Turtle on Down the Road

Winterhaven Yuma prison and Mexico

2015-12-08T19:45:00.000-08:00

Another sunset I have had a few bad days Migraines have been getting me again. In between we have been trying to stay busy there is so much to do and see around here I am sure we can find something different every day.

2 days ago we went to Yuma Territorial prison, the one that the movie was about 310 Yuma.July 1st 1876 the first 7 prisoners were locked in the prison that they had built. It was in operation for 33 years and had a total of 3069 prisoners including 29 women. Most prisoners only served a portion of their sentences due to the ease with which paroles and pardons were obtained. 111 prisoners died while serving their sentences, most from tuberculosis. School was available and it housed the first public library in the territory. This is the guard tower which was built over the water storage.

The entrance the wagon pulled in the gates closed and prisoners were let out of the wagon then entered the prison through a small door.

Leg irons.

Gatling gun that was used on a few prison escapes.

And the cells

6 prisoners to a cell no toilets just a pail. Imagine what it must have smelled like with temperatures over 100 F in the summer. They had a bath once a week and were punished if they didn't.

This was the punishment for breaking the rules. You were put in the dark room. There was a cage 6 feet by 9 feet and you did not even get a pail for the bathroom and it did not matter how many were in there at one time. Lots only broke the rules once.

This was the women's cell, a little better.

They were between 14 and 88 years old most were white or Mexicans. And most smoked

This was Pearl Hart she was a Canadian from Lindsay Ontario she was the only woman to rob a stagecoach.Sshe was sentenced to 5 years but was let out on early parole because she was a trouble maker her condition was she had to leave Arizona.

Yesterday we tried to hike to the top of Pilot Knob but we didn't make it. Brenda's ankle just couldn't climb over the loose rocks.

I stepped on this thorn and it went right through the sole of my shoe and stuck in the bottom of my foot. You think that didn't hurt you should of seen me dancing around on one foot till I could get that shoe off. I had no idea what was causing all that pain so I was scared to stick my hand in the shoe to feel what it was. My mind was thinking a spider or a killer ant or something. I did have a good laugh at myself over that.

After the failed hill climb we started to walk around the mountain we might of made it half way another day we will go in the opposite direction to see if we can get around it.

That smoke is in Mexico that is how close we are to the boarder.

This morning we went to Mexico we drove to the border and walked in. I guess this is where every one goes if they need dental or Glasses. Every store was a dental office or eye glasses and some had both. I wouldn't be surprised if there were over 100 of each of them in the first few blocks. And every one had the usual guys out side trying to get you to go in every one. Brenda went in for a pair of glasses at home they cost her 600 and here she can get a pair for 95. I was talking to a guy that just came from his dentist it cost him 495 dollars for 2 crowns and 2 fillings. I see why every one goes there. I couldn't take the crowds and walked to the real Mexican part of town no paved roads, chickens in the streets. This sure is not my idea of Mexico I didn't like this place too much.

We saw the border wall and went and walked along it for a bit

You could see where people had climbed over it where the rust was scraped off you could even see shoe prints on the rust. Wounder how many go into the US every day.

We wandered around for awhile then headed back.

This was the warmest day so far into the 80s and even now at 10.30 it's still 70. it could stay like this for the rest of winter but that's not going happen they are saying next week mid 60's.

Still in Pilot Knob

2015-12-04T19:04:00.001-08:00

Sun set the day before yesterday.

Sunset yesterday.

Yesterday we went to the Imperial Sand dunes. They can be seen from our campground. In fact some of the Star Wars films, Resident Evil, Flight of the Phoenix and others were shot here. They are around 40 miles long and 5 miles wide. The black in the back of the picture is the wall between the US and Mexico.

They were real special we even have a video of me running and jumping off them. If we had more internet I would post it maybe in the future.

Lots of people were camping near them they all have dune buggy's and 4 wheeler s sure looks fun If I ever come back here think I might have to bring one with me.

Here she comes

It was a lot of fun but I did find out how out of shape I am.

I couldn't even here her swearing coming down them. She must have liked it.

Then we went for a drive to sidewinder pass.

This is about 10 miles back in the desert. And we came to these hills so we drove to them. Sure glade we have the Tracker.

I even got to climb the mountain still need a side kick for these kind of adventures. Brenda does not like to climb.

Thought I saw something move in this cave so had to look but never saw anything could have been a pack rat that was back in where I couldn't see it.

There was all kinds of twigs and seeds inside.

This is what we were driving on nice trail.

Then today we decided to see if we could get to the wall between the US and Mexico. We drove back behind the camp ground and came to this canal where the wall should have been. And the sand was way to soft was almost stuck back here a couple of times.

That is Mexico on the other side. A guy told me the wall is just in the dunes not sure if he knew what he was talking about. We could see where some people climbed down and came across holding onto the rope.

You could see the foot prints in the sand and tire tracks and you could tell they got into a vehicle that must have been waiting for them.

Then we came across this place its near our camp ground. Some one had lived here at one time.

There was all kinds of writing on the walls some even made sense.

I liked the one watch out for snakes and who wouldn't have been some crazy tourists.

I think who ever lived here liked to drink

There was hundreds of beer and wine bottles all over the place. Every where you walked there was broken glass.

We will be staying here for awhile sure like the weather a lot better than any other place we have been so far this winter 75 in the day and 45 to 50 at night I can live with that.

