Well, it's Easter Day and we are still in La Cruz. The Mexican holiday season has been in full swing with thousands of people flocking to the beaches. The small town here has turned into party central every evening with music, carnivals, street food, parades, you name it. Last night there were fireworks at midnight. We had dinner at Philos where there was the usual great live Cajun music and dancing. Today was another farmers market day, although some of the vendors were not there because of Easter. This was our last trip to this great market because we are planning to leave on Thursday, and head north into the Sea of Cortes again. This time, we plan to go straight across, weather permitting, to the La Paz area. We should be at sea for about two and a half days.
The rest of this post is dedicated to getting caught up on our recent adventures over the past two months. They are listed in chronological order with the most recent activities at the end. Happy Easter to everyone!
Celebrating sailing around the world with giant margaritas!
At the beginning of February, our good friends Kurt and Katie Braun arrived at the marina on their boat. We celebrated the completion of their circumnavigation that they started here 10 years ago. We had a few days to get together with them for some meals and guitar playing before we had to head back to Alameda for a couple of weeks. At least, we thought it was only going to be a couple of weeks. Rich had to see a retina specialist for an unusual problem with his right eye. The doctor told us we could not go back to Mexico until he checked the progression of the problem after another month. So, we were stuck in chilly Alameda for what turned out to be five weeks. We used the time to visit friends and family, and the days passed quickly.
Dinner out in Pleasanton
We had a nice dinner and visit with our friends Dan and Denise, and Wayne and Teresa. Rich, Dan, Wayne, and Kurt, have been friends since elementary school. It's great that they all still live in the area and can get together after all these years.
The Livermore Cowboys
Our next event was to visit Rich's brother and his family in Livermore. Our nephew was playing in a high school la cross game that morning, so we decided to go watch the game before heading to their house for lunch. The game was really fast, and our team was down a number of players due to the holiday weekend. Although they did score a few great points, our nephew scored one of them, they lost by a wide margin due partly to fatigue.
Wine lovers on the loose!
We of course had to get together for some wine tasting with our friends Rickie and Charlie. They always know the best places for the best wine. This time we took a tasting trip to the Livermore Valley. This area now has dozens of wineries that have sprung up just in the last few years. Since it is only about 45 minutes from Alameda, it makes a great day trip. They took us to one of their favorite new wineries that had spectacular Cabernets. Needless to say, we spent quite a bit of time there on the deck sipping great wine and overlooking the valley. The winery in the above photo was one of our picks, and they have a neat tasting room in a large farm shed. Trouble is, we can't remember the name! Too much wine I guess!
After the doctor cleared Rich to leave for Mexico, we booked the very next flight out of town. Glad to be back in Mexico where the daytime temps are always in the mid 80's. Now we need to spend some time getting the boat ready for our crossing to the Baja peninsula. Adios amigos.
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