Doug's RV Travels

Dec 18 - Tecate

2011-12-18T20:39:00.000-08:00

To-day is our final day in Mexico. We crossed the border at Tecate which was experiencing a much longer border line-up than usual due to some lines being closed at the Tijuana border crossing.

This line went up this hill and then just as long down the other side.

This is a section of the border fence between Mexico and the USA.

Dec 17 - Valley de Guadalupe

2011-12-18T20:33:00.000-08:00

Today we visited and had a tour of the LA Cetto Winery.

We stayed at the Rancho Sordo Mudo campsite which is operated by the people who run a school for the deaf children in Mexico.

Dec 16 - Vicente Guerrero

2011-12-18T20:26:00.000-08:00

Our tour is coming to a close. Today we travelled to Vicente Guerrero and went out to the Baja Fiesta Restaurant for our final group dinner together.

Roadside stop-over

Flowers which bloomed after the rainfall

Baja Amigos at Baja Fiesta Restaurant

Dec 15 - Catavina

2011-12-16T20:06:00.000-08:00

Catavina is the only campsite that we stayed at both directions. We stayed at the Rancho Santa Inez. This time we visited some of the local cave paintings (over 7000 years old).

Dec 11 - 14 Bahia de los Angeles

2011-12-16T19:59:00.000-08:00

Another beautiful beach for a few days. The weather was very variable. We had wind from many directions, rain and some sun. Apparantly it had not rained for 7 years. We did get a chance to go fishing one day. Here are some pictures.

Island painted with bird droppings

Just some of the catch

Here are a few pictures of the campsite and beach.

Part of our variable weather.

Dec 10 - Guerrero Negro

2011-12-16T16:46:00.000-08:00

On our way to Guerro Negro we stopped at a beach side malacon.

When we left Guerrero Negro in the morning it was into a bank of fog.

Dec 7 - 9 - Mulege

2011-12-16T16:40:00.000-08:00

Have not had internet for a while so I am a little behind.

We did laundry, shopped and saw many sights in Mulege. One of which was the Mission Santa Rosalia de Mulege.

Mulege is located in a palm tree oasis. Both Fan and Date palms were planted by the missionaries and they flouished very well.

An old very famous hotel "Loma Linda" visited by many movie stars and other notables lies in ruins and neglect.

The highlight of our visit was our dinner out at "Ray's Place" which started with a tray of Oysters Rockerfeller and then each group of 4 shared a gigantic seafood platter.

Of course washed down with Cervasa's, Wine or Margaretta's

Dec 3 - 6 - Playa Juncalito

2011-12-07T14:19:00.001-08:00

Playa Juncalito is a beach camping area 25 km south of Loreto. We camped on the beach, tried to go fishing but the water was too rough, went on an adventure hike and saw lots of local birds.

Beach after the winds came up

Our campsite near the beach and with views of the mountains and palm trees

Pelicans lining up to fight over our unused bait after the cancelled fishing trip

Doug emerging from the chimney on our hike

Oracle feeding on Oranges

Cardinal doing the same

Nov 30 - Dec 2 - La Paz

2011-12-02T20:18:00.001-08:00

La Paz is the capital city of Baja California Sur. It has a very pleasant malecon (waterside walking path).

Interesting shops.

Dried Chilli's anyone

Unique graveyard

And good food and entertainment.

Nov 28 - 29 - Pescadero / Todos Santos

2011-12-01T08:28:00.001-08:00

We stayed in a brand new RV park, not yet completed in Pescadero (a fishing village). Near was the Blanket Factory.

A view of the beach at Pescadero

We had dinner at a backyard kitchen in Pescadero

We took a excursion into Todos Santos (which means all saints) and saw the original Hotel California.

Back at the campsite we watched many surfers including some from Tofino and went boogy boarding ourselves.

Sunset from the campsite

Nov 24 - 27 Cabo San Lucas

2011-11-27T19:42:00.001-08:00

Four very busy days in Cabo. Our first views of the harbor area.

We dropped into a glass blowing shop and saw vases and fish being made.

A visit was made to what was announced as the "stuff store" and what a collection they had. This is only a small part of it.

We made a day trip to San Jose Del Cabo a much smaller and more enjoyable town. Here is a view of some of the beach.

Our last day was spent on the Playa Santa Maria where we swam, snorkled and walked the beach.

Dinner was in a resturant at our RV park where we watched the Grey-Cup.

Nov 22 - 23 Rancho Verde

2011-11-25T06:15:00.001-08:00

We stayed inland in the ranchland at Rancho Verde where in addition to a working ranch is an RV park and several 1 acre lots which are available for lease. Some people have built semi-permanent private RV spots on these lots and others have built small homes for extended stays.

Upon leaving Rancho Verde we went through a nice small town Los Barriles.

Before arriving in Cabo we crossed the Tropic of Cancer which has this marker.

Nov 18 - 21 Tecollote

2011-11-22T17:58:00.001-08:00

Tecolote is a beach about 30 km from La Paz.

We went into La Paz and caught the Revolution Parade. Lasted over 3 hours. La Paz is approximately the size of Surrey.

Nov 17 Ciudad Constitution

2011-11-17T19:11:00.001-08:00

Another warm day (26-30 degrees C). We were toasted at a Margarita Happy Hour. Everyone had a good time.