Pilot Knob

2015-12-02T15:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we drove to California. Pilot knob rv park. We are maybe 5 miles inside California. As soon as you drive across the border you gain an hour another time zone ya have not gotten use to the last 2. Today we drove across that line 3 times. So now we are 3 hours earlier than at home. Trying to stay up later but the eyes just cant stay open nothing like getting up at 3 am.

Driving over here we finally saw these magnificent cactus not sure what they are called yet some one told me but can not remember.

This is the first time I have seen this kind of solar system. They are mirrors that shine on a pipe that runs down the center of them they heat up what ever liquid is in the pipe I think it might be water by the amount of steam coming out of the building behind them.I was told they use steam to turn the turbines to make electricity.

There had to be 5 to 10 acres of the mirrors what a great idea.

This is where we are parked We belong to ROD a campground club where you can stay in any of there parks for 2 weeks for free than out for a week and you can go back in for 2 more weeks once a year. 3 quarters of the park is empty yet they act like they have no room for you we are getting so sick of this club we will not be renewing it for next year. If anyone ask me about ROD never waist your money on this club we have had nothing but problems with them this year. And most of the people we have talked to have many complaints.

If you look real hard you can see all kinds of people parked out in the desert. They have areas down here where you can just drive off into the desert and park you can only stay in one place for 2 weeks. then you have to move. Talked to a few people and they just keep moving around. You need to empty your holding tanks and get more water so moving is not a bad thing. They all have solar panels for there electric needs. It cost ether 180 for 6 months or you can pay 40 dollars every 2 weeks. I guess its a cheap way to stay in the warmer weather (except at night time)

Huachuca

2015-11-30T17:13:00.000-08:00

This is covering the last 3 days. We moved to Huachuca it was only about 25 miles down the road. We have been doing a lot of hiking. The first day we went to Browns Canyon Ranch It is in a Box Canyon. There is a 5 mile trail the first thing we saw was 6 deer.And that was before we got out of the car.

Down in the valley we saw this blimp no idea what it is for.

The old ranch house.

They had lots of water no idea why they gave it up. Seems to me it would be a good cattle ranch.

We never walked the entire trail but it was a good hike.

Next day we went to an abandoned town. It was an old silver mining area. When the silver ran out every one moved out.

We did the entire 3.7 miles.

This is what most of the trail was like.

First stop was the cemetery.

It was up on top of a hill.

Must have been a rich guy most were just piles of rock.

There was over 100 graves here. And only 2 had names on them so sad it was like they were all forgotten.

This was where the rock crushing hammers were. I guess they ran 24 hours a day and they were so loud you could here them for miles. I do not know if they melted the silver here also there was not much info about it.

This was a deep hole at one time people were lowered into it to dig how crazy I think back then I would have starved to death because there would be no way I would go in one of these.

A bunch of old junk still laying around.

The trail came around to the river they say that is why the mill was here but it was a half mile from the river. So no idea why they did not build closer to the river.

Then today we went to Kartchner Caverns state Park. No way I was going into the caverns so we went for the hike it was only 3.5 miles.

It was a bit harder then the other trails we had done. Up and down hills or mountains.

These circles in the rocks were made by the natives back in the 1300 they think they were used to grind seeds.

And as we are driving out of the place we see a mother deer with 2 fawns.

Tomorrow we are going to California we here it is warmer there. At night the water freezes it gets that cold here. They say in California it only goes down to the mid 40s hope so.

Triangle T Ranch

2015-11-24T16:50:00.000-08:00

Today was a fun day we went to Triangle T Ranch. We found it by pure luck we had drove back down the hwy to see these boulders along the hwy. They looked neat the way they just hung there if you see them you would wounder the same thing what keeps these things up there.

This is me showing how big they are.

The ranch was the set for many westerns like 310 to Yuma back in 1957.

this is the old movie set.

I just loved the way these rocks looked I guess they were formed by wind.

See what I mean this rock is bigger than a SUV. Why does it stay there.

There are trails all over the place you can book a horse back tour but we just walked threw it. They are fine with people wandering around you just have to sign a waiver in case you get hurt saying you are the idiot that climbed under that boulder as it slide down the hill. You know the waivers where you sign your life away.

Some nice looking horses were not in Mexico.

Every where you go there is some new view.

They say its wind that carves all these stones.

See Brenda she would not climb the rocks where is Lara when I needed her she would have been all over these. Miss her on this trip.

We walked the trails for over 2 hours.

Some famous people stayed here

I wanted to climb this one but it looked a little scary.

The ranch was divided by the hwy when it was built so they put a tunnel under it.

This was the other side of the hwy.

That boulder was the size of a small bus. why does it stay up there this is a windy country.

So a little about this place The Apache chief Cochise winter camped here. Steve McQueen and Jodie McQueen used to stay on the ranch and Jodie performed trick shooting for the guests.310 Yuma was shot here back in 1957. with Glen Ford,Van Heflin.They have a Saloon here that is built around the rock that was in the court yard of the original house that burnt down in the 30's. Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson stayed on the ranch while filming Stage Coach. Duel in the Sun with Gregory Peck. High Chaparral with Lelf Erickson. The book The Ancient Ones by Lori Hines was written about the ranch. The Rockefellers and Vanderbilts were personal friends with the Tutt family and stayed here frequently. If you are in the area its worth the stop. You can camp here for 40 a night with full hook ups to steep for us.

