Catavinia area hiking

Around Catavinia the landscape gets crazy cool, with cacti everywhere and huge boulderscapes.  On our first trip to Baja years ago we spent the night in Catavinia so we could do a little hike in the area.  We decided to do the same this year.  We stopped in a little marked area where the signs read, "Stay on trails with a local guide."  Well, we didn't have a guide and there was nobody to be seen, so we decided to play dumb and check out the area.

This was an archaeological area and at the top of our climb we found a cave with the most amazing and colorful petroglyphs.  What an awesome surprise!

Shortly after our hike we passed a familiar vehicle traveling south on Hwy 1.  It was Barb Kus (my boss), Suellen Lynn, and Lisa Allen on their way to the tip of Baja in search of Least Bell's Vireos.  We had originally hoped to stay in the same hotel overnight, but instead we opted to drive on to El Rosario, so a wave hello from the highway had to suffice.  Was probably a good move, because the metal T-Rex sculpture at our hotel (Mama Espinosa's) pretty much made Quinn's day.  :)  

Baja Whales 2013

Last weekend we drove to Guerrero Negro in Baja.  It's about 10.5 hours south of San Diego.  The entire population of Gray Whales breeds in three lagoons on the Pacific side of the Baja Penninsula (Laguna Ojo del Liebre, San Ignacio, and Magdalena Bay).  Laguna Ojo del Liebre is where we went. The whales begin to arrive in December and January, and by mid February most of the females have young calves.  The whales in this area are known to be curious about the boats in the bay and it is not uncommon to have whales approach the boats and they will even occasionally solicit pets from excited tourists.

On this trip we went out on two boat trips.  Different tour operators are licensed for different parts of the bay.  Our first trip was with Marios Tours and focused on the inlet area in the northern part of the bay.  It was an afternoon trip and the water was a bit bumpy.  The whales were not especially "friendly" that afternoon, but they made up for it by being extremely active.  We saw quite a few large adults breeching (see the photo below) and spy hopping.  Towards the end of the tour we did have one female and calf who approached the boat, but only for a little bit and it was time to head back to the docks.

Breeching adult

Fluke with blows in the background

For our second outing we went to the "whale watching camp" which was about 20 minutes off of the paved road south of Guerrero Negro.  What a great area!  This is where we will camp in future years.  From the building and campsites you can see whales and blows all over.  The area is also covered with birds...shorebirds galore, Brant geese and Surf Scoters.  I wished I'd brought my big camera lens, but 70mm was what I had to work with on this trip.  This trip was a morning trip and we only had 6 people in our boat.  The water was calm and the weather was perfect.  As we headed out we approached several whale/calf pairs who were still sleeping floating at the surface.  Looking around you could see 10-15 whales in any direction you looked.  In the photo below I count at least 9.

The whales were all just waking up and we had the bay to ourselves.  There was not as much breeching and spy hopping going on, but we struck gold with a friendly mom and calf who spent about an hour investigating our boat.  

Mom and calf

Young calf resting on mama

Mom

Quinn had a great time on both outings and was a serious trooper for our long car trip.  

We are going to try to make this an annual trip.  I recommend that anyone interested in wildlife make the trip south to see these amazing creatures up close.  I would also highly recommend going out with the group out of the whale camp.  The boat trip is not as long and the whales were amazingly friendly.  I was also pleased with how the boat operators respected the whales' space (I felt that on day one the boats followed them a bit too much).  

Mama with baby on her back

Baby whale playing around near our boat

 We also took a bunch of videos of the action.  I'll attach a couple of them here (if it'll work).  Really, this was an amazing experience!

Happy Valentine's Day

Wishing everyone a happy Valentine's day!  Didn't think we'd get around to making cards with Quinn for his classmates this year, but with the help of Emily we quickly threw together these beauties.  They don't have Quinn's personal touches like last year (although he helped with glueing), but I think they'll do.  Better than nothing!  :)

As I walked up to the dark and empty house this evening I noticed this flower stuck in the screen door. Quinn had left it there for himself and his Dad so it would be waiting for them when they got home from swimming.  At that time he also presented Emily and me with our own flowers.  Sweet kid.  

