BajaNomad - Coast to Coast Baja - Trip Report

Coast to Coast Baja - Trip Report

Ateo - 1-10-2014 at 12:24 PM

Our destinations:

The Pacific Coast for Surf
Cocos Corner
Gonzaga/Punta Final/Puertecitos/San Felipe
Ojos Negros/Trinidad area

The day after Christmas we bailed for Baja. First stop was our normal hotel in San Q that has the best cilantro salad dressing in the world.

The next morning we awoke before dawn and headed south. We stopped at Mama Espinoza's for breakfast. It was fantastico.

Later in the day we made it to our destination.

I went with the Mexican Cop Mustache for this trip by the way.

The toll road, days before collapse:

Takeoff!

Don't step on this:

New Years Eve fireworks:

Some trash we found on the beach, left by locals.

Paddling out with my daughter:

(Photobucket is really ticking me off right now. All my photos are out of order. I'm gonna cut this short)

It was time to move on. We headed for the Sea of Cortez.

More in a few....................

[Edited on 1-10-2014 by Ateo]

shari - 1-10-2014 at 12:28 PM

I always LOVE your photos amigo...great to see the family enjoying baja like always...the mustache is a classic...hahaha

Ateo - 1-10-2014 at 12:43 PM

We headed to Laguna Chapala and took the road to Coco's. This road was in bad shape (IMHO). Slow going till after Coco's.

We headed for Alfonsina's but they were booked. This is where it all started to unravel. I had planned on 3 days on the Sea of Cortez, rent a panga, chill......etc.....

But due to no rooms and not wanting to unpack the entire truck to camp again, we headed to Rancho Grande and Beluga -- but just wasn't feeling it. There was nobody even at Beluga to ask about rooms. The sun was setting and I had to make a decision.

We will be back.............

So we headed out in the dark, checked Puertecitos, and ended up in San Felipe, all the time, while driving in the dark, commenting to my family about how beautiful the Sea is off to the right. It was total blackness. No moon. Only Saturn.

Got back to the free road to TJ.

Headed to la Fonda

Poco Cielo Dinner:

$30 bucks for 4 margaritas!

We crossed with Sentri and it took about 45 minutes. It was kind of a nightmare getting into the lanes. It was backed up to the traffic circles.

We always end every Baja trip with this:

[Edited on 1-10-2014 by Ateo]

David K - 1-10-2014 at 12:52 PM

Hi Jon, thanks for the photos... some look real old with that 'classic look' feature!

Nice of you to show our book being used, but did you go into Santa Catarina village? The Santa Catalina mission site is on the other side of the town, and above the cemetery... Almost nothing remains there.

On Photobucket, you can arrange how the photos display on your album... at the very top of the first thumbnail photo see the 'Order by:' button? Click file name (or older, newer, etc.) to have the pictures in the order you want.

Ateo - 1-10-2014 at 12:58 PM

Thanks Shari and David.

DK: We thought about heading out to that mission but it looked like nothing remained. Once we left San Felipe I said to my co-pilot wife, "get the mission book out and see if there are any on todays stretch of drive". =)

There wasn't a whole lot of good options that day though, unless we did the ones around Rosarito/Ensenada. I think we may have passed one heading into Ensenada from Ojos area, but I can't remember...........

And yeah, I organized the photo bucket album but or some reason they were still off by a few days. Maybe it's something on my end.....camera not dying correct or something. Makes it hard to do it in chronological order! Oh well.

[Edited on 1-10-2014 by Ateo]

David K - 1-10-2014 at 01:01 PM

Mike's Sky Rancho, Santa Catarina Village, Laguna Hanson are the major tourist destinations along the Ensenada-San Felipe highway... that I can think of.

woody with a view - 1-10-2014 at 03:21 PM

nice trip! one day we'll bump into you guys.....

Chupacabra - 1-10-2014 at 04:24 PM

Nice, looks like a great trip with the family!

bajadock - 1-10-2014 at 05:20 PM

Ateo,
Thanks for the great trip report and fun photos of your adventure.