Tombstone

2015-11-23T09:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we decided to go to Tombstone. Along the road there we saw this sign I have no idea what earth fishers are and I am pretty sure I don't want to find out what they are.

Tombstone is a real tourist trap you got money we will take it kind of place. They made the main streets look like the old west and most you are not allowed to drive on.

There are a few old stage coaches that you can ride in no idea how much they cost.

And this place was my laugh of all of town. You can shoot replica hand guns 6 shots for $3 fake ammo. We are talking to these 2 guys that run the place we say we are from Canada they start to laugh and say we know you can't have hand guns and are not allowed to ever shoot guns, Then the guy says that president Obama is just a Muslim and he is trying to take all there guns away for every one except Muslims just like Canada. I had no reply I just laughed at him and said to Brenda we got to get out of this place. We have been laughing about it quite a bit it takes all kinds to make up this world.

The sheriffs office

Brenda in jail

This is the set where they have one of the many gun fight in town.

I was shot for stealing a horse.

Some one forgot to cut this poor guy down.

On the way out of town we stopped at boot hill.

It was fun walking around reading all the head stones.

This one made me laugh 4 slugs from a 44 no less no more.

How bad were you to get shot by a Chinaman

And 2 for the price of 1.

I had to try on these hats loved all of them.

I wanted this one but the 102 dollars was a bit steep.

Hey Carrie met the woman that owns this one and its for sale she said 9,000 then lowered it to 7,000 then said she would trade it for a larger one. She was hating living in it she had 2 dogs and every time she stopped she had to take every thing out of it and move it into her truck so there was room for her and the dogs. I felt sorry for the poor woman she is living on 600 a month and this is all she has in the world.

Benson Arizona

2015-11-22T05:47:00.000-08:00

Hi all just an update we have not had great wifi so no posts. Plus we screwed up the camera charger. The dish soap was knocked over and it spilled on the charger and it would not work tried washing it or running water over it and drying it with the heater but no go till we put it in rice for a few days. So this picture is the speed limits it western Texas that's 80 miles an hour. I wonder if any other states have that high a limit.

This was 3 days ago we left Texas and entered The land of enchantment.

We didn't find the enchantment. We were just driving threw the state trying to get to better weather. We had to stop for the night we saw a few feed lots but did not think a thing about them we pulled into a campground. paid and set up. Then the smell drifted in along with the fly's you could not open the door without 10 to 20 fly's coming in. On the side of the RV facing the sun there was thousands of them I think we learned a lesson. Watch out for Enchantment...

Not sure where this was it was 20 to 30 feet tall along the hwy.

We saw a lot of trains and many signs saying dust storms have not been hit by a dust storm yet wonder what that will be like they say 0 viability that should be fun to drive in.

And this is where we are now so far the weather has been 70 to 75 in the sun and at night it has gone down to 40 no idea what that is in Celsius.

We passed this spot with many boulders along the hwy and said we need to go back and explore this area.

And this is our spot we found it from http://geosuzie.blogspot.ca/2015/11/perfect-weather-again-and-fellow.html It was a great deal best one so far this trip. We are here for a week. If we get the wifi worked out I will be posting more often.

Lajitas

2015-11-17T15:49:00.001-08:00

So this morning we got up packed up and were 17 miles down the road and set up again by 10.30. That is my kind of traveling. The wind last night were brutal but by this morning had died down till around 9.30 even on the drive over here you could feel the gusts blowing the RV around. We were going to walk some trails around the camp ground but the wind was way to strong and cold by 2 it got up to 18C but the wind felt way to cold. So we went for a drive we heard the road was a bit steep going threw Big Bend Ranch state park. That was where we were headed tomorrow but after the drive we thought we should take a different route.

It was a great drive nice views with a steep winding road.

We got to see some great rock formations

And a good rest stop

We saw lots of these signs and 15 degree hill ahead use low gear. We have driven many 15 degree slopes but I hate the ones with the crazy s bends with the road sloping towards the edge not fun.

Even some Hoodo's

And balancing boulders

Now this is a 15 degree slope.

And this is our view today

So tomorrow we are headed back the 17 miles for one more night this place was 19 dollars for the first night then 39 for the second so we are going back to where we were last night. Hope this wind is over by then the RV is a rocking already this afternoon cant wait for tonight.

Terlingua

2015-11-16T16:44:00.000-08:00

Today was a busy day packed up drove 25 miles pulled into another RV park and set up again. We decided to leave the park at 35 a night was just to much to pay and now we are only paying 28 crazy or what. We need to stay down in this area for 3 days because we are getting some strong winds for 3 days and north of here they are going to be way stronger. And I am not driving in crazy winds again. Tomorrow we are driving 17 miles and staying at a place for 17 dollars but we only get that price for one day so we will be leaving there and driving for 34 miles for a 11 dollar park for one night. Then the winds should be over.

We drove down the road after we had lunch and we kept seeing these signs they don't put culverts under the road they just let the streams run right over the road wonder how deep it has to get before you don't drive threw it.

We were headed for this Ghost Town we had read about it and thought we needed to see it.

I guess a bunch of people have moved back to it Artists and hippies trying to find a place to hide. They say there are 58 people living here now. There is a few old junkers

And some strange art.

I kind of liked this one.

Another beauty

There is still a few old places still standing.

I have no idea why every one left. But it was a good size town you could see where there was ad least 40 homes at one time most are just the foundations left.

I think a preacher moved back because some one is fixing the church and the house beside it.

