Bahia San Luis Gonzaga

Continuing the days drive ~ Gonzaga Bay is not the most difficult place to get to in Baja, but it is certainly not anywhere near the top of the easiest places to get to. It was the first gravel road in Mexico that we traveled on. Apparently the road situation will be changing soon (that is a "Baja" soon meaning it may be quite a while) as the road from San Felipe is being paved all the way into Gonzaga. We did witness them actually working on it which was a good sign.
lol
We had our first "llantera" visit when Tod discovered his tire had a slow leak.

They quickly discovered the culprit......yikes!

Lucky for us, that tire shop was right next to our camping spot for the night. We had finally made it one of the most perfect beaches ~ a serene, beautiful, remote Bahia treasure: Bahia San Luis Gonzaga!

Apparently this is one of those destinations that is to be considered part of the "real Baja" where you hear mostly the sounds of small waves washing ashore. The star gazing at night is some of the best in the world which we later found out was true.

We camped out in this sheltered palapa. We were happy to have it, as the wind picked up at times and spit sand everywhere. Luckily, the weather improved later in the evening so we could enjoy dinner and the night sky :)

Audrey, who may have been more eager than me, quickly put her feet in the water. We made some nice strolls along the beach that night. It was perfect after a long day of driving........
I took photos and left foot prints  ;)
The foot prints were erased pretty quickly with the next wave........

There were many cool kinds of shells on the beach......

Audrey and I goofin' around.......

This is one of the better scenery photos of Gonzaga Bay:

Here is an example of a "crowd" on this beach..........

Haha!

Back at the palapa, we had a good laugh about one of Roberts vehicle accessories.
This is the Bumper Dumper.......

Can you see it? 

It attaches to your hitch! What an invention and you never know when it may come in handy, especially in Mexico! Plus, you know it's tough because it's made in the USA :)
Just so you know, no one got sick on this trip and I don't think anyone got to use it.
lol

Leave it to my husband to fashionably model it for us :) Haha

Isn't this one of most beautiful camping spots you've ever seen?

Simply wonderful!

Bryan and Dani went looking for reptiles that night. Unfortunately they didn't find any snakes, but they saw over a dozen scorpions under black light......

The next morning we discovered some tiny visitors on the beach.......

The first of many sea critters we'd view in and around the water on this trip.
We were burning daylight, we had another long drive to our next destination........

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..........

Back on American Soil

We are back from Mexico! We had a memorable, fabulous vacation. I'll post photos later.

In the meantime, enjoy these photos of our adorable neighbors on Snake Valley soil..............

Preschool

Ava's last day of school was yesterday. I can hardly believe it. But, we are all excited for the freedom and fun of summer! I thought I better take some more preschool photos before they too are dismissed for the season. So, here are the cute kiddos with fabulous teacher Gwendy in the school yard:

Grandpa and Grandma Hamilton have arrived in Baker! We are grateful they made the trip from Ohio to stay with us. Bryan, my sister Audrey, and I are going to start out the summer with a good vacation ~ Baja here we come! We leave early in the morning. So excited to put my toes in the sand! Audrey will have to enjoy all my margarita's :)
I won't be blogging for over a week. Hope you all have a great week!