Pictures

Mount Shasta, California



My first In and Out Burger



Steve thought we needed some money, so he got a job there.



We had to stop in San Diego and pick up a GPS tracker for Steves Race in the Baja 1000. This was the view from the driveway of this home



This was the first place we stayed in Mexico, in Encinada, absolutely beautiful!



The view from my balcony in Encinada



The following are random pictures in no particular order







Look in the back ground, the cloud looks like a ship



I will post more and more as time permits

UH OH!

Hi all,

Well, we made it to LAX...a little bit later than we should have but all we had to do was get off the plane, go through customs, recheck my bag and get back on the same plane. No problem!

We do all that and then get to gate and we're told.. oh.. uhh that plane just left. WHAT!??? It left??? But they knew we were getting back on! Why didn't they wait? Well we can put you up in a hotel for the night and put you on the 6:15 am flight tomorrow. WAAAAA I want to go home. I'm tired, I'm burned and I miss everything and everyone... OH well. I can now say I've been to LA.

Tasha, my daughter, told me that I shouldn't have tried to smuggle mangos into the country in my bra no matter how nice they looked in there. She's a funny one. Once she found out we were stuck in LA, she suggested we go hang out with Paris Hilton. We couldn't find her at the MacDonalds here at the lovely Holliday Inn which is completely covered in scaffolding because it's under construction. I don't really care... I'm just going to crawl into bed and sleep until... oh.. yeah.. ummm like 4am haha Had I smuggled Mangos into the country in my bra... that would have made for a much better story.

Oh and the BEST news of all is, my bag made it on the plane... and it made it to portland. Keep in mind it has All of my gifts and liquor in it and other unimportant items like... deoderant, lotion, medications, toothbrush... but it's all good.

I'm so tired that I don't even know what to write.
I should be home around 8ish in the morning. That will work out just fine.
But my liquor and gift had better be in my bag!

Good night all

Monday 9-29-08

Hello!

I fly home today. It's time. It's been a wild ride and I loved every minute of it. Ok.. so I didn't care much for the humidity. The heat is ok.. the humidity sucks. My hair is a curly mess. It gets so curly when I'm in Mexico.

Today I'm off by myself to explore. I'm looking forward to that. My Sister and Steve are off on a "Gig" at a resort. Meaning, they are going to go to a time share for $400.00 us to tour the time share. My sister is a prefessional at this and gets out of it every time. Oh they are mad.. but she always gets what she's promised. She's teaching Steve today how to do it. I can't stand it. Makes me too uncomfortable, so I opted not to go. Not even for the free breaksfast.

Last night we went to dinner at a place called Munchkins. Oh my goodness the food was good! You can get an entire slab of pork ribs, corn on the cob and the most wonderful coleslaw.. oh. and it's all you can eat on the ribs for $13.00!! Lord those were tastey. I had the Quesedilla. Not like at home. These are like soft tacos and so delicous and those were 9.00 bucks. T-bone steak is 13.00 as well. Odd on the prices. Chicken costs more than beef or pork.

We then went to this "Saloon". My Sister and Allen are friends with the owner Mike....American who lives here now..obviously. He took a shine to me and wanted to take me out last night... I found him offensive and disgusting. I was told that I should have gone out with him, he would have treated me well and he's loaded with cash and he's a great person to network with if I wanted to live down here. Well I don't want to live down here and I don't care how much money he has... he was a pig. :-) Needless to say... I didn't go with him. We, instead, came back to their place and sat out on the beach. Some guy walked by smoking a cuban cigar and told us where to buy them. Thats on the agenda today. (Steve needs them for a friend of his)
We ended up sitting on the beach until 1AM. It sure didn't seem like it was that late.

Not much went on yesterday other than what I already blogged about.
The view from their balcony is FABULOUS! A picture doesn't do it justice. It needs to be a panoramic lens which I don't have.