I think this guys car is worth way more than his house.

You have to love the cactus growing out the fender.

And you could rent this tent never checked how much. Some place Lara would love to stay.

Some poor guy lost his RV to fire it was probably all that he owned.

And then you have a sub coming up out of the sand.

Or passing wind the ship.

And this is our view from the camp site.

day 2 big bend

2015-11-16T06:40:00.000-08:00

Last night right at dusk this guy showed up right behind the trailer.

Brenda got some great pictures.

This was about 15 feet from us there was some holes in the ground have no idea what he was after never did see and he missed. Then he flew back in the tree he was around for about an hour what a show.

Today was a day of hiking we started with the Bouquillas Canyon trail.

It was an easy hike up over a hill than along the Rio Grand.

It went into a canyon

I wished the camera would have worked as good as the eyes.

It was breath taking.

I have no idea how high these canyon walls were but that is along ways up.

I wounder what caused these holes water at one time running out of them.

There's Brenda she is always following along for some reason she is always way behind. Lost in her own world may be. lol

This was as far as we could get.

Across the river was a Mexican that was singing and he had a container for you to tip him. This was his ride.

The next walk was the Maruto Vega It was a little to long so we only walked for an hour on it.

Nice cactus.

Came across a flock of these guys.

There had to be about 30 of them and every time one would take off it would scare the crap out of me because they would only be a few feet from you and you never saw them till they took off.

The trail was threw some pretty scrubby looking stuff not much grew here.

The next walk was first a drive of about 10 miles down an old 4 wheel drive road. You could only drive about 10 miles an hour.

I noticed this white out in the scrub. So we stopped and this was a burial spot with jewelry and coins spread all over it I have never seen so many coins spread on a grave before there was 30 to 40 dollars of coins out in the middle of now where.

A guy from the camp ground told me about this place it was not on the map and he called it the bowl.

The first part of the walk was along an old river bed.

It was a long hike

Then we came to this canyon.

This cactus was growing under this over hang.

This is the bowls it was quite hard to walk up and around them

And if you fell in this one you were there to stay the walls were about 8 feet high. I do not think you could get out unless some one came along with a rope to help you.

There she is following along.

Brenda trying to get around the bowls.

This was a strange rock formation.

And I had to climb in it.

It was neat how the rocks went in every direction.

Next we went to the Hot Springs.This was a house that an old lady lived in and she owned the store here back in the 40s.

This was her store.

There was some rock art here but most of it was covered by people scratching there names over it. Why they would not have covered it or tried to save it and why do people have to destroy every thing.

Then along the river.

The hot springs

The water was hot and Brenda had to put her feet in. Some people came with bathing suits and got right in. I might do that but I need it a lot warmer out side.

Sorry for all the pictures tomorrow we move on.

Big Bend State park

2015-11-14T15:08:00.000-08:00

We left Marathon around 9.30 it was cloudy and rainy.Great views on the way over to big bend. On the way over I saw the biggest rack on a deer I had ever seen before and about 2 miles down the road was a bunch of hunters lucky guy.

we had a welcoming comity when we arrived.

And this wood pecker came to say hello.

once we were set up we went for a hike on one of the many trails.

The trail went along the Rio Grand

This is what the view was like from our camp site.

The trail headed up over the mountain great vegetation.

There she is following along.

Sure wish the sun was shining.

Lots to look at another couple said they saw a fox so I was checking every hole to see if it was a den.

That's the RV park. State parks are expensive here 35 a night.

Great views from the top of the mountain.

Looking down at the river.

In the opposite direction

After we were finished the walk we went for a drive and at this lookout we could see the Mexicans across the river.

The Mexicans had brought these crafts over and sat them on this rock and asked for 6 dollars each and you just left the money in the can. Brenda bought a walking stick.

The sun came out for a few minutes just to show us what it looked like here.

2015-11-13T16:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we stayed in Del Rio. I had a migraine all night so did not sleep around noon we went for a walk in Amistade state park it was just down a road that they had closed. I have never in my life saw so many deer.It is hunting season down here so I wonder if all the deer moved into the park.

After about 2 miles we saw why they had closed the road it was flooded.

So today we left for Marathon on the way there we stopped at Seminole state park to see the rock art. This is the valley we had to walk down into to see them.

You can see the park office where we started from.

This is the main cave or over hang what ever you want to call it.

This one looked like a cat but they said it was a raccoon

And this one they said was a deer ya right.

This is the one I asked what kind of car they had because they drew pictures of the keys. They said it was house keys.

no idea what this was.

The swallow had a nest there.

See the 2 names these 2 guys worked on the railroad back in 1845.

Looking out from the cave.

no idea

picture is not very good this one there was 4 people one had wings and you could see there feet.

Some neat rocks down there it looked like sponge.

I wish I had the good camera for this shot as soon as I took it it walked away.

This is how big the cave is see the people at the other end. See all that loose gravel with the holes dug in it. They were made from some school excavating it they were only allowed 8 hours to dig there must have been hundreds of them. All that gravel has straw in it from the mats and the loose rocks were from the ovens that they had made.The art on the walls goes under the gravel 3 to 5 feet because they kept bringing more gravel in here to make more ovens. they used these caves 4000 years ago I think she said for about a 1000 years.

Then we moved on to Marathon RV park. It took awhile to find the office I love this sign.

Do you see us over there this was the picture from town.See the mountains in behind us.

