MEXICO AND THE MOUNTAINS

Thursday, January 28 – Off to Mexico again to pick-up Marsha's glasses and do some sightseeing and shopping. We purchased more vanilla and several more prescription medicines with no prescription and at a fraction of the U.S. cost.

Baja Dental and Optical is where where our dentist and optical center was located. Don’t let the looks scare you.

There really was some beautiful items for sale.

Typical road in the shopping area. Lots of wires overhead.

We stopped at two places for fish and shrimp tacos and had a couple Margaritas too.  Our first stop was at TACOS AND DRINKS. We ordered a shrimp taco and fish taco and a Margarita. They make tacos waaaaaay different down here. We only waited a few minutes and lunch was on the table. I didn’t take us long to eat and drink. The tacos were pretty good. Tacos were $1/ea.

Notice the wiring above the restaurant….WOW

You pile on your taco whatever you want……UMMMMM

The Margaritas was so big, Marsha had to use to hands. I didn’t hear her complain…..only $4.00.

We then stopped at a pretty outdoor restaurant called EL PARISO. It was a beautiful day so we sat outside with all the others. They also have an indoor bar. Marsha had a coupon for a free Margarita. She ordered hers and of course I couldn’t let her drink alone. These drinks were better than at the other place. They had a two piece band playing. Very nice afternoon.

While we were shopping, we saw this real long line at a shrimp and taco stand. Paul talked to a guy that told him that this was the best place to get a taco, sooooooo. We could definitely eat one more taco. We ordered to shrimp tacos, add our condiments and devoured them in two minutes. They were really good. Much lighter batter than the first ones. We talked with some people from Boise State. They told us that Boise plays Virginia Tech the third game next season. He said they are calling it a huge game for both teams. GO VT!

We crossed back into the U.S. after waiting in line for a little over an hour....customary this time of year. We've heard stories about people standing in line for over two hours. The customs agent just waved both of us through without asking any questions.

We sat outside in the sun the rest of the afternoon enjoying the beautiful weather in the 70's. AWESOME!

Saturday, January 30 – Last night we were treated to a beautiful sunset.

As the sun goes down……

The moon comes up…..This is was an amazing site, to see the moon coming up over the mountains as we saw the sun set in the picture above. That other bright spot by the moon is an airplane.

We went hiking in the mountains this morning. Very interesting and what a view.

Here is the trail we hiked up.

Beauty everywhere we looked.

High in the Gila Mountains. It is one of the more remote and least developed National Forests in the southwest. Covering 3.3 million acres of publicly owned forest and range land, the Forest is the sixth largest National Forest in the continental United States.

 

We met a couple of gentlemen almost at the top who had rode their street bikes (motorcycles) up the path....no way would I do something like that. They had no problems, but did admit this was the first time they had done a trip like this and it was a bit scary.

Having fun in the mountains!

After climbing as high as the trail went we headed back down using a different trail. Look at the trail in the distance. Our trip was an enjoyable hour hike.

Bike ride then chilled rest of the evening. Here is a picture of our campsite.

Sunday, January 31 – This morning we attended Chapel de Oro worship service. The worship service was held at the North Hall here at our campground. They set a record with 257 worshippers. Pastor Paul Gunderson greeted us at our seats. He knew it was our first time there, asked us where we were from “originally”, and told us about his calling. He is a very nice man. The service began at 9:00 a.m. This was a nondenominational service. The sermon was “Finding the Right Time.” We were warmly welcomed and would worship here next time we stay at the park.

We made a quick trip to Walmart and ran across the Arizona Market Place. It is Located on 40 acres with over 1000 shaded selling spaces. You name it, the Vendors have it for you here - Antiques and collectibles, Blankets and Quilts, Candles, Dollar Stores, Embroidered Hats, Fruits & Vegetables, Greeting cards and stationery, Hardware & tools, Ice Makers, Jewelry, Keys made, Luggage, Mobile Mail, Nuts & dried fruits, Olives and spices, Pottery, Quick snacks, Rugs & Carpets, Silk plants & flowers, Toys and games, Used & new books, vitamins and supplements, Watches, Xtra large assortment of RV supplies, Yard art and flags, etc. It is located at the intersection of 32nd Street and Avenue 4E. We were very good and only bought two things…..12” pizza pan and Liquid Clean.

Tomorrow being a travel day, I did some preparations....checked tire pressure, checked oil and coolant levels, loaded the bikes on the jeep, put the grill away and dumped the black water tank and rinsed it. I also loaded some water in our fresh water holding tank because we will be blacktop camping (boondocking) in the parking lot  at the Fantasy Casino in Indio, Ca.

“If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?”….think about it.

Since we will be boondocking, we may not be posting for a few days. Thanks for stopping by. Stop by  again.