Thanks to those of you who have followed this blog. I apologize that there are no pictures. I will have to upload them when I get home. I was limited by my 256 meg card on my camera. We were flying through the baja at 100 miles an hour trying to get here as quickly as possible. I wasn't able to get many pictures. That drive could have easiy taken 7 days if we stopped for photos. My goodness the beauty I've seen. Awesome! It was frustrating me that I couldn't really capture on film the awesome beauty I've seen. What the camera captures is crap!

If all goes well, I will be landing in Portland tonight around 11:00 PM. My daughter will pick us up. I'm just worn out..in a good way. I'm glad I have tomorrow off to recouperate. hehe

Bye Amigos and Amigas!

Sunday 9-28-08

Hola!

We made it to Mazatlan! What a ride! Finally got the car fixed. It was a problem with the fuel relay in the crank case? We ended up just bi-passing it with a wire to the battery. We were on the road again. The mechanico worked on the car all day! He only charged us 30.00...THIRTY! We gave him 100.00 America. He was happy.

Got as far as Santa Rosalia and it quit working again. DOH! Santa Rosalia is like a border town... a little sketchy. We managed to limp it down to Ponchos Auto parts and get a fuse to put in and pull out to make it work. We drove as far as Loreto and stayed the night there.

Off we were again carro is still running o..this is very good o. We drove to Todo Santos where Hotel California is. BEAUTIFUL! We stopped for some dinner and damn! Flat tire. So we found a tire place just up the road, gimped the car up there. He pulled out a 3 inch kotter key from the tire. Took it off the rim, patched it, put it back on all is well. How much Senior? 1.50 A DOLLAR and FIFTY CENTS??? Good gravy! He got 5.00.
Met some kids on motor cycles. Steve was happy as one of them had a bike like he has that he uses to race the Baja races with. They talked for a bit and he gave them steeekers. They like steeekers here. (Stickers) So..once again we were on our way.

Off we were again to Cabo San Lucas. Honestly... I didn't care much for it. Drove by Cabo Wabo, drove around town a bit and then went out of town to the Hotel area near the air port so that we didn't have to pay a fortune for a cab ride. Got an all inclusive room at Best Western around 8:00 PM. Steve called the guy to come get the car...ahhhhh we were done with that! OY. So glad to see it go. Oh hey... all inclusive means you can drink as much as you want. And they constanty refil your drink. BIG MISTAKE! Eydie had a few too many Mai Tais. I think Steve had a few too many Margis too. Met a guy named Mark from Denver. He was fullo crapo with the stories he was telling. But it was interesting. I got into bed around midnight... got up at 4:30 to get ready. OY! Hang over. Not good. 4 hours sleep and too many mai tai's.
We packed up and grabbed a cab... oh man... we have to go clear back to Cabo to go to the smallest air port in the world... 50.00 america cab ride. OUCH! We flew from Cabo to Mazatlan on a cessna that holds about 10 people. It was so small that I had a hard time folding myself in 1/2 to get to my seat. It was pretty cool though.
We landed in Mazatlan at 8:15 yesterday morning. My bags were too heavy so there was a charge of 12.00 and they didnt' take Visa, or $1oo.00 bills. So they held our bag for ransom. Paid the fee and we were off.
Bonnie and Allen gave us a quick tour of the town...very nice. We went to breakfast in a really neat cafe. and then headed off to their place. It's very cute and when she said it's on the beach... well the waves at high tide actually hit the wall of the building. I went body surfing in the waves. MAN Is that fun! I ended up sunburned of course. ouchies. Chica blanco should have been more careful.
I bought a hat and a really neat woven wine bottle holder from the beach vendors. That's always fun to do.
Today, we are off to the farmers market / swap meet. I saw a beautiful lightening storm this morning.

I am so ready to come home. It's very hot and very humid. I miss home, I miss my doggies, I miss my friends and I ....sadly....miss work.

So, we fly out tomorrow evening around 5pm. I'll be home around 11 pm Monday night. I still need to figure out a ride from the air port. :-)

Adios amigos!

