Mexico Trip, July 19-24, 2011

Casa Alhaja

Devery and Dorine in the living room

Darren out back on the stairs to the beach

Devery with Mason

Lounging at the waterline

Darren with gulls and pelicans

At Flavio's Restaurant

Easton, Steve, and Mason after getting ice cream

Downtown Puerto Penasco

In real waves

Dorine and I at sunset

Our part of the contingent

Front of the house

These photos are from our trip to Puerto Peñasco, Mexico on July 19-24, 2011.  Our son-in-law Easton's parents, Steve and Jeannie H_____, invited us back down this summer.  I'm no big fan of the beach, not even having seen the ocean until I was 17 years old, and, even now, loathing even the slightest taste of seawater.  However, Casa Alhaja, the beachfront house (in the Las Conchas district of Puerto Peñasco) of which the H_____s are part-owners, is a great place to spend a vacation -- especially if one stays for free as the H_____s' guests!  (The H_____s also invited Jeannie's friends Brian and Lisa Keltner, and their kids, from the L.A. area.)  I always worry about driving into Mexico, what with all the border-town crime going on in places like Juárez, Nogales, and Tijuana; however, if there is still a "safe" corridor into Mexico, it is the drive to Puerto Peñasco via Lukeville/Sonoyta, as the area depends greatly on tourism to fuel the local economy.

The worst part of a trip from Albuquerque to Puerto Peñasco is the long drive -- eleven hours' worth each way.  We drove down to Tucson on the evening of Tuesday, July 19, and spent what was left of the night in a Super 8 motel.  The next morning we drove on to Puerto Peñasco, and then stayed there until Sunday, July 24, when we drove the entire way back to Albuquerque.  We had a fun time, and I enjoyed our forays into town to shop (both for food and for souvenirs) and to eat at Flavio's Restaurant (and then to get ice cream at La Michoacana).  The weather was hot, but at least the Gulf of California was right there to cool off in. 

July 2011 Cabin Trip

On the banks of the Rio Blanco

The blinds we installed in the living room

Rafting on the San Juan with a guide

These photos are from our trip to the cabin on July 2-5, 2011 with Kristy and Chris and their family.  Dorine and I didn't drive up to Pagosa Springs until Saturday evening the 2nd, partly because we needed time to buy blinds at Home Depot to install in the cabin's living room.  We were able to obtain the blinds and install them (see photo), although more are needed.  Three things stand out about the trip: (1) Nicole's suffering horribly from what turned out to be a post-operative infection in her small intestine; (2) our going into town on the evening of Monday the 4th to watch the fireworks display (which, I must say, was pretty impressive for a relatively small town); and (3) our paying for a guided raft trip down several miles of the San Juan River through town (see photo), which was significantly more fun than I expected it to be.  Pagosa Springs is a jewel of a town, but don't tell anyone I said so, okay?