Saturday, July 30, 2011

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.