The drinks and snacks were great!

Nov 14 -16 Loreto

2011-11-16T18:30:00.001-08:00

Three days in the clean little town of Loreto. Had a chance to do some shopping and relaxing. The sheltered harbour holds many fishing boats which get covered with pelicans.

We were hosted to an excellent Fiesta Night at the home of friends of the wagon-masters. We had an excellent meal complete with margaritta's/wine and mariachi players.

Today we travelled 23 km up a very winding but paved road then 9 km of rough gravel to get to the Mision San Francisco Javier finished in 1759. This mission is considered the "jewel of the Baja California mission churches".

We stopped on the way back for lunch at Del Borracho a western style pub and had a great meal. After the meal some of the party decided to try the 3 saddle seats and were promptly served shooters in a boot like glass.

Nov 10 - 13 Playa Santispac

2011-11-15T14:04:00.001-08:00

Four days of boondocking on a wonderful beach in the Bahia Conception on the Sea of Cortez.

Dan Relaxing

Pellican

View of Sea of Cortez and Hikers at the Singing Rocks Hike at El Burro!

Nov 9 San Ignacio

2011-11-09T20:01:00.000-08:00

San Ignacio is a date palm oasis. These are some of the dates.

Here they are being taken off the vine.

The men on the caravan.

After an great day we had dinner at Rice & Beans with fantastic Margareta's.

Nov 8 Guerrero Negro

2011-11-09T19:53:00.000-08:00

Camped in a town tonight. Had fish tacos for lunch and an enjoyable dinner later.

Nov 7 Catavina

2011-11-09T19:49:00.000-08:00

Heading inland we camp among fabulous bolders and cactus. On the way we stopped at an Onyx craft shop.

Nov 5 & 6 Lazaro Gardenas

2011-11-09T19:34:00.000-08:00

Camping on the Beach. Great weather although cool winds and at night.

Nov 4 Sights of Ensenada

2011-11-04T21:46:00.000-07:00

This post covers some of the sights we visited in Ensenada. The first visit was to La Bufadora (a blow hole) which blows up from the sea.

We also visited the Riviera Hotel Playa Ensenada, an elgant hotel and gambling casino that opened in 1930 and which is now a Cultural Centre

We also visited the John Hussong Bar (the oldest cantina, opened in 1892) and is where the Margarita was invented.

Nov 3 Potreo - Punta Banda (Ensenada)

2011-11-04T20:50:00.000-07:00

This morning is the start of the adventure! Leaving Potrero we travelled the short distance to Tecate where we crossed the border. We had travelled down yesterday by van to get our travel permits validated so the crossing was fairly straight forward. We then had our first experience with driving the mexican highways. So far so good they were better than expected. The pictures show us together on the highway and then the entrance to the campsite.

Baja Amigos Caravan - Nov 2 - Potrero

2011-11-04T20:31:00.000-07:00

Today we met up with the group on the caravan at Potrero Regional Park. Besides the wagonmaster and his wife there is us along with 4 other couples. One of the couples are returns from last years caravan and are acting as tail gunners till they get to a spot that they really liked and then will drop off on there own. The pictures show our rig and a surrounding view of the campsite.

Canadian Thanksgiving 2011

2011-10-17T22:08:00.000-07:00

We were invited to spend the weekend at Carlson's cabin at Lac LaHache. We took our trailer and Michael and Nicole with us. They stayed in the cabin along with Debbie and Dan. Jessie stayed in the trailer on site.

Since this is close to the end of the season, everybody helped to row the dock into a safe harbour for protection from the winter storms. Afterwards we enjoyed a short paddle on the lake in their kayaks.

RVOABC Fall Rally

2011-10-17T21:37:00.000-07:00

I know this was a while ago but we attended the 2011 Fall Rally of the RVOABC at the new Holiday Trails RV Park at Sunshine Valley between Hope and Manning Park. Along with the usual rally events Jan, Maxine, Helen and I went for a walk from the campsite to the Hope slide lookout.

We had great weather for the weekend of Sept 9 - 11 and made use of the RV Parks pools and hot tubs.

RMOC Summer Camp

2011-08-29T21:10:00.000-07:00

We just returned from the Ridge Meadows Outdoor Club's Summer Camp in Manning Park at the Lone Duck Group Campground. We had 5 days of excellant hiking and with our very late summer this year, it turned out to be the perfect time for the alpine flowers. We hiked to Windy Joe, the Heather trail to the 1st Brother and also Skyline1. This was our first longer session of boondocking and although we managed by limiting our use of battery power, the trailer slide was a little slow going in.

2011 RV Owners Lifestyle Seminar

2011-06-26T11:29:00.000-07:00

Our first week long RV Trip this year!

We took a few days to get to the seminar, staying at Lightning Lakes in Manning Park (where there was still snow in the campsite), Ossoyos, Okanagan Lake Provincial Park, and Apple Orchard RV Park in Kelowna. The weather has been great since we got to the Okanagan. Nice to have some heat after our cold spring.

The seminar runs from Friday June 24th to Monday June 27th. So far we have been to several very interesting presentations. They have them on almost everything you could think about RV'ing.

My sister Dianne and husband Brian have joined us here for the seminar.

We visited with my cousin Robbie and Richard which we hadn't seen for a few years, last night.