Nothing more soul calming than being at the beach. Okay there are probably those that will disagree with me and that is okay. As I sit here staring at the calm ocean awaiting the sun to rise, in the moment, I cannot think of anything. I am having to wait for daylight as the sun is rising behind a thick veil of clouds.
We arrived here in Mexico yesterday afternoon. We no longer have a vehicle big enough to hold six people and all our stuff, so we had to accept the inevitable of taking down two cars. The back of our truck is loaded, I mean fully loaded, anything more and we would have to start piling upward. John and Laura have flown in from Oregon and we are going to spend a few days at the beach. We meet up with Robert and Michelle in Gila Bend and grab some lunch at Carl’s Jr. The vote of the masses wins out, as it is not my first choice, lol. (besides all of their sandwiches being messy, I think I have decided I don’t like their bread) We enjoy a quick lunch with the six of us before getting back on the road. Our next stop was Why, AZ to top off our fuel and use the restroom. So glad they have remodeled the Why Not Travel Stop especially their bathrooms. Now if we can get them to fix the driveways in and out of their place, the holes are almost big enough to swallow my truck. As we begin to pull out we spot a coyote. Not an unfamiliar site for us here in Arizona, but our Oregon friends don’t see this often. Odd about this siteing is how close he is coming to the truck, and now there are two of them. I think we are being surrounded, maybe we are dinner today. Just as we are commenting about how unafraid of humans they seem to be, they turn and walk over to a car parked not far from us. Those people are actually feeding the coyotes!!! We shake our heads and continue on our way.
We are bringing down a cabinet to go under the tv, so we pull over at the border to the declaration area. I don’t think I need to pay any taxes, since it is not a new cabinet, I am bringing it out of my house in the states to my house in Mexico and it is not over the dollar amount that I as a permanent resident of Mexico get to bring across. We figure we want to declare since you just never know and to show respect of the Mexican laws. Once inspected, no taxes due, we cross the border and are immediately pulled over. Robert gets the wave on, proceeds across the border, and pulls over to wait for us.
Tracey attempts to explain we just left the declaration area, but the border agent doesn’t care. He asks if we speak Spanish and Tracey tells him no, then he instructs us to put all the windows down. Border agent then turns to Laura and asks if she speaks Spanish, guess she has the look LOL. The border agent has a dog and is leading the dog around the truck, as another agent is lifting the tarp. We knew the tarp was a “red flag” but it was raining, and we were trying to keep our stuff dry. Next thing we know the dog is up on top of the tarp climbing all over our stuff, two agents are pulling at the tarp and attempting to open coolers and suitcases. One agent approaches Tracey again asking what is in the coolers. Of course, my simple mind thinks well food duh. But I understand they must see some strange stuff. Tracey tells him food and is asked if we have fruit. A discussion begins as Tracey tries to tell him we have some apples and the agent tries to make sense of what we are trying to tell him. Finally, the dog gets down out of the truck and one agent begins tucking in the tarp and the other agent comes back to the window and tells us to go.
Robert pulls in behind us as we pass by. We are careful of our speed as the limits have been lowered all the way through Sonoyta. We have read many posts and comments lately about claims of being pulled and harassed for money. I tend to not to pay much attention to these claims. I think I would need to hear it first hand from someone I personally know to give it total truth credit. Every year around this time the stories start flying, and they are always sharing someone else’s shared story swearing it to be true. We believe the media is behind much of the false reports just like with anything else in our world, and always around spring break and the beginning of summer these stories swell and grow. Helps keep travelers spending their money in the states, I think. I do not want to get into a debate, everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, these are just mine now. We are always extra careful and try our best to abide by all the laws of the country we are visiting.
We make it to the condo without incident, stopping at the gate to let the guard know the car behind us, Robert and Michelle, is with us. They allow us both to pass and we pull up to the lobby of Phase 2. The HOA office has been relocated down by the pools in Phase 2, too far from us now but no one asked us! Lorenzo greets us, with hugs and handshakes, and we head to the HOA office to get wristbands and keys for our friends. We head back to the vehicles and Lorenzo is nowhere to be found. We ask security to call someone to help unload our stuff and he explains Lorenzo is already down there waiting for us. What a great guy!
