Day 7 at Rocky Point - Final Day

 It was an early rise yesterday so that we could get the maximum amount of time for our final day. It was just about at sunrise when we walked outside to get a view of the sunrise and to get a few photos before the people started showing up with families to go swimming. These are some early morning shots form our final day:

Sunrise:

Josie in thought:

Our Unit (With the Chairs and towels):

We also did work on our projects before beginning to gather up our belongings and also started to put things away in the condo such as dishes and chairs to get a head start for today. 

Our final day included a return to the La Curva restaurant where we had our anniversary dinner . It was just as good with the same excellent service. Josie had shrimp scampi this time and I revisited the super shrimp cocktail and had a shredded beef quesadilla. That was a terrific end to our very nice week in Puerto Penasco. 

We plan to leave around 8 AM which will get us home sometime around 1 PM or so, depending on traffic and the line at the border crossing. 

So long from Rocky Point...

Rocky Point Day 6

 We did exactly as planned yesterday - just hang out. It was the first day since we arrived that we did nothing except sit out, swim a little bit, read our books and work a little bit on our projects. The only shot that was taken all day was this one:

Don't ask me how I forgot to take one of Josie. We were just sitting at the edge of the pool and I never thought to take more pictures. There wasn't a whole lot of activity anywhere around us. In fact, we were the only people in the pool all afternoon. This place really dies during the week. I would think that with the worse part of summer being over that this would be a very busy place. 

Our final full day is today and we have to start to gather up our belongings, wash some dishes and put away all the items we used from the condo. It has been a very good week for us. Will we return? Perhaps sometime down the road. The only real negative has been some issues with the currency. We didn't bring any pesos with us thinking we could use the card for all meals and purchases. For the most part, that was true. There were some instances when we needed pesos and we had some problems with their ATM machines at the local banks. Next time, we will bring some Mexican cash to handle those situations.

The locals have done an excellent job following the Covid-19 rules of distancing, sanitizing and wearing masks. They almost did too much as there were instances where only one of us could go into certain places at a time - such as Sam's Club. We got around that by having Josie get at the back of the line and just pretend she was alone and we would meet inside.

That about wraps it up for now...

Rocky Point Day 5

 We visited the one area we have missed so far and that is the Sandy Beach area where all the high-rise hotels and hi-end condos are located. We stayed there years ago on a vacation we took between Christmas and New Year. This year, we wanted to stay closer to town. At any rate, we stopped at the Las Palomas where two new buildings are under construction to compliment/supplement the existing three buildings. 

The new condos are being handled by a Realty Executive couple that live in Peoria, AZ, and have two condos here - one to stay in while here, and the other used exclusively as a rental. Nice couple. The girl (Kathy Witt) wanted to show us a couple condos that were resales. One was a two bedroom, 1800 SF and the asking price was $345K. The other was a one bedroom 1140 SF that was selling for $270K and she couldn't get the key to work, so we passed on that. The two story was on the 9th floor, ocean view and pool view and was very nice. The deal is that people buy these and have a positive cash flow from the rental of the unit so that it pays for itself. Great concept. We are not in the market but wanted to see them anyway. No pictures.

Our afternoon was spent at Manny's next door on the beach. We had a rather light lunch - Josie had shrimp cocktail, I had a Cobb Salad - and we each had margaritas. Here are the shots from our afternoon at Manny's:

We were early enough that we missed the crowd. That also meant we missed the music, but we enjoyed the lazy afternoon.

Two more days and our vacation winds down. We plan to just take it easy, lay out on the patio and by the pool and go nowhere for the last two days. We brought our own music, books and projects to keep us busy.

Until tomorrow....

Rocky Point Day 4 - Anniversary

 Our special day was yesterday as we celebrated our 49th anniversary. 

We started out with coffee on the patio as we watched all the activity on the water. 

There is always a boat of some kind to see. These were the different activities yesterday AM:

Following some breakfast, we took a drive back to the point at the south end of town where we wanted to park and get out to walk the street to check out the merchandise. It was again another experience that is very common in any Mexican town where there are shops - somebody is outside the store trying to hustle you in to buy something. It is very annoying to not be able to look at merchandise without someone hounding you to buy. So, we didn't go into any stores except an ice cream shop to buy a cone and one store that had bathing suits where I did, finally, purchase one that is the right size. These shots will summarize our visit to the "old town" section of town:

The highlight of the day was our anniversary dinner that we celebrated at one of the highest rated restaurants in town - La Curva.  

