All Caught Up

Laundry is done, house is swept, dog poop picked up and there was even time for a walk on the beach at Soldier's Estuary on Sunday.

We've been to this beach twice now. It is a three mile stretch of sandy beach that ends at Soldier's Estuary, so named because the mountain and rock formation behind it supposedly looks like a soldier lying down. I'm usually pretty good at visualizing these things, but I don't see it.


Anyway, the estuary - while small - is the only mangrove forest in the area and essentially is the breeding ground for many hundreds of species of sea life. Shrimp, many varieties of fish, and the Humboldt squid - which averages about three feet in size - all breed there. If this estuary were to die from over fishing, pollution or any other means, the entire Sea of Cortez would eventually die. Thus, it is protected by the state of Sonora. Oh - and there's one other critter that frequents the estuary on a daily basis to feed at high tide. The dolphins! They typically feed there around 7 or 8 in the morning. I hope to catch that sight a couple of times while I'm here.

So, Betsy took two of her dogs, Toshi and Scout, and I took Frances to Soldiers Estuary. Understandably, Betsy can only handle two dogs at a time on a walk or at the beach.


There is a large condominium complex there called "Pilar Condominiums." In another part of town is a condo complex called "Triana." Triana and Pilar are Betsy's sister-in-laws. Triana is married to Betsy's brother Bill. Their Father was a major developer down here. He now lives in LA. Their Mother,Terry, owns a shop here in San Carlos called Sagitarria. It is probably the largest shop in town and carries clothing, pottery, glass ware and all kinds of fun items. I've only perused through it briefly. I plan to go back and buy a couple of clothing items.

Well - back to Soldier's Estuary. I saw my first pelican dive while there on Sunday. When a pelican is looking for fish, it flies very low and close to the water. When he spots a fish, he quickly flies up, and then comes straight down really fast and nabs his food. It's very dramatic and I was excited to see it. It's a great beach for sea shell gathering. There are many whole clam and conch shells in good condition.


At the beach, Frances showed no sign of her infirmities. She ran around like a puppy and when we got to the estuary she ran straight into the water. Anyone who knows Frances knows she hates the water. But, she ran into the estuary voluntarily many times. Maybe it's because I told her our "cetecean relations" (a humorous term I use for the dolphins) hangout there every day.


Once home, Frances crashed hard. Her leg hurt. Gosh - she over did it at the beach. She didn't move for the next twelve hours! She woke up the next morning bright eyed and happy. I got some advice from a friend in the veterinary business (who shall remain nameless to protect the kind and innocent). If Frances has Bordatella, antibiotics won't help. Like a headcold, it just has to run it's course. My Internet research confirmed this. So why did the vet prescribe antibiotics all those other times she had it Argh! Western Medicine! The narrowness, pat answers and quick fix, short sighted solutions, have filtered down to the veterinary world. Thank goodness for things like the Internet, Bowen Technique, and homeopathic vets that give your dogs vodka after their unneeded but state mandated vaccinations. Well - enough of that!

Yesterday - Monday - I began settling into a routine. After some morning chores and personal time, Betsy and I went to the gym. We took a Yoga Class that was supposed to be 45 minutes long, but because there was no class after us was more like an hour and a quarter. I then did my weight training and had a very decent, reasonably priced lunch there. My plan is to do that two or three times a week.

I came home and did a lot of reading. I made it 2/3 of the way through a book. It has been many months, maybe even years since I had the focus, time and energy to just sit and read. I have an entire suticase of books here. Mostly they are related to the subject matter I plan to write about, and that is the Native American Animal Medicine Tales. I sat on the back porch for most of the afternoon, with my only distraction being a brief altercation between a red tailed hawk and a turkey vluture just below the deck. I knew before coming down here that I'd probably be doing more reading than writing. That being said, I hope to start outlining some plot points today on my story. That will take many weeks and months. And beyond that, I am writing this blog. To some degree, writing is writing, be it blogging or a script. When I write this blog it never takes less than an hour and often two. While no doubt there are typos I miss, the act of writing ANYTHING does keep the creative juices flowing.

And now... I have discovered Imovie!!! An entire new computer photo and video program and boy do I have ideas - mostly related to my story. I plan on spending a significant about of time in the month of March, learning this program. I am grateful to have the time. I've been around on this planet long enough to know that once you head out in a direction with a project or a life path, it almost immediately takes a twist that you never anticipated. Imovie! That's my new twist.

Well, Celia, the housekeeper that comes on Tuesday mornings, has just arrived. Frances doesn't like her. It has been years since I have seen Frances so consistently aggressive with an individual. But, Celia is terrified of dogs - and we have FIVE! No doubt they pick up on her fear.

So, I'm going to head down to the Marina Terra Hotel beach in a bit and go out in a kayak for about an hour. It will be interesting to see how my stamina will be. It's been about five years since I've been in a kayak. I will most certainly paddle around the saguaro rock, and hopefully the rock that houses the blue herons, and blue footed bubis. If I feel comfortable after this kayak excursion, I will take my new camera with me on a later ride. By the way, 95% of the photos I've taken have been with the new camera. It's so easy and easy to carry. I do miss not having a view finder. Sometimes I shoot blindly because the glare of the sun can makes the screen impossible to see. I've been fortunate with some pretty good pictures so far.

Made a Wrong Turn and ended up at a Party

Today, Sunday, is the sixth day I have woken up to an ocean view in Mexico. This is the first morning the waters have been a bit rough. Last night was very windy and we have a bit of water breaking against the rocks and some foam on the sandy beach this morning. It's still not very rough compared to our northern California oceans. The waves that are breaking aren't more than a foot high. But I had planned on today being the first day I swam and/or took out a kayak. I think now I won't.

