Puerto Penasco: The drive

Getting to Mexico was easy but boring.  From our house, we drove south for about 3 hours, crossed the boarder, drove another 30 minutes and we were there. Easy peasey. Once we hit Ajo, pronounced (AH- HO), going south, we started to see a TON of cacti and that was cool but other than that, there really wasn't much to look at.
Ajo was a cute little town. It looked very Mexican in its architecture and was surrounded by the Pipe Organ Cactus National Park. I wanted to get out and take pictures once we got into the National Park, but part of the fun was driving up a hill, being at the top and looking down at all the cactus. They really do scatter the landscape like trees do in the Northwest.

Kelsey and Madison were incredible on the drive both there and back. On the way home Madison fell asleep before we even finished buckling her in and was out the whole time. Even when they weren't asleep though they just played and watched movies and sang. I don't know how we lucked out on good travelers. Good thing though!

At one point on the way home, Madison woke up and started screaming. We had no idea why she was screaming and nothing we did was working so we decided to just keep going until we got to lunch. After about 35 minutes of non stop screaming, the screaming stopped dead in its tracks. Finally having silence, we didn't think anything of it and just kept driving. When we went to go get her out of the car we found her like this! Half the bag was in her lap, the other half in her stomach.  What are road trips for after all.

On the way home, we stopped at a place called Space Age Hotel to eat, but it was booked, so instead we went to Sophia's. Sophia's was incredible! but I would have loved to eat at Space Age. It just look like an experience. I guess we will have to go back.

Other than that, no thoughts on the drive. Crossing the boarder was not a big deal except coming back into the US where we got treated like dirty but whatever. They probably deal with more than I want to know about on a daily basis and probably were hot and get yelled at all day long. It takes a special person to be boarder patrol that's for sure. I do not envy their jobs.

We got home about 4:30 and the girls went to bed at like 5:45. We unpacked, took baths, ate and then threw on an Elmo while we were unwinding. We walked in the room and found Madison like this. She obviously is not asleep, but I've never seen her so relaxed! 

Puerto Penasco: Activities

We have been planning for Rocky Point pretty much since we got to Phoenix, so consequently we had some time to plan and budget for excursions. We decided that this was going to be our anniversary gift to each other since 1. We never get each other gifts 2. December anniversaries are kind of lame (my bad) and 3 we were on vacation in Mexico and wanted to live it up! Aunt Kay, Brian, and Sandy were kind enough to babysit for us a few times too so we were able to get away just the two of us.

Out of all the things you can do in Rocky Point, the one that stuck out the most to both of us was parasailing. It looked awesome and I don't know if we would ever really have to the chance to do it again. On Tuesday morning we drove down to the harbor, handed some guy our money, and were headed off on his boat. We didn't have to train, watch a tacky video, or even sign anything. Oh how I love Mexico.

 

I got a little nervous right before we took off

So Parasailing is amazing! It feels like swinging on a really high swing. The harness thing that you wear goes under your bu, you sit on the boat, they let the parachute out and you just slowly float to the top. It was so much fun. I thought we would get in the water like you do if you ski, but we didn't even touch the water. I have to say my favorite part was maybe watching the guys grab the parachute at the very end and try to pull it in really really REALLY fast.

 

We decided to also take advantage of the babysitting and go jet skiing. I loved it except, you had to walk out to the jet skis, probably 20 yards and the water was DISGUSTING! I have literally never walked in such warm, trash filled, slimy, disgusting water in my life. Everyone thought I was hilarious but I literally almost threw up. It was so bad that when we were done, the guy pushed us all the way to the sand "so you won't have to look silly again. " He was awesome!

Obviously a huge part of our trip was shopping with just the ladies. We took Kelsey one night and she loved it. She got a little shy when people would talk to her because she didn't know what they were saying, but it was a great opportunity to talk to her about different languages and cultures. Hopefully some of that sticks for the future.
I was looking at this ring and this guy had a fun personality and was trying to get me to buy he. He handed me a plastic bag and would say like "I'll even give you Mexican wrapping for the ring" funny things like that. After a while though, I decided that I didn't want it, said no thank you, and started to walk away. He literally stood in my way, put the ring in my hand and continued to barter with me. I don't think he knows me very well. I don't take getting told what to do very well. So here's the thing, I completely hate it. As soon as he did that I resolved to never buy that ring ever out of sheer pride. He kept pushing and pushing and wouldn't let me leave. It wasn't forever, and I have to say I didn't get intimidated, but I got so prideful. Back off buddy! I'll buy your ring if I want to buy your ring. Don't tell me what I want and how to spend my money!

Down the street from our beach house was a display of a whale skeleton. One of the afternoons, when the tide was low, we walked to the whale and looked around. I think the best part was seeing all the houses on the street. So colorful and unique.

 

  

 

The beach house had a paddle board and kayak that we were able to use. We didn't really take advantage of them the first few days, but the last two days we finally took them down to the water. And turns out I love paddle boarding. Who knew! I loved it so much that I willingly jumped in the water! That's saying something.The girls also loved it. They would hop on the board or the boat and go with us too. It was so much fun.

It doesn't matter but I did go out further than this. The pictures just turned out too small to tell

One morning we woke up and the water was as smooth as glass.  We all spent the morning taking turns paddle boarding and kayaking, while the girls played with who ever was on the beach. Ethan was a genius and brought a table and chairs down and we ate our breakfast (homemade burritos, chilies, and tamales) on the beach. It was a perfect morning. My favorite to be exact.

 

At night, we would either play in the tide pools or walk along the beach. One night we played with a glow in the dark beach ball and glow sticks and Kelsey thought it was the coolest.  Mom points for the win

There was so much to do but at the same time nothing to do if we really wanted. It was the perfect vacation.

 One day it was stormy and we all watched a movie. Aunt Kay captured this picture. I think we were all a little sad. Luckily the storm passed quickly and didn't affect anything.