Thursday 9-25-08

We made it to our destination San Ignacio around 8:00 pm to Rice and Beans where we had the worlds best margaritas and some delicious dinner. Those margs are awesome I will have to confess! I drank one and felt it...thought I´d have another. I made it through half....whoa!! very very good...sneak up on you. We got some sleep...I woke up around 6am of course.... went into the bathroom and there was the worlds biggest bug in the sink!! I took pictures of it...not sure what it is but it made my skin crawl!

We got packed and had a cup of coffee. The plan was to leave early for Cabo... I say the plan WAS to leave early. Turned the key and rrrr...rrrr....rrrrr....rrrrr damn! It won´t start. So here we sit at Rice and Beans waiting for the mechanico. I have to say... it could be worse. Could be waiting for the mechanico along side the road somewhere in the middle of no where. At least here...its beautiful and tropical.

I saw a lot of neat sites yesterday... this one area FULL of nothing but these giant rocks everywhere. I have many pictures, but will not be able to up load them until I get to Mazatlan. when ever that may be at t his point.

All is well... still enjoying myself and we are safe.

Jenna....only two people? Gosh.

Bye for now

Wednesday 9-24-2008

HOLA!!

We crossed the border at Tecate and went right through the check point. I was a little scared, but they didn't even give us a second look. We passed on through and I said... FRICKEN SWEET!! It was another hour drive to our destination.....Ensenada.

Steve was going to take us to this taco stand that has fabulous tacos, but they were closed...shut down it looks like. Bummer. We then went to plan B, which was this place called Mahi Mahi. A we bit expensive and the food was ok.

We stayed in a very beautiful place called Los Rosas. I took some pictures of my view from the 4th floor, but it's difficult to get the pure beauty on film. It's right on the ocean. They have an infinity swimming pool and a wonderful huge hot tub. Not very many people were there, so that was kinda nice too. Had everything to ourselves. I did get into the hot tub with a margarita! I fell asleep listening to the waves hit the shore. Ahhhhhhh

We are now in an internet cafe call La Web. Todays destination is San Ignacios where, apparently, they have the "Worlds best margaritas" (According to Steve)
I guess we will be traveling through the "Middle of no where" to get there.

We seem to be more than on schedule at this point. Should hit Cabo tomorrow. There was another slight change in travel plans. The cost to take the ferry or fly was about the same once you figure in taxi or bus to the ferry. Taxi to the bus... 6 hour bus ride to Mazatlan. OR....we fly for 142.00 and we are there by 8:00 AM Friday Morning. I've already bought the tickets on Aerocalifia airlines. So that will be nice. I will get to spend all day Friday, Saturday, Sunday and most of Monday with my Sister in Mazatlan.

I will probably update either tomorrow....for sure Thursday.

I'm doing very well, enjoying these sites and am looking forward to seeing so much more.

Bye for now!!

FYI - I keep adding more to todays post.

Tuesday 09.23.08

We stopped in Stockton, or as I like to refer to it as "Stinkton" Man this place smells bad! Got in around 10pm, got a room, and fell into bed. I was tired!

I woke up around 4 AM and convinced myself I was crazy for being awake so early. So I went back to sleep about 100 times and gave it up at 6. We hit the road around 7AM.
Todays destination - Ensinada Mexico!

I have been almost child like in the things I have seen...eyes full of wonder. Lake Shasta was nearly empty. We went through a town called Weed. I wanted to get a picture of the sign that said "Weed, 3 miles" just cracked me up... as I'm sure it does a lot of people.
We're mostly just driving driving driving and not stopping much. Which is sort of a bummer for me, but I also want to get there as quickly as possible. So, it's all good.

I have done about 1/2 the driving, it sure didn't seem like we are on the road that many hours. It took us around 13 hours to get from Vancouver to "Stinkton" :-)

I'm intrigued about going through Tijuana...I'm guessing we aren't going to stop. lol I do have some concerns about going across the border. We have 2 HUGE big screen TV's in the back. No registration for the vehicle. It should be interesting. Anyone willing to fly down with some bail money? haha

This will be my last post until Cabo I'm sure. We can't use the laptop in Mexico, it's too expensive for the cell modem use. Maybe in Encinada they will have some sort of internet service. If not, I'll catch up in Cabo. I'm sure I'll have some pictures by then.