We meet Lorenzo just outside of our parking garage and he follows us down. We park, and he begins to pull the tarp off. Lorenzo then asks if the other car has stuff as well, when we tell him yes, he calls for reinforcements. As he is loading his cart, the girls head up to the condo. I set my stuff down as my arms are full, Michelle opens the blinds and Laura checks out her room.
What a lovely view. No sunshine per say but still lovely. In just a few minutes we are joined by Tracey, John and Robert followed by Lorenzo and Jose each with a full cart. They unload the carts and head back for another load as we begin to put all the stuff away. Beers are cracked open to toast to friends. Tips are given to the guys and they leave us to ourselves to finish putting everything away. We break out a snack tray of cheese and crackers to tide us over until our dinner reservations. We six sit at the table to share stories enjoying each other’s company. The guys begin to put the new hammock on the stand. It was pretty comical from what we could hear from inside but they were succcessful and Tracey made sure it was safe for everyone else! 
It has been raining, more of a drizzle, on and off all afternoon but has let up as we walk over to Citron to have dinner. Problem being is the walk is mostly on tiled areas that are still very wet and oh yes slippery. We managed to survive a few uh oh, oh no, yikes, opps moments without any actually falls. Slowly we make our way to the restaurant where we are seated right away. I would have to say the food was less than par for Citron this time. I wouldn’t say it was bad tonight, but it wasn’t exactly good. They had a special menu for Valentine’s Day and nothing seemed hot just barely warm. Not a lot of flavor. The wine was pretty good, and they did treat us each to a small peach Bellini on the house that was very tasty. So good thing the company was stellar, which made for a great evening. 
We finished the meal and were ready to head back to the condo when Omar reminded us that our drinks were 2 for 1, were we ready for our second one. Guess we can’t walk away from that, so another round and we stay another 30-40 minutes laughing and chatting. Finally, with a few of us having trouble keeping our eyes open we decide it is time to go, pay our tab and head back.
We all get comfy in our pajamas and begin watching an episode of Friends on TV. It is almost comical to watch as one by one we excuse ourselves and head off to bed. Last one turns off the tv and we laugh as it is only about 9pm! Does this mean we are officially old?
Day 2
I wake up and realize it is very dark still. I figure it must be the middle of the night still. I lay still trying to go back to sleep, no luck. I decide to check the time and it is now 6:15am and figure that is an okay time to get up and do so. As I come out of my room, John is standing at the counter holding his book. We say good morning, exchange a hug and he explains he wasn’t sure if he turned on the light if it would wake anyone up. He is so polite to think of others, I however walk over and flip on the light. He and I enjoy some great conversation, just the two of us. It is so peaceful and quiet, at some moments we just sit and stare outside. I open one of the sliders and pop outside to take a picture, it is not as cold as I expected. I was hoping to catch a great sunrise pic, but it is hidden by a thick layer of clouds.
Johns shares that Laura had left their slider open last night and woke up to the sound of something flying around their room. John thinks she must be dreaming or hearing things, but she is insistent and soon high tails it into the bathroom yelling at John to get whatever it is. With Laura safely locked in the bathroom John closes all other doors and turns one light on near the door. Doesn’t take long before Mothra appears. He said it was a beautiful brown and white moth, but it was huge. He is able to catch it with a cup and release it outside and close the door. He then rescues Laura from the bathroom, and she returns to bed and he is now wide awake. I hope the vision in your head as you read this part, was as funny as what was in mine as John told the story!
One by one we are joined by our friends. John makes each person a cup of coffee or tea and we all sit at the table. We check the weather online and decide it will be warmer tomorrow, so we vote to go to breakfast at Wrecked tomorrow. Michelle and I break out the muffins and breakfast treats and we all enjoy a little something with our coffee/tea. Again the company is just beyond soul warming.
John and Laura take off to walk on the beach, 
Robert handles some work emails and calls and the rest of us sit chatting at the table. We eventually move out on to the patio, John and Laura return and Robert and Michelle take off to walk the beach. I spend some time writing; the others visit on the patio.
