We actually woke up early , 7:00 am and got going into Patzcuaro by 9:30, good for us. We found a back way into the centro on a more residential street.

We saw bulls in a field grazing and goad herder with his herd including a very young baby goat.

We found the library with the big mural in it. I knew about the library and the mural, in fact about Patzcuaro, from a book I had read by Tony Cohen - On Mexico Time. We found a few artisans markets, quickly becoming overwhelmed. This is when we decided that coffee and tea were in order. We sat outside of the restaurant. Many people came up to us to try and sell their wares or beg for money. It kind of ruined the outdoor experience not to mention the cute dog that latched on to us.

We continued looking at artisans work. We found one market right by the Basilica which was having an opening of top notch art. We were allowed to enter early. Outside were more artisans. We went and took pictures of an even older looking church.

Then we needed to eat lunch but got side tracked by more art.

We talked to an American gallery owner who said art sales were down by 80% this year. He also has a gallery in San Miguel de Allende.

We found yet another art market by another church - we went inside the church. It had gold columns, statues in glass cases and an alter up to the ceiling - wow!

Ken liked the upstairs.

On our walk home we came across ten regular looking men playing horns, violins, and guitars. Some were singing, too. Great music! They gave us coffee. We really had no idea if they were celebrating or it was a funeral. One thing we did notice is that no one clapped when the musicians finished a song.

Ken recorded a bit of the music.

Thursday July 29

Totally don't remember what we did. Wondering around aimless in town is likely.



Wednesday July 28

We were pretty exhausted and knew we had better not do too much today. Ken took the laundry across the street to be washed, dried and folded, by 6:00 p.m. the same day.

I worked on my painting of Hector. It was a challenge to decide on different hair colour and texture from the painting of my own hair. Ken worked on getting this blog posted - sorting through pictures, refreshing himself on how to post, etc.

At supper time we walked into the little area down by the lake.

It had a street lined with wood carvers - from tiny crosses to huge pieces for a church. We did not find a suitable open restaurant. By this time it was staring to get dark, with loose dogs, etc.etc.. it was not a welcoming area. We hurried back to our campsite.

Ken built a wonderful campfire which mesmerized us while we watched the flames.



We had a light supper and were off to bed.

Tuesday July 27

We woke up excited to explore another new town in Mexico.

It had been a very quiet place the night before. This morning we walked in the centre or middle road, a more residential area. We entered the downtown at the small square (chico) and in one corner is the Mercado (market). Many food vendors, some with food or fruit I had never seen or eaten before. Speaking of unsual food we ate breakfast at a very exclusive restaurant that comes highly recommended in the Frommer's Guide called Don Vascos. It was a design your our omelette kind of buffet. I had the cook put some black stuff that I thought was mushrooms into my omelette. It was very delicious but not anything I'd eaten before. I asked the waiter and he said it was some kind of fungus that grows on corn. - huitlacoche (sp). We also got to go on the second floor of the restaurant to look at the island of Janitzio in Lake Patzcuaro.

The Hotel had a few odd antiques, Donna not included.



We walked into town checking out restaurants.

Now back to where we were back at the mercado, from the night before, which was relatively clean, very packed with goods and people and noisy.

It was overwhelming with the amount of people and "stuff".

Quail eggs

I had to take some breaks to be able to continue. Both of us were feeling the effects of high altitude (7,021 feet) but yet we chose to continue walking.

Our supper was great - authentic and well prepared with a waiter who had great English. We now call the restaurant Martin's Place.

Martin's Restaurant

Between the two of us we had nopal cactus soup and gorditas.

We walked back through the market.

On our way home we found an English speaking woman dyeing wool for rugs and sweaters. She managed a cottage industry business where artists make the rugs in their home. To me the rugs look like the Oaxaca rugs sometimes sold by street vendors.

Hand dyed wool

Monday July 26

We got ready to pack up and it started pouring (10:30 am until 11:00). That was sort of a weird or unusual time of day for it to be raining. We put our pillows in a big plastic bag then Ken shuttled everything out to Pepe in the garage. We saw turtles out playing and walking in the puddles and rain.

They are a wild type of turtle that just lives in the garden. In the winter they disappear and hibernate under the mud. I took more pictures of the room, especially of interest is the woven, basket type material on the high ceiling...more pictures of Ozzie, too.

We went to Ajijic for lunch and to a thrift store. Mexico does not have thrift stores that I have seen. This is a Gringolandia addition.

Once we left Ajijic we took the road to Morelia on both free and toll roads.

From Patzcuaro and area

The countryside was lush and green. Corn and cattle were in many fields. It was a mountain our region, too. Morelia was huge but Ken managed to stay on the ringroad and exit on the highway to Patzacuaro.

We found a wonderful campsite easily flollowing the directions from the Church's "Mexican Camping". It was early enough to walk into the city (more about it tomorrow).

Adobe yoga studio

Guest room

When we returned to our campsite we had a bit of exitment waiting for us. The gates were locked shut and short of climbing over there was no way into Pepe and our bed. The manager had gone to bed. We thought of several elaborate schemes to get in but could not manage to actually bring any of them to fruition. Then upon closer inspection we discovered the gate was dummy locked. Well, guess who felt like a couple of dummys?

Tequila, Corona, Lake ChaPala, Ajijic

2010-07-25T09:24:00.000-07:00

Sunday July 25

I felt much better today, mostly, about 90%. We went back for rice and beans to the same restaurant as yesterday, it was even better (Guicho Maricos in Lake Chapala). We than decided to walk to Ajijic a neighbouring town to Chapala. We had to find sidewalks, motorcycle/bike trails, old stone wagon trails (we think) or just walk beside the highway. We found a park beside the lake and saw unusual birds, people fishing and picnicking.

We walked from shade tree to shade tree to keep out of the direct sun. Even though we left after 2:00 pm we had to wear hats and suntan lotion as the sun was still powerful.

I was becoming weary when we spotted an open house sign. Well of course we went to investigate.

The house was well appointed with Mexican art and furniture. The mirador (look out) on the roof was a particularly attractive feature.

The back yard was small with a fountain. Very impressive! My comment on the mirador with lake and mountain views was - "what are we doing in Canada", Ken's comment was "I'm not leaving, you won't get me off this chair". The house was about $260 thousand American dollars. Oh, and the art and furniture were included - I wanted to buy right then and there. Ah, but we just walked on.... Lake Chapala has mosquitoes.

We went to an open Century 21 office and met Paola. She told us about La Floresta. Ken and I walked through the area.

It was reminiscent of Oak Bay in Victoria, BC. - gorgeous.

We were hot, tired and wanting to get back to Lake Chapala, which was a mass of weekend people when we returned. The restaurants closed early because people appeared to be returning to Guadalajara from their Sunday away.

We actually walked eleven point eighteen miles, a personal best for the two of us.

Saturday July 24

I woke up not feeling well, must have been that greasy taco! We checked it out, the deep fried taco is called a Taco Dorado. I could not really recall the "sick" feeling, but once it happened I remembered it all too well - ugh!

We did not want to stay in the hotel we were in.



It's redeeming quality was a mother bird and father bird tending their two babies near the roof of our room.



We went and checked out another hotel about a block away.

One of the owners, Lorrie, opened the gate to let us in. It opened onto a garden courtyard...

with fountains, turtles and a pool.



She showed three well appointed old, folk Mexican style rooms. We chose the Royal Palm.

The building was designed by Mexico's equivalent to Frank Lloyd Wright. D.H. Lawrence wrote The Red Plummed Serpent in the downstairs room off the garden.

The DH Lawrence room was almost done and Rob let us take a few pics.

DH Lawrence room at QQ B&B

Both and Lorrie and Rob, our hosts, were friendly and tried to make us feel at home - oh and Ozzie the little dog.

Once we settled in we walked and walked through neighborhoods and the main part of the town.

We walked on the built up area by the lake.

Even though both of us were not feeling 100% we could still get our steps in .

For supper we chose only tuna - which is a cactus fruit and cucumber. We drank lots of water.

I enjoyed painting. I just felt quite special be be able to create art where D.H. Lawrence had created a novel.

Friday July 23

We got up and decided we wanted to eat breakfast in town, Ville Corona...

but first a swim in the hot pool was in order. Wonderfully warm, clean water. All the pools in the park are refilled with the hot springs water daily. We met family of travellers from Quebec with better English then our French. They were saying their RV ( or en francais VR) was over heating during the day so they had to drive at night where the hills were steep. The man had worked for a resort chain and spoke English, French and Spanish, a most advanced combination for travelling. Once Ken parked in the shade we were off to Villa Corona for breakfast.

It seemed like a shorter distance than last nights adventure. We went back to the restaurant on the highway - mistake. Deep fried fish tacos can't be good for you.

The place we stayed did have jungle like grounds with banana/plantain trees and a bird sanctary. I saw cows tromping around in a marsh.

Jocotepec was our next destination.

First burro of the day

We checked out Centro. It had unusual stonework on the church.

Tall trees were planted in what appeared to be huge pots. There were men selling exotic fruit out of wheel barrels - mamey, dragon fruit and lychees.

Ajijic - when we arrived there, at the very west end of Lake Chapela, it was pouring rain. Lots of beartiful houses on the lake. We tried to camp - cound not find the camp ground. All was not lost, we saw horses. It poured so badly, Ken pulled over safely and slept, I painted. Once it let up we moved on to the town of Lake Chapala.

At night we walked by the lake and out on the pier; we saw a large snake swimming in the lake. Inside the gazabo at the end of the pier were paintings, very artsy.

Thursday July 22

Tequila for lunch and Corona for supper!

That is the Town of Tequila and Villa Corona. When we drove out of Tepic, finally getting to the toll road, we realized how big it was.

Toll road stop

The countryside appeared to have dark rich soil and be very furtile. Agave grew in many fields and was even planted in the ditches.

From Tequila, Corona, Lake Chapala

We ate lunch in Tequila.

Tequila house construction

The town is very enterprising and really plays up its namesake - tequila bottle tour buses, leather and huge tequila bottles, etc.

You can buy tequila almost everywere.

Well guarded grocery store

We bought grapes and cucumbers to eat for lunch at the the market.

Tequila market

One ineresting stall had boxes of fabric dye. I bought a seam ripper and needle threaders. We drove the "free" highway into Guadalahara. It was windy and scenic. Lots of stands setting goods - often related to fruit or tequila. Trucks of agave.

Before supper we landed at Villa Corona and Chimulca Water Park - too late to swim.

We decided we'd "curtain up" the van and get everything ready to go to bed then walk somewere for supper. That somewere was centro historica of the Villa Corona. Wonderful little place. It had really cooled down, people where riding bikes and milling about the town square. No restaurants were open. We saw where the police ate so that is the taco stand we ate at. Very friendly group, the vendors and the police.

After supper a walk around the town square was in order.

Walking back in the dark with flashlights - scary, no lights in bathroom, even scarier. lt poured rain for an hour after we went to bed.

Tepic, again is under construction

2010-07-21T14:43:00.000-07:00

Wednesday July 21

We got up earlier today, Tepic calls. I was still stupifyingly tired when I got up but I wanted to beat the heat. We walked lots (about 7.9 miles for the entire day) downtown going to all three Mercados. Nothing particularily outstanding, the new camera is working out well.

bug

Ken was feeling ill, he thought he was going to be sick all day. We found a really funky, exclusive kitchen shop - cupboards, stoves, fridges, etc.. One new feature was a fold down glass top for a gas range. Ken thinks it is for putting down to expand the size of your counter space. By the way, the main drag here in Tepic, Mexico Street South is still under construction. What a mess. Mostly there are no guard rails and holes with no warning. At night some people just walk down on the road, even with the construction.

