After reading about the bay of angels we decided that we couldn’t pass it up.  It was described as one of the most beautiful bays on the Baja peninsula.  We finished traveling highway 5, which as newly paved was a pleasure compared to what Hwy 1 would bring. It was significantly harder driving, with shoulders much reduced and semi-trailer traffic increased, we had a lot more white knuckle miles. Bahia Los Angeles was about 30 min off the main highway but the road was pretty empty. 

We arrived at our RV park, mostly chosen because they had showers and it was on the ocean.  Probably one of our least favorite parks mostly due to the amount of dog poop around.  It was mostly geared toward fisherman with the accompanying flock of seagulls.  We got some paddle boarding in and lots of beach time and walks.  It was quite beautiful with azure water and islands off the coast giving an interesting sunset.  We liked it well enough but probably wouldn’t go back again.  The showers by the way were warm but pretty grubby.

The next day we finally crossed over into Baja California Sur, the lower half of Baja peninsula and halfway to Cabo San Lucas.  After driving lots of miles in Baja California we will be driving less per day and staying at places for more days and getting a bit more immersed in the culture.  We pulled into San Ignacio after driving through the desert on Hwy 1 and were surprised to see the verdant landscape of the oasis.  We brought our RV into the main square of the town, a typical Spanish quadrangle with a mission one side and administrative buildings on the opposite side.  We decided to get ice cream and enjoy the town square.  We camped on the reservoir dammed to provide the water for the oasis.  We have really been fortunate to get camp sites on the water almost wherever we go, not sure if it would be this easy in a non covid year.  There was lot of birds on the reservoir including a duck that when it quacked sounded like it was farting. We couldn’t stop laughing. Tomorrow on the Bahia Conception.

By Caroline Niebauer

Bahia San Luis Gonzaga is a beautiful place and has amazing beaches. When we were there we stayed at an awesome beach campsite called Papas Fernandez, there were only two other people on the entire beach! When we parked Julie and I got our swimsuits on and ran to the waves, the water was so cold! Our mom brought us towels and hot cocoa, after we got warm we begun the hunt for cool shells. First we just checked on the beach then discovered a huge patch of rocks that after some exploration had tons of shells of all different shapes and sizes like Cowrie and sundial shells.

That night we ate shrimp tacos they were really good, really big shrimp! After watching the sun go down we discovered the time had gone out and so we went tide pool exploring and found several star fish and some colorful Chiton (a mollusk with a pretty shell), it was so much fun. if you ever find yourself in Baja be sure to check out Bahia San Luis Gonzaga.

We love our hot springs so when the opportunity to visit a hot spring right on the ocean presented itself we couldn’t resist.    We said goodbye to our gracious host in San Felipe and traveled down highway 5 to Puertecitos where the hot springs could be found.  We paid about $5 USD and gained entrance.  We were advised to get there in between the high and the low tides because the hot spring are naturally to hot to sit in when they come out of the earth but as the tide rises it cools down the water enough for you to get in.  There were three small pools that were constructed to contain the water.

When we first got there the first pool was already infiltrated with cold sea water and was already abandoned by the any bathers but the the next one was too hot so we milled around the edges of the pool as the sea rose.  Little by little the cold sea water cooled the pools to a nice 100 degrees.  It was fun migrating down the pools following the perfect spot.  After about 30 minutes of nice temperatures the pool was too cold.  The last pool was a ways up the shore so likely wouldn’t be cool enough for several hours. It felt like a really unique experience to have.  A perfect new years day activity!    

Although it has been reported that travel across the border with the USA and Mexico has been restricted, we didn’t have much trouble crossing.  We entered into Mexico at the town of Mexicali mostly to drive on highway 5 (recently paved) but this border crossing does typically have fewer people crossing per day than Tijuana. We completed our online FMM (immigration forms) in advance including paying the $30 fee for entering and noted we were there for education purposes.  We were stopped and inspected by Mexican authorities which lasted less than 10 minutes.  It seemed like they were quite happy to have RV tourists.  Once in Mexico we stocked up on groceries including lots of fresh veggies and fruits. 

We traveled as far as San Felipe and then stopped for the night.  We were going to stay at an RV park on the beach close to the center of town but pulled into the wrong entrance.  As we were turning around the owner of the small motel came out to talk to us and offered to let us stay in his parking lot free of charge for the night.  We had access to the beach and security of the place, no electricity, but we are self-contained anyway.  We parked next to the building to avoid the winds and headed out to investigate the beach. 

The town looked like it would normally be full of partiers on New Year’s Eve but was actually pretty.  We strolled on back to our RV to have some dinner and celebratory beverages before calling it a night pretty early. Adios 2020!

After our visit on Christmas with Oma we traveled down to San Diego to see the Tregidga’s of San Diego (Maddy’s brother and his family).  The drive was uneventful and even traffic in L.A. was surprisingly easy probably because of COVID.  It was a quick visit in San Diego with a BBQ, Badger bowl win, frisbee golf and a full moon rise over San Diego.  We exchanged gifts and left new year’s eve day.

By Julian

After visiting the Grand Canyon we traveled to the see the London Bridge?!?!? It only took four hours of driving on a Wednesday.  We drove out of the cold weather into Lake Havasu and discovered that the London Bridge is located in Arizona!

