Northern Travels Are in Sight

We are down to our last few days in Yuma and the packing has begun.

Last Wednesday we took a drive out to Martinez Lake, near Yuma, with hubby’s cousin and his wife from Saskatchewan.  We enjoyed a nice drive and a good lunch with great company.

Nice view from the patio at lunch.

There are some very high-end houses along bays in the lake with private marinas.

And we were able to see lots of cacti in bloom along our drive.

Our day at Martinez Lake was followed by St. Patrick’s Day … which of course the Irish in me required me to share some Irish wine with our neighbours!

If you think this is over the top, our children always woke up to green milk on their cereal on St. Patrick’s Day!

This past Sunday we made our last trip to Algodones with three other couples.  After our recent visits to Algodones for hubby’s dental appointments we had no real burning desire to return but our friends wanted to go, so off we went.  The nice thing about going on Sunday is the fact that the dentists are closed, as are most optometrist and pharmacies, so it’s not that busy.  We were able to walk right through the border with no wait, apparently the wait on Saturday was two and a half hours, so we picked a good day to go!

But the downfall to going on Sunday is many restaurants are also closed and one of them was the new one we found in the Medi Plaza next to hubby’s dentist office 😦

We really want to visit this coffee shop the next time we are in Algodones.

Now we are busy putting away our outdoor patio and hubby will give Maxx a much needed bath in the next few days … but it won’t be all work, we do have a dinner out with friends planned … and happy hours happen here even when they are not planned 😀

Until next time …

Los Algodones So Close and Yet So Far Away!

In my last blog I mentioned how close we are to Los Algodones and yet it takes us a half hour to get there, well here is a little more about that.  The Colorado River borders our RV Park on two sides and that same section of river makes up the Arizona/California border.  You can see from the map below just how close we are to California … in fact I walk along the Arizona/California border every day.

On the map below, which I posted in my last blog, you can see the route we have to drive to get to Los Algodones, it takes us through Arizona, across the I8 overpass and then into California back toward the RV Park (which we can clearly see from I8) to the turnoff for Los Algodones.

 

Now if we could just ride our bikes we could be there in fifteen minutes … and save $6.00 for parking.

 The reason we can’t ride our bikes is the border wall and that darn Colorado River!

This is a canal in the foreground, the river is behind the fence.

We often go for a ride along the river and canals and we can clearly see Algodones … like I said so close and yet so far away 😦

You can see Los Algodones on the left.  This section of border wall is what we line up along to clear customs back into the US.

 If we were risk takers and really adventurous … and nope that’s not me, especially the risk taker part … we could get across the same way many many migrants do, through the Yuma Gap.

There is fencing along most of border in the Yuma area but we can clearly see, on our bike ride, several gaps.

It looks like this would be an easy place to cross but what you can’t see in the picture is the Colorado River that runs through the right hand section of border wall.

A close up of the picture above. The bridge crosses the canal and further up the wall you can see the gap where the river runs through.

The incomplete section we can see is along the Morelos Dam, which was built in 1950 across the Colorado River.  This section, known as the “Yuma Gap” has Los Algodones on the Mexican side and Yuma farmland on the US side.

From our view, which you can see in the picture below, it looks like this would be a pretty easy place to cross and many migrants agree as this gap is well used to enter the US from Mexico.

But like I said we are not risk takers, we are rule followers, so we will continue to make the long, out of the way, drive when we go to Los Algodones and covet the easy crossing on our bike rides 🙂

Until next time …

An Emergency Trip to The Dentist

Unlike many people who visit Algodones during the winter we go for the people watching and the margaritas, not dental work.  I have dental coverage with my pension so we have our dental work done at home … until last week.  Hubby bit into a potato chip and cracked a tooth and that dental event was not going to wait until we got home in April.

Eddie the egret and his friends

We arrived home just after 7:00 p.m. on a Friday night, hubby tried calling Sani Dental in Algodones (they had been recommended to us) and was very surprised that they answered their phone.  He was even more surprised when he was able to get an appointment for 9:30 a.m. the next morning.  So Saturday morning we were off to Algodones where we hoped to get his tooth fixed, have lunch and a margarita, and be back in time for our 3:00 p.m. happy hour with the neighbours.

It takes us a half hour to get to Algodones because there is no quick access to I-8 near us.