Eventually we decide we are hungry and head up to La Maria for a bite to eat and some drinks. Our waiter doesn’t speak much English and we confuse him a little on a few of our drinks. He has to go ask someone else if they know how to make the Miami Vice that Michelle would like, and he has no idea what John wants when he orders a Jameson and Coke. The waiter brings a bottle of Hennessy over and asks if that is what John wants, Robert tells him uh no, but he will show him. So Robert goes over to the bar and shows him what Jameson is and now we are good to go. We enjoy our drinks and some queso with chorizo as an appetizer and then lunch. Food was good, much better than last night. We enjoy another round of drinks when Robert spots a -young man wearing a Badgers T-shirt walking into the restaurant. It is a long story, but Robert keeps a rivalry going with our oldest son Chris, who is a die-hard Wildcat fan. Robert introduces himself to the young man and asks if he can take a picture with him. The young man, Sean and his wife are here on their honeymoon! We all congratulate them, Robert takes the picture and of course sends it to Chris.
We are back at the condo now, Michelle, John and Laura are taking naps, Robert is marinating the chicken for dinner later, I am writing, and Tracey is patiently awaiting Robert to finish so they can hit the driving range.
It is cool outside, drizzles on and off, and once again quiet and peaceful. We will see what later brings us.
John, Laura, and Michelle all nap for about 2 hours, Robert and Tracey spent about the same time at the driving range, and I well yep, wrote a little and then just relaxed staring at the beautiful ocean.
Once everyone is awake and back at the condo we break out a game John and Laura brought called “What Do You Meme?”. We gather around the table as Michelle reads the directions out loud to us all. If this game is anything like the directions Michelle is reading, it should be a ton of fun. I have never seen directions to a game like this, too funny.
We spend the next few hours laughing hysterically as we play the game. If you have ever played “Cards against Humanity” (no judging please) It is similar to that game, using memes, and didn’t seem as, well let’s say, vulgar. At one point we pause and ask if anyone is hungry yet, to which we vote no and continue playing the game. Michelle finally speaks up and states she is now hungry to which we discover it is already 8pm! Robert jokingly tells her to order a pizza, read the directions to the game you will understand. But he does get up and start dinner. When we come down as a group we have gone to each couple or a person is responsible for dinner each night and tonight it is Robert and Michelle’s turn. They have marinated chicken and are making us chicken tacos with rice and beans. Robert and the guys head out to the grill to cook the chicken, and Michelle takes care of the rice and beans. Laura and I offer to help but she doesn’t want help, says she has it all under control.
We watch the Olympics while we eat the delicious dinner they have prepared for us. We are all “fat and happy” from dinner and stay seated watching the Olympics when John looks over at the clock and his chin drops as he can’t believe it is already 10pm. As everyone reacts to the time, Robert reminds us that we didn’t even decide we were hungry until 8. We clean up from dinner and sit back in our spots of playing the game. Once we are all seated, and we pick up our cards, it is Roberts’ turn and he is picking his card when we decide we think we are all too tired to play more. We put the game away and 4 of us move to the couches to continue watching the Olympics. It doesn’t take but about 5 minutes for John and Laura to excuse themselves to bed. On his way passed the couch, John calls out my drooping eyes, as I can hardly keep them open. What is it about being at the beach that makes you so tired so early?
Michelle curls up with a blanket on the loveseat next to Robert and in about 5 minutes is asleep. I last about another 15 minutes or so by forcing my eyes to stay open to give in and say my goodnights and head to bed. Wasn’t long before Tracey joined me, not sure if Robert left his lovely wife on the couch or woke her to go to bed!
Day 3
I wake up, shower, dress and come out of my room to find John sitting on the couch reading his book. We say good morning, I fill the Keurig with water and make myself a cup of tea. I break out my computer to continue some writing and shortly thereafter Laura joins us. It is still quiet, and we don’t talk much just enjoying the quietness of the morning and the sounds of the ocean. John thinks he has spotted a dolphin, so he and I walk to the patio as he is pointing out the location to watch. He goes to make his coffee and I walk out to the railing on the patio to stand watch. I witness the dolphin cresting out of the water and announce I have seen it. I stay watching for awhile but only see the dolphin one more time. Seems odd to only see one dolphin so I watch for a long time expecting to spot a pod of them, no such luck and no one else got to see any. One by one everyone rises and gets ready for the day. We head over to Wrecked at the Reef to see our friend Omar and have some breakfast.