We walked over to town to see this building from the park I thought it was a church but it ended up being a bed and breakfast.

I am sure it must belonged to a bunch of hippies Its Evs organic B&B

Every town has one of these houses we have one down the road from us you can just be happy you don't live next door to them.

You even have the bee house on the roof.

This is Texas to me we do love guns down here.

This is our view.

I saw a bunch of these I think they are grouse not sure.

One flew up on a post so I could get a better picture.

Del Rio

2015-11-11T15:45:00.000-08:00

We are in Del Rio Texas this is day 2 here.

We were going to move to Seminole State Park its only 45 minutes down the road but the wind picked up so we stayed here and drove the tracker to the park. Some people say its the Grand Canyon of south Texas. I would not say that but I have not seen the real Grand Canyon and if this is any thing like the real one I am going to be disappointed. We hiked one of the trails it was nice lots to see. Loved this first sign how are you suppose to see the sights when you are looking for snakes.

The trail led along the top of the canyon.

There was lots of caves along it but no way to get to them.

And like always me doing the big jump.

many interesting rock formations.

The river was pretty dry

Always on the edge

Ok Brenda no throwing rocks at me ether.

We saw a few fossils kind of neat.

Saw some plants we have not seen before.

And this guy kept popping up I was sure he was following us.

Brenda being brave she was yelling at me I can't get any closer.

I know I put way to many pictures on here but live with it since I have not bean blogging every day you can put up with the pictures.

Tomorrow we are going back so we can see the pictographs you have to go on a guided tour to see them and it starts at 10 am. so we are going to stop and do them on the way to Marathon the next stop.

Still in Texas

2015-11-09T14:39:00.001-08:00

We are in San Antonio at Braunig lake RV resort. We have been here for 2 days now. Its a nice park and about 8 miles from down town.

And there is a lake, there was a bunch of people fishing, catch and release.

Today we went to the Alamo it was way smaller than I thought it would be.

If you read every sign and display in the museum I don't think you would be there for an hour.

I guess this is the front of the place and have no idea who the girl is in the picture.

After that we went for the river walk.

The river runs through the city and they have this walkway along both sides of it.

Its a very nice walk we went a couple of miles I have no idea how far the walkway goes.

And we were told to do it at night time I could see all the Christmas lights in the trees so I bet it is beautiful. But we are not going to do it.

If you like city's and shopping make sure you stop here but its not for me I would rather be out walking through the bush or up a mountain with the wildlife. We are heading to my kind of place next Big bend National Park. Its the most wilderness place in the lower 48 states. And the darkest for star gazing. Its down by the Mexican Border. It has lots of trails so we want to do lots of walking.

Texas

2015-11-05T14:30:00.001-08:00

Today we didn't drive far only got to Beaumont Texas. We started talking about going to Arizona this year. It is going to be a warmer winter they are saying so this might be the year for it. So we pulled in here to do some checking on the internet to see what there is to do in new Mexico and Arizona this winter. And if it does get to cold we can always head south we know a couple of nice places we could go to again.

This is at the park we are at not sure why we have to beware of the canal

And they have a small lake here.

Most of the trailers are from Texas so I guess its not a snow bird hang out.

On the road again

2015-11-04T17:38:00.001-08:00

So we are on the road again. Today we crossed the Mississippi from Natchez to Vidalia Louisiana. so far we have driven 1920 kilometers. Today we had a late start had to watch Trudeau get sworn in and see who the new cabinet was. Brenda is suffering from a bad back and I have had 2 migraines so nothing new with me. Feel sorry for Brenda no place to get comfortable it always takes her awhile to figure out what works and what doesn't.

I stole this picture from the last time we were here at this park that's a picture of Myrtle wow that seems like forever and we were towing the Smart...We got here late so no new pictures It was a cloudy day today but we are sitting here with the fans on and all the windows open so I can not complain about no sun. Tomorrow we will be in Texas not sure where yet. I will try and get the camera out and get some new pictures. But what fun is there in taking pictures at a Walmart parking lot.

Brenda says hi.

Whale watching & Marieta Island

2015-03-08T07:49:00.000-07:00

We set off Saturday morning for a 10:00 a.m. launch. Well, a 10:20 a.m. launch, because the girls have mastered Mexico time and we were late. The trip was fantastic, our captain and whale spotter positioned us for some great views and pictures. They certainly earned a tip......add another 400 pesos to the cost of the excursion! Emotion coupled with great service makes Lara & Gray very generous it seems.

We saw whales, dolphins, turtles, flying rays, jumping fish, birds and a beautiful island. I wasn't able to capture most of it on film, but what I did manage to photograph is pretty awesome.

Our whale spotter found a humpback and her calf within the first 15 minutes. We watched them swimming along at a distance for about 20 minutes before they decided to swim right up beside our boat....TWICE!!!! It was awe inspiring and really quite emotional. We all had tears in our eyes.

It didn't take long for all the other boats out on a whale watch to realize that we were having an awesome encounter, and suddenly there were a dozen boats surrounding us. We had the best boat (with a shelter from the sun) and lots of room to move around. The other boats were filled with people, sitting like sardines and no shelter. We decided to go check out the island and look for more whales after a snorkel.

After the whale watch we went to Marieta Island for a snorkel. I was getting pretty sea sick by then, so I was very happy to hop out of the boat and into the chilly, refreshing water. It is a very popular spot. You snorkel through that little hole you can see in the rock and it takes you into a tiny sandy beach inside the island. The islands are protected, and you are no longer allowed to go on it except for this small section. It belongs to the birds, as is apparent by the incredible amount of bird poo.