If only there was access to I-8 from our park.  There is an overpass but it has never been connected to access roads.

And living in an agricultural area it sometimes takes longer when we have to follow large equipment from the park to the freeway entrance.

There is no way around this big guy!

Since we have never been to a dentist in Algodones we had no idea what to expect, although I have read lots of blogs about visits and spoken to people, so I knew they were very clean and modern.  Dental and optical is the main business in this small four block town so they have to be reliable and clean or business would quickly drop off.

When we arrived they took our temperatures, did a pulse check, and sprayed us down with some sort of anti-bacterial spray.  At 9:30 hubby was escorted into an office to complete a long detailed COVID questionnaire.  During the next three and a half hours he saw two other people and finally the actual dentist who put in a temporary crown … he would need two more appointments to complete the work.

It took another hour and a half to get through the border line-up but we arrived home with five minutes to spare before we headed over for happy hour.  His next appointment was on Monday and that was a very quick appointment so we were able to finally get that lunch and margarita we were looking forward to 🙂

Very clean and inviting

There were more exam rooms behind these glass doors.

The downside to that visit was it took two hours to get through the border line-up and all the while we knew we had to come back the next day and do it all over again!  Hubby booked his Tuesday appointment for 1:00 p.m. (the latest he could get it), he didn’t get in until 1:30 and all his work was done by 2:30.  We decided to go back to the same restaurant as the day before and have lunch, with beers this time as their margaritas were not the best, and kill some time to let the border line-up die down.  By 3:30 they were rolling up the sidewalks in Algodones so we headed to the border crossing and made it through in half an hour.

A nice patio to have lunch on.

Not very good margaritas – on day two we had Cerveza instead 🙂

While we were glad to get the work done (for less than $200 USD), we were happy to have this experience behind us!  Three visits to Algodones in one week is to many for us, especially in March when the border crossing line-ups are long!

Until next time …

A WordPress Milestone!

I received a message from WordPress last Saturday that I had past 100,000 views … wow my thanks to all of you for that!  Another interesting little tidbit is the most popular day for viewing is Tuesday’s and the most popular hour is 4:00 p.m. PST.

Well we had to do something to celebrate that milestone so we headed off to Algodones, Mexico on Monday with some friends 🙂  Our first stop was an eyeglass place so that our friend could get her glasses fixed and then we headed for the fun part of the day … margaritas!

Those went down easy and then it was time to look for a fruit bowl for me and a vase for our friend.  So we headed off to our favourite pottery store, across from the white church.

 When you walk into this shop it looks very small, but crowded with lots of stuff …

But if you notice in the picture above there is an aisle that goes towards the back of the shop and if you follow it you open into another area with lot’s of pottery …

And in that picture above you will see that it opens to the outside and that opening leads you into even more pottery, including sinks, flower pots, and tables …

But if you head even father back you come into another area of metal art …

It can take us a long time to peruse through this shop and we often come away with exactly what we want, but that was not the case this time and we left empty handed.  Don’t worry we eventually found what we wanted and headed to the border.  As it so often is at this time of the year, the line was long … hmm maybe we should go for another margarita and wait for the line to get smaller 😀

Once we were done, we headed back to the line and an hour later we were through customs and heading back to our truck.  Border patrol frowns on anyone taking close up pictures of the border fence but I did get this picture of the gate that we pass through to head towards US Customs, and since an official at the gate saw me take the picture, I think it is okay to post it.  I thought, since many of my followers have never seen the border fence up close, you might find this picture interesting.

Until next time …

More Company, More Fun!

Late Tuesday afternoon friends of ours, from home, arrived for a four night stay. Now the question you might be asking is “are you crazy” or maybe you are more concerned for our friends and you are asking “are they crazy”? Well we are three nights into our visit and I know we aren’t crazy and they haven’t packed up and left so I’m thinking they are having fun so maybe they aren’t crazy either 🙂

No visit to Yuma would be complete without margarita’s in Algodones 🙂

If you live in an RV, even if you only do it for a short period of time, you know how little space there is … and I don’t think it matters if you have 35 feet or 45 feet, you are still talking about a small space for four adults.

Those that know me well will know that I am a bit of a neat freak, everything has it’s place and that’s were it needs to be, so you may wonder how could this poor couple come to visit and be comfortable?