Frances and I walked rather than drove down to the beach yesterday. It is only about a 10 minute walk, but not an easy walk. Most of it is cobblestone. I am sorry to say that while Frances' knee ligament is still giving her a little trouble, and probably always will, it is her front paw that was injured in a brief dog fight before we left Placerville that is giving her the most trouble. She enjoyed the walk but our return, which is mostly uphill, was dictated by her very slow pace.

Nonetheless, we walked over to the rock covered in saguaro cactus and she enjoyed all the stinky ocean smells.


The water was no deeper than an inch when the tide was out. I talked with some folks who were kayaking and swimming there and on most mornings - when the water is calm - it will be a great place to go
.
As it was my first venture out of the house without Betsy, I made a wrong turn on the way back. Just as I was realizing that this was the case, I strolled by an outdoor neighborhood get together. Betsy and I had seen the signs in the neighborhood that announced an afternoon gathering. As I was turning around to find my way back to the house, a man named Jim stopped me and invited me in. He said he would hold Frances' leash while I went and made myself of plate of food. I said that I really had to keep going because Frances' needed water. He immediately filled a dish for her... and I stayed and had every kind of nachos and dip imaginable and met some very nice people. I said I was staying at the Berryhill house and everyone knew where that was and when it was time for me to leave, I had directions on how to return to the house.

It was at this party that I learned of the local details of yesterday's tsunami warning. It is so interesting how they can time the arrival of the tsunami wave to almost the exact moment it will arrive. It was due to hit San Carlos around 11:03 am. And apparently it did but was less than a foot high, but that was higher than the norm. Apparently Mazatlan got a nine foot wave - so they did have to clear the beaches yesterday morning but nothing more than that.

The beach where Frances and I went, is actually on part of the property of the large hotel where we had brunched earlier in the day. It is called Marina Terra Hotel. This portion of the hotel is where folks can rent kayaks, swim in the pool or the ocean, and also where they have a bandstand and large outdoor party area. They were setting up for a wedding when we strolled through.

So last night Betsy and I enjoyed about four hours of Mariachi/Mexican pop mixed with some standard pop tunes sung in spanish. We spent much time on the porch and the rooftop last night, as in addition to being a warm balmy evening, it was a full moon on the water and it was gorgeous.




The "wedding band" was high energy and took almost no breaks. Their dance music was fast and I'm sure the percussionists in particular were exhausted by the end of the gig. The trumpet players were... well... not always in tune and it added a comic element to it all. The vocalists were good. We danced with our dogs when they played New York New York. We laughed when the first slow dance of the evening was the Beatles' song "Yesterday". Such a sad song for a wedding! They ended the evening with "La Bamba",(Betsy had assured me earlier that they would play that song near the end of the night), and an insanely fast medley of songs from the Broadway Musical "Grease", done in Spanish of course. It made me laugh.


Betsy and all also planted lot of seeds in the front flower garden yesterday - cosmos, sunflowers, nasturtiums, sweet peas, and morning glories. I wondered about the wisdom of planting seeds when we'll be gone in two months. But, Betsy assures me that things grow very fast down here and that we will see results before we leave. I have to say that the petunia beds that looked rather sparse when we arrived six days ago, have already filled out quite nicely!

Frances was sick last night and I was up with her for about an hour. She was restless and seemed to have an upset stomach. Finally I gave her a Tums and she settled down in about 10 minutes. She is bright eyed and much better this morning. I'm going to let her rest today as she still had a bit of a cough when she awoke. I'll walk Betsy's high energy terrier/border collie mix "Scout" on the beach today instead of Frances. I am concerned she may have Bordatella (bronchitis). She has always been prone to this since she had it as a puppy. If she doesn't show any improvement by tomorrow morning, I'll take her to the vet.


Today Betsy and I plan to finish all those pesky little chores that need to be done around the house, and catch up on laundry, exercise, and the like, so that tomorrow morning we can both settle into our individual routines. I have been sleeping a lot. I think I've been catching up on the killer pace I've kept since last May. My entire body has been aching for the last few days. It is probably the fibromyalgia flaring up a bit, combined with walking on the hard adobe floors. But, I am making health, diet, exercise and sleep, priorities while I am here. Hopefully, I will reinforce some good health habits so that when I leave Mexico, I will continue them and not always be so exhausted. I played my mandolin for 15 minutes the other day and was disappointed that my hand gave me trouble after such a short amount of time. My trigger thumb is not quite as healed as I thought. I need to be patient with that.

And now, off to check off things on my "list."

Blue Footed Boobies

This morning (Saturday), Betsy treated me to a two hour boat cruise out of Gary's Dive Shop. This tour was primarily about the local geography and ecology. The tour went to various locations around the San Francisco Bay. The two rocks in the sea just outside our window were actually focal points of the tour due to the various bird populations that live there.

Of special note, there is a population of Blue Footed Boobies (birds) living on the rock that I view outside my writing desk. This is rare as most people assume the only place on the earth where they live is the Galapagos Islands. However, a few renegades from the Galapagos have landed and stayed at about a half dozen global locations, and this rock is one of them! Their feet are in fact a brilliant coloured turquoise, and even at a distance you can see glints of blue on the rock wherever a flock is hanging out.

On the same rock are many blue herons with nests that are many years old.


There are also Brown Boobies flying around, as well as hundreds of pelicans which actually out number the seagulls by a lot! There are orange beaked Oyster Catchers.
We saw sea lions, and of course the dolphins swam alongside the boat for awhile.

It was interesting to see the cracks in the rocks showing where earthquake faultlines are. This was particularly appropriate today given the 8.8 earthquake in Chile. Tsuanmi warnings have been issued for Baja, but it is not a concern here.