We found a smart looking cafe, packed with mid to upper class clientel. I suggested lunch there (at about 11:15 am). People were very friendly, calling us in. The staff got up from their table to let us sit down. Someone even asked if we wanted to come sit with them at their table, Ken thanked them and we sat at the staff table. Great food, nice service!

After lunch we came back to the hotel. Ken down loaded pictures and I painted more on my portrait.

When we got ready and went out, I took pictures of the little pups in cages at the vets. Most dogs here are pets not just wondering around. We walked to the library and found big cages of birds on the way.

Supper was at a spot we found during the afternoon walk.

From Mazatlan to Tepic

lunch	Café Diligencias	70 pesos	good
supper	Rest. Cenadurias Aceves	203 pesos	good
Today's eating	where	cost	rating
Tonight's sleep	Hotel Valeria - Tepic	378 pesos	very good

Tuesday July 20

We slept in and by the time we got out (noonish) and about it was HOT!

View from Valerie Hotel bedroom

We checked out a few restaurants for lunch, air conditioning being high on our priority list. Lots didn't make the grade for different reasons. I remembered there was a vegetarian restaurant on the city map which Ken had in his fanny pack. We walked there and ate.

We went to three different parks. At one park something hit me on the upper, right arm.

An nice elderly man let us know it was an avocado. He told us about the parks - to bad we do not know enough Spanish to understand more then he was really proud of his city and its parks. Ken thinks it might be good luck to be hit by a avocado, like being spashed by a whale.

There was a bunch of kids playing soccer in a fenced area, when the ball went over the fence Ken threw it back to them. They thanked him and when Ken responded they guessed he spoke English and asked, "wanna play?" Ken declined, saying the air was too thin and he was too old to play soccer with a bunch of teenagers.

The parks had ficus trees with huge roots. We even saw a ficus elastica that was huge. Cool sidewalk.

I saw one unusual looking long bodied dog with short legs.

When we are back at the room I painted. I am painting long, red hair on a person. This is the first person I have painted since university days (first degree). I am really enjoying the process but I have to say it was really difficult to get started.

Supper at La Glorias.

lunch	Girasol Vegetarian	90 pesos	good
supper	La Gloria	168 pesos	very good
Today's eating	where	cost	rating
Tonight's sleep	Hotel Valeria - Tepic	378 pesos	very good

Monday July 19

We woke-up very refreshed and relaxed in a snuggly anniversary mood. Great room, the birds (the trees were full of birds) started chirping their happy sounds early.

It was a week day so we walked over the half block to the Canadian Consolate to say "Buenos Dias, eh!" - like true Canadians. We were surprised that the consulate person was Mexican and had incorrect passport information We were disappointed that she gave us no reaction to the "eh" part of our greeting.

We left Mazatlan going passed the airport. It is pretty rundown, we were thinking that this city needs to take more pride in their city , especially the areas where tourists are. Oh, I forgot to mention that we went to their Mega store which is a BIG grocery store with electric ramps like escalators to take you and your cart down to underground parking.

We ate lunch at a hot roadside stop and saw an iguana sitting up on top of a cement fence. Kinds from California were throwing rocks at it --- not nice.

From Mazatlan to Tepic

We drove passed many orchards of mango trees. The fruit hangs off the trees on vice like things. Even the little, young trees are loaded with fruit.

Fruit stands a plenty.

Once we arrived in Tepic we found a parking spot to check out hotels. We had one room, paid for it and then cancelled it once we found the Valeria which was more Mexican funky, cleaner and the front desk person spoke a little English.

We had our anniversary supper at the Don Juan Hotel.

Big statues of Angels, etc. adorned the restaurant. We started the evening on a little balcony with open windows but we switched to a warmer spot in a corner under the Arc Angel Gabriel.

groceries	Mega - bebidas, fruit	135 pesos	good
supper	Hotel Real Don Vasco	198 pesos	very good
Today's eating	where	cost	rating
Tonight's sleep	Hotel Valeria - Tepic	378 pesos	very good

Ahhh! México!!! Nogales to Mazatlan...

2010-07-18T14:15:00.000-07:00

Sunday July 18

Hotel Las Fuentes, Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico

First burro sighting of the trip at 10:18 am. I absolutely love donkeys.

We had only an "ok" breakfast at the Hotel Las Fuentes, no where near as good as last night's supper. Then we drove off for Mazatlan. This area has better soil and is more lush than yesterday's drive, especially the closer you get the Mazatlan. Lots of farming from sugar cane to corn. There is some secondary industry caused from the farming.

At one point we saw sequoia cactus and lots of them. We both got out and took photos. There were areas with lush looking growth with tall cactus growing as well.

Ken drove all that way with a few little rest breaks and no lunch. We did not see anywhere we would eat.

Once we arrived in Mazatlan we drove straight to the Hotel Azteca and were able to get a room. This is a hotel I always wanted to stay at but it was always booked -- solid, guess we arrived on weekends. We waled through to Poncho's Restaurant (a favourite of ours) and got our feet wet in the ocean, took pictures. We returned to our room because it was unreasonably hot.

Then back to Poncho's for supper. We saw people riding horses on the beach. Some girl was bit on the arm by something, it was the excitement of the moment for all her friends

From Mazatlan to Tepic

breakfast	Hotel Las Fuentes	72 pesos	ok
supper	Poncho's Mazatlan	310 pesos	always very good
Today's eating	where	cost	rating
Tonight's sleep	Hotel Azteca	714 pesos	kinda good

Saturday July 17

Woke up feeling the opposite of refreshed. I woke up many times in the night. We had the worst mistake for a room. We learned a lesson, always look at the room first before taking it. We had the room closest to the noisy highway. Sometimes it was like a big semi was in our room with jack brakes. Other times there was this high pitched sound - Ken said it was a bird. Must be some big ass bird! Ken called this modest accomodation.

As I write this I am listening to music from Miles Black - "Live at the Haven 2008". Wow, is he good, I sure hope he can continue to sing, play and write music. Life has a way of getting in the way of a musicians talents.

From Nogales to Mazatlan

We drove through areas of extreme poverty today. Lots of small brick houses, some houses with corrigated metal roof and plywood walls. Lots of garbaged along the highway - plasitic bags need to be banned. Plus several field fires burning, never saw that before.

We had several sets of squeegy kids spray our windows. It is annoying if your windshield is already clean, timing is everything. They are obvously from impoverished situations. It is sad.

This area has the Sierra Madres Mountains in the background and it is rather flat and desert like, many cactus.

It was so hot when we got out for lunch, we could barely walk to Walmart. Walmart has covered parking, with attendants. The guys flogging stuff at the side of the road, especially at toll boths have bags of shrimp, I think they must be dried.

Supper was Chile Relleno with shrimp plus rice and salad - exceptional. VIPS at lunch was Walmart food with double the prices, kind of boring food.

lunch	VIPs Walmart chain	91 pesos	avoid
supper	Hotel Las Fuentes	169 pesos	very good
Today's eating	where	cost	rating
Tonight's sleep	Hotel Las Fuentes	480 pesos	very good

The Border

2010-07-16T07:29:00.000-07:00

Friday July 16

To get ready to leave for Mexico. Ken got up early to buy insurance for the car on-line. It was already hot when we left to get salads at Whole Food (very small one in Tuscan). He got the van filled up with gas and I shot pictures of anything unusual in this desert city of Tucson.

We drove Nogales about to enter Mexico at the truck crossing - Mariposa crossing.

From Nogales to Mazatlan

We arrived Migracion to purchase our tourist cards. Now here is were life got very interesting as Ken chose not to get a passport!

He got himself an "enhanced indentity card" instead - "this is not a passport" said the border dude. Some kind lady translated for us letting us know we must go to the Nogales Migracion office. Ken was in shock, I was reminding him that I had encouraged him to get a passport earlier, like January, before we left. - stubborness reigned. To help further set the scene for this looming catastrophe on our vacation, it was about noon, about 100 degrees Fahrenheit and we now had to go into centro Nogales, a border town. Ken was directed to park in a very busy, crowded, HOT area by some guy with an identification tag around his neck. The Migracion official, after some deliberation, decided to issue us both tourist cards. When we went to pay for them we did not have enough pessoes, Ken had to return to the van where we had them stashed. Then when we got back to the van the policia were issuing Ken a ticket for parking in a "red" zone and for blocking a pedestrian cross walk. We recieved a two motorcycle escort to the Police Station. Ken again did not have enough pesos to pay for the ticket and had to return to the van.

Ken drove out of the city to the Banjercito to get our vehicle permit, again they wanted a passport and recent vehicle registration. Ken had not passport and somehow he gave them the expired registration. We must have been there for at least two hours in the heat. "Next time bring a passport" is the lesson.

lunch	WholeFoods - picnic	$20.98	good
groceries	OXXO - Hermosillo	18 pesos	good
Today's eating	where	cost	rating
Tonight's sleep	Flamingo Inn - Tucson		very good

Leaving San Diego for Mexico

2010-07-15T07:26:00.000-07:00

Thursday July 15

We actually saw four corrals with horses in them at the campground.

From San Diego to Tucson

Mostly the horses seemed content except for one obviously anxious boy. We got a late start to our day of moving on. As usual I was sad to leave Sweetwater and San Diego. We left and went to Vons for salad. We did not want to eat at some less than desirable restaurant along the way. We took so long that we ended up having to eat at TJ's Oyster Bar gain, ah what a shame, lol.

Driving east out of San Diego it soon becomes rocky and lacks vegetation. There are boulder type of mountains, with lots of rocks. It is much hotter than SD. Soon after leaving Ken needed to rest his eyes so yes I had to drive. It went from about 4000' above sea level to below sea level, so yes , a steep incline. I drove through a very windy area and could barely keep the van on the road. Ken took over and drove through the desert sand storm.

We stopped a Yuma to walk as it is too hot to do so outside.

I bought Aloe Vera for my artwork as you can not find it in Mexico.

There are areas of sandy desert with sand dunes, cliffs, nice area.

.

Once we get to the part of the desert with sequoia cactus it has got dark. The farther south you go there is a shorter twilight.

We booked a hotel room in Tuscan so we were forced to drive at night and arrived in Tuscan about 10:30.

groceries	VONs	$7.85	just plain bad
groceries	WalMart	$4.29	just plain awful
lunch	TJ Oyster Bar	$7.59	great
snack	StarBucks	$2.23	deal of the day
Today's eating	where	cost	rating

Wednesday July 14

This day was devoted to finishing up last minute details of getting ready to go to Mexico.

We went to the Bonita Public library to look up responses from people who had iPhones for sale. We went to City Heights to buy one from Tai.

We did the whole transaction in his front yard that had a plastic tarp over it - good thing it was HOT out that day! Ken checked everything and it would not connect to our computer. He checked on-line and discovered it had to do with the name Tai had given his iPhone. Everything checked out and we made our purchase - good deal as this iPhone 3GS is still under Apple warranty.

Ken vacuumed the van and washed the outside at a spray car wash. Got the stickers on the van .

We were at a Starbucks on University and saw that Charlene had just sent an email so I answered her. We sent several e-mails back and forth. I miss my sister.

Somewhere during the day we went to Whole Foods to purchase small tetra packs of Rice Dram four our breakfasts in Mexico. In Mexico the small packs of soy milk have fruit flavouring - yuck!

groceries	WholeFoods - rice dream	$30.33	small soya milk
lunch	WholeFoods	$11.40	very good
supper	Ralph's	$7.63	surprisingly good
snack	Starbucks	$6.50	good
Today's eating	where	cost	rating

Tuesday July 13

For me, at least today, was kind of a washout. I had a headache and was very tired. I just slugged around all day hoping I'd feel better soon. My dry skin was terrible.

From San Diego to Tucson

We got up late, I missed the early shower shift and had to wait until after 9:30 (this is when they finish cleaning ).