This was everything that was promised and the reviews were right-on. We each had two margaritas and then I ordered a shrimp cocktail (out of this world) and a New York steak, baked potato and vegetables. Josie ordered a chicken enchilada platter. Our meals were both outstanding, the service was outstanding and the cost was a very reasonable $65 for everything.

All in all, it was a great day and we look forward to celebrating our 50th anniversary - somewhere special - next year. We still have three more days to enjoy the sunshine and water here in Puerto Penasco before leaving on Friday....

Rocky Point Day 3

 Sunday was kind of a laid back day. We had breakfast at home and then went to explore a couple shopping areas in town. One was the "old town" area where we shopped on our last visit here and the second was to an area on "Rodeo Drive" - actually, Calle 13 - which is referred to as Rodeo Drive. There were lots of shops with more high end merchandise than the old town shops.  Here is a shot from the interior of one of those shops, called Su Casa:

The only thing we purchased was a set of glasses and a pitcher that was a deal too good to turn down. It also came with a rack to hold the set and we only paid $45 for the entire set.

We then stopped at one of the grocery stores - Ley Express - and that was an experience as everything sold, including our familiar brands, was in Spanish. The prices are excellent everywhere and we only bought a few items to tide us over.

Back at the condo we watched out at the ocean as there were all kinds of boats and birds. This was one of the more popular activities:

Then, it was time for football on TV! The Cardinals had an easy win as expected against probably the weakest team in the league - NY Jets - and the Seahawks won a real tough game against the Minnesota Vikings by playing a great 2nd half to win by 1 point, 27-26. They are still undefeated at 5-0.

There are no real plans for today except to possibly gas up the car and maybe stop at a bank to get more cash. Oh, and it is our Anniversary so a nice dinner somewhere will be in order.

Have a great day everybody....

Rocky Point Day2

 We were up early yesterday so that we could get in a full day of exploring the area. Here is a shot of the sunrise from our condo:

Our first stop for the day was for breakfast at one of the recommended restaurants noted for great breakfasts - Kaffeehaus. It was as advertised. Josie and I each had the "Twins" entre - 2 eggs, 2 slices bacon, 2 pancakes, 2 slices bread and potatoes. We took this shot of the harbor from our table that was outside:

From there, we went to Sam's Club to get a bathing suit for me that I forgot to pack. The choices were few, but I picked up one of the largest sizes we could find - XL. When I got back to the condo, it was too tight, so I am back to zero gain with no suit for now. I will keep it as it will just require a few pounds to lose in order to fit.

Our next stop was to go to the nice housing area in Rocky Point that is called Las Conchas. This is the only shot we took as there are just too many nice homes:

All of the homes in this area have ocean views or are on the beach. Prices range from about $180K and up to over $1million. People buy these mostly to use as rentals.

After returning back to the condo, we took a walk along the beach and spent the rest of the day relaxing in the sun outside on our patio. Below are a few shots from the afternoon:

Josie with her new hat:

Our Complex: Our condo is on the first level, second opening from this end.

The beach:

Today, we plan to try to locate the neat shopping area, or shopping plaza that we found the last time we were here years ago. The town has changed quite a bit over the years, but we think we can locate the same area.

Until tomorrow....

Trip to Rocky Point

 Our 49th Anniversary trip to Rocky Point Mexico started yesterday. It was around 11 AM by the time we hit the road. We left later than planned as I wanted to see if we would get our mail at home before we left. We are expecting our absentee ballots and was hoping they would arrive before leaving. Unfortunately, the mail was late and we didn't wait.

The drive was uneventful until we got to the border. It was still uneventful except we waited in a long, long line of vehicles to get to the entry. It over 1 hour before getting to the gate. Would you believe that we didn't even get stopped, questioned, tested for Covid-19, asked for our ID or passports or anything else. It looked like they were just stopping random vehicles and we were not one of them. The drive to our condo took a total of 5 hours and we had no problem at all getting to the condo.

What a great place! It is more than we expected and is a first class condo. These photos will give you an idea of the place and this is only the beginning. As a side note, I was late getting this blog entry done as a result of having a problem moving my photos from the camera to the computer. I finally got it done after a struggle.

This is a shot of the view from our living room:

More of the living room:

The rest of the inside:

And these shots from outside:

We got settled in, put everything away from our suitcase, and discovered all the nice amenities in the condo. This is a shot of the living room ceiling which is kind of unique:

Today, we will do some exploring of town after having breakfast at one of the recommended restaurants from the list provided to us by the owner. There is a log book on the living room table that contains notes and comments from many of the previous guests - very helpful. 