While this particular earthquake and tsunami will probably not affect San Carlos, the aftermath of a hurricane last Septebmer is still quite evident everywhere. Only half of the main road through town exists as it completely collapsed. You have to take detours to get to various destinations. Although it was "only" a Category One Hurricane, it stalled right over the town of San Carlos for 35 hours dumping 50 inches of rain in that amount of time. This, in a town that averages 8 inches of annual rainfall. It sank 20 boats - not because they had leaks - but because of the weight of the downpour!

I had a bit of a queasy stomach this morning, left over from some unknown source yesterday. Therefore I was a bit concerned about going out on a boat today, given my penchant for motion sickness. I began taking ginger tablets yesterday. This morning I put on my new "sea bands". These are elastic bands you wear just above the wrist joint. They have a button on them that acts as continuous accupressure to prevent motion sickness. If you feel yourself getting nautious you can put additional pressure on the button by pressing on it.

All I can say is, the boat stopped several times so we could observe the wildlife. When it stopped, it rocked back and forth quite vigorously and I did not get sick. I yawned a lot and occasionally felt very sleepy, which for me are precursors to motion sickness. But by the time we headed back to the marina I was feeling just fine. So, I will continue my water explorations in the days and weeks to come in this manner. Only time will tell if my efforts to conquer my lifelong struggle with motion sickness will be successful.

After the sea excursion Betsy and I had an outdoor brunch at the marina restaurant. It is connected with a large hotel.
As we dined we notcied we were sitting right next to a boat that was named "Mello Yello." haha

In an hour or so me 'n Frances will get in the car and head down to the beach below. When the tide goes out in the afternoon, you can actually walk over to one of the two rocks that are in the water across from us.
It will be the first time I've started up my car since arriving on Monday night. Betsy an I have run errands on two occasions, but other than that today is the first day we did anything touristy.

Frances has adjusted well to the slow pace and "manana" attitude of Mexico by sampling as many couches and beds as she can.





I'm trying to get into a routine now. We joined the local gym. It's small but more than adequate. I primarily will do weight training, and maybe take an occasional Yoga class. I bought a punch card at the gym - it ends up being less than $3.00 a visit. Now I have to deal with 24 Hour Fitness - who I checked with TWICE before leaving to make sure by account was suspended. They billed me yesterday. Jerks!

After Frances and I go for a stroll on the beach I'll probably hit the gym. They are closed Sundays.

Well, the hotel below us is testing their sound system now for the Saturday Night dancing. Looks like my walk over to the rock will be accompanied by Mexican Disco! Such is Life!

The House that Clare & Mer Built

This post will be a detailed description of the house, including photos.

The San Carlos house that Clare and Mer Berryhill built in the late 1970s is in a "gated community" - in that you have to punch in a code so the gate will lift. But the code is written right on the gate and there is no guard or anything so anyone can get in - hahaha. You drive up a steep cobblestone rode to the house. The house is a peach terracotta color, with two gates that enclose the front yard. A wrought iron gate door serves as the door to the single car garage.


The house looks over the San Francisco Bay in both the front (west) and back (east) of the house. The view from the front of the house includes the main San Carlos landmark, Mount Tetakawa. It is a twin peak rocky mountain with desert plant life on it. Our view is the side of the mountain so we only see one of the two peaks. A few fishing boats are always in the bay at the front of the house. Brown Mexican Pelicans and seagulls fly by routinely.



You enter through an arched gateway into an enclosed garden. The walkway is adobe tile. There are several small raised beds for flowers and shrubs. An ornate bench sits against an adobe wall.


A two foot tall statue with a bowl does double duty as an ornament and dog water.




Once through the front door, you are in a medium size entry foyer. The flooring throughout the house is adobe tile, including the stairways, porches and balconies. Straight ahead is a sunken living room, three steps down. Here are several comfy couches and chairs. A large stone fireplace and chimney is off to one side. It extends up to the second floor where a second fire place resides in my bedroom.






The view outside the living room window includes a rock covered in seguaro cactus. There are a few holes in the rock that kayakers like to paddle through. The water is usually calm. A door in the living room leads to the lowest of the five porches/balconies. It takes you down six steps.




Right of the sunken living room is the break- fast bar and kitchen. Beyond that is a bar and dining room. A sliding glass door at the end of the dining room leads to an outdoor patio.













A bedroom with a kingsize bed is left of the entry hall as is the main bathroom. A semi-circular tile stairway leads to the 2nd floor. At the top of the stairs is a loft area which serves as a family room or TV room. Two large bedrooms are on the second floor, one on each side of the loft area.



My bedroom is to the left. It has a king size bed and a fireplace directly across from the bed. Next to the fireplace is an area that is about five feet wide that is open in a loft style and looks down into the living room. Beyond all of this is a writing or computer desk, next to a sliding glass door with an east facing view and small balcony. I have a separate bathroom. The bathroom has swinging doors in the style of an old west saloon. It has a large walk in closet area. The bathtub area is all done in sunflower tile including the giant bathtub.



I chose this room because of the amount of natural light with windows and ocean views in three directions. Frances' pillows is by the sliding glass door. She sleeps with her ancient afghan that Mom made in the 1970s.



The other bedroom on the second floor has two queen size beds and a private bathroom. It also has a large outdoor patio-balcony on each end - one facing east and one facing west.














Last but not least, another semi-circular staircase leads to the flat rooftop - once again tiled in adobe. We take the dogs up here because it's large enough for them to run around and chase either. It has 360 degree views and full sun. Folding lawn chairs are available to relax in.

The house is filled with colorful art work that depicts fishing, oceanic themes and Mexican plant life and lifestyles. Betsy's sister Jane - also a good friend of mine - did eight stained glass window pieces throughout the house - none smaller than 2x4 feet.