Well I realized I needed to let go and just go with the flow and let whatever stuff was around stay there, but even more important was our guests were very comfortable living in a small space and making do with the space we gave them … honestly I think it was probably way harder for them than it was for me!

It’s January so the line up was long! We usually aren’t far enough back to see the river.

But it has been so much fun! They have gone with the flow, are so much fun to be with, and we have all had a great time.

We have taken them to see the new border wall, showed them some veggie fields being harvested, spent some time at the pool, made the obligatory trip to Algodones, and us ladies even found time for a pedicure.

Tomorrow we will hopefully visit the Garden Café for lunch, pick up our rental car (that is a whole other story), attend the egg game, have dinner, and then do some final packing for a new adventure that we will head out on Saturday morning.

But it’s nice that they have extended the shade cover further back.

We have had such a good time, and I sure hope our friends have as well!

Until next time …

A Little Of This, A Little Of That

We had a mixed bag this past week with lots of fun and some really sad news.

Let’s start with the sad news. At the end of November I wrote about a blogger friend who found out he had Cancer and sadly this past week his battle ended and he moved on to his next adventure. George Yates, who wrote the blog Our Awesome Adventures, always had a smile on his face and a positive outlook on life. He wrote loving of his wife Suzie and his children and grandchildren. George would walk early in the morning like I do and I often think of him when I am out walking. It is hard to believe that such a happy, positive man is gone so soon.

Rest in peace George, you are gone to soon but will be love and missed by so many.

After we built Momma Shed here at Cocopah a few years ago we thought we might add a small outdoor kitchen … mainly because we were missing the outdoor kitchen from our old house.

I also wanted somewhere to store our generator, propane fireplace, and extra leveling pads that sit under the back of Maxx and I think look junky. Of course that meant another project for hubby but, fortunately for me, he was up to the challenge and thus the outdoor kitchen came to be.

The counter along the back will be a space for serving and the angle counter to the right will hold our little Webber BBQ.

The picture above shows the dry fit for our Mexican sink, cause an outdoor kitchen needs a sink with running water … and an outdoor kitchen in the south needs a Mexican sink 😀

In the midst of our building frenzy we took time out to attend the Cocopah Horse Races where we had a fun time and walked away $10.00 ahead!

By Friday afternoon hubby had most of the outdoor kitchen complete and I think it looks great … and it has already hosted a few happy hours.

We spent Friday, Saturday and today with friends from home who came to visit us. We had a great time and lots of visits which included margaritas in Algodones today and a steak with fresh shrimp dinner tonight. It was so much fun to share our life here with our good friends!

We have lots going on this week and more friends from home arriving next week … life just keeps getting better.

Until next time …

Our First Winter Visit To Algodones

We made our first visit this winter to Algodones with our Kelowna/Yuma/Agdodones friends. Last winter we found out that Sunday’s are a good day to visit as most of the dental and optical places are closed so the crowds are not there.

And yesterday was no exception 🙂 While the hubby of our friend couple went for a hair cut, hubby, myself, and friend wifey wandered around town. We really weren’t looking for anything in particular but hubby and I did want to visit a large ceramic store we found last year.

Hubby led us off in the direction he though we should go and while we didn’t find the store we did find an awesome car show! Okay awesome for hubby not so awesome for friend wifey and myself but we plastered smiles on our face and pretended to be enthused 😀

It was interesting to see the outskirts of Algodones which we have never visited before, we ended up in areas were locals hung out instead of the tourist area … and just so you know we felt totally safe.

Behind these bike is the town square were children were playing.

After wandering around, and never finding the shop we were looking for, we head back to El Paraiso to meet up with friend hubby and have a margarita. After lunch at what I call the Yellow Plaza (sorry no pic this time), we did a little more shopping … and maybe had another margarita … and then head back across the border.

Outside the shop area we came across gas stations and motels.

Sundays are a great day to go, especially early in the season as we walked right up to customs and were through in no time!

We saw this motorcycle, made out of the fender of a VW, drive down the street.

These table were set up down the alley of the car show. They were so fancy I thought they were set up for a wedding.

I was chosen for a special screening when we crossed … and had just enough margaritas to think this was truly a good thing … but it didn’t amount to anything 😦 I was escorted into a separate section, asked what I had purchased, and after I responded that I had only bought two bottles of vanilla I was quickly sent on my way.

