Camera Critters: sea lions in Ensenada

A few are dozing.

Then a few more.

One goes for a swim.

Everyone joins in.

Guess that just leaves me up here!

Photos by Richard Schear at the cruise ship wharf in Ensenada.
Posted for Camera Critters hosted by Misty Dawn. Thanks, Misty!

L is for Los Cabos, and M is for Mexico

We've been traveling again, so I missed one post to ABC Wednesday. Therefore, I have two today.
Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo (locally known as Los Cabos) comprise the two cities at the southernmost point of the Baja Peninsula. My family lived in the northern part of the Baja for many, many winters in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, but I had never visited the southern part of the peninsula. I was delighted when Dick found a perfect combination — six nights in a condo between Balboa Park and downtown San Diego, then a cruise from San Diego to Manzanillo, Puerto Vallarta, and "Los Cabos" (Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo).

El Arco, above, and below, the only beach that is on the Pacific Ocean on one side and on the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California) on the other side.

On the Pacific side of the northern Baja Peninsula is Ensenada, now a thriving modern tourist city, no longer the dusty little town between desert and ocean that I first saw in the 1970s.

Dolphins, above and below.

The Magnificent Frigate Bird (above). This one is likely a female.

We're back...again...didja miss us?

Photos to come soon of our latest journey, to San Diego for several days (yes, we went to the zoo) and from San Diego on a cruise to Manzanillo, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas (and San Jose del Cabo) and to Ensenada, which is no longer the sleepy, dusty little town I remember from years gone by.


Here we are on the deck of the Carnival Spirit at Puerto Vallarta. There were many families aboard the ship because so many children had Easter vacations. It was a busy cruise, on a "fun ship"! Dick enjoyed the big waterslide, and I loved the spa.






We got home yesterday, and this afternoon a young grey cat decided it wants to come into our house, despite the fact that it saw the lovely Lindy, our Golden Retriever, through the door. Lindy was wagging her tail and looking like she might enjoy having a cat roommate, but we travel too much to be able to have two pets. We'll have to put up "Found" notices.

Shadows on Mexico's Baja Peninsula

I've been posting a lot of pictures taken on our trip to Hawaii in December, 2010, but I thought I'd post some today to show why it took me so long to visit the lovely islands of Hawaii. I never felt the need to go there because I went to Mexico almost every winter for 25 years.
My parents and my youngest brother first visited Mexico's beautiful Baja in 1970, when Rob was two years old. They went back the next winter and took Mom's parents, to show them why they had fallen in love with the east coast of the peninsula. The following year, Mom and Dad decided they needed a place of their own in San Felipe, then a small shrimp-fishing village on the shore of the Sea of Cortez.
They drove the 1600 miles (or 1700 or 1800, depending which route they took, because they weren't fond of freeways) each way, every six months, until they just couldn't do it any more.
Therefore, San Felipe was the holiday destination of choice for me for many, many years. We watched it grow from a sleepy fishing village into a tourist town, but it never quite lost its appeal.
These photos were taken after Mom and Dad decided to stay in Canada year-round. I persuaded my husband to take me down so I could show him why I loved it so much.

I took this picture of Dick photographing some caballeros on the beach.
This is the Pacific side of the Baja Peninsula, south of Tijuana, not far from Ensenada.

These two pictures were taken at Playa del Sol, 5 miles north of San Felipe on the Sea of Cortez. When San Felipe became too busy for my parents, they moved here, out of town. The pointed shadow that almost reaches the fence is the roof of the place Dad had built - teaching the locals the secrets of wood-frame construction, and doing much of the work himself, in the process.

                                                                                                                                          Kay Davies, photos

There aren't many shadows in this last photo. There's not much shade in the middle of the day on the road they call "La Rumorosa" - just rock, rock, and more rock. It's a good road now, though I heard wild tales from my parents and their friends about the way it was 40 years ago.

Posted for Shadow Shot Sunday, hosted every weekend by Tracy at Hey Harriet.

To see other shadows shot by other cameras, please click

HERE!