Seeking Sun and Fun!

Ready for some Sun!

While the late January daytime's are gradually getting longer, they are still filled with endless grey skies and enough rain to make one want to build an ark.  It is time to seek the sun. 

Abby the cat is off to Vancouver to spend time with cousin Charlie the dog.  Brother Perry is taking care of the house and all hometown commitments have been put on hold.  Once again Mexico is our first choice for a winter get away.

Our travel partners will change along the way.  Cousin Randy and Doreen will join us for the first five weeks in Mexico City, San Miguel de Allende and Puerto Escondido.  Brother Russ and Viv will also join us in Puerto for the first two weeks of February.  At the end of February, Randy and Doreen will continue their stay in Mexico but up the coast in Rincon de Guyabitos while we will fly to Phoenix, Arizona. 

In Phoenix we will meet friends Kathy and Mike.   They will kindly drive our vehicle down to the desert and bring our golf clubs, bicycles, and hiking boots for reprise of last year’s “hike, bike, golf and repeat”.   Also, thanks to son Spencer and Veronica, we have tickets to see a Vancouver Canucks hockey game in the desert.  It is much cheaper to travel to Arizona to watch the Canucks than attend a game in Vancouver.

After a few weeks of desert fun we will travel to Palm Springs to meet yet more friends, Barry & Jan for more golf, drinks, hiking and great company.

After a week in Palm Springs we will be sufficiently dried out to venture across the mountains to San Francisco.  We will attend a three-day wedding extravaganza for friends, Jim and Debbie’s daughter Caitlin.  After the wedding weekend we will drive to Napa to sip some wine and chill out amongst the vineyards.  We will end our trip with the final chapter encompassing a slow moseys up the California and Oregon coasts. We plan to be home by April 1.

I know, I know … this trip sounds way to planned compared to our past adventures.  We do enjoy the spontaneous aspect of unplanned travel but when one wants to spend time with others sharing these experiences, one has to be prepared to be more coordinated in our travel plans.

Sunset Somewhere Over Arizona @ 25,000 Feet!

After a good flight from Vancouver to Phoenix and then on to Mexico City, we arrived at the Gran Hotel Ciudad de Mexico at around 1 am. (lost two hours in time zone changes).  Just before we got to the hotel we were witness to some inner city taxi driver problem solving.  Our driver was stopped by the police a few blocks from the hotel.  The road was closed without explanation.  Our only option was to take a different route.  The problem was we were facing two lanes of oncoming traffic travelling one-way in the opposite direction we wanted to go.  In a split second the driver had the problem sorted.  He simply turned the taxi around facing the legal direction of traffic and then proceeds to back up in reverse until we arrived where we needed to go. 

A Little Tired But Smooth Travel.

Champagne Upon Arrival!

Each Room Had Personalized Dessert Waiting.

Courtesy Gran Hotel Ciudad de Mexico!

That’s it for now.  We have a four hour bicycle tour planned for Mexico City in the morning so one more flute of champagne, courtesy of the hotel and then off to bed.