Our lunch in Bonita (close to our camp ground) was wonderful. We sat at the bar to watch the cook prepare all the lunches. He had that speedy cook thing going on.

We drove to Chula Vista which is not far from Sweetwater, it is very close to Mexico. Many residents are of Mexican decent. Ken dropped me off to do the laundry. Once I put the wash in the machine I found a Mexican restaurant and a huge cup of Horchata, a rice based drink - very cold and refreshing. Ken spent his time at the Apple Store in Otay Ranch Town Centre Mall. When Ken came and got me and took me to the mall, the Farmer's Market was on. Lots of vendors for fruit and many different ethnic foods. Supper was delicious. We even saw alpacas giving children rides.

We went to Luis's house to buy an iPhone but it had too many things wrong with it.

lunch	TJ Oyster Bar	$8.93	deal of the day
supper	Otay Ranch farmer market	$9.00	fabulous
snack	Los Ponchos near laundry	$1.50	horchata - great
Today's eating	where	cost	rating

The Zoo

2010-07-12T07:25:00.000-07:00

Monday July 12

I was already exited when I woke-up about going to the zoo. By the time I arrived at the zoo I was ecstatic.

From San Diego to Tucson

Check out the massive zoo photos.

So we would know what was what and the layout of the zoo, we took a tour bus.

I took plenty of pictures from inside the open air bus's perspective. We zooed it up until almost 3:00, eating at a little restaurant just outside the Spanish Village (a few pictures of that, too).

It was so exiting watching the antics of the animals and recording it in picture form. I can hardly wait to make some of there creature pictures into quilts.

We really needed a zoo break because of all the sun and people so off we drove to La Jolla. We should have really drove into Pacific Beach which has great thrift stores. We ate tamales and gorditas for supper - um! Then back to the zoo for the rest of the evening.

From San Diego to Tucson

We got a few photos in but things were looking pretty grainy because of the poor light.

Some animals were sleeping - so cute. Nobody seemed active except the flamingos. We went on the tram back to the zoo exit. I was very sad to leave the zoo. Hope we got some great shots.

San Diego

2010-07-09T07:23:00.000-07:00

Sunday July 11

The morning started with a visit to the local Starbucks and a chat with the locals in the parking lot.

One our way to La Jolla we got side tracked. We found a Swap Meet in Chula Vista - Mexican style market. Wonderful music, Spanish speaking, sunny, just a great time. A little taste of Mexico. I regrettably got some sunburn on my arms.

We left the Swap Meet hungry continuing on to Whole Foods.

We also needed to purchase some provisions for our trip. By this time it is way after two.

Visions Quilt Art Gallery is our next stop with the exhibit 3 Voices - Valerie S. Goodwill and Katherine K. Allen being the highlights for me. There was a binder showing Allen's process which is a silk screen over taped on grasses and leaves. Goodwill sew little ribbons, etc. on to get her small square shapes. She also sews pieces of fabric together for backing. She makes mini pieces on small acrylic art boards ($40.00) and makes bigger pieces sandwiched between pieces of mat boards ($90.00). The Fantasy Flower exhibit was very impressive, I wish I would got my pieces into the show.

Ken and I had some miscommunication over which Starbucks to meet in when I was done with the show. I sat by our parked van then found Ken in a different Starbucks. We went to the Goodwill on Rosencrans.

Saturday July 10

We decided to begin our first San Diego day with a big cup of Starbucks continuing on to garage sales. We only went to a few as we got going kid of late. I picked up a couple of Art Bins and a brush holder and pencil case for about $2.00. Great buy!

Ken spent hours at the Apple Store because our IPhone 3G will no long pick up the internet, very annoying. We were at Fashion Valley (a huge mall), likely the biggest, most expensive mall I have been to. The stores do not have an enclosed hallway system, it is open air. I walked around to see fashions and prices. I would never pay the prices that were on those labels, it was unreal. One store was going out of business and everything was at least 50% off. Still too crazy with the prices.

In the evening we has picnic in Balboa park - seafood salad, California Rolls, edema beans - um! Watched the jets land at SD airport just nearby.

We walk many steps passed several parties. One was raising money for the park. People were bidding on show tickets, services or dinners, etc. Someone bid and bought dinner for 25 people for about $3500. by some famous cook.

Friday July 9

It was expensive to stay in Santa Barbara and really no camping. We drove back to the rest area we had stayed in the night before only stayed across the highway, It was noisy to sleep here but worth every penny we spent (nothing). This is the day we drove from Santa Barbara to San Diego.

The highway between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles is near the ocean and also near the railway. It is a beautiful stretch of road that is very congested with traffic, especially the closer you get to LA.

We used the IPhone and the blue dot to help us navigate through LA which is a total traffic jungle.

From San Diego to Tucson

The iPhone picks up Google Maps. Then you "drop a pin" for your destination and a "blue dot" shows your current location. While you have the internet to pick up Google Maps, you search around on the map so that your IPhone has saved your route in cache memory. It is great, especially in a big city. That way if you get lost you know not only where you are but you have a map on how to return to the proper road.

We decided not to eat until we were through LA and could easily drive to a Wholefoods to eat. That Wholefoods was in Tustin. It was the biggest Wholefoods with the most diverse food service we had seen. It was overwhelming to pick out lunch, but we had really put off eating and were very hungry. It was near the airship hanger.

We drove into San Diego and as usual I was excited. It is one of my favourite American cities.

We drove down to San Diego's waterfront park and walked along the water. With the city on one side and the ocean on the other side it is a beautiful. We had a bowl of seafood chowder in a bread pot for supper at the Seaport Village.

San Francisco to San Luis Obispo

2010-07-04T19:10:00.000-07:00

Thursday July 8

For one thing, I thought it was Wednesday until evening when Ken clarified that for me, it all seemed so surreal.

Ken was up reading the travel guide early, before 7:00 am. He discovered a Danish Restaurant, that serves up a great breakfast - Paula's Pancake House. It was busy and very tasty. Our waitress didn't know flour was made from wheat - where did she come from?

After breakfast we explored Solvang. It is a very touristy Danish village. Buellton, Los Olives, Ballard and San Inez were next. We saw ostrich, pigs, donkeys and miniature donkeys.

The back country road was worth it just for the creatures along.

Los Olives is where the Andy of Mayberry show from the 1960's was filmed. If you remember it, you grew up before the Beatles became famous.

We took the back way into Santa Barbara and got lost in Goleta.

Once we got to the main part of Santa Barbara the tourist information centre was closed and the weather had turned cool again so we walked around.

More walking on tree and garden lined streets with expensive stores to tempt us.

Wednesday July 7

We ate breakfast in the flower garden.

We saw California quail and cactus - odd, as we have the quail in our garden at home.

San Luis Obispo (SLO) is where we went for morning tea and coffee to warm up. It actually got warm and sunny by the end of the morning. I shopped the morning away, Ken was at the Apple store talking to a "Genius". SLO has great trees, gardens and shopping. It is a city but fairly easy to get around in and absolutely beautiful.

We are trying to cut down on our food consumption. When you are at home you can snack whenever and make big meals consisting of food you love. It is hard to cut down the "food" cycle. When you are on holidays it is easier because you don't have food in easy access. The added bonus of holidays is you can walk frequently.

We checked out a few restaurants for supper and settled on The Firestone Grill. It was reasonable with great French fries (I know, not very food conscious but we are on holidays). Then of we went for new adventured in a new area.

Tuesday July 6

We awoke to sunny, warm almost hot weather, so we did some walking at the campsite. I could actually wear shorts.

When we stopped for lunch we decided we needed a good long walk.

From Gabriola to California

We walked into Paso Robles. It was a nice little town with a beautiful park. It was a very good walk.

When you walk you get to see the flowers and birds. Smelling the scents of the flowering trees.

Sometimes you even find good thrift stores.

Once we arrived in Morro Bay we went way out on a land bridge to a big rock island.

We saw many seagulls and many little gophers. The greatest aspect was baby seagulls.

Have you ever seen one? They are grey fluffy, wobbly creatures. We also saw a crow and an Egret rookery up in the trees by the triple tower power plant.

There is a walk behind and through waterfront restaurants that we strolled along. We checked out all the menus when we returned to our campsite it was still empty.

Monday July 5

We got up, I did a yoga routine, Ken stretched. Ken did some e-mailing and looking up places we might want to go to in San Francisco on the internet.

We walked to the Goodwill on Mission and 11th. It had so much. I tried on lots but only purchased two tops. It is often wise to not purchase when you are uncertain about something. Once we returned to the hotel it was check out time. We walked to Shalimars on 532 Jones St. and Geary. The food wowed us as it did at their other location, so flavourful with whole spices. The atmosphere was noisy, busy and not very clean looking.

We went to the Haight District.

I walked around and discovered a Goodwill and a cool looking house.

From Gabriola to California

Ken recorded a response to some questions posed to him by The Shingle Newspaper.

We found a Japanese Restaurant we went to before, but ended up at Wholefoods. Sadly we left San Francisco - south on I-5.

Sunday July 4

I got up and did a great yoga routine, felt great. I will not stop doing yoga again. Sun salutations are hard again, not that they ever were particularly easy. We ate breakfast in the room.

On our way to find a thrift store we discovered free first Sunday of the month at the Asian Museum. Mostly it consisted of Hindi and Buddhist religious artifact.

From Gabriola to California

Wow, was it ever windy outside when we took pictures of city hall.

Being lost and walking we ended up in the Mission District at Community Thrift Store (huge). Then we took a BART to Embarcadaro and hoofed it up to Chinatown for a late lunch.

From Gabriola to California

Cold and windy as we continued into the Italian District.

We actually left a great coffee shop as we did not have enough cash - lucky for our waistlines.

We walked around Union Square area in the evening. Exhausted we went back to sleep.

We hiked back through a residential arae and passed the Ritz Carlton. We were very cold and went back to our cheapo Motel 6. We ate at a Turkish restaurant close to our hotel. What we each had to eat was made with freshly baked bread - yum.

2010 Driving South

2010-06-30T18:21:00.000-07:00

Saturday July 3

I did my first yoga outside. The cement was a bit hard, so was the sun salutation.

We drove into Red Bluff and found their Farmers Market by a river - lots of produce. We purchased strawberries and yellow cherry tomatoes which were eaten immediately. The baby carrots were a treat we saw ducks and geese. Ken got free WiFi so booked us into a San Francisco Motel6.

Somehow after all that, we ate lunch in Willows, CA. I slept for about an hour after lunch. Ken wanted me to drive (fasten your seat belts). I drove into downtown San Francisco.

SF City Hall from Gabriola to California

Yes, it was scary for both of us but the iPhone did make navigating easy.

Our motel is acceptable and clean. The area around it is sketchy, but we have underground parking. A Goodwill beaconed to us and I bought a little pink dress - very uncharacteristic of me.

Friday July 2

We stayed at a rest stop with big, lush trees. We went on a path or walk with trees planted from different states. Quite unusual, as we had never seen some of the trees before. They were big, too, so they had been planted many years previous.

We held off eating breakfast until we got to Eugene, Oregon and the Morning Glory Restaurant.

We or should I say I say I wanted biscuits and gravy - vegetarian style. Their biscuits were even made of spelt flour. After lunch we walked around the down town to get some exercise. The big train station is near the restaurant so we were in there several times.

We drove all day.

We didn't really remember what Ashland, OR was like. It is very hip and beautiful with a river and park in behind some of the restaurants. I bought a "Namesta" bumper sticker. I thought it would suit new commitment to yoga. We walked around the down town of this beautiful city. "Agave", the restaurant we ate supper in, looked like the best place in town for us.

Thursday July 1

We woke up to rain, we were still in a rain forest so what could we expect.

