Late - a trip report none the less. Spring Break 2011-photos added

We admit it. We are guilty.

Last night Dern and I were reading over the Nomad board and one of us made the comment that there aren’t enough trip reports. We enjoy reading them because they help fuel our issues with Baja jonsing. Silly us, what are we talking about? We have been guilty of not posting our trips lately, so tonight we sat down and busted one out.

For those who have nothing else to do, here’s our contribution towards the cause…

Spring Break
April 21 - 30, 2011

Dern picked me up from work at 4pm on Thursday. The dogs were hanging out the window in the back seat giving the kids on the playground a show as I climbed aboard and waved good bye. We knew that our timing was going to be off, hit some pretty good traffic as we headed down south through the Santa Barbara/L.A. region.



We wanted to get as close to the border as possible that night to get a jump start on our Spring break.

We ended up staying at the Motel 6 in Carlsbad as they were the only hotel right off of the freeway that would take our dogs. We lucked out with a ground floor room with a parking space right in front of our door. We didn’t sleep very well with the dogs “boof-ing” at every noise though out the night. We were up at 5 am on our way. Carter was still holding his pee, making it over 24 hrs. so far. TMI unless you are a dog lover, I guess.

We crossed at San Ysidro. It was a total clustery mess. Every lane was being sent to Secondary. The ladies looked in the camper and asked questions about the spare tire that was back there. Dern had to show them that there wasn’t a spare under the truck to prove that it was actually our spare. No biggie.

We rolled into the house in Punta Banda at 8:45 am.


Carter finally let loose of all of his bodily fluids and all was well in his world. According to our plan we hooked up a trailer, loaded up what we needed from the house, back tracked to Home Depot and bought a tinaco for Bahia and headed south from there. I waited out in the truck with the dogs while Dern went inside. (come to find out, our neighbors in Bahia were at the same Home Depot a few days later, parked in the same place we did which was right in front of the loading zone and had their camper shell broken into. They lost a couple of computers.)

12:40pm we were finally on the road south. Usually by that time we are in Catavina, so it was out of the norm for us to leave Ensenada that late in the day. We talked about staying the night and breaking in the Grandby at Rancho Santa Ynez but it was about 6ish when we were in that general area. With a bit of daylight left and plenty of Tab soda and Red Bull in our veins we decided to push on for Bahia.

By the time we hit the turn off it was dark. Something we don't do, drive at dark. Someone must have told all the cows in the desert to keep an eye out for us as there were too many welcoming cow parties being held along the road all the way into town. It made for a slow drive.

Bahia was hopping with people. After a few stops in town for beers/tacos/ etc. we landed at the trailers around 9 pm. The first thing we noticed was one of our cardons had it’s first flower. The first that we’ve seen anyway. After watching this cactus grow over 4 feet and being the proud cardon parents that we are, we had to take photos.



Saturday - We checked out the 2 sets of cement patio stairs that Ponsonia had built for us while we were away, unpacked and counted the cardon sticks that we had ordered over Christmas break. Ponsonia pulled in for coffee and donuts and ended up helping Dern install the tinaco on the roof and plumbed it to the trailer.





Sunday - Big start of the working week. We set up the chop saw and started cutting the cardon down to size for the deck railing pickets. Herman and Pablo showed up and hung out for a bit.



Herman couldn’t help himself and had to Stupervise the job and get down and dirty with it.





Pablo helped me hold down the patio.



Before they left Pablo invited us to a Thanksgiving style Easter dinner later that evening at his house.

That same day Moonie decided to test out the Mexican dog gene in her and ate a puffer fish.



She gave herself away by walking right up to us and barfing the entire fish up. Mind you, this fish was totally chewed up, fish mash, fins and bones. She continued to throw up for a couple of hours while we discussed where we would end up burying her, but as the day moved on she snapped out of it. Ponsonia said that she was a Mexican, that she would be fine and she was. She kept bringing dead/dried puffers up to the patio to give to Carter, who is kept on a horse lunge line. Bad girl. We had to keep a sharper eye on her after that.





As the day wore on we decided to switch gears and started to install the cardon on the deck. We didn’t know exactly how many pickets we would eventually need, so after we had a decent pile cut to length we hauled them up stairs and got started.

Dinner at Pablos was great.


The town had cleared out from the Spring breakers, the weather was nice in town with a touch of west wind.

Monday - the same as Sunday, plugged away at the cardon.



After eating the puffer fish Moonie decided to try her hand at munching on a freshly dead sea lion.



We called her back to the trailers and went back to work. From the deck we could see down the beach where the sea lion was and noticed two figures heading in that direction. One was definitely a coyote but the other had a different look to it. We broke out the binoculars to check it out and discovered that the other one was a Bobcat. We gave Mary Ann Humfreville a shout out on the radio to check it out as it was in front of her house, closed Moonie into the trailer and headed over to Mary Ann’s house with our camera. We were joined by a couple of other neighbors for a live Mutual of Omaha’s wild kingdom in Mary Ann’s front yard.







