Making Our Way Back Up the Baja

Los Barriles

I suppose you’re starting to think that I ate my way all the way down the Baja and back because I talk so much about the food.  But that’s one of the special things about traveling to different places for me.  Not only to experience the people, geography and culture but also to enjoy the food!  When we got to Los Barriles we asked the locals where we could find the best café in town.  They told us of this little family owned ‘hole in the wall’ place.  “Just go down the street and turn right at the alley, walk about half way and you’ll find it” they said.  Well we did find it!  It had outside seating encased in ivy and other greenery.  The owner was so friendly and gracious and the meal was fantastic.  A great authentic Mexican meal.

And this was only the appetizer!

When we stopped at La Paz on the way back up the Baja, Mardi Gras was in full swing.  Wow, what fun!  There were tons of people, venders and a parade.

Where did all the people come from???

Come back to read about Playa Santispac!

Baja Part 3

Read Part 1 and Part 2 to catch up!

La Paz is one of the bigger and more modern towns in the Baja.  There are long sandy beaches all along the main street with sand sculptures, people sun bathing on the sand and fishing off the piers.  Cruise ships come here to let people shop.  There’s even an Applebees here.  I preferred driving out to the practically deserted beaches myself.  Sitting under the palapas and wading way out to explore the shallow waters.

Sand sculptures along the beach.

One of the many beaches we enjoyed practically to ourselves just outside of La Paz.

Sunset in La Paz

Todos Santos supposedly has the original Hotel California that the song was named after.  Don’t know if it’s true but it was a really nice place and was packed, so apparently lots of people believe it.  But we were more interested in spending our time on the water.  We camped on a beach close to Todos Santos for about a week where the fishermen came by every evening with their fresh catch to sell.  We sat on one beach for hours and hours watching the whales swim practically to the shore line.  We couldn’t pull ourselves away.  By the time we left we were burnt to a crisp but it was well worth it.  Wow, what a great life to get to experience these wonderful things!

Whales swimming close to the beach.

More whales. Can't have too many pictures of whales. 🙂

The beautiful beach all to ourselves.

My favorite picture from the trip.

Sunset in Todos Santos

We finally made it to Cabo San Lucas!  We celebrated by buying lots of lobster and fixing it for dinner!  Muy Bien!!!

Lobster for dinner.

Buganvilla in Cabo

Are you guys tired of this yet? I hope not, because next I want to share the adventures we had on the way back home!

Baja Part 2

Read Part 1 if you haven’t already!

After running off the road, we had the motorhome checked over in Guerro Negro, and then continued on our way down the Baja.

San Icnacio is one of the smaller towns we visited.  I really fell in love with the feel of it.  The little shops, sidewalk cafes and of course the church.  I think this is a place I could go back to and spend a lot of time.  Maybe open a café…hmm, I love to dream.  My whales are there too, which I got to see on our way back.  More about them later…

Beautiful old mission in town center.

Linda, Merle, Mike, me, and Mary enjoying coffee in San Icnacio.

All along the way, we stopped at many interesting old cemetaries.  Mary loved walking through them and seeing the old stones, stories, etc.  At first I thought it was a rather strange thing to do, but eventually decided it was really fascinating.  There are so many different classes of gravesites, and all so personalized you could just tell the love the families had for their lost ones.  I learned to appreciate them as well.  Notice the wide difference in these grave sites.  From the wealthy to the poor.

A cemetery in Mulege.

Loreto

Loreto is an awesome town.  We camped right next to the water just outside of town so were able to walk along the water, or just sit and enjoy it.  When we went to town there were beautiful modern hotels and shops as well as the little vendors and cafes.  What a great mix!  I especially loved the tree lined walkway leading from the town center to the malacon where we sat and watched pelicans diving for fish.

A weaver in Loredo.

Us girls with our Baja jackets.

One of the great meals we had on our journey.

Stay tuned for Part 3 – where we head to La Paz!

Baja Part 1

My friend Mary invited me to drive with her down the Baja.  Her and I, along with two other RVers drove all the way down to Cabo San Lucas and back in the winter of 2008. 

Our caravan leaving Arizona

We saw so many wonderful sights.  We went through quaint little towns with the little markets

Market in Tacate

All kinds of scenery in the desert as well as hundreds of different kind of cactus.

Painting on a Rock in the Desert

Candlestick Cactus

More Cactus

A donkey we came upon on one of our excursions off the beaten path.

Ensenada was a fun place to stop.  We went to Cantina Hussongs, a must-go-to-place to have a margarita we were told.  I will tell you they were the STRONGEST margaritas I’ve ever had, too strong for me!  But fun all the same.  Everyone ate peanuts and threw the shells on the floor. 

Catina Hussongs

We also went to Papas & Beer, a funky bar and grill that reminded me of Robinson Krusoe.  It was as funky on the inside as it was on the outside. 

Papas & Beer

But of course besides the restaurants and bars there was the wonderful seafood market right on the water, yum yum!

Mercado de Mariscos

Just as we were nearing Guerro Negro we unfortunately went off the road.  The roads are so very narrow, not the best place for an RV.  Along our trip we saw many, many abandoned cars that had run off the roads as well as memorials of lost ones.  We were fortunate that no one was hurt.  Locals that were driving by stopped to help as well as the Federales.  Everyone was so nice even with the language barrier.  After many hours we were finally pulled out.  We could have easily rolled over, we were so thankful it turned out okay for us.

After being pulled back onto the road.

Come back to read the next installment of the great Baja trip!

Alaskan Adventures

Wow, what an experience Alaska turned out to be! This was totally uncharacteristic for me. I was always a very quiet, non-risk kind of person. My family and friends were the most important thing to me but venturing out to the unknown was not in my make-up. I got on a plane and headed out to Fairbanks. When I got off the plane I was bussed to Denali Park to a huge lodge. The company hired about 300 people for the summer season. The employees lived in a hotel about 10 miles from the lodge. I knew I was in Alaska from my very first day, when I saw a grizzly bear walking right by the hotel.

Grizzly by our hotel

I hired on as a housekeeping supervisor. This was a position I had never experienced before, but I did know what a clean hotel room should look like, so I just faked it. I guess it turned out okay because I received “employee of the month” and had a great time.

Besides working at something totally different than what I had done in the past, I met some really wonderful new friends and traveled all over the area. I found out that I was not the only middle aged woman looking for something ‘else’ in her life. We gathered every night at the “round table” in the cafeteria and learned about each other, took off on road trips on our days off, took tours of the park and saw bear, moose, dall sheep, and caribou, and made great new friendships. I still keep in touch with several of the ladies I met that first summer.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from that special time:

A B&B we passed by on one of our outings.

Mt McKinley in Denali Park

Me with one of Jeff King's (an Iditorod racer) puppies

Mama & baby moose that wandered into the lodge one morning

Group of us ladies on tour bus in Denali Park.

I ended up working at the same lodge for three years, moving from housekeeping to Food & Beverage. Each year I met lots of young people from all over the world, mostly from Eastern Europe coming up to this last frontier to work and earn money for their education. What great work ethics these young people had. It was quite an inspiration! At the end of the seasons the Northern Lights came out and gave us a beautiful show.

Northern Lights over the lodge

It was definitely an experience of a lifetime and started me on this new path in life.