So far, the only REAL problem is that I forgot to bring my bathing suit - can you believe that?? I had it in my hand and sat it down at home to look for a different one, got distracted, and forgot to pack it in the suitcase. We will make a side trip to Sam's Club in town and get a new one.

Looking forward to a terrific trip.....

Coming Up on Trip

 It has been many months since there has been any activity at all on the blog. Our 49th Anniversary is on October 12 and we have planned our first trip since the start of the Pandemic. On October 9, we will travel to Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco) Mexico for a one week stay in an oceanfront condo. I have decided to use the blog as an information source and official record of our trip.

Here's hoping that all goes well and we have a wonderful trip and can share our experience with the readers of the blog. The first entry will probably be on Saturday, October 10, which will summarize our first day.....

Another Update

There are many things that we found to do to stay sane throughout this pandemic experience. Even though we aren't traveling or going to a lot of places locally, we still manage to find interesting projects to keep us busy. A lot has been happening.

We are still doing as much as we can in the heat to improve our flower bed/garden area. We are getting an estimate from our landscaper to build a garden plot off of our patio. We probably won't do that, but we would like to know what is involved anyway. In the meantime, we enjoy seeing the wildlife from our patio and we consistently see this little guy roaming around our patio every day:

He/she can't be more than a week or two old.

We also have been enjoying the transformation of the ironwood tree by the green in our back yard. It is beautiful with the lavender or purple pedals that it has at this time of the year:

Finally, to end the outside events, we have a photo of the blooming cactus that looks like this for only one day before losing all its blooms:

Another project that we have been working on part time is the second puzzle that we have acquired. This one is one we bought from Amazon and is 1000 pieces. It was difficult from the standpoint that all the pieces are shaped the same and the only differentiating characteristic is the color on each piece. It still is a nice picture of the Grand Teton National Park:

We plan to get another one of 1000 pieces soon.

Finally, the good news from Patty's home is the first look at the new puppy that they will bring home sometime in mid May. These are the two "boys" that they have selected from the litter and one goes to Michael:

How precious are they?

Stay safe and healthy everybody. Till next time...

Ramblings from Home

As we spend day after day at home while following the safe distance guidelines established for the Coronavirus Pandemic, we have used the time to do some fun and productive activities.

Starting with Josie's crochet projects which now includes 11 afghans:

She is working on two others that will just about deplete her yarn supply. She had completed most of those prior to this extended stay at home but still has finished three or four since this all started. There are a few more that are lined up for future projects if these "stay home" rules get extended.

I also have been busy trying to complete (probably) the most difficult cross stitch project I have ever attempted. This is one I started before last summer but stopped when I realized I wouldn't have it done in time for the trip to Jackson. It is very, very detailed and is taking a super long time:

As you can see, the final product should be well worth the effort.

We have recently expanded our projects to include puzzles. George has graciously loaned us three of his for us to get started. This is the first one that we completed:

As you can see, it is the Mesa Verde National Park and is really very nice. The second one that we just started is the first of two we ordered from Amazon but have taken forever to arrive as a result of a huge backlog at the puzzle producer. They never anticipated the huge demand for puzzles that was brought on by the Coronavirus impact. This is one is of the Grand Teton National Park is very difficult as a result of being 1000 pieces (versus the 500 of Mesa Verde) and the fact that the pieces are all the same shape and size:

There is no rush to complete this , so we will use this as a break from our other projects from time to time.

Finally, we have been active in our backyard trying to add some color and figure out how we can set up a permanent floral/garden area off the back of our patio:

One item that is visible in the upper right (above) is a beautiful cactus that blooms like this each year - for about two days. We have two of those in our yard:

We do get other, nice visits from the wildlife which we enjoy watching while sitting at our table on the rear patio. This butterfly flew by just yesterday:

We also enjoy watching the birds bathe in the birdbath that we have in the yard and we have already shown videos of up to 5 or 6 birds bathing at the same time. Add to that the many rabbits we have in the yard and the different species of birds and there is never a dull moment - not to mention the many golfers of all sizes shapes and skills that we watch.

As much as we hope that the virus winds down and a cure/vaccine can be developed, we are enjoying the time together and don't mind the stay at home rules that have been established. We hope everybody finds similar activities that help create a more pleasant and safe experience...