Rugged road trip

Shower and off to breakfast. The hotel has an included continental breakfast. I had fruit (cantaloupe and banana, S added watermelon) as well he had cereal and coffee. I stuck with water to help with headache. There was a fellow cooking food for a price as an option too. 

We loaded up the cooler with some ice and beverages and a bag with towels and snacks and set off to Cabo Pulmo which was shown on maps to be less than 2 hours away. I ran back up to grab my cable to keep phone charged for music and map and found our door did not lock. Seems we have not had it locking since we arrived. The manager showed me how to activate it to work, thanks! This adventure turned into a rugged off road adventure. The coastal drive was all graded dirt. This is jeep territory but we drove it in the little Aveo. Sheldon called it a side by side with A/C :)

Our first stop was playa Tortuga which had not a soul on it. We sat with a cold beer enjoying the big surfs crashing. There were other stops to look out and see loads of RV dotted beaches. This is a Mecca for surfers and beach RV’ers. 

the Aveo and a local burro resting on the road

ocean view from a higher vista, see the whales?

one of the camp areas and a video of it too

Sheldon took this photo of cows under a tree on the arroyo

Finally we arrived at the Cabo Pulmo resort just before 2. Def not under 2 hour drive ;) S had fish tacos and I tortilla soup that I gave most to him. The whole day I have not felt well and this road did not help. This was also the first bathroom stop but funny no water to wash hands or flush toilet. 

S took these photos. This looks like water tanks but odd no water in bathrooms, we washed our hands in the pool LOL

Then we set off another 45 minute of the crazy roads with beautiful ocean views. Finally it turned to pavement and a smoother but still windy ride back to the hotel by 4. It looks like we went about 100 miles today.

this was the roads. video view below

Time for S to hit the pool. He said it felt nice. Whales were playing out front again with more boats circling. This hotel is OK, basic but quaint and small so not many guests. There is however a room on ground level that must be here for the winter with 2 dogs. It smells highly of dog pee and S pointed out a crap by the shower. The maintenance guy scooped it up ;(  Once we lost the sun at the pool we went to the room and started a new series called Reacher.

For supper we headed to Claros Fish Jr. It was ok, I had grilled fish taco and S had a coconut shrimp that he said was delicious. He also ordered an octopus and shrimp cocktail He washed them down with a tecate light beer and I a lemonade. It was 1/2 the price of the one at lunch. The whole meal was less than half of last night. Prices really vary here. Back at the hotel we carried on Reacher. S checked his phone to watch his Flames lose.

Off to Cabo

Be darned if Har did not want out at 4:15 am. This now has me not able to fall back asleep fully but did drift I think before 6. Time to get up, dressed, Harley fed and off to airport. Britt will be out to get her later today. It is COLD -23 out. We arrived at Mercedes at 7:40. Uber  picked us up and dropped at airport at 7:58. Checking in our bags and passing security had us thru to waiting side in 10 minutes!! If we only knew which days there are long line ups.

We grabbed a chai tea and yogurt for the measly cost of $18. Pricey yogurt indeed. The flight was delayed not taking off till almost 10:30 but we made time in the air to land at 2:30 pm. No time change makes it easier. It was a wait then the silly bus to drive to around the corner. The airport is still under construction. It was a fast line up thru customs but a long wait for baggage. We checked in with the car rental there but found it was only a sales point and would need a shuttle to get to the car.

The line thru immigration was backed up but we hit some luck getting rerouted into a new line that had us thru in short order too. Waiting for the shuttle to take to the car rental was the start of the car rental nightmare. The agents tried to upsell the same car we paid for in stick shift for $20 USD then mad about not buying insurance extra, finally we got that straightened out but the car had dings everywhere and is a 2024. We had to put a $14000 USD hold on our credit card for the rental which had S very upset. The car was basic and well used already. Finally we got out of there and found that the fuel was only 3/4. We went back and they said take a picture but prior to they were talking the penalties of returning not full etc. Do not rent from Keddy/Europcar/Fox. We have no map (rookie mistake on my part) to our hotel so a stop at convenience had some luck getting a vague beach hotel map marking the complete wrong place. It took us an hour to find the MariaMar suites with lots of stops trying to get help and having not much luck. S ran in and got cold beer - 6 Michelob for $12 USD. This ended up being the base of the road up where we had already gone up and took wrong turn. Finally we found the place.

Our ocean view from room 304

Nathan got Renn this adorable fall protector. However it seems her falls are usual forward facing so maybe a helmet is needed too :)

look at her go

hotel gym

The car has us completely stressed out with hidden fees, lost way finding hotel and $$ credit hold. We packed our stuff up to the 3rd floor, no elevator here. Logged into wifi and searched for a place to eat. Everything along the beach is $$. S searched up top 10 and we decided on the Hangman. Another crazy drive to get there passing police and a parade but it was worth it. The special margaritas ended up costing more than the regular I would have chosen - 4 margs for $720 pesos with the tacos being  only 1/4 of that price. The restaurant is packed with all kinds of treasures and the tables are made of a singer sewing bases. 

video tour just inside the door

a chef in the kitchen and the open courtyard restaurant seating below

below is the hotel stairway at night

We stopped at a fancy supermarket on the way home to load up with beverages. Back to the hotel to relax. 