Happy Canada day from Gabriola to California

We went to two favourite Seattle Value Villages - Redmond and Capital Hill. Ken found me a Eagle Creek fanny pack, just what I need to carry my new camera.

It did not seem real that we were on holiday.

Wednesday June 30, 2010

We were to leave Gabriola on the 3:10 ferry. It was planned out for months.

From home before we left

I started walking home when I was ready to leave school as Ken had not come yet to pick me up. I had said my good byes. When I saw the little burgundy van driving up the hill I felt such emotion well up inside of me. Finally we were about to leave for Mexico. But no, Ken was not ready (updating the iPhone to the new software) and we wouldn't be able to leave until the 5:30 (Wednesday there is no 4:20 because of the "dangerous goods" sailing).

I got to go back home and again say good bye to Hector my pup. Gunnhild our doggie and house sitter got to the house in time to hug us and get last minute Hector instructions. I will miss the little "Mister".

We get into Nanaimo just in time to miss a "big" mainland ferry and took the 8:15 into Tsawwassen. We decided to have a great meal before we set off to Mexico. Now we are off to our new adventure, another eventful summer in Mexico!

Mexico home to California

2008-09-14T19:09:00.000-07:00

Friday August 22, 2008
We got up in San Jose and Ken was on the computer again looking on Craigslist to find a good, used computer for me (preferably a 17" MacBook Pro).

We walked out of the Hotel to a selection of bakeries, ate, packed up and went to drive away. Our van would not start – dead as a door nail battery. We got a boost from the gardener at the hotel. Our vehicle day mostly consisted of finding shade and leaving Pepe running.

We also had to find a computer, they are more plentiful here and cheaper. Right near the beginning our computer looking day we found We Love Macs, a computer parts wholesaler. They sell used Macs, too. Faith waited on us and brought out a 17" G4 Powerbook to inspect. I was very impressed as was Ken. Then I spent the rest of the day deciding G4 or MacBook Pro, 15" or 17".

We drove to Cupertino to "The Mothership" on Infinite Loop to see the MacBook Pros in action. This was hopefully going to assist us with our decision. The store wasn't the correct Apple store so we drove to Valley Fair Mall to get more information. I did not see that the Pro had a huge amount of extra features. I decided on the G4 because off the one or two year warranty, big high res screen, reliability of an end of production unit, price compared to a Pro (even a used Pro). I felt very good about it. We phoned Faith and she had the techis get it ready. In the meantime we found a pre-owned Mac store. They had the exact computer for $200. more plus tax would have been extra and only a 30 day warranty. Now I really feel like I got a good deal. I am actually typing on the new G4 right now.

Thursday August 21
This would have been my parents 55th wedding anniversary. I always wonder if my Dad feels sad on this day because my Mom is no longer with us. I guess I should talk to him about that.

We woke up in the rest area which was not really that noisy or hot to our surprise. We took pictures of posing crows while we ate breakfast.

We drove until we got to Harris Ranch to stretch our legs and eat lunch. It was great to look at – adobe buildings, fountains, landscaping, etc. Do not let that fool you, it had lousy food. I spoke and said something to one of the managers before we left. We ended up getting out lousy lunch for half price.

From California

I drove after lunch. We saw our first big accident. There were many police, paramedics and even a helicopter circling overhead. As we drove by we saw CDs, shoes, etc. on the highway – real heart wrenching! Poor people!

We started driving through rolling, yellow hills and once we drove west for a while we drove to lush green rolling hills.

We arrived in San Jose. The downtown association was sponsoring some kind of party in the park with live music. They were playing old Beetles tunes.

Wednesday August 20
We went to Bonita's library for internet and coffee (tea for me).

We did some thrifting, found Coroplast to paint on at Sign Diego.

I went to La Jolla Fibre Arts. This was the highlight for me. She had some stuff that was in the store last month but two new artists work also. The artist which most interested me was Kathyanne White. She uses manipulated photos printed out on Lutradur. Her base is thick wire. She layers fabric, lutradur , etc. and adds copper wire. It is not really what would be called a quilt but it is fibre are – interesting. She makes little books out of water color paper, fabric, little bits of yarn, etc. to work out ideas.

We ate a few meals at Whole Foods . Each of us can pick what we want and our portion size, plus free wifi. Overall, great place!

From California

Tuesday August 19
We got up and did a couple of loops around the campground – good fresh air and exercise. We went to Bonita's library for an internet connection and Craigslist (nothing).

We drove to Balboa Park, parking in the zoo parking lot at the far end from the gate.

From California

Ken chose to sit and read. I walked to the Mingei International Museum. The walk there was spectacular with ponds, flowering trees and ornate architecture.

The exhibit at the Mingei was of wood and fibre. In one room off to the side a video was playing interviewing the artist. This to me was the most valuable part of the experience. Upstairs was the work of cloth block print artists from around the world. Very colorful!

On my way back to the van I stopped by the Spanish Village to see the artists there.

Ken then took me to Visions Quilt Art Gallery, again, new show. Spectacular show called Figuratively Speaking. I go to see the work of many noteworthy quilt artist. Some of my personal favorites were Hollis Chatelaine, Lura Schwarz Smith and Wendy Huhn. I tried to discover what it was about the pieces I really liked that struck me. I think it was the painterly effect created – the contrast.

Lastly for the day – but not least – we parked at the Seaside Village and walked along side the ocean to the Gaslight district.

I got cold but we ate outside at Fred's and walked back. We even went to Walmart later for aloe vera to use for my painting.

Monday August 18
I had to have huevous rancheros for breakfast, way too much food but it was delicious. Ken had biscuits and gravy. Then we were off to San Diego, continuing through the desert. There were a few small puddles from the rain the previous night but mostly it was dry.

We stopped in Yuma, AZ. Best iced frappicino I had all summer. This was likely because it was very hot out and I had not had one in a month. Many of the businesses like restaurants and stores, etc. had plastic tubes attached to the eves with mist coming out. It didn't help regarding the heat as it was still very hot.

We figured out and took the new back way into Sweetwater campground. Nice to be back in San Diego – that constant cool temperature is great. We opted for Whole Foods for supper, always a treat. We were both tired and just drove back to the campground after supper.

Sunday August 17
The Hotel El Mayo where we stayed provided us with a great sleep. It was made adobe style with cement cactus and huge, cement geckos. The outside was quite striking – inside not so much but it was clean.

From Back to California

We drove and paid tolls every once in a while.

There were lots of white and other color butterflies flittering about.

We ate at a Soriana, Yes it was what you'd expect for mall food – except it was Mexican mall food.

The landscape was more lush than we remember from July of 2007.

The roadways were cleaner than I remember in the state of Sonora.

We both felt our month in Mexico went quickly. We were rather being torn from Mexico, not leaving willingly.

Once through Tuscon, AZ it stated pouring sheets of rain.

Saturday August 16 - Leaving Mazatlan
I reluctantly ate at the hotel having their continental breakfast. Ken drove me downtown to look at jewelry near the Azteca Hotel. I took a long time making my final purchases. The clerk was very patient and helpful. Too many choices.

When we drove out north of Mazatlan to leave and saw the new development of time shares, condos, etc – very nice! Again, we saw lots and lots of butterflies fluttering about.

Ken encouraged me to start painting on the camel. The camel is coming along nicely.
We had tamales for lunch from a roadside vendor.

We ate at a truck stop. I felt really weird going there because I was dressed for Mazatlan heat. Our supper, however, at La Pilarica was great. Mine consisted of shrimp tacos with lots of shrimp. Had to give some of my food to Ken . It was so delicious.

Friday August 15
This was a packed, full day! We started out the day cold from our air conditoning unit. Ken referred to our room as the meat locker. A lousy breakfast was our fate – courteously of the Hotel.

First thing we did was drive to Acuario-Mazatlan (aquarium for you Gringos).

This included sea creatures of all kinds in tanks including a sea turtle.

I made a Sea Turtle quilt but had never actually seen one before. We saw the show which took place in the sea turtle's tank.

We saw the show that involved trained sea lions.

We went to the aviary, saw and fed a brown pelican. Oh, and a white pelican, too, but he didn't accept the food. Must have already eaten too much.

From Mazatlan

We saw a school bus flying small Canadian flags. If you are curious why Canadian flags – well, it had written on the side that it was from Grande Prairie, AB and appeared to be a gift to Mazatlan. That choked me up.

We had Pepe so we drove to Walmart to buy coffee. There we decided to drive down to the old town. We inspected one restaurant and decided to walk to one in the old town, off the strip. We walked, walked, and walked. It was so HOT, I couldn't even think. With help we found the restaurant we were looking for – Mamucas (a locals' seafood restaurant). It was disappointing. We took a taxi back to the van.

We went home to the hotel. I fell almost instantly asleep in air conditioned comfort. Ken went shopping at Soriana.

Once we decided to go for a walk about, we wanted to eat at Poncho's again, this time taking a local bus. Again, great food and wonderful service.

The view from Poncho's in Mazatlan

Road to the Coast

2008-09-06T19:35:00.000-07:00

Thursday August 14
We were driving back to the west coast through the Sierra Madres Mountains.

Sierra Madres crossing

above the clouds

Winding road

The highway, MX 40, got very mountainous and curvy, quickly. The scenery was spectacular. We were up so high that we could see mountains and valleys below us. The clouds floated over top of them, so we were above the clouds. It was like being in an airplane. There were rock formations like in the Cooper Canyon.

We ate lunch by the side of the road overlooking a deep valley.

From Road to the Coast

Having a nice lunch

Ken thinks it was called Diablo something or other (which means devil in Spanish).

From Road to the Coast

Kenny saw a big, fuzzy legged spider with a yellow back crossing the highway. We both saw another fuzzy legged spider. Ken says it had tan legs, I say red legs. I wanted to stop and take a picture.

The police had their mini 14 rifles on the table of the clean, little restaurant that Ken stopped at for coffee. It was in a small village. We again saw donkeys along the road.

Two mules for sleepy sitting *

Truck wash *

Slow going roads *

As we got closer to Mazatlan the scenery got more jungle like. There were vines hanging off the mountains, trees or plants you only see in pictures of a jungle or sold as indoor tropicals at home. There were lots of flowering trees. Plus, it was like a buttterfly convention. Many butterflies fluttering about.

A lot of butterflies *

We had intentions of camping in Mazatlan because there are lots of RV places. We stopped to go to Home Depot or Soriani. The heat got us and Ken saw a sign advertising a reasonably priced, new hotel. That was it, we were staying at City Express Hotel in air conditioned comfort.

We decided to go out for supper and we walked downtown.

Five volkswagons *

Walking, we got a bit lost on the way into downtown Mazatlan but Ken got out the ipod Touch. He had already down loaded a map. We used the map to find our way to Poncho's. The meal was fabulous. Two thumbs way up for Poncho's. We were given Kahluas and cream for dessert. We than walked on the beach in the surf, on the way home. We showered our feet at some ritzy hotel and walked the rest of the way back to the hotel. It was all in all a very fun evening, even though it was still very hot.

From Mazatlan

Wednesday August 13
Today was our last day at the Hotel Del Boque and at Zacatecas – sad but true. A few weeks ago I would have been super thrilled to move on. We packed up all our belongings (or should I say that Ken mostly did). I worked at getting the camel image perfected and transfered to cloth. We said good bye to Norma. She said she hated it in Zacatecas and would like to move to Canada. Her husband was deported from the States.

Ken phoned both boutique hotels we wanted to stay in at Talaquapacque. There was a big trade show there and everything was booked up. We both decided that we should make a change in plans. The consensus was to drive west to Durango, then on to the coast, on to Mazatlan. We were disappointed about not going to Talaquepaque and Tonala but excited about our new plan.

The area we drove in was lush, growing lots of corn. It was quite flat.

