San Carlos

This past weekend we took our (now seemingly annual) Memorial Day trip to San Carlos.  It is always a welcome retreat after the end of the semester.  It is also a nice change of scenery at the beginning of the hot summer months in Tucson.  Beth and I really enjoy the trip and it is sad that the dangers of travel in Mexico are greatly exaggerated by the American media.

This year we stayed with Yunuen’s brother who has a house in Guaymas instead of our normal condos around the bay in San Carlos.  It was nice to keep the cost down and it was fun to be more immersed in the Mexican culture instead of the Americanized resort condos.  Also, since his house is right on the beach there was really no downside.

This year we went with Ryan and Yun as well as two of their friends Chris and Brit.  Traveling with people is always a great way to get to know them and we always come back from this trip feeling a lot closer the the people we went with.

Walcott, Scout and Tila also came.  Traveling with dogs is always an adventure, but they really are a ton of fun.  They also seem to really enjoy the beach.  We left Tucson around 1:30 on Friday and after a quick stop in Hermosillo for some tacos we got into Guaymas and spent the evening on the porch just enjoying the nice ocean breeze.  The next morning Beth and I woke up early to try to get Walcott some exercise on the beach.  He is definitely doing better than he was last year, but he can still get distracted by other dogs on the beach and just keep running.  Twice this trip I had to chase him down the beach to bring him back.  It is extremely frustrating, but I guess I only have us to blame for not being better about being consistent in our training.  All impromptu 1 mile sprints down the beach aside, Walcott is a source of a lot of entertainment for us.

When we didn’t want to be dealing with Walcott we would tie him up on the back porch.  He loved to tangle his paw up in the hammock then act like he didn’t know how to get it out.

Later on Saturday we chartered a boat to go out to see the sunset.  The boat ride was fun and we got to see some really nice houses out on the rocky outcrops.  I couldn’t help but think about how the area would be different if it was a US city.  It was kind of nice to see undeveloped land around the area.  It definitely added to the beauty.  There was an upper level of the boat that was cool to climb up to as it gave a panoramic view.  Beth seemed to simply like the climb up while bouncing on the waves.

After a nice devotional and time of prayer on Sunday morning we left for snorkeling on a new beach recommended by Gary of Gary’s Dive Shop down in San Carlos.  The snorkeling was better than in years past, with lots of wildlife.  We had to navigate around a jungle of seaweed, and while peering into the shadows of the swaying vines I couldn’t help but think of a scene from some scary shark movie where all of a sudden you see an extremely large shark just swim beneath you. We then left for a late lunch at JJ’s.  The fish tacos there are definitely the best I have ever had.  The atmosphere there was also very relaxing.

That evening we went up the the overlook and got some cool photos of the moon (which was almost full).  Chris, Ryan and I also had some fun double exposing photos.  Hopefully I can get the photos from Ryan and post them here.  Otherwise you should check out his post (which I’m sure will be coming soon) at his blog.  Monday morning before leaving we spent another morning playing with the dogs in the ocean.  We were also able to catch a few crabs and let the dogs play with them (a favorite pastime).

The ride back seemed fairly fast, besides the ~2 hour wait at the border.  And although the trip was relaxing, there is always something to be said for sleeping in your own bed.  For more pictures, check out the Photos page.