July and August, 2012

Oasis returned to Escondido for a week and we relaxed and started preparing the boat for her one month summer vacation on a mooring. This meant a thorough cleaning inside and out. The water temp has warmed up so we swim daily, but the jellies are a bit more abundant, so we have been using the skin suits.

On the Fourth of July we had a beach BBQ with Joss. Deedee and I found a space of shade, about 1’ x 5’ and spent most of our time there. Great fun chatting and sharing experiences. Oasis returned a few days later and we got in a few more card games before we headed into Escondido on the 10th. We had reserved a mooring and had a hard time trying to find it. Some of the numbers had come off of the balls. We tied off to a ball that had a reserved sign, only to find out that our ball was over 2 more spots. We finally got tied off to the correct ball and spent the rest of the day tying things down for bad weather. You never know what might happen while you are away so we prepare for the worst. We stowed the jib and tied the main down to the roof of the salon. Everything on the decks was removed and stowed. We delivered thank you brownies to Linda and a loaf of bread to Manta in exchange for the cabrillo he had given us. We also heard a call on the net to help with a delivery to La Paz. Cat’s Meow needed to get a piece of jewelry to Two Can Play and we agreed to carry and deliver it. In exchange, she offered to drive us in to Loreto to catch the bus. So on the 11th, Jim picked us up in his dinghy and delivered us to Cat’s Meow at the dock. She drove us into Loreto where we caught the bus to La Paz.

We got to La Paz at sunset and walked the few blocks to Hotel Yenek. This is the funkiest place in La Paz and we love it. It is more hostel than hotel with about 20 rooms around an atrium that is stuffed with junk. Even if you don’t ever stay here, it is worth a walk through if you visit La Paz. You can also see it on You Tube by searching for “hotel muy peculiar”. Incredible. For about $45 we had a huge room with full bathroom, TV and A/C. Also 2 shots of tequila per person every night and a small, complimentary breakfast! We enjoyed the tequila in the courtyard and met a gal from England, a guy from Scotland and 3 chaps from France. Quite the international group. The next day we took the shuttle to Cabo Airport and flew to SFO. Then it was a BART trip to El Cerrito to be picked up by the Dudas. Spent an enjoyable evening chatting and were treated to a great dinner and birthday cake dessert. The next morning we went to Sue’s Café for breakfast which was interrupted by a call from their alarm company. We saw the fire engines leave the station and head out right before the phone call. Apparently their house alarm went off but all was well. Jer missed breakfast as he hurried home to check things out and let them in so they wouldn’t chop down the front door. He got back to the café as we were finishing up and we dropped off a box of donuts to the firehouse on the way to the BART station. Back to SFO where we spent the day in the Alaska Airlines Board Room with our free passes. What a deal! Comfortable chairs, free internet and a nice selection of food. They were making pancakes when we got there, then had soup and cheeses out later for lunch. Since we had to wait until 5pm for our flight, this was a great deal. From SFO we flew to Seattle where we had a 3 hour layover. We had another pair of Board Room passes and were delighted to find an even grander Board Room in the Seattle Airport. It was 2 stories and was extremely comfortable. We had soup, cheeses, breads, cookies and a couple of glasses of wine before our flight left at 10:35. Then it was an overnight trip to Boston. We caught a few hours of sleep on the plane and were met in Boston by my sister Laura and her daughter Katie.

Katie drove us to the nicest little coffee shop for breakfast and we then spent the day touring Salem, Massachusetts and learning all about the Salem Witch Trials. It is a charming town and it was fun to learn something about our nation’s history. We spent the weekend at Katie’s house in Newport. She lives in a house that had been owned by Samuel Clemens of “The Night Before Christmas” fame. It has been divided up into apartments and they have the one on the third floor. Small but absolutely charming. We met her beau, Eddie, and spent Sunday touring the town of Newport. We did the Cliff Walk and saw the mansions of the rich and powerful, then window shopped the main street of downtown Newport.

The next morning Katie drove us into Boston to board the Carnival Glory for the Walsh Family Reunion. We got a bit lost for a bit but found it and were in our rooms by noon. This meant that we had to find food…an ongoing experience for the next 5 days. We hooked up with my sisters and found a couple of brothers before dinner when we all got together.

We sailed out of Boston and headed for St. John and Halifax. For five days we were treated to fabulous shows in the evening and fantastic meals. We had a lesson in how to dance to Thriller, had a cooking demonstration, played a movie trivia game (and got first prize!), celebrated a birthday almost every evening, played miniature golf in the freezing wind, had an exhilarating sauna followed by a whirlpool, played the daily crossword and pictograms, saw a comedy show, hiked up and down 6 flights of stairs multiple times a day, enjoyed a chocolate dessert bar that must have had 30 different treats to sample, huddled under blankets munching popcorn and sipping hot chocolate at the outside movie one night, hiked for hours in St. John, and were lucky to arrive in Halifax during the Tall Ships Festival where we bought some new sister shirts. All in all, we had a wonderful time and totally enjoyed the family as well as the cruise. The ship even showed us how they handle a medical emergency as they evacuated a passenger by helicopter the day before we got back to Boston.