Hope everyone is doing well. I'm having a great time and seeing a lot of new things.

Bye for now.
Eydie

================MORE============
It's 10:46 AM and we are nearing LA. It's 80 wonderful degrees! This piece of I-5 reminds me of Eastern Oregon or Washington. Long...flat.. brown... boring. Tasha asked me if we were going to stop in LA... I told her no. She said that we should so I can have an affair with a-list actor and make it big! Hmmm it's a thought.
I've just had my first In / Out burger. It was quite good.. that was breakfast. lol.
well... that's about it for now. I'm getting bored. Can you tell? :-)
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More 2:15 PM
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Well we just made it through LA! I drove through it.. I was unimpressed with what I saw... Of course I didn't get to see much since I was driving.. I had different expectations of what I would see though. I was, however, in Complete AWE over Magic Mountain and I wanted to stop so bad! It was the coolest thing I've seen so far. We are dropping down into San Diego..well 44 more miles and Steve promised we could stop for picture opportunities once we hit the coast. I'm sure it will be beautiful.

Ok.. I don't know where were are right now.. Maybe San Clemente? This is a pretty neat looking place. I'm a passenger now so I am typing and looking around and scribing as I'm going so forgive me if this is chattery (Yes that's a word cuz I said so) wow.. so many houses all built into the hill sides.. pretty neat!

WOW!! The ocean! this is AWESOME!!! I can see a ship in the horizon even though it's a little hazy. Keep in mind, I've never been anywhere and this is all new to me. My only knowledge of California is what's on TV

Things just got kinda ugly lookin again...I guess I'll snack on some delicious hostess donuts.
Mmm.. tasty and messy!

Camp Pendleton USMC: Seeing humvees all over... choppers hovering over the water..a big ship. Pretty cool. My brother in law..James would like this part. :-)

HAHA! There are road signs that show border jumpers running across the road. Too funny!

This is getting long. I don't know who all is reading this.. but I'm enjoying the updates. Post more later.

On The Road!

We left Vancouver around 9:00 AM. We're going to stop.....somewhere... and get some breakfast and then hit the long drive. I'm so giddy!
Driving down 205 with laptop on my lap..this is cool. Listening to Santana "Winning" on the Sirius radio. cool... This is a 2001 Durrango...pretty sweet ride! Full of brand new stuff for the person who's buying this thing. Big screen tv, maybe 2 of them. This thing is packed to the roof with electronics.... interesting... :-)
Well... that's about it for now... I don't have much more to say... I'll post more later.
Sorry Jenna...I'm not the word wizzard you are. lol

~Eydie

ITINERARY

Monday, September 22, 2008:
Leaving Vancouver in a Durrango that has been sold to someone in Cabo.
An approximate 3 day excursion.


Wednesday...ish, September 24th, 2008:
Arrive in Cabo, drop off the Durrango and immediately grab a bus to La Paz (2 hour ride)
Ooops...change of plans:
As it turns out, the Ferry from La Paz to Mazatlan isn't running 9-22 through 9-30. So now we will need to go from La Paz to Topolobampo (15:30 ride)
Take a bus from Topolobampo to Mazatlan (4 hour ride)

We hope to be there Thursday evening or Friday Morning.

We will be staying with my sister who lives in Mazatlan until Monday the 29.

Monday September 29, 2008:
Flight from Mazatlan to Portland Oregon.
September 29 2008
Alaska Airlines 249
Depart: Mazatlan, MX at 5:05 PM
Arrive: Portland, OR at 11:07 PM

For Blogging:
I will have cell modem computer access until we hit the border. After that it will be hit and miss at internet cafes. Until I get to Mazatlan.

See you all on October 1st, barring any arrests. hehehe