We arrived at Durango about 7:30 pm and did not find our no-tell motel until we had left town. By the way Durango was on a flat plain and is an industrial, cattle city. It had covered parking spaces in the Walmart parking lot.

Pepe gets a room *

Nice room *

Comfortable place *

Zacatecas - waiting for the package

2008-09-05T18:32:00.000-07:00

Tuesday August 12

From Zacatecas - waiting for the package

After eating breakfast in our room Ken went to the hotel lobby to check his Gmail. The Gmail notice he wanted said that our Long awaited package from Texas was ready for pickup by recipient – that being us.

From Zacatecas - waiting for the package

He excitedly burst back into our room. I was calmly doing initial work on the camel quilt. I was very pleased, too. We quickly donned our walking gear and set of to the downtown Post Office.

The Post Office seemed to be in disguise. Once inside it smelled like Canadian Post Offices and did look like ones at home. The first person we tried to discuss the package with needed an interpreter. The person who acted as our interpreter just happened to be there doing some type of mail transaction. Soon the boss was on the case trying to find our package. She phoned, emailed, Googled, etc. Then came out to tell us the final word – in Spanish. Her compadre used Yahoo translator to let us know to come back to three. We did understand "tres". We thought it meant to come back in three days (you can not imagine our disappointment). When it was 3 pm (about three hours away) I was almost in tears of happiness.

From Zacatecas - waiting for the package

We walked home to the Hotel. Mean time the courier service brought our package to the Hotel but could not leave it. We had to go over to by the Walmart, driving Pepe, to pick it up. Once we actually found the place we were thrilled to get the part. We got some jugos from Walmart then went and got the part installed. Pepe was Pepe's mechanic. Ken anxiously waited while the part was being installed. I tried to calm my nerves by painting a picture of vegetables that I saw in the newspaper. We were very happy to get back to being able to drive.

From Zacatecas - waiting for the package

We then celebrated by eating downtown. We realized that if we had been driving all the time we would not have had as stress free of a holiday. Parking and driving were problems we did not have to experience. We had to pay to park that night while walking to the restaurant. We both got in really good shape and lost weight from walking. It was a good experience.

From Zacatecas - waiting for the package

Monday August 11
We patiently waited for our package of a wheel bearing, etc. We waited until after 2 pm.– no package. I saw someone hand one letter to Norma – ugh! We decided to go downtown for lunch. We went to an interesting open front restaurant like an old Moose Jaw, SK. restaurant from the 1940's. Great Mexican food! The restaurant had an interesting name, too, – "La Cabana" De Le Plazuela.

We found the Century 21 office. The real estate agent spoke no English, his secretary only spoke minimal English. He took us to his car (parked in the sun) and drove us to look at three houses in the $65,000. range. He drove around the neighborhood like he was lost and he had no map. One place his didn't have the key for and he took us to one place twice. He didn't even realize he had taken us twice until we pointed it out. He had to phone the office to get information on how to get there. He was really out of it.

From Zacatecas - waiting for the package

The places were brand new, made out of solid cement and were like spec homes in Canada. They had no real character or charm but for some tiles and cement cove molding. The kitchens were small with very limited counter space and cupboards, not like our Canadian kitchens. Appliances were not included. Basically, you could get a new home for under the price of a junk lot on Gabriola. Hummm! Would we want to live in Zacatecas for part of the year? Something to think about.
Ken stocked up on juice and we went to the bakery one last time. I reluctantly said good bye to Poochie.

Zacatecas, Zacatecas - Thank Heavens for Zacatecas (week two)

2008-08-15T07:07:00.000-07:00

Sunday August 10
We awoke early in our wonderful hotel accommodations. It was a joy getting ready this morning in a real room. I then went and took pictures of aguava plants in the hotel garden. We took the Teleferico over to LaBufa.

At La Bufa we wondered around the grounds, took in the museum which was about the battle (1914) or revolution here at Zacatecus. We looked at the old church (1700's), etc.

We were by that time a bit peckish and ate at a clean looking restaurant vender. I had a potato taco and Ken had what he described as a great hamburger. We walked down the La Bufa hill on the wide, cobblestone walkway. It has big crosses every once in a while, Ken says they represent the stations of the cross.

We walked towards the centre of town and luckily for Ken ended up near the bakery. I got to pet the pooch I like so much. I found out he is really a "she"...so cute for a mutt. She could tell I liked her.

We went on to the Museo Francisco Goitia a famed artist. The art of Pedro and Raphel Cornell were also on display. We weren't allowed to take pictures on the first floor where all the really good art was. We took a siesta in the colorful garden.

Then we walked across town to Mina El Eden to make some tourist type purchases.

Then back walking again to another part of town to the mask museum. This was a oops, because I wanted to buy a t-shirt at a different museum. By this time of day and with hours of walking we were both exhausted and were just plowing through, not many thought processes working. Ken did take me to the museum of abstract art to get my t-shirt.

Continuing on even though we were really exhausted we walked to La Casona de La Abue (which we nick named "rice and beans") for beer then to another area for supper at Los Dorados De Villa. At the end of this extreme walk about day we walked up the hill from Centro to the hotel. I fell asleep watching TV.

Saturday August 9
I"d had it with the rain and camping! We are moving into the hotel. The bell boy carts almost all of our belongings into the hotel room, Rubbermaid boxes, food and all. We went into the business center of the Hotel, hung out there and ate breakfast there. Once the room was made up we went and got ready to go out. It was so nice to have a room and a bathroom attached to it. I felt like a queen being able to sit on the bed in comfort. This was the latest we went down the hill. We went to "no soup for you" _ Los Dorados De Villa. This restaurant has budgies in the waiting room for the bathroom. It is a tall three story vertical tunnel with old branches, some windows and birdhouses – a budgies dream set up
.
We hung out in Alameda Park for a while then finished walking to mina El Eden. You go underground so you have to dress for the experience. You are given a hard hat with a hair net like thing. The hair net is to keep you from getting lice (yeah, right). You were taken in a small pediatrician train to a main area. Lots of vignettes of miners,a santo to children, etc. There is an underground area that is converted into a disco by night, looked interesting.

Ken, of course, had to go against the rules and had us leave our group to find a different exit near our hotel. We walked quite a ways and a worker told us we had to go back. I personally was glad to get out from the tunnels and be in the fresh air.

Friday August 8
We had a really lazy, yucky day. To start the day off right it was too cold to eat out in the hotel garden so our other option was eating in the van. Keep in mind the van has all the blinds up on the windows including the front sun screens (what sun you ask on this cloudy day– the sun we usually have). Then neither of us wanted to go to the lobby and blog, etc. We get good wifi in the van so stayed in the van. I got lots of typing done and a bit of painting. No sign of the parts but the tracking on USPS.com website shows the package cleared Customs and was in San Luis Potosi last night, not far from us, maybe today is our lucky day. Here is not a bad spot, great food, good people, but we both want to go on and put the repair behind us.

In getting ready to go, Ken thought to start the van and charge the battery again. This time a no go, we needed a boost. The staff at the hotel don't have cables so as it turns out one of the hotels managers was having his car repaired and a mechanic was already coming. Turns out this was the case and about a half an hour later two guys showed up and were working on the bosses VW. After the boost Ken spoke to the older guy who identified himself as a teller mechanico. Ken was able to explain the repair required for the van and asked how much for the repair. It turns out the mechanic only wants us to buy him an air filter housing for his truck, Ken figures about $40 - 70 bucks in Canada. We waited around for the van to charge up the battery (about an hour).
I had a nap which is becoming habit forming.

Finally we had to eat and Ken wanted Chinese food. The building housing the Chinese restaurant was fabulous – stone plinth blocks around the doors and windows and, the stone walls were at least twenty feet high. Food – not so fabulous! Two thumbs way down from Donna!!!

After eating that big meal and a bit of a walk about Ken wanted to go...guess....yes, you are correct. He wanted to go to the bakery. While Ken consumed, it rained buckets. We thought it would let up, but it did not. I felt so bad for the old beggar man and his dog. The dog was in a box under a stone bench. The old man was eating in a restaurant. Finally we got out the umbrellas and walked part way home. Some areas had rivers of water washing down the streets.

We finished the day with a taxi ride home. It had been difficult getting a taxi because of the rain. As we were trying to hail a taxi, a group of young people with instruments came singing down the street. We waved our umbrellas at them in the shear joy they were spreading. After being picked up we drove by the Alameda Park and saw the group of young people still playing their instruments in the rain. From somewhere a donkey had appeared with them in full saddle. The things you see and do not understand in Mexico.

It rained hard most of the night and was very noisy in the van.

Thursday August 7
In the morning we both blogged for a short time. I was anxious to get away from the hotel and go do something. We thought we should get ready to go before the parts arrived. We finally got the tracking number for the parts and found out they were in Guadalajara. We needed to do the laundry, find out the prices of mango juice, sugar and pick up some propane. So much laundry had accumulated that we really didn't like the idea of hauling it down the hill. Our bus karma is fabulous. We walked out to the the adjoining Teleferico to see no cabs, but a bus was there, delayed waiting for a truck to move out of the way. Ken had the 7 pesos in his pocket and away we went on another bus ride. We dropped off the laundry and headed to our new favorite restaurant Casona de la Abue (Rice and Beans).

Heading back to the bus stop by VIPS; Ken asked the drivers which bus to Guadalupe as we were headed for Walmart which was on that way. Looking around for bus ruta dos we boarded. Now the price on the window says $5 which I'm not sure is the price as Ken gave the usual $7 pesos and the driver accepted. The bus drivers may have a sliding scale. This driver was interested in making time, we don't know why, but at the halfway point to our journey, speeding by, he handed off a time card to another man that ran with it to a time clock and punched it. The driver seemed more relaxed after that. We asked the driver about WalMart and he dropped us off as close as he could. Zacatecas is a tourist town for Mexicans and the service staff treated us real well.

WalMart and Soriana were across from each other. They are similar to our big box stores except in two ways I can see. The grocery baggers here are elementary school boys and the foods are different. The produce has varieties we never or seldom see and the soy milks are almost all mixed with juice.
Ken noted the prices of mango juice and sugar (9.9 pesos per Kg) we found WalMart cheaper on some of the items.

We walked to the circus we saw the previous hike to Guadalupe. I had to see the Camel; I had to say goodbye. The circus show was to begin shortly and there was a large line up to get in. we scooted around and had a nice visit. Others, we saw were sneaking in around the fences and getting real close to the buffaloes and bulls. They were caught and herded along to the fence. Then, it started to rain and we headed back to the bus stop for our next bus ride, this one was uneventful.

We stopped into Sanborns for a light supper, picked up our laundry and headed home. We seem to be able to feed ourselves supper for under $4.

Wednesday August 6
We got up late, in fact I woke up because the van was getting too hot to be inside. I might have been extra hot because of my sunburn. I am covering up today.

Ken discovered more in-depth features of Google's Picasa for our blog pictures. He will describe it in the the blog entry. He spent much of the day working (or should I say "playing") with it.

Google's Picasa is where the pictures we use in the blog end up. This is the server they come from. I noticed they provide a lot of space for picture storage (1 gig) and allow extended captions, which they use from the pictures title. Also, the pictures can be positioned using Google Maps so you can show exactly where (if you can find the place, it works better in urban US areas over say try to find El Divisidero) the picture was taken. The feature that was of most interest was the newly announced one. You can upload an album of pictures (and resize) from iPhoto. This is a nice plus as the blogger method was to upload each picture say 4 at a time. Slow and you have to resize them. using Picasa I was able to fill an album with pictures then go away and let them upload, nice. Features you lose: are the ease of positioning text and picture alignment. That is how the text flows around the picture and how picture situate in the blog. I'll use it on the rest of this blog for sure. I need to find out what the cost us when we fill the one gig limit it comes with.