When we got back to Boston, Rog and I had the same flight as Peg and Laur so we waited for our flight in the Hilton attached to the terminal. They were giving away free Ben and Jerry ice cream….no better way to while away a few hours! We landed in Portland and headed to McMinnville where we finally got to see Peg’s house. She moves to Alaska next month. David picked us up when he came for Laur and we spent the night at their place. It has been seven years since we have been in Sheridan so enjoyed seeing all of their changes. When we landed in Portland, I had paid to change our tickets to a later departure and arrive in Sacramento so we were able to sleep in. David fixed us a glorious breakfast and we hiked around their property for an hour before it was time to head back into the airport.

It was a quick trip down to Sacramento, but when we landed at the new terminal, we were a bit disoriented. SMF has changed a bit since we were here last and we were in a terminal we had never seen before. I was able to talk to Michelle via cell phone and we finally found each other. Max was with Michelle and it was great to see them both. Back at their place in Rocklin, we were lucky to see Doug and Hannah for a few hours and Karissa slowly warmed back up to us. We then had three glorious weeks with family. Ryan let us use his BMW for transportation and we had dinner with him and Beth three times a week. They were planning and preparing for their wedding but seemed calm as cucumbers! Beth even won BOTH card games we played. We got together with Nordstrums and Remaleys for ribs and a game of “64” and were able to complete our lists of “to do” and “to buy”. Eric and his mom took a day off of work and we all spent the day at the CA State Fair followed by dinner at Applebee’s.

We never had a day that there wasn’t something going on; gymnastics class for Karissa, bowling with Max, making popsicles and energy bars, play group at the park, library, bike riding, walks, Max learning to climb the tree in his front yard, watching the video of Karissa and Max riding horses at the State Fair (over and over and over again!!!), BBQ and swims at Ryan’s, reading, taking care of Spikey and Orangey, playing catch and Legos, sponge animals, collecting bugs, cleaning out the Nautique, a kayak trip on the river, Eric’s amazing ice cream sandwiches, Michelle painting cabinets, cleaning Max’s room, short visit with Micki, and fixing up Maxville.

For our date with Max, we headed down to Sacramento and parked under the K Street Mall. Unfortunately, we thought that the IMAX was next to the mall and, even more unfortunately, we thought that the movie started at 11 instead of 10. So what was to be a surprise for Max turned into a REAL surprise…we missed our movie, “To the Arctic 3D”. I was able to get a refund and we headed back to Roseville for a different adventure. We had lunch at Macaroni Grill, then walked across the parking lot to Petroglyph’s where Max painted a ceramic statue of dolphins. Then he enjoyed watermelon ice cream and we headed home to share our day with his folks. The following Tuesday we were able to see the movie and get in another lunch together, this time at Mel’s. So it was a 2 day date.

The end of our trip was highlighted by Ryan’s wedding to Beth. The morning of the wedding, Michelle helped me put my hair up. Rog was the best man and we headed up to South Lake Tahoe at 11am on Friday the 12th. When we got to the lake, we stopped at Safeway and bought a bunch of sandwiches, drinks, and chips for lunch and then headed to the cabin they had rented. The entire wedding party was there; they each had five attendants. After lunch, the gals got ready and by 5, everyone was in cars heading down to the beach for pictures. Brenda, Beth’s maid of honor, had a friend of hers do the pictures. Lynn was great: super organized and very efficient. By 6:30, the wedding party was at the site of the ceremony; an outdoor area right on the beach near Stateline. The Blooms arrived and we had a chance to meet some of Beth’s relatives. David, the minister, arrived just before 7pm and quickly organized the attendants and had the guests seat themselves. Ryan took the moms down the aisle and the service began. It was absolutely wonderful in its simplicity and I have never seen Ryan happier. Everything went absolutely perfectly and the barefoot couple radiated love and happiness. After the ceremony, we headed back to the cabin for dinner and celebration. Ryan and Beth had caterers bring in a fajita spread and they had brought up side dishes. The wedding cake was an assortment of cheesecakes and a keg of beer supplemented the obligatory bottle of champagne for Rog’s toast to the couple. His toast explained the significance of the wooden Celtic wedding goblets we gave them and was quite touching. We stayed for a few hours, then headed back down the hill arriving in Rocklin about midnight. I am sure that the party lasted all weekend before the new couple returned to Rocklin to prepare for a 3 day jaunt to Vegas.

