It's Hammer Time

The Drive to Mexico


After a lot of detailed research (ie one lecture, the purchasing of a book we didn’t read, and some googling) we were ready to head down south. We had a vague plan, and an idea of where we were headed. We knew that we wanted to go to the beach, where we could relax, fish, and learn to surf. And that we’d go south…

That is actually easily accomplished in Baja, as there is really only one major highway, and it goes from the border to Los Cabos.  We’d planned to take that highway, and stop when we got tired, or when the beach looked good. But after some more research (IE Google) we found a tour that looked helpful.  It was a quick trip from the border, down to Los Barriles, in only five days. Other tours we’d looked into took a lot longer, and we weren't really interesting in making so many stops. The “Hammer Down” tour from Baja Winters looked perfect for us, and luckily had a spot available. 

A few days before we were set to leave from San Diego, the lovely John and Becky from Baja Winters met us for lunch, and then took us to the Mexican border in Otay Mesa to get our travel visas. We parked on the US side, and walked over to Mexico. We were able to sort out our paperwork very quickly. Once we were allowed to cross the border we had to go into a bank to pay for the visa, and then go back into the office to show them the receipt, and that was basically it. Then we had to walk across the lanes of traffic to the US side, where we had to wait for a couple hours. Luckily we crossed back in to the US with no trouble. All that was left for our trip was to do our last minute shopping and try to repack our messy trailer. 

The Itinerary
Nov 18: San Diego to El Pabellon
Nov 19: El Pabellon to Guerrero Negro
Nov 20: Guerrero Negro to Bahia de Concepcion
Nov 21: Bahia de Concepcion to Ciudad Consititcion
Nov 22: Ciudad Consititcion to Los Barriles

Day 1 - San Diego to El Pabellon

Crossing the border went really well! They actually didn’t check our paperwork at all. They did look inside our trailer briefly though. We narrowly avoided getting stuck, as they wanted us to go into a lane with a very tight corner, but luckily Dean realized in time that it would be impossible. The border guards helped us back out of that situation, took a quick look inside the trailer, and then waved us through. 
As I write this five days later, the first day seems pretty uneventful. 

Day 2 - El Pabellon to Guerrero Negro

Small detour to the beach!

Day 3 Guerrero Negro to Bahia de Concepcion

Day 4 - Bahia de Concepcion to Ciudad Consititcion

It has taken me a month to finish writing this entry, so I don't remember very much about Ciudad Consititcion or the drive. Besides long, and lots of cactus. Cacti I guess. 

We stayed at an RV park that was little more than a dirt parking lot, no real amenities or anything. Nothing special about it sticks out in my head. Except a poor little dog wandering around. She had a seriously injured hind leg, and was hoping around on three legs, and injured paw, and was seriously skinny. She also had a beautiful little face, the perfect definition of "puppy dog eyes". I gave her a few hot dogs, the only dog appropriate food I had.

You frequently see stray dogs around Mexico, which is always sad, but something that you almost get used to. But seeing this one in the park I was furious. I just couldn't believe that these people would have a dog like that on their property, and not take care of it properly. 

The next day I found out the park owners were actually heros. They had rescued the little dog from a neighbour who was abusing it terribly. I'm really glad that she's with someone who is looking out for her now. But a part of me really wanted to take her home.




Day 5 - Ciudad Consititcion to Los Barriles

The most memorable part of the drive for me on our last day of our caravan is driving through Mulege. So pretty! The ocean was a beautiful blue, which just made us even more eager to get to our destination and spend some time in the ocean.

We arrived in Los Barriles mid afternoon, and checked into an RV park called Playa Norte. And when I say checked in, really we just parked our trailer in a spot, and waited around for someone to show up. No one ever really did, although a few of the regulars told us we'd probably be good in that spot for a bit. 

For the record, it took 5 days for someone to actually speak to us and give us a price. And unfortunately we didn't like that price, and decided to move on to a different park in the same area. More to come on all of that.

Reece Hates the Zoo

Dean and I were very excited to visit the San Diego Zoo. We really loved the idea of taking Reece, and showing him all of the cool animals.

But unfortunately, Reece did  not care for the zoo. Dean and I enjoyed it at least!

Most of these photos do not need an explanation... 

Snake actually got some interest

Tour Thru Tree

During our drive we kept seeing signs for “Tour Thru Tree” and found that pretty confusing.  I kept thinking that they forgot the “S” on their signs.