I spent much of the day in the hotel's courtyard garden painting. Great place to paint – two fountains, big agave plants, apple trees, small pear trees, many blooming rose bushes, big squirrels, huge black birds, morning doves and friendly gardeners. Oh, and immaculately groomed grass, come to think of it we need a gardener at home.

We went downtown for a late lunch and Ken let me lead the way to the restaurant – mistake on his part. I was totally lost so we had an even later lunch. We ate at the seafood restaurant again. Ken ordered halves of avocado stuffed with mayo, cilantro and shrimp.

For the rest of the day Ken blogged and I painted. A quiet relaxing day.

Tuesday August 5
Today I was finally motivated and organized enough to start painting on cloth. Yes, I did bring cloth, fabric inks and everything needed to paint on fabric. Ken is lucky I did not somehow manage to squeeze in a small sewing machine and thread. I actually have one machine that requires no electricity and is run by a hand crank. I was not sure I would use the inks because I did want to actually get started on daily sketching and using water colors. Daily is not exactly what is happening but I did manage to start doing work in each of my two Moleskin journals. I find sketching hard to fit into my regular day to day activities. I feel distracted by life and do not remember I have the small Moleskin with me. I believe if I could just be really conscious of trying to sketch and paint more often for a while then it would become more routine. This routine would make it more part of daily life. By the way, I do love to sketch and paint. It is just finding the time which is not an excuse in my way of thinking. It is just a state of mind. I have lots of time, just to use it doing the things I want to do.
There is my piece of philosophy for the week.

I decided to paint a photo of artichokes I took earlier in our journey. Stupidly, I also chose to not wear suntan lotion and got a burn just hanging out by the van. Again my arms received a burn.

Ken discovered Picasa by Google. It is a way to post your photos on the web and manage them. You can designate on Google maps the photos location. It is very handy for reminding or showing where a certain photo was taken. Great discovery!

It is awkward painting outside or in the van, but I am really enjoying it so I am willing to continue on. I feel doing all the watercolor painting lately has assisted my cloth painting skills.

We ate lunch at the hotel's restaurant . It was totally devoid of the patrons. Not a good sign in a restaurant. The food was ok. They served crusty (or should I say hard) white buns and Saltine crackers instead of taco chips. Some restaurants that are a bit more classy do this here in Mexico. Oh, and they do not provide butter.

After 8:00 pm we dressed up warm and walked to town for supper. We returned to the great little restaurant with the courtyard and the $2.10 rice and beans. We brought a taxi back because it was late. We have only been paying $2.00 for a taxi ride. They always offer to give back change. I wonder exactly how much it actually is. I seems pretty cheap compared to Canada.

Monday August 4
We got a late start because we slept in and it felt great. It was going to be a lazy day because Ken wanted to work on the blog and he was not sure he felt one hundred percent. The big Festival was ending today and the dancers, etc. were leaving the hotel by the bus loads. The hotel will likely return to quiet once again.

Once we got going we saw a guy driving a SUV with a side-wall separation like we had never seen before. This is what Pepe the van originally went in to get fixed. It was the size of a cantaloupe. We laughed about how big it was, wondered how long it would last and how it would actually pop. I thought he should not take it on the highway. Ken laughed and thought that the first corner would pop it. We were half a block away and it burst, wow was it was loud.

We discovered a new restaurant that was on the main drag – Hidalgo. It has a courtyard. Ken liked that beer was only $1.50 and it had rice and beans for $2.10. We will return.

Back to our agenda. We wondered the streets looking for a copy place, an extension cord, limes, juice, a mask for bus fumes and saline (as a nose wash) for the same bus fumes. We found it all in a district we seem to frequent often.

We bought out umbrellas here earlier. This area has the best produce so far and also a fine selection of Goth accessories should you require them. I acquired a good sunburn thinking I had built up enough sun time that I wouldn't burn. Ken now thinks he has a cold. We headed back to the van. I drew a big agave plant, I think that is what it is called. Ken worked on the blog.

Now that we have an extension cord we watched a movie that Ken bought at a yard sale in the States. We were pleased with how the computer played the movie. It was quiet, and most of all, the lip movement matched the words.

Zacatecas, Zacatecas - thank the Heavens for Zacatecas (week one)

2008-08-08T12:47:00.000-07:00

Sunday August 3
We headed to the Market and found Ana and her table of leather bound books. She did finish our travel log in leather, it even has a leather bookmark. We took her picture and she wanted a copy e-mailed to her. It is amazing that we did the whole transaction with her speaking only Spanish and us speaking only English.

Ken was feeling sick feeling today and took five Pepto – we are blaming the previous greasy taco, the Parral water or some warmish egg roll consumed the day before. Ken worked on the blog in the morning and we headed down the hill to town in the afternoon.

Next on the agenda, we went to buy a mouse for Ken to speed up work on the blog. The store Copple sold items on credit with payment options. It was set up like old Consumers Distributing and easily handled the transaction.

We discovered that the extremely adorable pooch near the bakery, hangs out (lives is not the right word as they are set up on the concrete bench outside the church) with the church beggar man. The dog sleeps on a blanket with a cardboard box for shelter. He appears well fed and loved. He is loyal to the old man.

We ate supper at the Cafe Acropolis. A nice restaurant with pictures of famous people that have eaten there, we saw Jane Fonda and Gregory Peck's pictures from a shoot they did in the area in 1988 for a movie called The Gringo. Well, maybe Jane got good food but we are not going back, we give it a two thumbs down.

Ken just wasn't feeling well and I was tired so we spent the evening laying around in the van. We were early to bed this night. Loud banging sounds woke
us up around 11 that night. It was the end of the International Festival. We woke up to fireworks going off right outside our rear van window. They were so close, very amazing, bright and loud. There is zero wait time between the bang and the fireworks at this distance. The van actually shook when they would launch a big one. Again, only in Mexico. The next day we found the gun powder pellets scattered around the street the next block from us.

Saturday August 2
We, of course, didn't get going as quickly as possible in the morning. This was the day of the 7 kilometre hike to Guadalupe, the next town to us.

But once started we walked a very short distance to the Teleferico (cable car) which would transport us over the city of Zacatecas to La Bufa.

You could see the patchwork, which is the city of Zacatecas. Once arriving at La Bufa we could tell it was a powerful spot. This was the battleground where the Mexican army led by Poncho Villa overtook the Huerta loyalists (dictator's army).

We trekked on down the hill to the other side going towards Guadalupe, not having a back road map we were not sure where to go. Ken thinks I stepped off the path and several rattle snake rattled their tail. We walked on a 1,000 year old stone road. Which was a nice find in the middle of what seemed like no where.

After walking for what seemed like a very long time we stumbled on the grounds where the circus was parked. There was a darling dromedary (one humped camel to those of you who could care less about the exact name). He had the biggest, knowing eyes. He actually wanted to be petted. The big cats just had their cages washed and they were sliding on the metal, wet surface. The animals were obviously well cared for and likely loved. The dromedary was a sensitive soul who needed extra attention and love.

Somehow on this journey we stumbled on another good find along the way. It was a park, no traffic, no fumes. The park had a bike, road park for teaching children bike safety. This took us all the way to Guadalupe.

Guadalupe is a rancher's town. We wanted to leave almost as soon as we got there, of course we had just walked seven to ten kilometers. The one thing we did enjoy was drinking and eating coconut out of the big, recently downed coconut. I had never had such a thing before. oh yes the pile of wool next to the spinning wheel and loom was neat.

We were tired from the walking and sat down accross the street from the big church in Guadalupe, sure enough a wedding was going on, we waited to see the bride arrive.

We took the bus back to Zacatecas. The bus had curtains inside to block out the heat. The bus driver did have change and a cross with Jesus on it attached to his sun-visor, and the ride was only $.35 each. Other than that it was pretty much the same as a bus ride in Canada, oh except the driver drove like a madman with both doors open.

We somehow found our way to the little Italian restaurant we liked so much – La Traviata. It gets a two thumbs up (price, menu, setting, service, bathrooms, and of course the food). I even had the same dish with prawns.

We took a taxi up the hill. I practically collapsed in the taxi I was so tired. We did try to walk home so we caught the taxi part way up the hill. Foolish Canadians.

Friday August 1
Today, Ken gave the final shipping instructions for our van parts from Austin, Texas. We decided to hike east from our hotel wondering around a part of the city we hadn't yet been to. We ended up downtown. I realized I absolutely had to wear a hat even if hat head was the outcome, better than baked brain. Then we realized we were hungry and there was nothing to eat but candy, chips or pop. They have very small stores in the residential area like we used to have in Canada. We stumbled in the heat to the area of restaurants, we were very hungry and decided to eat in a greasy taco restaurant. By greasy, I mean deep fried, he fills the taco up cheese and all, then into the deep fryer. The atmosphere was not of cleanth, luckily the bathroom was out of order preventing me from even going in. We settled for this booth of a restaurant because of posters (great art work) that had been hand printed and taped on the wall, Ken figured is the artist liked the place, we thought it must be ok. The food did taste good.

We had a siesta at the Franciscan Monks restored building. I looked at glasses again.

We found a great place that sold cakes and other pastries along with a very adorable pooch. The church pooch was wearing a dirty t-shirt, heaven only knows why, because it was rather warm that day. More to come on the cute pup and the bakery that Ken loves (cappuccino and a cake 26 pesos).

Just after, we ate supper at a high class restaurant – Sanborns – I was sick. The greasy taco likely being the culprit. A late supper at Sanborns gave us a balcony to see the traffic on Hidalgo Street.

Thursday July 31
We ate out in the hotel's garden as usual.

I painted another rose and Ken ordered the van part from Austin, Texas. We took our laundry in. When we finally got going, we walked from one end of downtown to the other.

We ate lunch at a higher class seafood restaurant, which was on the second floor called La Gaviota. You could look out of the open window onto the street below. The waiter brought out two creamy sauces and three bottled home-made sauces to try - exquisite. After we dined, the wind blew the doors on the window open and tossed napkins, etc. all around. Someone at the table next to us said, "they speak English". Another said, "That is our north wind, it blows cold." We found out they were family visitors from California and were sitting with the restaurant owner. We got the low down on where to go for silver, dining and tequila drinking on the back of a burro (we passed on the drunken burro thing. Our reasoning was – do we want to get drunk with a bunch of people we don't know and can't speak to, although maybe ...).

We caught another Folk Festival (really Donna just needed to use the bathroom - ed.) show with Mexican formal dancing.

I was seriously trying to find glasses, they are supposed to be cheaper in Mexico. Some places the frames do seem cheaper, in others they seem the same, we don't know about the lens yet.

In the evening we wondered up the hills in the residential area. Everyone seemed to be okay with us being there. In fact, we met a man who introduced himself as a guide. He had the most wonderful way of saying good bye – "Zacatecas is you house". He was welcoming us to his city and wanted us to feel at home. We stayed out late because it was not raining.

Wednesday July 30
We started the day with breakfast out in the centre courtyard of the hotel. The gardener (was telling us, we think) the sprinklers were coming on and we would get wet. We were done eating so decided to head back to the van, on the way I leaned over to smell one of the many roses in the grounds. As we walked away I heard "damas, damas" looking back I saw the gardener pluck a bright red rose and hold it out for me. The staff here is so nice. I went back to the van and sketched and painted the rose. Ken working on the computer was finding parts for the van.

In Mexico we have found virtually no coin laundries. You either get for free at hotels or take it in for someone else to wash, dry and fold. We had found such a laundry suitable and close enough that we could take it down the hill to be washed. Here they charge only 14 pesos per kilogram. We took our first load in.

We hiked around lots that day, being distracted by everything, wondering in and out of shops aimlessly killing the day.