Well, my post has rejected my attempts at a few final photos, so I guess I'll sign off for now. Hope you enjoy this little tour of the Berryhill San Carlos home. Between the learning curve on my new camera and software, and the learning curve on posting photos on this blog (which included a refresher journey into what miniscule knowledge I have of HTML Computer Code), it's taken me about six hours to write this post. It has been worth it though. Hope you enjoy and are perhaps enticed to travel down to join us. Unfortunately the airfare is outrageously expensive. We have thought a few times that we stumbled onto cheapers fares but alas...

Anyhoo... ttfn. Off to something immensely important like smelling the roses.

Desert Hot Springs to Nogales to San Carlos - Details of the Two Day Road Trip

Betsy and I checked out of the Desert Hot Springs Spa Hotel at 1:00pm on Saturday afternoon. Our goal was to arrive in Nogales, Arizona - right at Mexico's border - for the night. After checking out we had a picnic lunch by a rocky fountain on the grounds and let the dogs stretch their legs one last time.

When we went to gas up, I spotted a donut store right next to the Chevron station. I'd been craving an apple fritter for the past two days. Granted, although my research has been brief and superficial, I was beginning to believe that the desert was donutless. Stops at a half dozen mini-marts and two major grocery chains found them void of any fresh baked goods of any sort. The only pastry to be had were shrink wrapped. No thanks! But at last, here was an actual donut shop. Excited to satisfy my craving, I popped in, only to be instantly repelled by the smell of cheap, greasy Chinese food. My pours began absorbing massive amounts of atmospheric MSG. A small pastry rack sat empty. Puzzled, I enquired as to the Donut Sign. The clerk replied in halted English - "She not work today." I left Desert Hot Springs apple fritterless, with my "Donut Free Desert" theory in tact.

I donned my turquoise neon rimmed sun glasses that I bought at the Dollar Store and we drove the 9 miles out of Desert Hot Springs. We hit I-10 exactly at 2:30, with 450 miles in front of us. I was instantly reminded of a couple of things about driving through the desert.

1) Never drive with less than half a tank of gas because it can be 60 miles or more between services.

2) Although the speed limit is 75 mph, when in the desert do as the truckers do or get blown off the road. We managed to keep our "average" speed around 80.

We drove straight East on I-10 to Blythe, CA, about 120 miles. Then I-10 turns South toward Phoenix. I continued enjoying the desert scenery... have I mentioned that I love... oh never mind. About 30 miles before Phoenix we turned onto Highway 85, the Phoenix Bypass. This essentially goes in the same direction as Phoenix, but you don't have to go through it. It's the same number of miles, but especially during the week saves you from going through Phoenix traffic and rush hour.

Phoenix has, in the last 10 years or so, become dubbed "LA East" due to it's congestion, smog and traffic. It's an ugly city and I was happy to bypass it even though it was Sunday and rush hour was not an issue.

As darkness descended, we found ourselves in the tiny Arizona town of Gila Bend. A roadside restaurant called "Space Age Cafe" caught our attention. Here is the middle of nowhere, was this fully decked out, space age themed restaurant that would rival a Disneyland cafe in the detail and artwork. Even the dishes were flying saucer themed. The food was good.

Back on the road, Highway 8 merging back onto I-10 to Tucson. In Tucson we took Highway 19 South traveling about 50 miles to the border town of Nogales. Once on Highway 19, all road signs are in Kilometers rather than miles and I got some practice calculating the difference in my head. A kilometer is about 1.6 miles, so I rounded to 2/3 and was usually pretty close. We also crossed the timeline somewhere around Blythe and went onto Mountain Time, one hour ahead.

We arrived at our Nogales Motel 6 around 11:00pm. Not bad.

Nogales, of late, has been in the news a lot. Bear in mind there is Nogales, Arizona, AND Nogales, Senora Mexico. Except for the US/Mexico border - they almost consider themselves the same town. It was two months ago in Nogales Mexico where major shootings broke out in the middle of the street between law enforcement and drug lords - with gunfire going right down the middle of civilian streets and about 10 people being killed. Since then, every time I've mentioned staying in Nogales, I've been warned to be careful.

I have to say, that warning is not unwarranted but not because of drug wars. The town of Nogales, AZ is a hub for trucking companies. Double trailer 18 wheelers abound throughout the little town. At small intersections they are often impatient and aggressive. And THAT is where the real danger was. Yikes! In the morning Betsy and I went to IHop for breakfast, and within a few blocks had more than one close call with truckers who weren't afraid to use their size to intimidate.

After breakfast we repacked the cars. Betsy's packing is quite a feat. She is traveling with four dogs and supplies for them,(including a ramp for her old dog Toshi who can no lunger jump into the car) as well as a few items she wants to leave in Mexico - like a patio umbrella, double ply toilet paper and a topiary snail - so packing her car is very specific, tedious and takes about 30-45 minutes! This morning's packing was more laborious due to her Miniature Schnauzer Teddy having had diahrrea in the car the night before, just before arriving in Nogales. So a certain amount of cleanup had to take place before packing could commence. I was happy to walk the dogs while Betsy did the dirty work.

We checked out of the motel at noon, made one last stop at Safeway for some food items, bought our Mexico Car Insurance - for half the price Triple AAA would have charged - and headed the four miles to the border.

Crossing into Mexico happens in several phases which combined take an hour or so.

The first stop is right on the border. There were two cars ahead of us. There were a few quick questions from a border patrol about where we were going and for how long. The guard waved us through and laughed as he said - "just go straight." We found out why he was laughing. They had set up a bunch of those three foot tall concrete barricades like are used when there is freeway construction. It was not immediately apparent which way we were supposed to go. Eventually we found that path. It was set up like a slolom course, zigzagging through about a dozen hard turns to the left, to the right, to the left, to the right, until finally we reached the road. It was like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. You then drive through a checkpoint where you make your declaration of goods if you have any. If you don't have anything to declare you get into a separate lane. We didn't have anything to declare. Here each car must come to a complete stop. If you get a green light, you just drive on through. If you get a red light, the officials can ask for any paperwork or ask to see what's in your vehicle at their discretion. Betsy and I each got a green light.