Our whale spotter, whose name I never did quite master. I believe it is Alandro, but I am sure Lara will correct me on that.

Joni, our captain.

Jumping fish. I don't know what kind, but there were hundreds of them.

We saw one dolphin on the way back, but by the time I pointed my camera at her this was the best shot I could get. She disappeared, and we went back to dock. Unfortunately, after the snorkel there were no more whales hanging around for another encounter.

3 years ago we went on a whale watch while in Sayulita. It cost $200 U.S to rent the boat and a captain. The boat seated up to 8 people. We thought it would be around the same, but were appalled to find out it is now $300.00 U.S. That felt too rich for our blood. Gray did some googling and found a tripadvisor post that said you could get better prices if you go down to the marina in Punta Mita, so Gerry and I headed over there on Friday. We both really wanted the girls to be able to see the beautiful humpbacks.

Punta Mita is about a half hour drive from Sayulita. Punta Mita is actually closer to the Marietas Islands, so the boat trip is shorter. We found a captain willing to take us out for $160 U.S., or $2,200 pesos for a 3 hour tour, which is about $200 Canadian. Without a whale watch it would only cost $120 U.S. We took his card and headed back to Sayulita to see what the girls wanted to do.

If you want to contact our captain his name is Jonathan Reyes, he speaks English very well. info@tranquilosurf.com His cell number is 011 52 1 322 199 5711. From Mexico you need only dial the last 10 numbers. They also give surfing lessons.

All the boat tours sell the package as a trip to the Marieta Island. I think they do that so they don't have to guarantee a whale sighting.

Gerry has been under the weather, so he decided he wasn't going to go with us. He felt that our experience 3 years ago was good enough for him and we have already blown our budget four or five times over and it just wasn't worth it to him. On top of that, he got another migraine yesterday, so it was a good call.

Lara and Gray were going to try to find some people who would like to join us, but that was a bust, so we had to split it 3 ways. $733.33 pesos each is much better than $100 U.S. each! Well, 1/3 for me and 2/3 for Bernita who picked up the girls tab because it was still a bit too pricey for them and whales being her favourite animal, she just couldn't let Lara miss this opportunity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marieta_Islands

Sayulita Monkey Mountain

2015-03-05T18:09:00.000-08:00

Sorry I have not been blogging I was just to sick. I do think I got sick from the water I was talking to some guy and he has been sick for a few months and he came up with the water from the one water guy was where he got it from. My luck to buy from the same guy. Brenda and Lara didn't get it because they drink beer and juice all I drink is water so I do think it is possible that is where I got it from. It took a batch of antibiotics to feel better still not feeling 100% but a lot better.

The first bunch of pictures was back a few days ago we walked to a couple of different beaches.

After walking to the end of the first beach we climbed over some rocks and came to this beach.

I took a picture down the beach and could see a couple more beaches.

After that beach we walked through the jungle and I got this picture nice bird never saw one before.

This is Plya de Los Muertos this is the swimming beach to get to it from Sayulita you have to walk through the Cemetery that is why its called los Muertos (the dead)

These are all new homes built since we were here last time. Its a place where the rich Gringos buy.

This is the biggest Pelican I have ever seen.

This was yesterday we went looking for the trail up Monkey Mountain. We found the road that headed towards it so we took it. It ended up that the road just followed a river bed.

We ended up driving down it for about a kilometer It was a lot of fun but it was the wrong direction so we had to drive back through it. We found the right road and followed it to the bottom of the mountain we had to open a few gates and drive through farmers fields till we came to a locked gate so we headed back to the main road and asked the people if they would be our guides the guy agreed for 800 pesos. In town the cost is 2400 pesos so we booked for tomorrow at 10 AM.

So this is us heading up the mountain.

We walked up a dry stream bed and this is Brenda holding up one of the boulders.

Some of the trail was just cow paths and it was completely grown over.

More of the same trail.

This was a strange flower it felt like the petals were rubber.

The first view about half way up.

This next picture is about a half hour later.

And this is the last 100 meters you had to climb up over boulders.

Some places you had to hold on because it was along way down.

And this is from the top. You get a 360 degree view

The girls had to climb the highest boulder up there buy they made the guide do it first.

They were brave I wouldn't go up there this is one of those fun things you can do in Mexico but if this was in Canada there is no way they would let you up here. Some of the boulders were just hanging over the edge waiting to fall and to me this was one of them.

Gray slipped and almost fell that was a bit of a scare. See the Vultures they showed up instantly. If you look at the rocks you can see all the bird crap so I think they are always up here.

Gray and Lara wanted a picture in front of the bird crap rock.lol

And down we go proud of brenda she only had to sit and slide on her butt a couple of times.

This is a better picture of the rock you had to walk up.

Gray slipped and grabbed the wrong bush she ended up with a hand full of thorns.

The only wild life I saw besides a couple of birds.

The guide took us down a different way to show us the water falls.

This is where the farmer dammed up the river and ran a pipe down to his place it was still about a half a kilometer to his small farm that was a lot of pipe.

Following another cow trail.

Grey trying to pet a calf this was as close as she could get.

Told you we were on a cow trail.

So this is what we did today it was fun and took about 4 hours.