The Folk Festival was on and we took in another show.

We toured the Cultural Centre of Zacatecas. It was located in a museum type of building that was huge. One gallery was full of very, very old religious painting. The other galleries houses Huichol artifacts – very colorful.

We got really tired from walking and paid $4.00 each to ride on a bus for twenty minutes. We listened in Spanish to the history of the town – learned nothing. As we were on the top deck of a double decker bus we had to duck to miss the overhead wires.

Tuesday July 29
We talked to the German couple at the next campsite. They were heading back to Mexico City to fly home to Germany. She taught German in Mexico City last year. They had left their big, old truck in Mexico and flew back to holiday here. The man was saying it would be difficult to sell his truck because the Mexican's only purchase on payment. They told us of the other Hotel del Bosques that was quite nice.

We drove back to the tire dealer to find out if they could get the parts to fix the van. They couldn't! They told us if we got the parts they could install them. So it begins.

We decided to switch to a different camping area (the other Hotel del Bosques) because it was quieter and closer to the old town centro. Ken spent most of the day finding out about the repair and where to get the parts from. Luckily this new place has good internet.

I am sketching a painting a cactus that is in front of the hotel. I can't stay outside and sketch because the shade disappeared. It is very hot in the sun. Around supper we hike downtown passed the cable car to the centro. We took pictures along the way so as to not become lost. We walked about three and a half hours in total. We started out the walk after visiting a huge, baroque church. The church was from the 1700s. We stopped and said a prayer.

We got stuck in a down pour and bought a pair of umbrellas.

Monday July 28
We started the day going into two different tire places trying to get our side-wall tire separation replaced. We found a suitable place with a manager that spoke a little English, plus the lead mechanic's name was Pepe. Before the actual work was started we went for lunch rather than wait our turn at the garage. We went for lunch at a place called Bodega Aurrera (think Superstore). We returned to the garage and ate our lunch while they changed the tire on the van. I painted an artichoke. Ken had the mechanic remove the right front tire and brakes and spin the wheel. SURE ENOUGH THE WHEEL BEARING WAS BROKEN. I'll let Ken describe the gory details of getting parts for a van while traveling in Mexico.

We decided to tourist it up a bit for the rest of the day. I got to touch the tail of a cheetah. His tail was sticking out of the truck that advertised the circus and drove around the city.

We went to the museum of abstract art. Ken described it as very mechanical.

We hiked downtown to a park and to Alameda Park. Zacatecas is having its huge annual international folk festival this week with dancers and musicians from all over the world. What we saw that night were very Spanish, Mexican dancers.

Sunday July 27
We had breakfast with Mamo (the man) and Francquois (the woman) who camped right beside us. They come from the same city as Frida Kahlo, Francquois spoke French, German, Spanish and some English. Mamo order my breakfast which had cut up big green cactus leaves (napole) in a red hottish sauces on fried eggs – delicious. He ordered the sauce mild just for my tender Canadian taste buds. Ken was able to really communicate with them because he took years of French in school. They had travelled to Vancouver Island previously, so we had lots to talk about. She was an elementary school teacher like me.

After saying our farewells we went for a drive in the country then into centro of Zacatecas. I even wore my hat so as to not bake my brain. We saw many cobblestone streets with homes built on hills. It is similar to Guanajuato but smaller, less people, less people bugging you. We found parking quickly on a back road near the international hostel.

We walked to their big cathedral (Santo Damingo);

then got out looking for a particular restaurant which is Los Doradas De Villa (we nicknamed it "No Soup for You" because they were turning groups of people away for reasons we did not understand).

This restaurant locked its doors. We couldn't get in and sat on a bench in front of the doors thinking we were the first in line.

A group of Mexicans came by claiming to have a reservation. After pounding on the door and some discussion they were turned away, "no soup for you". Ken attracted the attention of the man behind the open door and stated, "dos Canadiennes". We were seated in what I can only describe as an immaculate combination of artistry and design, Mexican style.

The meal was fabulous. I ordered the Zacatecas enchiladas. The meal came with the standard nacho chips and we ordered guacamole which, when the waiter delivered, he loaded my first chip with an artistic flare (fried cactus, tomato, cilantro mix). He showed us he loved his work. We will return if they will let us in.

We went for a walk after eating.

We saw, only in Mexico, a lion and a tiger in the back of a truck advertising the circus was in town. I am sure there will be more to come about this event. We happened upon one of the many events on for the International Folk Festival.

Copper Canyon (Barronca de Cobre National Park)

2008-08-05T16:46:00.000-07:00

Saturday July 26
We stopped last night in a place called Parral, Chihuahua. It was not as far as we would have liked to have gotten but we were tired and it was getting towards dark. The guide books had nothing to say about this place so we were our own as far as finding a decent hotel. We found a new hotel on the highway with a whirlpool in the room, a king sized bed, air conditioning and with a little garage under our room for Pepe the van. It felt good to be able to find a place with out the help of a guide book.

We woke and had another whirlpool, ate breakfast in the room, loaded up Pepe and were off on a drive to Zacatecas, Zacatecas.

This morning as we were leaving the city we noticed an unusual noise coming from the right front area. At first Ken thought it was just the pavement or stones in the tires. Ugh! What could it be? Maybe it will just go away.

We continued on Mex. 45 from Parral, bypassing Ciudad Jimenez, Gomez Palacio and Torreon, Corango (now on Mex. 49). At first we still had some curves and hills but more desert scenery. It soon turned to prairie looking desert with Joshua trees. There were areas on our drive that were fertile, growing pecans or vegetables (we couldn't tell what) then desert with obviously very poor farmers. They lived in adobe shacks, some without roofs.

We paid many tolls. We ate at a store like a Seven Eleven that had covered picnic tables (near Leon Guzman).

At about Cuencame we switched to a non-toll highway (libre). Now we know why we are always advised to take tolls. The paved highway was very rough, bumps without notice and worst of all three lanes. That meant either side could pass in that middle lane. Ken found this method of passing large trucks... exciting.

Overall, both of us were glad to arrive in Zacatecas. At our campground there was a confusion because of language or lack of Spanish. We thought we didn't have an outside bathroom or shower, just the one in the lobby of the hotel. We did have a campers shower and it was very nicely appointed in pink granite or marble. It was a very classy hotel.

Friday July 25
We woke, still healthy (which is a lot compared to last year's trip) and checked the email and emailed Charlene (my sister) some of our Copper Canyon pictures. We planned out our next two days of driving to get to a more southern area hopefully with less rain. We got up later than we planned and didn't get as far as we wanted to – out by about two hours. Seems the drive into Creel is not even close to the drive out of Creel.

Once we started on our journey we stopped at Lago do Arareco to take pictures and stretch our legs (beautiful man made lake).

We continued driving from Creel to Guachonchi on MX 2 through Barronca de Cobre National Park. It was very lush and green in the valleys. Great paved, windy, hilly road. It was absolutely awe, inspiringly, gorgeous. There were a few little towns in between with gardens, mostly growing corn. Each family had a cows, horse, or burros. We saw a momma burro with a young baby and an older sister following behind. We actually saw quite a few unattached burros.

This burro seems to be signaling something. We didn't know what, and kept driving.

After the Park we stated crossing over the Sierra Madre Mountains – equally scenic. We ate a meal at a hotel in Guachochi. It was like Kindersley, SK with a bad hang over.

We had our van inspected by guys with guns, similar to a mini fourteen. They were looking for drugs. The inspection took place at at the only drivable highway out of the Park. The guidebooks said that there were lots of illegal growers in the park because it is so isolated.

We finally made it to Parral and a new Hotel, a notell motel.

Thursday July 24
We got up really early to go on a tour to the bottom of the valley at Urique. The tour vans would have taken a back type road that our van could not traverse. When we finally got to the tour vans and the front desk we discovered there had been a mix up. The tours were written in Spanish and English. Upon closer examination Ken discovered that our tour would be ten hours long not the four which was written in English. We decided not to go as we did have back up plans and ten hours seemed a bit much to be in a tour van on back roads (Ken would get motion sickness).

The back up plan we decided to do was take the paved road to El Divisadero meaning the great divide (7400 feet high). On the way there the highway was lined on both sides with pine trees close the road (no shoulders), also big rocks were visible. A big, gray squirrel deeked out in front of us. There were little roads off the main road leading to little Native villages, scary, pothole laden, muddy roads.

The Divisadero that we saw was a very small village where the Mexican government had built up walkways and railings so you could look out over the Copper Canyon – spectacular!!! Ken has seen the Grand Canyon in the USA and he says that the Copper Canyon is more green and lush. It started to get a little cloudy in the distance, but was mostly sunny. There was a shaky bridge you could cross, walking. My legs shook after that experience. Natives were selling baskets and weavings nearby.

You go down the stairs by the tracks to the small train station. There was a nearby market mostly frying food in old metal barrels – chile rellenos, gordittos, etc.

we drove to the end of the pavement passed El Divisadero.

Turning around we slowly headed home until the rain clouds threatened the usual afternoon downpour.

Finally the clouds cleared up and we were able to take a break on a nice stream.

We walked in the forest on the way home, way unusual mushrooms. You could get lost easily in these woods. Most unusual sign on the approach to this dirt road. What does it say?

Wednesday July 23
We went up one side of the street and down the other looking in the little stores. Most stores had the local handicrafts of pine needles or reeds (green), grass baskets, cravings or on pine bark, madrone animal carvings, or balls, woven shawls, braclets, etc.

We went to their museum that gave information on the Tarahumera Natives.

We walked down the stairs to the Creel railway station ("Chepe" trains to Copper Canyon). This railway has trains for economique or premiere passengers (economy is half the price). We watched the train come in and off load and load pasengers. Quite an emotional expeience, actually. People were loaded up with cargo. We continued looking for different tours and ways to get to the Copper Canyon, especially the valley floor, trying to find the best way for us to go. We plan to return to this valley of the Tarahumara and spend a week, a day seems like a rush.

We went for lunch at our local favourite restaurant – cheap, good food.

We drove about two miles from our campground to a little Native town, San Ignacio De Arareko . Oh my, it was so beautiful. It had amazing natural, artistic beauty – the rocks, the trees, the little homes with a few cows and chickens. There is a very old church or mission here too. It was as if God took particular care to carving out such an wondrous spot.

Tuesday July 22
In the morning a Mexican dog adopted us. She even followed us to the showers and she waited for Ken. We named her Consula (Connie for short). We hung out in the hotel lobby until about 4:00 pm and worked on the blog.

Another dog was also on scene when Connie was away, we think it is her mother.

Deciding to go into town later on proved exciting in an odd sort of way. We arrived downtown (2 minute drive) and it started raining, correction, sheets of water were pouring out of the sky; is a better description. People were standing under shelter to get protection from the storm. It was thundering and lighntening, too. It rained so much the store Ken was going to closed. It was so wet, Ken wouldn't even go out to get cold beer!

On the way back to camp we saw manhole covers lifting (they were hinged down) and water gushing upl. As people drove through the water it splashed up like wings on the side of the vehicles. Water gushed sideways down the street (along with garbage), real pleasant. A bus stalled going into town because of the deepwater. We were apprehensive of driving in that area, but we saw that the road was higher on our side. We mostly stayed in the van for the rest of the rainy evening, luckily we had a few beer with us and the van has a cooler box.

Monday July 21
Today was driving from Chihuahua to Creel on a windy but paved, decent road.

We stopped in Cuahtemoc to find a banking machine – wow, no parking downtown, very busy. Finally found a mall with a bank and ATM. This is an area where many years back Mennonites settled and ranched. This meant lots of white faces, black scarves. The grocery store had great produce like Canadian's would have – some different produce, but at least plentiful/fresh. This a rolling hills ranch land, lots of pick up trucks and cowboys.