Next you drive about 20 miles into Mexico, where you encounter the official immigration stations. You have to park your car and get out and do some paperwork. We weren't sure exactly where to start so we went over to an area that had rope lines and eleven windows to go up do. We were outdoors, the clerks were indoors and you speak through glass like at a movie theatre. Instantly it became comical and took on the atmosphere of a cheesy carnival. Like I said there were rope lines, although Betsy and I were the only ones there at the moment. It was near impossible to speak with the clerk through the glass due to some jack hammer work going on a few yards away (or is that a few meters away?) We quickly learned to carry on our conversation through the glass during the few seconds when the jack hammer was quiet. We all thought it was funny, even the clerk. The jack hammer was occasionally punctuated by a bell from somewhere that sounded identical to the bell on the Merry-Go-Round at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, giving the atmosphere even more of a crazy carnival twist. But, Betsy and I were in the wrong place and were directed to begin at a smaller indoor office.

We walked over to the office. It had been raining lightly, so the office staff had flattened out a cardboard box and placed it in the doorway so we could wipe our feet, and slip on the cardboard. Hahaha. Here our passports were checked for the first time and we filled out the usual customs form that most countries have.

Next we took our form back to the window where we had gone initially and paid $22.00 for... something... once again timing our dialogue with the jack hammers and laughing. Now we had to go back to the office - once again wiping our feet on the cardboard box - where the clerk did nothing more than ink stamp our paperwork. And we were done.

We got back in our cars and had to go through one last stop where we again had an option to make declarations, and get a red or green light. Once again we both got green lights and we were at last done with the official border crossing business. We never had to show our health certificates for our dogs. In fact Frances got a jovial pat on the head from one of the guards.

From here we drove straight through to San Carlos, leaving the border at 2:30 and arriving at the house around 7:30. The ride was happily uneventful, with the exception of a few aggressive truck drivers who amused themselves harrassing two caravaning cars with California plates. The scenery began as flat desert. Gradually mountains were added, and after Hermosillo, the mountains became more dramatic. A final turn towards San Carlos/Guaymas in the last 20 miles brought into view the signature mountain of San Carlos, silhouetted in the sunset... and a last the water.

We Have Arrived!

Betsy and I arrived at the house in San Carlos around 7:30pm last night. I will go into great detail about the house later. For now I will just say it is a fantastic home with fantastic views. If anyone reading this ever visited the Berryhill home in Montana, the same decorative attention to detail is in this house -with the emphasis of course being on Mexican/Spanish decor as opposed to the forests and mountains of Montana. This house was built by Betsy's parents, Clare and Mer Berryhill, in the late 1970s, built and decorated in keeping with the style of the locale. I feel like I am residing in a small mansion on the Mediterrenean.

The dogs spent a couple of hours running around and exploring the house (and finding all the escape hatches to get out into the neighborhood) - even though all of Betsy's dogs have been here before. Frances was perkier than I've seen her in days and seemed to instinctively know that we were now "home" and wouldn't be packing up to travel again in the morning. As I type on my writing desk, she relaxes on our king size bed with windows on three sides of the room giving separate ocean views.

I have just this very second spotted my first marine mammal swimming below. From this distance I can't tell what it is but suspect it is a sea lion as they are common around here. It seems to almost move like an otter, but I have not heard any tales of otters in this vicinity. The dolphins routinely come close by also - and well - ya'll know I'll be in the water with all of these critters sooner or later. I have already received some advice as to how to behave when swimming with sea lions. And of course I've already been with dolphins - both tame and wild - many times.

Before coming here, I of course did some internet research on San Carlos and found that the main place for water activities is "Gary's Dive Shop." Turns out Gary is part of Betsy's extended in-law family here. We even saw brochures for Gary's Dive Shop in Arizona - with pictures of Betsy's family snorkeling and swimming in the ad. They offer inexpensive scuba certification! I am considering the possibility of finally certifying!

I've just met the housekeeper Celia - who comes on Tuesday mornings - and I was actually able to communicate in Spanish with her enough to introduce myself and Frances and let her know what Betsy wanted her to do this morning. (I wonder if she's "Celia of the Seals" like in the song.) The morning sun is still putting "diamonds in the sea" with it's shimmering reflection in the view from my writing desk. This will be my morning view on a daily basis. Ah!

Today Betsy and I plan to focus on finishing unpacking, stocking up on groceries, visiting a shop owned by a lady named Terri - an in-law of Betsy's - and just getting the house in order and attending to details like toilet paper, trash and the like. We will clean the patio furniture and put it outside, plug the escapes in the fencing so that the dogs - especially the little ones - can't escape. Today will be mainly about getting situated, and relaxing a bit.

The raccoons who live on the cliff below learned last night of the five perros who live here now. Hopefully they will spread the word in the raccoon community - Intruder Beware!

Later today I will write a detailed post about our two day trip from Desert Hot Springs to San Carlos. Another post in the next day or so will be about the fabulous house and it's surroundings - and now that we're here I'll be able to find my camera cables and do an entire post of photos.

Buenos dias y adios.

High Desert Adventures

Wow. Went to bed with wildly howling winds and woke up to calm blue skies. The predicted rain must have gone somewhere else. Our hotel room is at the end of a short hallway and has a little cubby hole where Frances can watch the swimmers, and I can sit outside and drink my coffee and play on my laptop or read. As I was reading my emails on our deck, I heard the sound of a mandolin in the distance. A couple in one of the ground floor rooms were playing songs on mandolin and autoharp. The gal has a pleasant alto folk style voice.



