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.