Later that evening we heard Moonie barking off in the distance. We got the binocs out again only to spot her down the beach facing off the Bobcat for the left overs. We ended up having to walk back down the beach to remove her from the poor bobcat’s meal so it could have it’s dessert in peace.

There was a big west wind that night.

Tuesday - We finished the cardon. The final count was 441 sticks.





We completed tying down the tinaco and finished up some loose ends on the stairs that lead up to the deck.



Pablo drove out again to visit and Mary Ann stopped by.

Wednesday - Finished screwing in the stair supports before heading into town for Office Hours at Casa Diaz with Pablo, Slick, and friends. Another quick visit with Herman at his place before heading back to the trailer to pack up.

Thursday - UP and out of the trailers by 6am. We honked at Ponsonia who was at David’s store as we headed out of town. The Military check points are a piece of cake because all they want to do is check out Carter.

Stopped at Parcela 12 south San Quintin for breakfast/lunch.


For those who haven’t been there, it’s a family style buffet for 75 pesos each. When you walk in you head straight for the kitchen and ask what's cooking. They will show you what they have on the stove and from that you can choose what you want to have heaped onto your plate. We highly recommend this place. Extremely nice people and delicious food. It is definitely a step above your every day/ same old salty dish Mexican food. Our bill was 150 pesos for two heaping plates of goodness, fresh tortillas, soda and coffee plus a complementary desert that came with a song and dance and kiss for the cook.

We took a field trip when we got to Camalu to check out the beach as we have often wondered about that spot as friends of ours from Punta Banda fish from out there.

Another military stop at the vineyard/ make that Carter check stop. Dern gets out to open the camper for the one guy who has to climb in and try to open the tricky drawers under the sink while the rest of the crew crowd around the back door passenger window and love all over the dogs.

El Recreo in Maneadero for tacos before pulling into the driveway in Punta Banda at 3pm.

Friday - We put everything away, loafed around the house, hung out with neighbors swapping stories and headed back into Maneadero for Recreo and fuel. Stopped at Calimax at the corner for Dern’s ice cream fix while I watched the Policia Estal raid the house across the street.

Saturday - Our chores were done early. We have always wanted to try “Taco’s Lupita” that is located next to the pool on the way into town so we hit it up for lunch. We will definitely go back there again. Dern noticed the cool swing at the pool and thought of the Nomad thread regarding Mexican ingenuity and how it would fit into that category. The swings are rotated by turning the differential of a car axle.





Sunday - Up and on the road by 6:15. I missed hearing the National Anthem, a major bummer for me as that is usually our routine. We took the Tecate road. Other than a few low spost of construction it was a breeze, a nice drive. We fueled up at the Circle K Tecate Pemex, $470 pesos for 512 lts.

We pulled into line at the border at 8:40am - crossed at 9:15. Went to secondary for 5 minutes. Dern had to pop the camper open briefly and we were on our way.

All in all it was a productive trip. Great weather, not hot, not your usual spring time north miserable wind. We never got the opportunity to take the paddle boards off of the truck, too much work and not enough time to play.

We’ll make up for that this summer.

More photos will be added on edit. Photobucket took a dive as I was about to finish up this post.

P>*)))>{

Random photos from the trip....













[Edited on 26-5-2011 by Paulina]

[Edited on 26-5-2011 by Paulina]

Magnificent report Paulina, loved every word and every photo. Mil gracias for taking the time to put this together for those of us living vicariously Were you kidding about the raid on the house across the street? Loved the cardon flower and all the doggie stuff. You guys are the best.

Quote:

Originally posted by Paulina

Paulina, Thanks!

wonderful trip report .... and the photos tell the rest of the story - the 2 dogs sleeping in the beginning was awesome ... the bobcat was incredible ... the camper getting broken into a heads up for all of us

thanks and take more trips, please

Great report. Great trip!
My in laws have a one eyed half deaf dog who barely survived a dead puffer meal in Baja, rushed back to states and 13k later she is the sweetest most greatful dog you will ever meet. She only eats what is in her dog bowl now and the vet got a nice vacation in the Bahamas or something.

Always double check the storage areas of your Grandby after the inspeccion, IF they figure out how to open them they will never close them. We learned the hard way after bouncing down the Gonzaga road post military stop and everything was on the floor. It did offer the oppurtunity for Barb to rearrange everything. Your puppy Carter is filling out nicely! He needs to meet SumoSan someday.

Casa P y D looks fabulous!

At the last inspection we endured the guy took hold of the drawer and ripped it open. Ripped it. He pulled it so hard that it took the knobby right off of the bottom of the drawer.

One would think that the guys probably encounter many different types of drawers/cabinets/pulls, etc. that they would have a clue on how to do the little jig upwards to open them...

Carter and SumoSan would be the best of buddies, Carter is so gentle. Moonie Moonerton is another story.

>*)))>{

P- we have had a few heavy handed guys looking for AK 47's in the utensil drawer. No knobs torn off , yet. Meanwhile the kayaks go unsearched.
Look forward to meeting Moonie.

Skipjack Joe - Viva Bungee's!

Paulina,
Always good to see your posts, but where are the pictures of you? Preferably with a kayak wrapped around you!