Puerto Penasco, Mexico

We took a little vacation to Puerto Penasco, Mexico last week. Yuma has a company called Tour West that provides bus tours. They have been closed for the past three years due to Covid. This season they have reopened. One of their employees, Lavonne, comes to our resort during the weekly information meeting to advertise some of the trips. She arranged a four day trip to Puerto Penasco for just our resort. There were about 50 people that signed up.

We left at 7:30 am on Sunday morning. Along the way, we stopped at the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument near Ajo, Arizona. The organ pipe is a large cactus rarely found in the United States, although it is common in Mexico. The monument protects the bulk of the US range.

The Kris Eggle Visitor Center is named in honor of a young park ranger who was shot in 2002. Two men involved in a violent confrontation in Mexico fled through the desert and entered the monument illegally. While pursuing one of the men, ranger Kris was shot and killed. This monument has been placed in his memory.

Back on the bus with our neighbors, Everett and Nancy.

It took two hours to cross the Mexican border. They took all the luggage off the bus and searched every suitcase. Then we all had to exit the bus and wait in line to have our passports processed. There was only one employee doing that, so it took a long time. 

We finally continued on, and arrived at the Playa Bonita hotel at about 3:30 pm. They were waiting for us with a free margarita at the pool bar. One of the pools was very cold, but the other was quite nice. They also had two hot tubs. Many of the ladies enjoyed their drinks at the pool. It was a beautiful afternoon.

Our room was on the first floor at the back of the hotel. Although the hotel is located right on the beach, we had a limited view. Overall, the hotel was very nice. It has recently been renovated, and our room was great. 

Beautiful views of the water from the pool deck. It was quite interesting to see how far out the tide went.

The hotel has a restaurant. Most of us had dinner there the first night. The food was very tasty and inexpensive. They even had live entertainment. The restaurant also offered a breakfast buffet each morning for $10 for our group. The food was good with lots of choices. Some of them were quite different than what we're used to.

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset our first night.

Monday morning most of us boarded the bus for a visit to The Malecon, a downtown Puerto Penasco shopping and restaurant district. We did some shopping and enjoyed relaxing at the central plaza along the Sea of Cortez. There is a large statue of a fisherman on a shrimp. It was dedicated in 2003 and is known as El Camaronero. Fishing and shrimping are the main industry in this town.

The steps leading to the upper plaza, had a beautiful tile mural. Can you see the whale and sea turtle? Click on the picture to enlarge it. Really impressive!!

Looking out across the plaza to the sea.

Our group enjoyed a few Mexican beers at the BooBar.

Then we enjoyed another yummy meal at a local restaurant. Shrimp meals were inexpensive and delicious everywhere we ate.

That evening we went on a sunset cruise on the Intrepid boat. For $20 we were supposed to get a three hour cruise, two fish tacos and open bar of beer or margaritas. The tour ended up being only two hours due to fear of getting stuck at low tide. The tacos were okay, and the margaritas had no tequila. We missed seeing the sunset because the trip was cut short. 

Lots of shrimp boats.

Tuesday was a free day. I took a nice long walk along the beach. Other than our hotel, there are a number of condo complexes and an RV park. The RV park has 300 sites. They looked pretty tight. Waterfront sites are $900 per month.

I collected some seashells and a piece of coral.

That afternoon our bus driver, Tom, brought out his karaoke machine. Everyone had a good time singing and line dancing. Tom is the one with the microphone. We had some great singers in our group.

That evening the bus took us to the Wrecked on the Reef bar for happy hour. What a fun place. Then we had dinner at Mare Blu restaurant.

Wednesday morning we left about 9:30 am. There was a fisherman there selling seafood as we loaded the bus. We had been informed to bring coolers for this. We bought two pounds of large shrimp, a pound of scallops, and five pounds of sea bass for $38. What a deal!!

It was quite windy on our return trip. Our driver did a fantastic job getting us home. The border crossing only took an hour this time. We got back at 3:30 pm to howling winds. We had to collect stuff from our yard that had blown around. 

Our trip was fun with a great group of people. I'm not sure we would ever go back. San Diego and the California coast are about the same distance. I think we'll go there for beach time in the future.

Yesterday was the 9th annual FDO Golf Tournament. In previous years, there have always been more men than women who sign up. So, each year there have been some "special ladies" chosen to even out the teams. You may recall Kevin was one of those special ladies last year. 

This year with 216 participants, there were exactly the same number of men as women. In order to keep the tradition going, there were six special ladies chosen and 6 special gentlemen. It was a great tournament with many laughs. I won a hybrid golf club as a door price at the dinner.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Very Exciting Announcement

We are very happy and excited to announce that we will become first time grandparents in early July!! Our son Korey and his wife Cathryn are expecting a daughter. I'm busy working on some quilts for the new addition to our family. We will be spending the summer in Wisconsin, so will be able to drive to Nebraska when she arrives.

We continue to enjoy our life in Yuma. Last weekend was the 10th annual North American golf tournament where the Canadians and Americans compete against each other. We had a good time, but lost our match. It is a competition, but mostly we have a great time with our friends from both sides of the border.

Last week we attended the Howling at the Moon party here at the resort. There was a band playing and a big bonfire. Hundreds of people attended, which was the most ever. They had 200 bowls of chili available for sale. It was sold out in no time, so we ordered burgers from the saloon. 