There are few people at Wrecked when we arrive, other than employees. Seems to be many employees but no sign of Omar. As we walk out back to the beach area I ask if Omar is working. We are pointed toward the beach, so we keep walking. Once we get down almost to the end of all the tables we spot Omar just as he sees us. He immediately greets us with hugs and handshakes for our friends. He tells us to sit anywhere, and we pick a tall table as it is the only one big enough for all of us.
And of course the sillyness begins! 
He takes our drink order, and jokingly reminds Tracey that he can drink more today since he remembered his hat. All the wait staff know Tracey by his hat LOL. Last time down he couldn’t find it and they harassed him the whole time, especially when he only had one drink. They blamed his lack of drinking on his missing hat.
We introduce our friends to Omar, we order breakfast and enjoy great food. By the time we finished eating there are several more tables of guests. Once done we move our little party to the cornhole game area.
First up Donna and Tracey vs Robert and Michelle. 
I must admit, most times I play this game I do really well the first game. And this was no exception. I must put out there that this was Michelle’s very first time playing cornhole and even though she did well, we still kicked their butts!! 
Winner Winner!!!
Next up John and Laura. Close game but we pull out a win once again. Even though we are the reigning champions LOL we sit the third game out and let the others play each other. 
I believe John and Laura take the win on the final game, 
and we head inside to play some ping pong. 
I don’t think I have played ping pong since high school! I was not good at all, but we sure had a fun time. Eventually we decide we have had enough and pay our tab and get ready to head back to the condo. John and Laura stop at the front counter to purchase some shirts and then we are off.
Tracey and Robert head out to play golf. John and Laura take a nap and then a walk on the beach. Michelle and I sit and chat on the patio and eventually both doze off. I don’t think we slept long but John said he came out and we were definitely both snoozing. Thank goodness he did not take photos.
Everyone was pretty full from the huge breakfast we had at Wrecked which turned out to be a very good thing, as the steaks we put in the refrigerator the first night, so they would be thawed and ready to cook tonight were still frozen. What a bummer. I put the steaks back into the freezer and check the setting on the fridge side. We have some snacks and just hang out together chatting for awhile before we all mosey over to Citron for some wine. Friday nights are wine and jazz nights at Citron, good live music, and $18 bottles of wine. Citron is packed when we get there, wow didn’t realize that many people were here at the condos. The hostess explains that to eat it will be over an hour wait. I tell her we just want to hear the band and drink some wine. There really isn’t anywhere to sit near the band, so we are seated in the far corner, we can’t see the band at all, but we can hear them. We order up our wine and toast to great friends.
We probably stayed there for a couple of hours or more, listening to the music and just talking. I have to say we are very blessed when it comes to our friends that is for sure.
We eventually call it a night and head back to the condo and to bed. What a great day we had.
Never easy to say goodbye to the beach. I have always said I am not sure how long I would have to be down here before I was ready to go home!
We get ready to head back home, packing our things, doing the chores we have to do before leaving the condo. We get a few loads of laundry done, trash taken out, AC units set to appropriate temps, cushions inside and stacked, patio furniture moved back near the door out of the elements, water heater turned off, and we call for a bellhop to take our things back to our cars.
Not long before we are on the road headed back to the states. I pray once again that we will not encounter any trouble in the border town which we don’t. We are safely back in the states and stopping at WHY, for a quick fuel up and potty break. We decide we are all kind of hungry, so we will make one more stop in Gila Bend and the vote this time is for McDonalds.
Drive is uneventful, and we enjoy a quick lunch. This is where we split off from Robert and Michelle and take different routes home, so we say our goodbyes and head off.
We hope to get to the beach again soon. We pray safe travels for our friends. We pray for the opportunity to get all of us together again in the near future.
Now we begin to plan our first outing in our new RV……. Stay tuned!!!
#rockypointrocks #whynottravelstop #laspalomas #journeyfor2 #lifeisbeautiful #friendsforlife #memoriesforalifetime #homeawayfromhome