Sunday, June 28, 2015

El Cheapo Beach Vacation

  1. Needless to say, we love the beach. We go to great lengths to get there from our landlocked state. Such was the case this year. This time, we traded the chilly California waters for the tropical blue of Mexico, 4 hours South of Phoenix, in Puerto Penasco. 

This is the warmest beach we can get by car-- 12 hour-drive to the tropics.  We rented a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo, with kitchen,  a gorgeous view, and just steps from the beach . All this for a fraction of the cost we would have paid in California.  (total cost for this trip: gas, food, lodging for a week, souvenirs, etc. $1200) 
If that doesn't make you run to the border...


View from the stairwell.
 Princesa Resort is located on Sandy Beach, with a string of other resorts. Included for our use were 3 pools, BBQ pits, beach volleyball, hot tub, fitness room, and restaurant.

Beach vendors roam the beaches selling everything from, icy sweet helado, freshly cut mangoes, to jewelry, and Mexican handicrafts. 

Who could pass up a Pina Colada?

So what did we do all week on the beach??

Snorkeling--we brought our own gear.

For $7/person we had a wild ride on the banana boat. It's pretty sad if mom is screaming louder than all the kids combined. 


The great thing about the resort, was the access to pools. We spent about half our time here. Heated pools. Yay!

The last time we were here, this girl was 2! She did not have enough hair to get braided then like her sisters but this time she did. Last time she also was the only one to get stung by a jellyfish. This time too!  So upset, she vowed never to go to the beach again. Her resolve broke down after a couple of hours.

 No rules against collecting shells here!!

Amazing sunsets. Evening was my favorite time to walk along the beach. Next time, horseback riding into the sunset... oh yes.


We went into town one of the days to  El Malecon shopping district. There we scored more good deals. Brandon even bartered for and bought a sombrero of some type for himself--probably the only thing he has ever bought for himself on a vacation. 

At one point during our beach lounging, Adrie asked me how I could just sit and do nothing. I thought about that. Only at the beach can I really sit and be in the moment. I enjoy watching the waves, and the people. It is the only place where I don't feel like I have to be doing something! But if I wanted I had a pretty good book in my beach bag, 



We only ate out once. All our food (and water) we brought and consumed right on this balcony with this fantastic view. 
The trip was pretty smooth sailing, but right as we were about to cross the border...the flashing lights and sirens of the Mexican policia pulled up behind us. And, that's exactly what you Don't want to have happen in Mexico. The policeman told us, in Spanish that we were speeding (there were signs way down the road, he explained) Luckily, I spoke Spanish because he didn't speak English. He explained that because we were going so fast AKA: we were the only gringos on the road that morning, we would have to pay a fine. How much? $75. Then it went like this.
Me: I don't think we have $75
Policia: $40 will be okay.
Me: Not sure if we even have that ( we bought way too many souvenirs)  Brandon counted $31 dollars from his wallet and handed it to the policeman. He was pretty pleased with that.
TIP: Keep an envelope with a $20 bill in the car (just in case) and travel in a caravan of other cars.

So, we made it across the border with only a minor inconvenience and no sickness. What a great time! The only thing that would have made it even better? friends and family.

Find your adventurous side and join us next time!

Tips for traveling to Mexico: 
1.adults need passports, kids need birth certificates to get back across the border.
2. purchase Mexican auto insurance (we used bonitawest.com, online, Full coverage $100/week) 
3. Add an international calling plan to your phone(s) from your provider. We paid $30 for unlimited text and 120mb data. Turn off your mobile data or put your phone on airplane mode once you get across the border.
4. We booked our condo through VRBO and everything from the booking to payment went smoothly.




Sunday, June 7, 2015

Summer Begins...

 
Summer has been going swimmingly. According to my kids, I ruined it with chore charts and reading lists. A little structure never hurt them and it's certainly key to my sanity.
 
 
Here are some of our top of summer activities.
 