More snow today

Today is a full on snow day all day. I was awake early so read a bit then made us coffee having remembered a wee travel bottle of baileys in the garage fridge. Celebrating our last day in Canada for a bit ;) It was a relaxing morning in bed making sure all details are in order. I also chatted with Mom for almost an hour. Eventually we were up and onto packing the rest of our bags. I got laundry on the go too as a few things were needed and it also makes everything done to come home to.

Look at these 2 beautiful souls enjoying their sunshine vacation <3

B dropped off Cooper after 11 and headed to her condo. She is finding it frustrating moving back into a place she left in perfect condition and is now in move out rental shape even after the gal cleaned for 18 hours. She has lots more “Britt clean” cleaning as well the usual dings and paint issues to do along with a few other repairs. 

Sheldon snapped this picture of a prairie chicken AKA sharp tail grouse on our rail. We saw one yesterday too so maybe they are setting up home here.

We cleaned up leftovers. I printed out our car rental voucher and checked in with WestJet. S went to shop to plug in skid steer to roll bale later. He shovelled snow while out there but it was not long before it was stacked back up. Back inside he trimmed his hair and I shaved his poor back. This is the next day after aloe, vaseline and cold compresses.

Wouldn't you know it as I did accounting and was entering credit charges I saw Hello Fresh. Checking on my account it no longer was paused but active with this charged box arriving Tuesday. Back on hold to get all straight. When the laundry was all done I drained the washer. Crazy how much water stays in the machines.

Cookie king Nathan is busy on this snowy day.

Dave arrived before 4 having jogged 26 horses today in this snow. B was not long behind bringing pizza S ordered. THANKS B! The Mexican pizza was very spicy. B fed Bird in the daylight which she is liking. Then they were off after 5 to do last time chores at Grady's and gather the last of their things including Gulliver to take to town. The snow stopped and the sun even popped out. There was a rainbow too. So pretty!!

Little miss enjoying her unicorn chair, relaxing and trying to bite the horn :)

S rolled out the hay bale. B was back to load her dog supplies and beauty supplies. I loaded up a couple grocery bags of their fridge and freezer goods. Dave took Gulliver home. He and Cooper are going to be surprised to be back “home”. B was off for all to spend their first night in her own house. S was back in and back to hockey. We moved to bed to watch the Flames big win and the Kiprusoff night. Of course there were more things put in suitcases. Mine has never been this heavy at 40 pounds. Guess packing early adds more weight. I started a new book called Lessons in Chemistry.

Gully enjoying his new cat tree and OG home

Mar 1 Snow day

It is March 1st already! Snow fell softly all day. It was back to -12 cold. I made tea (coffee free for the week already) and started coffee for the prince. Toast and an orange were my breakfast. It was back to packing last things for our trip. Be darned if I can find my travel shampoo and conditioner. Looking everywhere had me sorting and organizing at least. I jumped in the shower seeing not able to have one before we leave as getting lashes today.  S had me put a different type of nair on his back. Yesterday’s shower version did not work. It just smelled up the room. Today’s version did not work and left his back red and sore. NO MORE NAIR!! Aloe burned too so tried cornstarch that helped ease the ouchiness.

He cooked up eggs potatoes and toast today for a brunch meal. Then he was back to perusing the old taxes and other online news.

Renn loves her tunnel

Today we were off to town before 11:30. I was too slow to eat an early lunch and starving on way in. Luckily after dropping S at the arena I found a frozen nut bar in the truck door. I headed to my lash appointment. The lash gal is a school friend of Kaylin’s so the 2 1/2 hours went very fast with a catchup. Brittany picked up Sheldon from hockey and took him to her condo to help with repairs. I ran to Walmart and Dollar store to grab aloe and shampoo containers. I picked S up at B’s as Dave was arriving home with snacks.

At the ranch we had salad as I was hungry (and some chips :) and a cold beverage. I put a roast in the instant pot, dealt with another inaccurate bill and finished up and published the stool tutorial. It then needed to be emailed, shared and put on spreadsheets. Trying to finish up biz stuff before we depart. I also continued the search for airport to hotel transportation.

Shaina's relaxing view <3

S carved the roast while I cooked air fries. B arrived to feed Bird then Dave arrived too joining us for supper. They then loaded boxes from her bedroom in both vehicles and headed back to the condo. S scrubbed up pots while I did blog. They were back later to get Cooper and head back to Grady’s for their last night there. B also had chores to do. We had a yogurt bowl before heading to bed to watch more Car Masters.