Kidfest 2013 - Idyllwild

We rented out a large 4 BR cabin in the nearby mountains several weeks ago and invited lots of friends to join us.  All of those friends but one (Emily) have children.  It was a fun, crazy, hectic weekend filled with lots of wine, good food, hot tubbing, pool playing, hikes, lots of toys and minimal sleep.  The kids had a blast!  Somehow I managed to not take a single photo of any adults!  Thanks to all who braved the kiddies to join us!

Kyan, Quinn and Holden

Quintin and Quinn

Snowman!

The kid table

Camelbak Cousins

6 kids on a log!

Sweet baby Kellan!

Cincinnati

I flew solo to Cincinnati last month to attend Biggy's service.  It was an emotional trip, but alongside the sadness that comes from losing a loved one is the joy of being with other loved ones.  It was great seeing my family, Don and Janet, Bonnie, the Bertens.  As you can see below, a raucus game of spoons broke out on the night of my arrival.

And it's always amazing to get to see my favorite little niece, June.  She's grown a lot since I last saw her in late November!  What a cute and sweet baby!

Biggy

The world lost an amazing person when Andrew D. Smith passed away in early January.  He was known to my brother Andy, me and to all of our friends as "Biggy", which came about because my brother could not pronounce "Big Andy" when he was a toddler.  Biggy was always around during our childhood.  He was my dad's best friend for almost 50 years.  In fact, I met him at the very same moment I met my dad (or so I'm told).  I remember when he moved to England when we were kids and how much I missed him then.  He was like a second father to us and I cannot even fully express how deeply he will be missed.  My birthday was December 28th and my last conversation with Biggy was the day before when he sang me the most memorable happy birthday I've ever received.  I miss you, Biggy!  

Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2012 will go down in history as one of the most memorable holidays yet.  It was to be my first Christmas away from my family since I was born 3 days after the date in 1972.  Pretty remarkable really that I've managed to go 40 years and never miss a Christmas with the fam...not even the year I spent in Germany kept me away.  So here I was feeling like I've finally grown up.  I was a little bit sad about not spending the day with my family, but at the same time I'm excited to start having our own Christmas traditions to share with Quinn.  On Christmas Eve I went to the beach to visit a friend who was in town and we saw this cute little Charlie Brown set up (there is a little skimpy tree in front of them, but it's hidden in the shadow).

The plan was to have dinner with Jeff's mom, Phyllis/Grammy.  At around 5:30 we were all ready with the table set.  Phyllis was due to come by at 6.  She arrived around 6:15, apologizing for being late.  She had received a long distance phone call that delayed her in leaving the house. 

About 3 minutes after she arrived there was a knock at the door.  Annoyed that someone was interrupting our holiday dinner I sent Jeff to answer the door.  He claimed that there were some "elves" at the door.  I thought some neighbor must be delivering treats and went to see who it was.  I was BEYOND shocked to find my lovely parents dressed in santa hats!

Needless to say we had to rearrange the table to accommodate two more guests!  :)  

Jeff prepared an amazing meal.  Grouper, smashed butternut squash with ginger, asparagus and homemade rolls.  We had pumpkin cranberry bread pudding for dessert.  

Santa came!

The aftermath of Christmas morning 2012!

We had planned to have the neighbors over on Christmas morning for Milk Punch (a tradition observed in Savannah by my parents friends Ron and Jim), but Quinn had been battling a nasty virus for almost a week and still had a fever on Christmas day, so we had to call all of our friends/neighbors with little kids to tell them to avoid us to keep their kids healthy.  Finally he managed to get a couple of good nights of sleep and kicked the fever after 6 days!  I went in to check on him one evening after he'd fallen asleep and this is what I found.  :)

It's been great having my family here for our first Christmas in San Diego.  And also great to share our first Christmas with Jeff's mom and sister, Jaime and her family.  We had a nice dinner at Phyllis's house with Jaime, John and the boys and Kelly and Lee.  Of course Quinn and Kyan had a ball together as always.  Mom and Dad leave today to spend New Years with friends in Atlanta.  I hope we manage to do this again sometime!  It was fabulous.  Thanks to all for the wonderful surprise and the fun holiday!  :)