Seems like Nomad trip reports and photos are on the upswing lately. Keep up the good work.

Bob H - 1-10-2014 at 05:48 PM

Enjoyed your photos Ateo. Nice job! Looked like a fun trip despite a few bumps...

DianaT - 1-10-2014 at 06:05 PM

Overall, it looked like a fun trip. Nice report.

Ateo - 1-10-2014 at 07:02 PM

Thanks All. Yeah, it was a good trip. Hope to meet all of you down south someday.

BornFisher - 1-10-2014 at 07:08 PM

Yikkkeeeesss--------------- give a man a mex cop stache and all he does is frown!! (JK).
Love the report and photos, thanks for the ride. I too saw those VW`s so our paths may have crossed. And I drove from San Felipe to Rosarito Beach in the dark and was very bummed I missed the views so I feel your pain there!!
Again thanks for the report and pics!!

nice job !!

captkw - 1-10-2014 at 07:11 PM

You have good touch (damn good) with photos !! I almost reached over to grab a Tecate !!... :yes:

Pacifico - 1-10-2014 at 07:23 PM

Great trip report with all those photos! How long did it take you to post with all the pics? That would take me awhile to put together! Good job!

Kgryfon - 1-11-2014 at 01:37 AM

Nice photos. I especially liked the sunset with the bird and the lady in the surf. Looks one of those Facebook memes with some deep saying plastered on it...without the saying, which should go without saying and is totally unnecessary because the picture says it all...

Cypress - 1-11-2014 at 04:33 AM

Thanks,

BajaLucy - 1-11-2014 at 08:00 AM

Nice report Ateo,

La Fonda- Happy Hr is No jk bit too much for my pocket

SQ- Happy Hour drinks is my Best pick. Food can't go wrong either
Our journey to first trip of 2014-rumbo a Baja was good. Nothing major happen during our staying Nothing out of the ordinary. One thing got more my attention and was disappointed... :?:

At the beach after those people left they left behind their TRASH bummer.. We did our good donation to our Oceanlife Sea by picking after them all their trash. Tecate cans-bags and others. It's just common sense pick up after yourself :tumble

bajaandy - 1-11-2014 at 09:03 AM

Nice! Thanks for the cool photo essay! Looks like you had a good old fashioned family vacation in Baja. Good on ya!

MMc - 1-11-2014 at 09:31 AM

Ateo, Thanks, glad you had a great family trip.
Lucy, Mexico never had Ladybird Johnson, she changed Americas attitude about littering(litter bug was her term). Read "Travels with Charlie" he comments about the litter. We gave a local a ride one day, everything went the window. Go to the beach after Easter and take a look. Most of the world doesn't share our view. So sad.

Quote:

Originally posted by BajaLucy
Nice report Ateo,

La Fonda- Happy Hr is No jk bit too much for my pocket

Ateo - 1-11-2014 at 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Pacifico
Great trip report with all those photos! How long did it take you to post with all the pics? That would take me awhile to put together! Good job!

Took about an hour and a half. The more ya do it the better ya get at it.

I sometimes wonder to myself while I'm doing a trip report, "Why the hell am I wasting time posting photos for strangers?"

I guess the answer is a little more complicated than that. Many of you are no longer strangers, but new friends. I know I like to see other's Baja photos, so that's another reason.

I also post these so I have a journal, a written record of a trip.

It's fun to look up old ones and re-experience the trip.

Last reason would be for my kids. Someday when I'm gone, they may be able to look this stuff up and catch a glimpse of their old man. Or not......Ha ha ha.

:tumble:

[Edited on 1-11-2014 by Ateo]

TMW - 1-11-2014 at 12:34 PM

Thanks Ateo. Great report and wow you really make the pictures stand out, love the different looks.

Marc - 1-12-2014 at 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by TW
Thanks Ateo. Great report and wow you really make the pictures stand out, love the different looks.

Ditto