We continue our drive and see horses and cattle on the road. We saw rocky cliffs and valleys – beautiful.
Once at Creel, the Natives (Tarahumara) were dressed in authentic costume and this is how they dress day to day.

They are shy. They are weaving in the park, selling their baskets, carvings and woven work. We ate tamales from a street vendor and supper at the hotel restaurant. It rained much of the evening.

East to the Border

2008-08-05T10:34:00.000-07:00

nb. the pics are different because Ken is using Picasa Web Album. Clicking on the pic will take you to Picasa Web Album site where the location of the pictures can be seen and other features.

Sunday July 20
Driving from Las Cruces, NM across the Texas border, back to New Mexico, crossing into real Mexico at Santa Teresa was part of the days adventure.

We stopped for gas in Texas at Rudy's Country Store.

It was "so Texas" we had to stop and check it out by eating a little something there. Ken had half a pound of brisket (which isn't really a little something) and I had a corn on the cob. The waitress says, "here let me get you a plate", and tears off a piece of white butcher paper, our tray was a plastic bottle case. The staff wore t-shirts that said, "I didn't crawl my way to the top of the food chain just to eat vegatables." There were big sinks to hose off in after you ate. They do seem to do everything BIG in Texas.

Great crossing going south, single lane, long line-up going north. Just before we crossed into Mexico I saw three of the hugest dairy farms I have ever seen.

We had the Sierra Madre Mountains to the west and the Sierra Magdalena's on the other. Very rocky soil.

Chihuahua is a huge city of 700,000 people that we by passed. Everytime we crested a hill there was more city and more houses.

This campsite is really a pasture with toilets. Now we are camping in the back of the van.

Saturday July 19 (Our 22nd Wedding Anniversary!)
Once we finally got going on our way out of Tucson, AZ we drove by a parking lot for many, many big airplanes. We saw a different part of Tuscon than we saw last year. We saw adobe houses and beautiful cactus gardens.

I painted while we drove. We stopped at a big pile of rocks, bolders actually, in Arizona. It was spectactular considering it was a pile of rock. Then we stopped at the New Mexico entrance which was a tourist information booth (wireless stop, too). Ken saw a trantula crossing the road (carefully) while we were driving. It had rained in the desert. We drove by lots of nut trees – walnut and peacan.

We arrived in Las Cruces, NM at dusk. Las Cruces appeared to a wonderful small city. We walked around the downtown. The sidewalks were covered with little roofs for heat or rain.

Ken saw a big frog or toad outside at the hotel. I got dressed to go look but the reptile disappeared.

We stayed in a hotel this night, too. The room was wonderfully done in a very distinctive Mexican theme.

In the morning we discovered the restaurant had Frida Khalo pictures on the wall, etc. Driving out of town I discovered they landscape with cactus.

Friday July 18
We are now venturing off into the desert from San Diego via El Cajon, CA.

We bought a picnic lunch at Vons to take with us because we did not want to be stuck eating the awful food we had last year in Gilabend. Ken took me to a quilt shop in El Cajon to see a b-line quilting frame. The owner's mother would show it if you phoned her and made arrangements, what a production. I did not get a demo.

We drove through the desert and stopped by some abondoned structure with green trees for shade (green bark that is). Lots of bird action – very hot!!! We ate lunch. This is the Sonora Desert and has those cactus with arms.

We stopped at a few rest stops to get some movement happening in our bodies.

It was very hot. I passed the time painting.

I got a good sunset shot.

We arrived in Tucson, AZ in the dark.

Most exits into the city were under construction. Somehow we found our hotel that we pre-booked about an hour previous. This was our first hotel since leaving home.

San Diego

2008-08-04T10:45:00.000-07:00

Thursday July 17
We decided to get outfitted for Mexico – Target, Walmart, Wholefoods Market. Then Ken took me to Visions Quilt Art Gallery. It was a three man show and was ok. I realized I have not been receiving news letters because they spelled my last name incorrectly when typing in my e-mail address. When I left they gave me a Visions 2002 catelogue and DVD, profusly apologizing for the mistake. They were impressed that I was in the Members show earlier in the year. One of the ladies had gone to SDSU just like I did.

We went to one really good thrifty store (Goodwill on Rosencrance). Then we raced off to the Spanish Village to see art (closes at 4:00 pm so we were too late). We drove to the south parking lot then walked in Balboa Park together but didn't get into the main area – just from the from the parking lot to the Japanse Tea Room.

We saw the cutest dog tied to a pole near Fred's Mexican Cafe in Old Town where we went for supper. He was like a Walmart greeter only at Freds's. We were tired and drove back to Sweetwater campground were we walked around the campground. I was extremely tired from our adventure filled day.

Wednesday July 16
We awoke early, 6:30 am I was, for once, ready to go early to shop etc. in San Diego. Ken wanted to go to yoga at 8:30. We walked on the beach, great view of San Diego. We could get internet and that is where Ken first hatched the plan of going to the Copper Canyon.

We drove to Pacific Beach and ate at a curry place, same place as last year, wow it was delicious. Then we thrifted it up, checked out a camera shop, went to La Jolla Fibre Arts (ideas: cloth prayer flags, lutrudura with photo transfer, dyed gauze, dancing moon people).

We got Ken's haircut and my brows done. Ken was nervous of his beautician – scissor cuts on her hand.

We ate in the gaslight district, downtown, our usual Thai restaurant and our usual soup.

Getting to the campground early was high on Ken's priority list, we had moved to Sweetwater Regional Park as the Beaches Campground was way to packed and noisy.

Tuesday July 15
Monday night before bedded down we watched skunks out the van windows as we tried to find a place to park the van. The park had sprinklers running in the dark which forced the skunks out of their usual sulking spots. It was a bit scary to know that I would have to get up in the night and perhaps have a show down with a skunk.

In the morning we watched the geese as we ate breakfast at our campsite. Then we were off on the freeway into Los Angeles to the Mexican Consulate to hand in last years vehicle permit. Well, we found out that the LA office does not do this type of transaction. We have to go to the border – ugh! Now we are both worried we will have to pay a fine or there will be red tape holding us up at the border.

Since LA is busy, noisy, dirty, etc. we decide to just drive to San Diego (get the heck out of Dodge). Our escape out of LA wasn't as fast as we would have liked, it's a BIG place. At a rest stop we saw lots of birds (chirpy, chirp).

Upon arriving in San Diego we checked in at our campsite which was just south of La Jolle, CA. Our next door camper John offered his rake and broom for nuts or berries that had fallen off the trees and littered the campsite.

Ken thought we should continue on to the border – Tijuana (TJ). It was easy to go there, hard to leave. We were about one and a half hours to two hours going back and forth between officials until we actually could give back the vehicle permit. We didn't get a fine or anything.

Somehow Ken drove up to the border crossing line-up, about two to three hours actually in the line -up. I pencil crayoned my aloe striata. We got a seconday search before returning to the USA, must be those BC plates.

Back at the campsite... On the other side was a large family from Chico, they had now returned from the days activities. Ken was talking to them and joked they were like the Waltons and the son there started introducing the members as MaryAnne, Grandpa ... The men really had accents like Cheech Marin, they were really nice.

San Francisco to Los Angeles

2008-08-03T15:06:00.000-07:00

Monday July 14
Drove into Los Angeles... in three lanes going to six lanes, traffic moving nicely. Ken says surprisingly good traffic situation and good parking (so far) in LA. We drove into the city going onto 6th Street East. Wow... so many homeless people, so little space. Men just sleeping on the concrete in a fenced basketball court. The old part of downtown was sort of slummy.
We then drove to near McCarther Park next to the Mexican Consulate, and since that didn't work out we tried to find decent food – we found food, that is all I"ll say about it. Seems our previous instructions to go the LA Mexican consulate were incorrect.

We then drove to the Farmer's Market. It was not what we expected in a farmer's market at all. It was surrounded by stores like Barney's of New York, Pottery Barn, etc. The Market itself was basically an outdoor food court with Zagat rated food stalls. I choose Brazilian since I never had eaten that before. It consisted of deep fried yucca collard greens, plantain, beans and rice and white fish. Ken opted for a giant grapefruit and giant brownie.

Since this was LA a film company was shooting in the mall, Dreamworks no less, darling.

Later we headed to the Whole Foods Market across the street.

On the way to LA we stopped for a break at Tinkers (nice burrito) and neat yard pottery in the area, note the forklift in the picture for scale.

Sunday July 13
As we left San Luis Obispo I painted the grape leaves in the sketchbook (takes me a while cause there are so many interesting things to do right now).

The hills were rolling and very yellow with patches of green oak trees and green rows of grape plants, acres of them.

We were on our way to Rusack Winery to meet Keith an acquaintance of Ken's through the Manpollo project.

Keith works at this winery and it is actually his last day as he is moving to Sweden to go to school. The winery proper was much more "mature" than those I have seen in British Columbia. There were big trees held up by teleposts. There was a picket fence surrounding the grounds. A blue bird gave us a visit. Keith had his friends come up from Santa Barbara to wish him well on his last day of work.

He and his friends were friendly, about Shannon's age or a little older. They gave us good tips on were to camp. Oh, and we got to do the wine tasting tour compliments of Keith.

The drive didn't get very long before we stopped to photo cactus flowers at the local Burger King.

Saturday July 12
Started the day in a botanical garden eating breakfast and sketching.

Great plants from Mediterranean climates around the world along with geckoes and many birds.

Then Ken used the computer with Craigslist and Google Maps to locate the garage sales. We restricted ourselves to two thrift stores. Ken then went to another real estate agent. In the morning we also took a look in an open house – 1600 square feet for $600,00.00. One bedroom was really a back porch. The home was nice, but not worth it.

For supper we ate outside at a grill with really rocking good music.

After supper we went for a walk at Morro Bay, CA.

We took pictures of a rock sticking out of the ocean. There was a three stack power plant there which did not add to the ambiance.

The Galleries were open late so we had to check them out.

Friday July ll (Shannon McDavid's birthday)
In the morning we got to feed Petals the dog in the camp office. She was a retired racing greyhound.

We drove through Castroville, CA which appeared to be the artichoke capital of the world (still on highway 101). I took pictures of artichokes growing in the field, I want to paint them at some point. This whole area to almost San Luis Obispo, CA was black dirt farm land, obviously worked by immigrants. We ate lunch just south of Castroville at Caotola, CA.

I passed hours of driving by painting.

We arrived in SLO (as the locals call it) just in time as they were beginning a concert in the park. The fist song they played was a Led Zeppelin number – The Immigrant Song which morphed into a hip hop beat. We decided to go on a Trolley ride to get a feel for the city, it was the bargin of the day at twenty five cents each.

The streets are lined with Huge ficus trees, there are jacaranda trees with big, purple blossoms and pale barked geranium trees (very tall). Beautiful tree lined downtown.

Thursday July 10
I took pictures of our camp area at breakfast, scorned the honey pot truck and left hoping to find a better campsite.

We drove to Big Basin State Park on a windy little road. There were detour signs just before the park, so we took a road called China Grade which took us to Bolder Creek. We went to an internet cafe and paid $5.75 for one coffee and one brownie (rip off). Ken found a great real estate agent and this was a great area to look for land.

We drove to a thrift store likely in Felton, CA and continued on to Santa Cruz. Ken stopped at a realtor and got local maps and listings. We drove to Natural Bridges State beach and took pictures of flocks of brown pelicans flying overhead.

Going north on the coastal highway we drove to the tiny village of Bonny Doon – a nice treed area, Not much more then a elementary school. Back to Santa Cruz for super at the newly opened Khyber Pass and took a walk on the main type street. Lots of young, surfer types which I know sounds like a cliche. The thrift store next door had snow boards and surf boards for sale.