I went and chatted with them for a few minutes. I mentioned that my fiddle and mandolin were in the car but that I was basically a beginner in the genre. No offer of jamming was forthcoming so I sat in the spa near them and soaked for a bit. It was pleasant. Swam my half mile as well.

Around noon Frances and I headed to the high desert again. And for the record - many of the high desert business spell it "Hi" desert instead of "high" desert - so no - I'm not making a typo when I abbreviate.

First we went to Gublers Orchard Farm. I've been wanting to visit there that last two times I've been in the area and this time I made it. It is way out in the town of Landers. I'm going to try to describe how to get there. You leave Desert Hot Springs - which is a sea level - and take Highway 62 into the mountains. Highway 62 reminds me a bit of Highway 17 to Santa Cruz. It's an easy four lane mountain drive. The town of Yucca Valley is about 20 miles into the mountains and here I turn west on Old Woman Springs Road. Landers is about 10 miles into barren desert country with houses dotting the area.

The first thing you see at Gublers Orchard Farm is their new wind generator. All of the desert area here is very windy and they installed their first wind generator about three months ago. They've not yet been able to really determine the average savings, but figure in a few months they'll have a better feel for it.

Gublers are the suppliers of orchards nation wide to places like Home Depot, Safeway, etc. They have about half a dozen greenhouses and they give private tours. I had my own personal 15 minute tour through the facility. Needless to say the flowers are beautiful and I took plenty of closeup photos. They also grow carnivourous plants here. I was allowed to play with a Venus flytrap that had it's "mouth" open. I touched it and it closed it's mouth thinking it had caught something. This head of the plant only opens and closes three times and then dies and drops off the plant. So I am informed that we shortened it's life by one bite. The plant doesn't die, just the head.

After touring I can see why orchards are so expensive as it takes about 7 years for a bloom. However, in recent years they have begun cloning the orchards. I saw entire 50 foot long flats of identical orchards in various stages of growth. So while it still takes 7 years to bloom - they now get as many as 2000 seeds from a plant instead of... I forget... not very many. So now orchards are a little bit cheaper. Not sure how I feel about the cloning, but it is a fact of the industry.

After this I headed to Pioneertown since we were more or less in the vicinity. I drove through Pipes Canyon - the roads get narrower and sandier now as you head towards more isolated desert areas. By the way - have I mentioned that I love the desert in winter!!! (haha) I just love the landscape.

Anyway, Pioneertown began in the 1940s when several Hollywood celebrities of the Western Film genre decided to build a western set out in the desert to use for mvoies. This little "town" still exists. It was used in over 50 moves during the 1940s and 1950s. Gene Autrie, Roy Rogers and the Vocal Group the Sons of the Pioneers were some of the investors. Pioneertown was named after the Sons of the Pioneers.

Eventually the set was no longer used, and Pioneer Town became a single pump gas station and not much more. Around 1980 a biker bar called Pappy and Harriets was buildt and this has become a mecca for local music, great food and celebrity music as well. Donovan, Gram Parsons, Country Joe etc... are some of the many who used to frequent the place. FYI - Donovan lived in Yucca Valley in the 1970s and 1980s so there are occasionally references to him at different local establishments. And in general the Desert Hot Springs/Joshua Tree area was a celebrity get away from the 1960s through the 1980s - especially the rock and roll celebrity elite. The older Hollywood set still preferred Palm Springs. Many of the Desert Hot Spring resorts - especially Two Bunch Palms where my friend Jenifer worked - catered to the privacy and upscale "needs" of the Rolling Stones, Joni Mitchell and the younger Hollywood set of that era.

Anyway, I had lunch at Pappy and Harriet's - the best nacho plate I've had EVER! - and then roamed around the old western set. I keep my eyes open for scenery that would fit my Coyote story, and I took quite a few pictures of one of the mountains in Pipe Canyon, and of this set as they gave me some ideas.

By now it was about 3:30 so I figured if we were going to get into Joshua Tree National Park (and it is a Park not a Monument) that we'd better get rolling before the sunset. We drove back to Highway 62 and headed another 10 miles up the mountain to the town of Joshua Tree. We went to the Visitor Center for maps and stuff. But - it's $15.00 for a day pass into the park and it turns out the annual pass is $80.00 so for today we chose not to go. When I'm 62 years old it will be $10 for a lifetime pass to all Natiional Parks. Had it been earlier in the day I may have considered it. I was getting tired anyway so we headed back to the hotel, did some reading and sitting in hot water and that was about that.

Desert Hot Springs

Have I mentioned yet that I love the desert in winter? I really do. This evening the winds finally did turn cold and I've decided not to go for another swim, evening though the waters are wonderfully warm. I went into four of the different jacuzzi pools today and swam in the lap pool for half a mile. It's a nice size lap pool. Most gym/high school lap pools are 25 yards in length. This one is 30 yards so you don't have to turn as often. You can just swim! It's more tiring but that's not a bad thing.


This afternoon Frances and I drove up into the high desert where surprisingly it was much less windy. We went into the towns of Yucca Valley and Joshua Tree. I visited the Hi-Desert Museum in Yucca Valley where they have exhibits of local plant life, wildlife and minerals.

Then I went to a place called Desert Christ Park, also in Yucca Valley. I've been there twice before. It's quite a unique place. In the 1950s, an artist created large white concrete statues of Jesus and his disciples in various scenes from the New Testament. The statues are large, about 10-12 feet tall.
The display is right against the desert mountains in the town of Yucca Valley. He made them out of concrete because he hoped they would survive a nuclear war. There is a large statue of Jesus on the hillside praying at the Garden of Gethsemane. There is a scene where Jesus is preaching to the 12 disciples. There is a scene with Jesus at the well, and another scene where he is welcoming the children. There is a scene were his empty tomb is carved into the hillside. And there is a tiny chapel made entirely of stone that seats about 12 people. I will post some photos maybe tomorrow.