Until next time …

Puerto Morelos, Mexico

We are enjoying an awesome week at Ocean Turquesa in Puerto Morelos, Mexico. The purpose of our trip to this all inclusive resort is to attend our youngest son’s wedding on Sunday and we have had a great time visiting with our family and really getting to know our soon to be daughter-in-laws family 🙂  The resort is great, the weather has been perfect, the company and events are entertaining, and I really can’t wait for the big day but today we decided to take a trip into the village of Puerto Morelos with my sister and brother-in-law.

Puerto Morelos is on the Riviera Maya, just 25 minutes (18 km / 11 miles) south of the Cancun International Airport.  The town maintains its charm and magic with a low-key atmosphere and very friendly locals. There are about three blocks of businesses, which include a few restaurants, many souvenir stores, and a beautiful beach area. The great Maya reef is located 500m off the shore and there is no shortage of entrepreneurs offering snorkelling or deep sea fishing excursions. The taxi ride from our resort was $20 USD to town and $17 USD back to the resort.

We spent our two hours in this village wandering through the shops and taking in the sights along the beach.

Town centre

One of the shopping blocks

Awesome Sand Sculptures

I loved this wishing well made out of sand ☺

Wow! That’s talent!!

I was pretty sure the reason this Lighthouse was leaning was because of a hurricane and when I checked Google later I came across this story “Once upon a time there was a lighthouse in a small village surrounded by a beautiful flower bed at the base, and that lighthouse lit the night and brought many a sailor to safety. Then, a hurricane hit and caused erosion which had an effect so strong on the lighthouse that it began to lean. Although a plan was set into motion to remove the lighthouse, locals decided to keep it and promote it as their own leaning tower.”

Before we headed back to our resort we enjoyed some time, people (and flower) watching in the town square 🙂

Until next time …

Algodones, Baja California … Mexico

Yesterday we made a final trip to Algodones … partly because we needed more cold sore and allergy medication and hubby need another new wallet because he gave the wallet he purchased last December in Algodones to our son when we where home at Christmas … but mostly because it is fun to see the trinkets, watch people, and sit in the courtyard and drink Margaritas 🙂

Every time we visit we are totally entertained by the shopkeepers and yesterday we heard two great lines that kept us laughing for the day 🙂

We were walking through a shop and I told the shopkeeper “I’m just looking” she responded “That’s okay I’m just selling” … I almost bought something because she made me laugh … almost, I restrained myself but if I ever need what she is selling I will buy it from that shop in the future!

We where sitting in the courtyard having lunch and I was admiring the metal art and wishing I had somewhere to hang it. I have found so many things that would have been an awesome addition to our outdoor kitchen before we sold our house!

While we are eating lunch a fellow was holding up his metal art and trying to sell it and when he approached me I told him it is beautiful but I have nowhere to hang it … “Nowhere” he says “Nowhere” I respond … he quickly responds “We do construction work on the side”! Seriously how can you not want to buy stuff from him!

Do you remember the blog I wrote a few weeks ago about looking at Algondones from the US side? Well yesterday we where lined up at the border shortly after 1:00 p.m. and the line was the longest we have ever seen.

We joined the line right next to the border fence … I could have ducked around the fence and easily walked back to our RV Park (I bet it would have taken me fifteen minutes at the most)!

But I was pretty sure if I did that you would be watching me on the next episode of Border Wars so I restrained myself 🙂  We did pass a very enjoyable hour of waiting in line talking to a fellow from a small town in Washington that is close to the Canadian border so I’m glad I didn’t make a run for it!

Until next time …

Algodones, Mexico

Yesterday we made a trip down to Algodones, Mexico which is only twenty minutes from our RV Park. The only reason we went was so that I could get new lenses, to replace the scratch ones, in my glasses. The total cost was $35.00 and my share of my extended health at home would have come to more than that!

We also purchased a bottle of tequila because we really liked the etched glass bottle and a red ceramic lizard, which our youngest grandson had requested. It wasn’t easy to find a red lizard but he was insistent that it had to be red so we persevered and finally found one:-)

I also came back with two fold-up poinsettias to decorate the screen in front of Maxx. They were only $8.00 for the two of them and they fold up really small so they are easy to pack away for next year.

Until next time …