Bahia San Felipe

You know it's the busy season when it's been almost a month since I've touched this blog. I appologize :)
Back to it! Now, to catch you up.........

We had the opportunity to go with a group of people to Bahia, Mexico at the end of May. Since we drove, we covered a lot of miles. Too much driving in my opinion, but we saw some amazing scenery. It was a great learning experience and we got to see a great part of the Bahia peninsula, both on the gulf and pacific side. Now, when we go back we know exactly where we are going to stay and what to do while we are there.

We had four vehicles caravanning through Mexico ~ on roads of many conditions. The El Centro Border Crossing Station wasn't nearly as busy as the other locations in Mexico. The guards pretty much waved at us going through. Guess they were happy that tourists were going in to spend money ;)
There was a great deal of traffic trying to leave Mexico as we passed by.

One thing I learned on this trip (besides the fact that I desperately need to work on my Spanish) is that in between every beautiful beach ~ there is a harsh, amazing desert.

Our first group photo:
Myself, Tod, Amy, Bryan, Dani, Robert, Audrey, Sylvia, and Bob.........
:)

The landscape changed like Great Basin weather. There were continuous changes of various cacti, bushes, and trees.
We stopped at San Felipe and enjoyed fish tacos. I didn't get any photos because we wanted to press on to our destination. Just outside of San Felipe was this small tourist attraction: Valle De Los Gigantes (Valley of the Giants). 
It was a little pricey to get in. But, we were interested in seeing these monster cacti. I'm happy we did, because they really were the largest Cardons (also known as Gigantic Sahuaros) that we'd seen on that whole trip. Many of these cacti will live more than 2000 years!

Look how small we appear next to this giant!

These cacti of course provide food & shelter for many critters in the desert.........

Interestingly enough, the Cardon will produce some 40 million seeds during its life but is possible that from all of these only one will survive and arrive to its maturity! 

It was as hot as a Mexican desert walking around through that sand!
;)

The scenery, as we made our way towards that night's destination (Ganzaga), became more & more beautiful. Looking at that big, blue water just made me more excited to dip my feet in it........

The best part about it too was the fact that there were no crowds  :)
After taking a break, we all climbed back into our trucks and trekked on..........