PTO Vallarta

2015-02-28T06:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went to PV did the tourist thing walked around checked out some shops and walked around some more. We stopped for some thing to eat the girls eat there's but I just couldn't do it. It was the strangest food we have had since we were in Mexico looked like chunks of spam with tomato sauce over it. The girls kept saying this is authentic Mexican food but nether one of them would eat mine so I knew it was not good because usually when I don't eat they eat mine no go on this stuff. I was sick so that might have been the problem I just have not been feeling good for awhile now not sure what it is headaches throwing up no energy maybe I just need a few days of doing nothing at all.

This is one of the many statues along the walk way.

Another of the statues

A sand sculpture they have a few along the walk these guys do them for tips some are really impressive.

Not many on the beach in this part most of the people along here were sitting around there pools at the resorts.

This was the most detailed of the sand castles a lot of work goes into one of these. I wonder how log they last the guy was spraying it with water to keep it together. I guess when they have a high tide it is gone. It is nice to walk along this section and I bet at night that this is a hopping place.

I don't know if I will blogg later maybe take a few days to feel better.

Sayulita

2015-02-26T17:10:00.000-08:00

We are in Sayulita no blog yesterday just did not feel like it after a long drive. We were here 3 years ago and loved this place a lot of people don't like it here but we seem to fit in with the rest of the old hippies. It has changed a bit but not a lot our favorite Taco stand was not there any more so we have to go to all the Taco stands in town to find our new favorite place.

It was a bit cloudy to day but still was a great day.

We went for a walk down the beach and followed some trails through the jungle to the next beach.

This is the beach with the caves you walk through to get to the next beach. The one cave was full of sand.

But the other was good as long as you timed the waves right.

The last time we were here there was not a single person or track on this beach but now you could see where 4 wheeler s had driven on it.

I loved the way the water had washed the sand away it made it look like a sand castle.

The cave again.

Look how the wire had grown into this tree made it look like a mouth

Melaque

2015-02-25T06:16:00.002-08:00

Yesterday we packed up and left. Did not know how far we would get I was not feeling good. We made a few stops checking out some of the beaches along the way. We made it to Melaque It is a nice small town with many Gringos here. This is the first park we have been in that was full there was only one spot available. And it was expensive 380 pesos that is crazy. It is one of the better parks we have been in in Mexico.

There is 15 RV in here and only 3 are not from BC I have been to parks where the Quebec campers took over but have never seen it from any other province. 1 from Alberta 1 from Alaska 1 from Oregon.

This is the beach

This is a park at the one end of the beach and the reason I do not like this place. They have no electricity and no dump stations what they do is dig a hole in the sand and dump there tanks right on the beach. I don't know what you think but to me that is about as low as you can get. I hope they all get sick swimming in the ocean out front of there piece of paradise.

Even got to see sun rise this morning.

We are thinking about heading out this morning.

Colola day3

2015-02-24T15:07:00.004-08:00

Today we took Lara down to see Maruata. By the way John we never found the lady with the Pecan rolls I did not have the GPS numbers because we had no internet but we did look for her.

Lara just loved this place she was thinking this would be a good place to have Christmas next year. Now lets see her arrange that to get every one here.

This part you had to run around the rocks or you would get soaked this is the girls running.

Brenda trying to talk Lara into getting in.

I loved the way this bird looked.

I missed sun set just got a bit of orange sky.

Then it was back to the Turtles Brenda digging up the eggs.

And lara burying them

And got to release more this is what 72 baby turtles looks like.

Colola day 2

2015-02-24T14:32:00.000-08:00

First thing in the morning I went down to the beach and there was this turtle still there just covering her eggs. I guess she was late coming to shore.

After she finished I watched her go back into the ocean

Then when Brenda got up we walked into town to see if we could find some gas we were real low in the tracker and the nearest Pemox station was 32 Kil. away and we didn't have enough to get there so we were looking for a local that sold some.most small towns have some one that sells it. We talked to a couple of people and the next thing we know we are in the back of a pickup truck and these guys are driving us all over town looking for some. The funny thing is the place that had gas was right around the corner from where we got in the truck to start with. But it was a fun time.

See the woman at the back dumping gas into a container for us.

And this is the store that had it see the little hole that they pass stuff through no one goes in there store you just ask for something and they hand it out to you. I kept thinking how are they going to pass the gas out. But the husband came out with it and put it in our Tracker for us and it was only 15 pesos a liter at the gas station its 13.57 so not that bad of a mark up.

Now that we had gas Brenda and I went for a drive down to a little town called Maruata.

We were walking along the beach and met up with these 2 people and they said you have to go the other way and check out the beach over there. I was not sure we would have even gone that way because you had to cross a stream and walk between a bunch of boats then up a road a bit to get there. But it was one of the nicest beaches we have seen sure glade we ran into these 2.

The stream we had to cross.

The beach

There were many caves with water crashing out of them

The next beach they just kept coming you would walk a ways then end up at another one.

The waves crashing onto the rocks.

Another cave

And another beach.

The pictures do not do this place just is.

Even had some paintings on the rocks.

We spent a lot of time here just watching the waves come in.

There is a small beach past this point but we did not want to climb the rocks to get to it.

Had 4 horses come down to the beach and roll in the sand its so strange in this country you do not need to fence your horses just let them wander around.

We had a fun day Lara stayed at the RV and caught up on some sleep then at 9.30 we all went down to the sanctuary and helped out dug up another nest and reburied the eggs and did a lot of sitting around learning some Spanish and talking to the locals.