I was going to a take a picture of Frances lying down next to one of the largest statues. But then I noticed a sign next to the statue saying "Warning. Beehive under statue." Well - maybe not then. We were the only ones there. I always enjoy having a place to myself!

Then Frances and I headed to the town of Joshua Tree where we went into a couple of thrift shops and art stores, and stopped for refreshment. We did not go into Joshua Tree National Park because there wasn't time. I sure wanted to though - I've been there twice before also and LOVE it. I was wishing I had another day here in the area so that I could go into the park.

Well my wish has been granted! Yay! Betsy pushed hard today and is happy to have a break. So tomorrow I'll go to Joshua Tree National Park (or is it National Monument?) I'll look into buying an annual pass for National Parks because I hope to visit other National Parks in the next 12 months - hopefully the Channel Islands and Yosemite. And of course I never give up on the possibility that some day I will see the Grand Canyon. It just never seems to work out. Anyway, while Betsy catches up tomorrow I'll go to into Joshua Tree and take more pictures. I never tire of that place.

I had another enjoyable dinner with Jenifer tonight while waiting for Betsy. Frances just finished munching down her dinner and is snoozing. My friend Joe informs me that tomorrow (Saturday) is National Love Your pet Day. Lucky Frances gets to go to Joshua Tree! Lucky me too!

On the Road At Last

It's a blustery morning here in Desert Hot Springs. There were strong winds all night and this morning, but that is not unusual for the desert. The hotel workers keep apologizing for the "cold wind" as though it was their fault. I simply tell them that I don't think it's cold at all because I'm from the Lake Tahoe area. That seems to make them feel better. In fact while it's a strong wind, it's quite warm, in my opinion anyway. The locals are freezing. Haha I love the desert in winter.

This morning - for the third time in a week - someone said Frances looks like a coyote. In her 12+ years I've never heard that comment, and now I've heard it three times in a row. Considering I have begun a writing project where a Coyote is the main character, I find that interesting. Maybe Frances wants to play the lead role and is trying to look like a Coyote!

I made it to Desert Hot Springs last night. It took 10 hours, but some of that included stopping here and there. It's between 525 - 550 miles. I'm not exactly sure because I made a couple of wrong turns and I ran some errands at home before hitting the road. I'm sitting here in my room this morning enjoying the mountain view and drinking coffee. I spoke with Betsy about 15 minutes ago. She anticipates hitting the road around noon today, so I expect her here around 10:00 or 11:00 tonight. I was worried about her pushing the envelope since she is not completely over her bug. But she assured me she slept well last night. We don't have to check out of here until noon tomorrow so she can sleep in. It's only about 450 miles to Nogales, Arizona tomorrow so it's a shorter drive than the first leg.

Here's a bit of a recap of my journey yesterday, February 18, 2010:

I stumbled out of the house around 7:30am - before my coffee! - dragging a couple of things to load into the car. A fat robin flew across my path at breakneck speed and landed on the white picket fence. As any crossword puzzle book will tell you, Robin is a "harbinger of Spring" and new beginnings. Time to hit the road.

I pulled out of Betsy's driveway in Camino at 9:25. First stop - Placerville - my favorite drive through coffee joint where they fill up my giant mug with the best coffee in town for a buck and toss in a doggie treat to boot. While making a quick stop at the post office, it became apparent that I needed to repack the back seat. Frances was being buried by sliding luggage and dog food bags. That accomplished, I realized I had enough room for my new favorite board game - Tayu - so I swung by my storage unit and picked that up. Then one last stop in Cameron Park to return some borrowed videos. At 10:30 I pulled out of Cameron Park as my car odometer rolled over to 313,000 miles.

Oh! My big toe is black and blue but not broken. The pain is mostly gone and the range of motion is about 80% as of this morning. It looks bad but should be back to normal very soon and should't hinder any of my activities. It just feels kind of fat.

El Dorado County was gorgeous and sunny as I left this morning. Once I got to Sacramento it was overcast. This is common in January and February. I took Highway 99 South of out Sacramento. By the time I got to Stockton there was a dreary light gray haze which remained through Bakersfield. I can see why so many central valley folks get depressed in the winter.

Many of the various fruit orchards are in full bloom and were pretty to look at. Around Atwater and Merced there are some intermittent stretches of highway where the wide median has been seeded with California Poppies which are now in full bloom - so there's this 8-10 foot wide stretch of bright orange for miles at a time. That was nice.

I would advise that if you ever travel down 99, NEVER stop in the little town of Pixley for gas, food or ANYTHING! And my drive through Fresno did nothing to change my life long opinion of that town. A large billboard in Fresno proclaimed in giant ominous letters: FOG KILLS! Hm. And what exactly am I supposed to do with that information? Nuff said.

In Bakersfield I turned East on Highway 58 which goes into the mountains and starts to become desert. It heads towards Barstow and Las Vegas. I didn't take it that far of course. A few Joshua Trees starting to pop up here and there. At last the sky began to turn blue again. I like this highway. It's the second time I've taken it and it's a pretty drive.

96 miles later I turned south on 395 for about 45 miles - the last 10 miles included some traffic signals. 395 then became Hwy 15 which I took for about 16 miles. It then split and I went South on Hwy 215 for another 15 miles and finally spilled out onto Interstate 10 in San Bernardino.

I had to chuckle at the San Bernadino Airpot signs. "SBD Airport". hahaha

Once on I-10 it was about 50 miles to the Desert Hot Springs exit. 9 miles thru town and I'm at the hotel. I met my friend Jenifer for dinner at a Mexican Restaurant around the corner that also serves a full King Crab for $12.00. We each had that. I haven't had crab for many years. I think you burn off as many calories trying to crack the crab legs as are in crab.