I went golfing in the nearby community of Wellton with friends, Anne, Ione and Clara. We had a great time.

After golf we had lunch at the Desert Penguin bar and grill in Wellton. The food was delicious. A very interesting decor for the desert.

Last Sunday we attended a concert in the park at the Colorado River State Historical Park. Yuma has several locations where you can take your picture and be the Y in Yuma.

We enjoyed a musical performance by the Gadsden Mariachi Band, a group of students from the nearby town of Gadsden ranging in ages from 9 to 14. This is the fifth generation of this group keeping their cultural music alive. They did a great job, and we enjoyed listening to the music native to this area.

We continue to enjoy our activities. Kevin plays golf six days a week. I play three or four days.  I also participate in the quilting group and woodcarving group. A new activity I'm working on is making a mosaic project in the stained glass room.

We are also still working with another couple on the golf leagues. We do the computer work that sets up the league teams, create and print the scorecards for each of the four leagues and record the scores of the players. We take turns working every other week with the other couple.  The park has been super busy this season. Every activity is seeing record numbers of participants, including golf. This is keeping us quite busy.

Our son Eric, his girlfriend, Erin and her son Tyler are coming to visit us in March. We're looking forward to welcoming them to our home and to Yuma.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

We want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May your life be blessed with love, good health and peace in the year ahead.

We feel bad for our friends and family in the Midwest who are dealing with crazy winds and wicked cold weather. We are so grateful to be here in sunny Yuma where the highs today and tomorrow will be 75 degrees. We are definitely missing our family, though! Thank goodness for video calling!

Since my last post in October, we've been back in Yuma enjoying our life here. We've played plenty of golf, enjoyed time with friends and did a few projects around our park model. 

One of the fun events we participated in was the annual golf cart Christmas parade. This was our first time now that we have a gas golf cart, and were able to make it around the entire resort. Our previous cart had old batteries, and wouldn't have made it.

There were over 60 golf carts in the parade. Everyone decorates their cart with lights and whatever they come up with. This is just part of the line up waiting for it to get darker.

Here is our cart looking festive.

Many of the participants dress up including myself and some of our friends.

These guys were super creative with their gingerbread house. They did say it was quite hard getting in and out!

After the parade, we all met at the main hall for cookies, cupcakes and hot chocolate and coffee laced with some holiday cheer. It was a great time.

Last night on Christmas Eve we had several friends over for dessert and drinks. It was a beautiful evening, and the new firepit was just right for the chill in the air.

I've decided that while we are stationary in Yuma, I will not be posting as much to this blog. It tends to be the same year after year, and I don't want to bore anyone. I will occasionally post on Facebook if there is something that might be of interest.

I will continue to keep the blog active to record future trips we are planning. When I started the blog, it was to record and share our full time RV journey, and to keep family and friends informed of our travels. What I didn't expect to happen, is that it has become a travel journal for me as well. Many times I refer back to it to help me remember someplace we've been.

This summer we will be headed back to Wisconsin and Nebraska to visit our family and escape the heat in Yuma. Our next planned vacation trip is in October with back to back cruises to Australia and New Zealand. This has been number one on my bucket list for a long time!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Panama Canal Cruise - Last Two Days at Sea

 Days 12 and 13 of our Panama Canal cruise were at sea days on our way to Tampa. There were several fun events planned for those days. The event I enjoyed the most was the International Parade of Nations. Crew members from over 60 countries working on the ship were able to carry their nation's flag in the parade. After they all lined up on the pool deck, each country was introduced. Some of them did native dances as they were introduced. It was a fun and moving event. Ukraine was given a great deal of applause. If only the rest of the world could come together in friendship and respect as was shown at this parade.

Earlier in the cruise, we had been told that it had been Captain Stig Nilsen's 40th Panama Canal crossing on this trip. The crew presented him with a plaque commemorating that momentous achievement.

Our ship, Serenade of the Seas, had spent the summer doing Alaska cruises. Our cruise was actually a repositioning trip to take it to Tampa for the winter Caribbean cruises. The captain thought it would be fun to bring ice from an Alaska glacier through the canal. At the parade, the ice was brought out for everyone to see and touch. There must have been extra space in the freezers.

It was another beautiful day for a picture.

We had another formal night, and I was able to convince Kevin to have our picture taken. 

That night they had a thank you party in the atrium with free champagne. I didn't stay up late enough, but Kevin said it was very crowded. There was even a balloon drop. Here they are ready to go. There were thank you balloons on the railings on all levels.

The full moon was beautiful!

The final day they had a roast pig in the Windjammer Cafe.

And, a very tasty raspberry cream cake as a thank you dessert. Outstanding!

We had no problems at the airports or with our flights from Tampa to Miami, and Miami to Los Angeles. As we rose into the sky from Miami, there were thunderstorms in the area which made for some interesting clouds.

We had left our car at a park and stay hotel in LA, and flew back to pick it up. The drive back to Yuma was interesting with an hour of thunderstorms and then some heavy fog in the higher elevations of California between San Diego and Yuma. Kevin did a great job getting us home. And, so ended a wonderful trip with memories that will last a lifetime!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!