 I was in the RV mostly just playing on my ipad until Caroline (my sister) yelled IN AND OUT. In-N-Out Burger is an American regional chain of fast food restaurants with locations primarily in the American Southwest and Pacific coast. It was founded in Baldwin Park, California in 1948 by Harry Snyder and Esther Snyder and it has fresh fries cut in the restaurant. we LOVE in-and-out-burger and they don’t have it in Wisconsin (we live in Wisconsin) so we had to stop. After I ate my burger underneath the London Bridge…   Wait Whatttttt!!!!    Yes, it’s true the London Bridge is in Lake Havasu Arizona.  

This construction of the London Bridge spanned the River Thames between 1830 and 1967 in the City of London.  It was purchased by Robent P McCulloch  from the city of London and shipped brick by brick to Arizona in 1967 and reconstructed in Lake Havasu City.  The Arizona bridge is a reinforced concrete structure clad in the original masonry of the 1830s bridge, it was opened to traffic in 1973.

After lunch we checked into our RV park which had a heated pool! After the cold weather of the Grand Canyon it was exactly what we all needed.

by Caroline Niebauer

The grand canyon is a magical place with great views and amazing hikes. About 5.9 million people visit it annually, almost as many visitors as universal studios in Los Angeles, CA. We went on a hike on the South Kaibab trail, and we went as far as ooh ahh point. It lived up to its name. It was a two-mile hike into the canyon but it felt longer because of the steep trail.

While at the Grand Canyon we stayed in the RV and wore masks as well as staying away from people. Also while we were there it was very cold and in the mornings going down to 10 degrees F but it got into the upper 30s through out the day. On the first night we were there we caught a glimpse of the Colorado river through the cracks in the canyon at sunset.

On our last morning at the canyon, my dad went out at 7am and saw the sunrise over the canyon.

The Grand Canyon is beautiful and fun and I would totally recommend it to anyone. Especially in winter because of the much smaller crowds which is helpful during Covid19.

We anticipated leaving on Friday morning but just had a bit too much to do to get out the door. Oops

It snowed at least 5 inches Friday night, we had the RV completely packed with our stuff but our street was too snowy and icy to go anywhere before the plow came through. Finally around 11:00am we got on the road heading south through Illinois to avoid more snow.

After a slow start we navigated the snows and traversed the length of Illinois crossed over the Mississippi River into Missouri (got some nice pictures of the Arch) and ended up staying just West of St Louis. We went to bed right away as we knew the next morning was going to be early.

Maddy woke up before the sun came up and got us on the road at 6:00pm. By the time I had breakfast and started driving we had happened upon another winter storm just as we entered Oklahoma. Another 3-4 inches of snow centered around Tulsa. An accident stopped all traffic on I-40 forcing us to detour.

After a long day of driving we ended up at a McClelland Creek National Grassland east of Amarillo. Beautiful stars and a full hookup for $12 what a bargain.

Our regular travel adventures have been curtailed during this pandemic but we have devised the safest way forward with our RV… Campy McCampface! As the cold descends on us in the fall we typically devise ways to head to warmer climates and this year is no different. We are pulling the kids out of school (virtual only) and heading to California to visit Oma for Christmas, with stops at the Grand Canyon. California is totally shut down at this point so no camping we will just have to get to drive straight to Oma’s and quarantine.

We will be getting tested before we leave and throughout to protect ourselves and others but the RV is the safest way to travel that we can devise. After California we will be heading to Mexico (if they let us in) and enjoy some beach time, brush up on our Spanish and eat some tacos.

After several enjoyable days on Caye Caulker we traveled to Ambergris Caye only a twenty-minute ferry ride.  Ambergris Caye is where we stayed for the remaining two and a half weeks of our trip.  As we were getting on the boat to go to Ambergris I realized I had left all our passports in the safe at the hotel, yikes!!  Fortunately I just walked back and got them, I was delayed 1 ½ hours so as foolish travel mistakes go this one didn’t cost me anything but a bit of time.

Ambergris Caye is a linear barrier island that extends all the way to the border with Mexico considered an island only because of a man made channel that separates it from the mainland.  The only major town is called San Pedro and is quite a lively place, lots of restaurants and bars mostly catering to tourists.  The streets are very tiny and most people used golf carts to navigate the town, in fact full size cars require a special license.  I was curious about the name Ambergris and came across an article in the New York Times about the origins of Ambergris which turns out to be a hard perfumed substance that was used by nobility in Europe and is quite rare.  It is formed in the stomachs of whales, basically some sort of a gall stone if you will.  The Ambergris if jettisoned from the whale can float around in the ocean for years before showing up on a beach somewhere.  Presumably Ambergris was found of the shores of this lovely Caye in its past history giving its name.

 

Once we got situated in our hotel and my passport snafu was forgotten we began checking out the town, investigated dive shops and looking for cheap grocery stores (this was difficult).  We had lunch at Caroline’s cookin’ at the urging of our oldest and enjoyed beach and the pool before watching the Superbowl.

We were loving Ambergris Caye despite being far more developed than Caye Caulker and also chocked full of many old white Americans, I am assuming they are attracted to the weather and is basically the only country in Central America that speaks English.