Jen and I hope to get together again tomorrow evening after she gets off work. In the meantime I will swim in all eight of the natural spring pools and hot tubs here and make sure I have some food here for Betsy when she finally arrives.

The Car is Packed

With the exception of my overnight items, the car is packed and ready to go in the morning.

Betsy wants everyone who reads this to know that if they have bet on her NOT being ready by tomorrow morning - they are dead.... RIGHT! haha She was unable to accomplish a last minute errand at the county office today because they have recently decided to be closed on the the third Wednesday of the month. Who knew? So she has to do that tomorrow.

But that's OK. Frances and I will leave in the morning anyway. I will now spend two nights in Desert Hot Springs, at the Desert Hot Springs Spa Hotel. Betsy will join me on night #2. We are both seasoned, independent travelers.

The hotel has five pools and hot tubs. This small desert town has numerous spa resorts due to the natural hot springs there. I stayed at this one a few years ago and loved it. It is just around the corner from where my friend Jenifer lives. We got a great deal that rivals Motel 6 rates and they are a pet friendly resort. Frances is allowed to lie by the pool too. Apparently the desert spas are suffering from low tourism as is much of the industry so there are bargains to be had including this one. Jenifer and I will catch up and I'll swim , sit in the hot tubs, read and acquaint Frances with desert plant life! San Carlos - while on the sea - is also in the desert, and the sooner Frances learns that she shouldn't sniff or lift her leg on the cactus plants, the better.

I've had a minor last minute calamity. I have either severely bruised or broken the big toe on my left foot. A final trip to my storage unit today found me dropping a solid state cube speaker on my foot. I have broken toes before. Not much to be done about it. Luckily I won't be doing much walking for the next 4 days and it shouldn't prevent me from swimming either. As long as the swelling goes down by the time I'm ready to put on snorkel mask and fins, I'm happy. Until then me and Frances will both be hobbling around with our left side injuries. We've long been the perfect team.

February 16, 2010

Hi everybody! Here we gooooo...... Well - almost! Betsy and I were to have headed out today for San Carlos, Mexico. But Betsy caught a severe cold and laryngitis from her tenants, a young mother and her 2-1/2 year old daughter. Betsy was very sick for four days and today is the first day she has even a hint of a voice. She has only been able to whisper for several days. I helped her make some phone calls today since I DO have a voice.

But last night it was me who was alarmed at how sick Betsy still was - light headed and weak - and I insisted she take another day or two to recover. We are now leaving on Thursday, February 18. Betsy is up and around this morning getting things done. We have confidently booked our hotel rooms for our stops on the drive down. We will stay in Desert Hot Springs on Thursday, and Nogales, Arizona on Friday.

In the mean time, Betsy's tenant took care of another kid - WHO WAS SICK - and now mom and 2 year old have fevers. These are the people I've been staying with!!! So tonight I'm sleeping on Betsy's couch (she's no longer contagious) in her flat above her garage and staying as far away from the sickies as I can. I'm taking lots of vitamins, Emergen"C", and all that. And I'm increasing my new habit of the past few weeks - gargling regularly with hydrogen peroxide. Yes folks you read that right - a tip I got from Chris - it's great for general oral hygiene.

So other than that I'm pretty much ready to go. I just have to pack the car and make another run to my storage shed and I'm ready to go any time. I'm helping Betsy catch up on some errands. I'm going up to Jeannie's house tonight. She's giving me a Temperpedic mattress topper and a flannel lined sleeping bag for what I hope will be some summer travels and camping.

Well, the delay has not been all bad. We will still get a full two months in Mexico. We were going to head back on April 16, but will now stay a week longer. Betsy had a previous commitment that brought her back to California in mid-April but that is being adjusted. And the delay gave me a chance to get Frances an additional Bowen treatment.

Bowen is an energy therapy that I would describe as a cross between Chiropractic and Reiki. Frances became lame about a month ago with a damaged cruciate (knee) ligament, generally considered repairable only with surgery. But after three Bowen sessions she was running around at about 90% of her old capacity. Sunday I took her for a walk with Patty - her first walk in over a month - and a neighborhood female black lab picked a fight with Frances. Even though Frances was now bearing weight and walking much better on her bad leg, she is still - and probably will forever be - weak in that area. The Lab knocked her legs out from under her. Frances fell on her back - vulnerable tummy and neck exposed - but got right up to fight. I and the owner of the lab were able to stop it but Frances reinjured her knee ligament. The lab also bit Frances' front paw and bruised it. So she's been limping around again, but I got her in for a treatment today. She's running around again and once again mostly pain free. Bowen works like magic on Frances. The improvement is almost instantly noticeable.

While I was at it, I had a Bowen treatment for myself. I have to say I feel marvelous! Debbie Criddle - the therapist - treated us at the same time. We're all happy campers now.

Yesterday I went down to the Wells Fargo Bank in Folsom to get some pesos. (Yes, they were open on President's Day, go figure). Last week I happily discovered that the Folsom office carries many foreign currencies in their branch and will do an exchange for NO FEE for Wells Fargo customers. Yeah! As I type, I have 5,910 pesos in my wallet. Tee hee. That is equivalent to $500.00. The dollar to peso ratio was $11.82 per US Dollar. Like many foreign currencies the money is multi-colored, unlike our monotonous greenbacks. It will be fun to see how this actually translates once in Mexico. I'm told that the price of goods in Mexico is pretty close to what is is here. A few items are cheaper, a few a more expensive, but mostly it's a wash, or so I'm told.

Heading down to the gym now for a swim and some weight training.

FYI - While in Mexico I will be able to check my email and Facebook any time on my iphone. To do blogging, googlng and surfing I will visit the coffee shop down the street several times a week. I hope to blog 3-5 times per week. My iphone can also accept calls but they are 59 cents per minute so please only call if absolutely necessary. There is also a house phone. I'll get that number once I get there.