We spent the Saturday recuperating and getting ready for the trek back to NEOS. Michelle had helped me find a deal for a car rental so we picked up a Budget car at SMF and dropped by Ryan’s place to hang up a “Welcome Home” banner and drop off the stuff we had brought down the hill for them. I washed clothes and packed and gave one final bath to Karissa, read one final book with Max. At seven the next morning, we said our goodbyes to the Blooms and tearfully headed to SFO. We had plenty of time to get our 11:15 flight and were in Cabo by 3:30. We caught the 4:30 shuttle to La Paz and by 8pm, we were enjoying our free tequilas at the Hotel Yenek. We walked down to the malecon where there was a folk dancing demo on the main pier. We grabbed some sandwiches and watched from a distance before heading back to our room. We were taking the 1pm bus to Loreto so we enjoyed the cereal and juice at the hotel, then hiked down to Marina La Paz. We picked up a few things out of the storage unit, checked in with our yacht broker, and paid for 6 more months of Telcel (our internet here in Mexico). Back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and we were at the bus terminal by 11:30. I ran to Subway and picked up our lunch and we were on our way on the noon bus. It was 3 movies later that we got to Escondido. I had reminded the driver twice but he still passed the exit. He dropped us off about 500 feet down the highway and we hiked back. By the time we got to the Modelorama, we were pretty hot. I asked the owner if he could drive us to the marina and he said “Claro!” So I picked up a bunch of groceries and we got a ride the last mile to the marina. Russ and Janet were waiting for us and got us back on the boat where we agreed with their weather forecast, “hot and sticky”. We spent the next day scrubbing decks and putting stuff back in order. At 2, we called it quits and headed into the pool, only to find out that they were cleaning it so we couldn’t use it. We made plans with Rock N Roll to head out to the islands the next day and found out that they had had their fill of Escondido and would be heading back to La Paz. Major Bummer. We did enjoy our usual card game that afternoon on Neos, even if the guys did win both games. Wednesday we got a real weather surprise. It rained like we were in Puerto Vallarta. We got more than 10 inches of rain. Needless to say, we stayed on the mooring. It continued to rain through Thursday and on Friday, we couldn’t leave because of all of the logs and junk in the narrow entrance to the bay. When I went in to pay for 3 additional days, I was pretty upset to find that they charged me the daily rate. Not only was the pool closed, they were out of diesel, and I couldn’t get on the internet but I have to pay the daily rate after staying a month? Time to leave. We left right after breakfast on Saturday and headed to Candeleros. By the time RnR showed up, we had our awnings all back in place and were enjoying a cold one on the front deck. RnR will be heading south with Ralph and Angie on NanerMoon and we spent the next 2 days enjoying the amenities of the resort with them. We sat through a presentation of the timeshare program, took a tour of the underground facilities (kitchen prep, admin and water desalination), bought a few goodies in their mini mart, and enjoyed nachos and beers by the pools. We played card games and even took in a water aerobics class. I took the opportunity and pitched the boat to the Director of Activities as well as with the Travel Agent. I think NEOS would be a perfect adjunct to their amenities here. Early Tuesday, we bid a sad farewell to our friends as they motored out of the anchorage. Rog took me in to catch the 9am shuttle from the resort into Loreto. They drop off at their hotel in town; Sante Fe. From there, I hiked to the hospital. I was hoping to get the bloodwork done so that I could go in for the doc visit over the weekend and get a refill on my Pravastatina. Unfortunately, they have changed procedures and now you have to see the doctor FIRST. Well the docs don’t get in until late afternoon, so that will wait. On the way back to the shuttle, I picked up 2 big bags of groceries at the ABC Market and then waited in the lobby of the Sante Fe until the shuttle showed up at noon. Somehow Rog and I had figured on the shuttle returning at 1:30 and I got back at 1:00, so I waited under the palapa on the beach until he showed up. We made a quick drop-off of the groceries and then returned to relax by the pool and play cards at the resort. Rog ordered a beer and found to his surprise that it was Happy Hour and he got 2 for the price of 1. It was windy as usual that night, but Rog slept on the trampoline. I can’t sleep in gusty wind so I ended up in the open back area. It is delightful at night; easy to sleep outside where it is about 20 degrees cooler and the stars are magnificent. If the wind isn’t blowing, you hear the waste treatment plant generators so it is nice to have the noise of the wind. On Wednesday morning, it was time to move on so we motored up to Escondido for a fuel stop. They now had diesel and it took us 2 trips to fill both tanks. We did our usual jerry jug via dinghy method. By 11:30 we were done and on our way to Marquer where we found ourselves alone. The water was crystal clear, about 85 degrees and no sign of bees or jelly fish. Pretty doggone nice! We both slept on the trampoline and the nights were calm and peaceful. We spent 2 nice relaxing weeks at Marquer cleaning the hulls and reading on our new Kindle/Nook readers. A few boats would come and go, and we actually had another small rain, but we enjoyed our stay here ending with a gorgeous blue moon and visits be a whale.