 
 
 

 
1. Tubing down the canal

 2. Dip-dyed hair with Kool-Aid.

3. This kid lost his FIRST tooth!  Most kids have hobbies. This kid has "obsessions." Currently, it's Skylanders. He earned half of the money to get a starter kit. (not from the tooth fairy, from doing lots of odd jobs.) He talks of nothing else.

Goodbyes


 

Everyone was sad to see Sofie go back home to Denmark. She was part of the family. She was everyone's favorite sister. 
She made me think twice before yelling at the kids to do their chores! At the same time, it was exciting to see her start off on a new life adventure. We know we will see her again.

She left us with gifts and surprised us with a scrapbook she had made about our year.
 


Sofie's flight left early in the morning.  We all went back to the hotel, a little teary-eyed, and went back to bed.

I had planned a fun day at Lagoon, so we could drown our sorrows in churros and coasters.
However, upon driving there, we found out that it was CLOSED.
What a sad day it was turning out to be!

 It is always good to have a plan B.  We ended up at the trampoline park and that was pretty fun too.
 

From the Desert to the Mountains

It was our last day with Sofie. I had told her in advance that she could choose anything she wanted to do and we would do it. She thought about it and said, "Our family is happiest in nature. I want to do a fun hike."  Love that girl!!  She comes from Denmark, a county with no mountains, so I thought we would wow her with the most majestic mountains in the State, also near the airport, Snowbird resort up Little Cottonwood Canyon.
Rewinding just a bit...The night before we visited Grandma and Grandpa--and kicking myself--I didn't get a picture with Sofie and her American grandparents!!  Next time. They treated us to ice cream and we had a nice visit with them.  Then it was off to the canyons.
 
I guess I had been in the desert too long. I thought we could take the tram and hike down but up this high it still looked like winter. Not enough to go skiing but enough to prevent hiking.  We went up Big Cottonwood canyon next and decided to hike one of my old teenage favorites...Donut Falls, about 3 miles total.
 





 To the little guy's dismay there were no donuts available at the end of this hike. The hike gets it's name from the stream that plunges through a hole in the rock and comes back out again. Another day another waterfall.



Nature was on our side this day because driving down the canyon we spotted 2 moose in a meadow. Seeing wildlife makes me feel so lucky. Imagine how I would love an African safari.
 
Also, as I was walking down the trail, I couldn't help but think of my mom, who used to take us up these canyons all the time. Everyone else had run ahead, and I was just taking in the beautiful landscape when a ruby throated hummingbird decided to stop 2 feet in front of me. It stayed there beating its wings, within touching distance, for a couple of seconds--which is a long time in a hummingbird time.  My heart was happy for this little tender mercy.
 

Getting There

 
For Memorial Day we went to spectacular Calf Creek Falls. Getting there, was just as beautiful and deserved its own post. Here is a glimpse of what we saw from Scenic Byway 12. They don't call it SCENIC for nothing.
 Terrain went from the desert up to the forested mountains topping almost 10,000 ft.
Kids (and myself) were carsick *NOTE--never watch movies in the backseat on such curvy roads)  We stopped here where the crisp mountain air cured everyone's ails.
 

Had I been on a bike, I would have dozens of pictures of the lovely scenery we saw--fresh green, Ireland like meadows and streams, red rocky ravines, rocks and boulders towering like castle cut outs... But Brandon was the driver and we had to get to our destination.  He did stop at a few overlooks for us--which is about twice as many as my dad would have done on our road trips growing up:)
 We passed through all kinds of little interesting towns like Escalante, Torrey, Boulder, Tropic, and the youngest one's favorite for good reason, Cannonville.

Utah is a pretty great state.

Desert Oasis

We took advantage of the Memorial Day holiday as a chance to take Sofie to our favorite family hike.
ROAD TRIP!!
 
Calf Creek Falls
 
 Had a picnic at the roadside trailhead.




 
2 1/2 miles later...


 
I love a hike with a good ending and this one is the best!
 

 
 
 
 
Water is COLD! But the mud is nice for pedicures.