After “Trees of Mystery” we drove on to the small town of Kalamath. That morning we carefully looked at maps online to figure out where to go, and where to stay. But when we got to Kalamath things went a bit crazy. The first campground we picked to stay in was closed! There was no mention of that on their website, or on the sign pointing to it, but no big deal. We used our truck navigation system to find another one, just a couple miles away. Deserted. So with sunset quickly approaching we found another one. Also closed. And up for sale. So we drove around the little town, looking for somewhere else. We hit a dead end road, and had to do an Austin Powers turn. We finally got turned around, and decided to head back up the highway to the “Trees of Mystery” area, where we had seen a couple of open RV parks. But right before we go to the highway, Dean spotted another place and it was actually open. It was called the Campers Corral, which sounded a little cutsie for my taste. But it was actually great, wide open grassy fields, and beautiful trees. There was a very friendly guy who drove up on his 4 wheeler and told us to make ourselves at home. He suggested a few things to do in the area, including the Tour Thru Tree. Even the internet had a great connection.  

After a nice evening of Netflix and a good night sleep we decided to check out the town of Kalamath and the Tour Thru Tree.  At the gate we found a sign that said they were away, but trusted us to pay our $5. Of course we did, and continued driving up the path. Where we found a live Redwood tree, with the middle carved out, so you could drive through.

Keeping in mind that our truck is brand new, and only had about 2000km on it, we decided to give it a try anyway.

Dean is clearly very excited that his truck made it through without a scratch!

Although driving through the tree was actually pretty fun, it wasn’t an all day activity. We hit the town next, but it was basically a store and casino, with a Holiday Inn attached. And it was starting to rain. Although we’d planned to spend another night we quickly decided to move on down the road.

San Francisco

Dean and I were excited to be returning to San Francisco. We’d been a few years before, but it was during the winter.

We stayed in an RV park across the bay from the city. We were lucky enough to find a place within walking distance of the ferry, which would take us straight to Fisherman’s Wharf. When we left in the morning, we realized we hadn't checked the ferry schedule, and of course managed to miss it by 15 minutes. So we had almost 2 hours to wait.  

We were able to see a sign for a Farmer’s Market, so we decided to check that out. We were pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful market, filled with yoga pant wearing mamas and their yuppie babies. So obviously we fit right in. There was a fantastic bakery where I ate about 8000 calories worth of pastry. 

No, I didn't eat both of those. 

Although I could have. 

And kinda wanted to.

Our major plan for the day was to go for a bike ride over the Golden Gate bridge. We were able to rent bikes, including a trailer for Reece. I was a bit nervous, since I can't remember the last time I rode a bike.

Turns out the cliche "It's like riding a bike" is true!

Pretending I’m sporty.

Taking a break from riding. 

Reece is in full speed ahead mode, head tucked down.

Pure joy!

Reece making our favourite face “The Donald Trump”

There was a lovely family sitting next to us who offered to "trade" photos. We were thrilled, as most of our family photos are taken by us. The father was super kind, and worked hard to get Reece to laugh. 

Our family Christmas card picture.

We didn't actually make it all the way over the bridge. Or even close to it. Reece just didn't care for the trailer, so we decided to call it a day. A small part of me was relieved, because although I'm not afraid of heights, the idea of the bridge make me a little nervous. And I knew I'd never make it up the hill to get there.

We headed back to Fisherman's Wharf for dinner. I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but the food was great, and the little guy seemed to enjoy himself.

Reece minding his manners at a fancy restaurant on the wharf.

Lemon!

Heading home on the ferry. 

Reece really enjoyed waving to everyone he met, and being the center of attention. 

Trees of Mystery!!

Trees of Mystery

Yes, that’s really what this tourist attraction is called.

One of the things I was most excited to see in Northern California was the giant Redwood trees. Having done almost zero research though we actually had no idea where they would be, or when exactly we would find them. The names of the national parks gave us a good hint though.

We decided to stop at the “Trees of Mystery” attraction, so that we wouldn’t miss them, just in case. We were greeted by a gigantic Paul Bunion and his Ox. If you look closely, you will see Reece and I standing next to Paul. The next photo shows Dean, just hanging out.

 

The walking tour started out cheesey, and really didn’t get much better. They had informative signs, which were helpful, and buttons you could press for an audio explaination, and some truly terrible piped in music. A little bit lame, but the trees were   BIG. HUGE. We took a quick ride on the tram to the  of the mountain. There was a small part of me that was scared to take my little baby up something that could fall.

On the walk back down we encounterd a lot of chain saw carvings that were pretty impressive.  Reece took the opportunity to hang out with a few of them.

Although this is one of Dean’s favourite photos I just cringe. I do not normally dress my baby in sweat pants! I’d just like to make that clear.

Avenue of Giants

As we drove down the highway we would see signs for the “Avenue of Giants”. We decided to pull off and see what that was all about. It is a truly beautiful road, surrounded by the biggest trees you have ever seen. After a few minutes of driving we pulled off to go for a little walk.

I set up the camera to try to get a few family photos. We also enjoyed letting Reece meet the trees and make friends.