Colola

2015-02-24T13:49:00.000-08:00

We left early and headed for Colola. This is my favorite place in Mexico along the Michoacan Coast the views

Are unbelievable the road is slow with all the twist and turns and up one mountain and down the next.

But with a few pull off to see views like this you soon forget about having to drive only 40 k an hour.

And they say this coast is the highway with 1000 topes that could be an under statement because I am sure there are more than that.

As you can see there are so many beaches and many have no one around and others there is no way to them except by boat.

You also have to watch out for a few of these on the road.

And these we saw about 15 donkeys along this section of road.

After we got a camping spot. We camped at the Eco Turistico they charged us 100 pesos with electric and water

And opened one of the Cabanas so we could use the shower and the toilet. There is a swimming pool and it is right on the beach.

This is the beach I think it is about 5 miles long.

And you can see the holes like these every place on the beach from the turtles digging nests.

At 9 pm Brenda and Lara went down to the sanctuary to volunteer I had a migraine so did not get to go. Lara playing with moma turtle.

After the turtle was done laying her eggs they drug her from the hole and Lara got to pick them out of the hole.

Ended up this one laid 105 eggs

A bag full of eggs

They take the eggs to the fenced in area where they have to dig a hole and put them in Lara has a new job skill fence post digger.

Then she had to put the eggs in the hole and cover them and mark how many and the date.

While she was doing that a nest was hatching. They put a light over a bowl in the sand and all the babys go to the light and fall in the bowl

Then they took them to the ocean and released them.

We have had no internet for 4 days so I will be posting all the days today

Zihuatanejo day 3

2015-02-20T20:38:00.000-08:00

This morning we had the Croc. on the sand right beside the walk to the beach. One of the twins boys said she laid eggs in the sand so don't walk on the sand or she will eat you to protect her eggs. Kids and there imagination. The French couple walk right past it like it was a log never even looking at it to me they are just asking for trouble one of these days they are going to be breakfast for her.

One of my favorite birds a kingfisher.

It dove down and got a couple of fish but could never get a good picture of that.

We headed out today first we went up the hill past the camp to the look out for some pictures. We are parked down there some place.

Lara needing to stand on the edge just for mom.

We went a ruins at a town south of here at La Chole the ruins are Xihuacan they were just discovered in 2007 so it has not had to much work done at them yet. The indigenous people were Cuitlateco never heard of them before. Even the ball courts were different than any I have seen before. They had 4 of these stone hoops on the court.

Lara showing how big there ear rings were compared to hers. The bigger they were the higher the class they were.

These stone carvings were for tattoos they heated them up then pressed them into the skin to scar like a brand they do on cows. It hurts just thinking about it.

This is the first time I have seen copper jewelry. I was surprised how many artifacts they still had here most of the ruins we have been at they were all removed and sent to Mexico city. I guess they just have not pillaged this place yet.

The ball court. I wished they would have put the hoops out just to show how they looked on each side there was 2 of them.

This trough thing was for the blood of the people they sacrificed on the bottom right they found 7 skeletons and one was a small child. And they were all Down syndrome they were not sure why. Or why they would do this at the ball court.

The ruins were covered with Adobe They said that this place was wiped out from a Tsunami in 1350 AD That is why they find so many artifacts here. There is so much that they have not even scratched the surface of what is here.

Some of the original steeps and some adobe bricks.

There are plastic bags all over this hill with artifacts in them like clay from pots. As we were walking around we could see pieces every place you looked It was amazing that they just let you walk on them you could pick up pieces and take them crazy I think some one or some university should be there cataloging all this stuff before it is all gone From tourists just picking pieces as souvenirs. I will tell you I was tempted to take some and some of the green stones forget what they were called but the guide kept picking them up to show them to us. He was saying they were sacred to the inhabitants.

This is one of the bags with the pottery pieces.

After this the guide took us to town to the church where they had this carved stone with 3 faces they say they found this at this spot in 1900. and found no other artifacts so far. Do not know if I believe that or not I think they might have brought it from the ruins.

Then he took us down to the river I guess to show us where they do laundry. lol

Then we walked down a road so he could show us what they grow.

Brenda showing this plant that grows something like a cucumber but when it drys out it is a loofah.

And me at the tobacco fields I asked him to take me to someone that rolls cigars but he did not know any one.

Wow I look happy this is back at the start near the car.

A neat flower.

Then we went to Ixtapa to see the other camp ground about 13 miles past Zihuatanejo. I am glad we did not go here the camp was at the end of a street with nothing around it and nobody was there. We stopped for lunch and were ripped off the most we have ever paid for lunch in Mexico we only had Tacos and they cost over 700 pesos. needless to say I will never be back here again I don't mind paying more because I am a gringo but to be ripped off like this place did is the reason places get bad names and end up suffering in the long run when they have word of mouth bitching about them and people just stop coming. There was even an old guy playing a guitar and he and his wife were walking from table to table seeing if any one wanted him to play for them but when she started to come to our table he says no they are just Gringos and walks away. Yes this place is off my list of places to come back to.

This is the beach Its down past all the large resorts. And it has all the usual junk shops and lots of restaurants.

Lara with her 100 peso pina colada

The sand is black they say it is from an volcanic eruption. But the closest one is 8 hours away.

we got back hung around and even got to see the sun set/

It was a full day and tomorrow we are on the road again.