travels

3 Months in Baja: Bahía de los Ángeles to Guerrero Negro

This is the story of all Amy’s dreams coming true.

Ok—again, not all of them, and not just mine either. A whole literal boatful of people’s dreams came true in this portion of the trip! But I’m getting ahead of myself.

We left Bahía de los Ángeles via the long, bumpy dirt road that for a long portion of the drive follows the route that the Baja 1000 drivers take. We had full-blown off-road-racing fever, so it seemed like a great idea the moment we had it.

We had conquered the jarring Mex 5 and felt confident about our ability to manage this stretch of road. Our friends from Bahía had assured us that it wasn’t too much worse than the Mex 5, and as long as we were fully supplied we should be fine. The only difference between the two drives was the amount of road between towns.

So in order to continue having stories to tell, the Turtle decided to wait until we were just far enough away from Bahía that going back wasn’t an option, and that’s when it began leaking fuel. I had been smelling gas for a while, but it was just faint enough that we thought it could be burn-off or something non-troubling. But soon the smell was overwhelming and it was necessary to stop and have a look.

After a few minutes diagnosing the problem, Andy began unloading his tools.

From underneath the Turtle Andy explained to me that the fuel pump was leaking, squirting fuel out all over the undercarriage. We had a long distance to go until the next gas station, so losing any amount of fuel was a problem. He continued poking around while I took the pets out for a walk along the Bahia 1000 track.

When we came back to check on him, I noticed Andy had been digging around his storage space under the bench seats inside. I asked him how everything was going, and he asked me if I remembered what we’d purchased at the Auto Zone a week ago in San Felipe. Because we’d looked up and memorized the words “bomba de combustible” especially for that visit to Auto Zone, I also of course remembered what they meant.

Fuel pump! Andy had just bought a spare. He’s a real wizard, that one.

So despite the fact that we would have been in a real jam out there in the desert alone on a dirt track nobody uses, in about an hour we were back on the road! I love how he’s able to turn disaster into mere inconvenience with a wave of his wrench. I never take for granted Andy’s mechanic skills and his Eagle Scout level of preparedness. We’re able to take risks and see portions of the world that few others get to see because we’re not as worried about being totally stranded (see: Dalton Highway). He’s the best!

We continued on, driving through stunning desert landscapes, surrounded by cacti of all shapes and sizes.

Our unplanned stop to replace the bomba de combustible meant we were in a race against the sun to reach our boondocking site before dark. As we wound around the curves leading up to San Rafael, we were slowed down further by this hilarious herd of cows who were apparently doing a slapstick bit for our enjoyment and exasperation. They could easily have exited the road on either side, but trotted ahead of us for about a mile, weaving back and forth and giving us annoyed looks over their shoulders as they went. And stopped. And then went again.

We made it to our site just as darkness swallowed up the roads, and went in to fix up some fancy clams we’d brought with us from the beach of La Gringa.

Since we almost never drive at night we were curious to see what our new front yard would look like in the morning.

It was awesome! We were the only humans as far as the eye could see, on a low bluff overlooking our private beach.

The animals were safe to roam freely, so while they did I happily took lots of photos of them. The beach looks really good on these two.

I took Scout down to the beac to play in the surf and read for a while. He just kept digging his face in my bag for the frisbee so I didn’t get much reading done, but when you’re on a private beach there’s really no wrong way to spend the day.

We stayed a few days before getting back on the bumpy road that would reconnect us with the Mex 1. Where it connects, we’d originally planned on heading south and visiting Guerrero Negro in a month or two on our way back up north, but as we drove and I read about the whale watching season, we thought we’d go right away in order to hit peak whale season.

This road was another long stretch of slow going, surrounded by every flavor of cactus.

It was so beautiful that we didn’t mind it too much, until we’d reached hour seven and our brains couldn’t take the jolting back and forth for one more actual minute. The only vehicle we’d seen on the road in days was a truck hauling eight cows and traveling at about 80kph as they passed us. This isn’t a road for the faint of heart.

I began researching places to boondock for the night. iOverlander works offline, which was a lifesaver throughout our entire time in Baja! I saw a little ranch up ahead called Rancho Piedra Blanca that has room for campers for about $10 a night, and even had snacks and showers.

We sat on the porch and chatted with the caretaker in Spanish until bedtime. It was a lovely relaxing evening, watching the sun set and enjoying the pace of life out in the middle of nowhere. We discussed life in Baja, family and travel in as many words as I could recall, we learned that the cows who had passed us in a blur had been on their way to Rancho Piedra Blanca and were now residents, and I fell deeply in love with this tiny lady:

The next day we steeled ourselves for more bumps and after many more hours we saw pavement and cheered! We turned right on the Mex 1 to go just a bit out of our way up north to Guerrero Negro and after driving through the entire town we decided the best spot to camp for the night would be an RV park. Two nights in a row paying for camping! What are we, the Rockefellers? Is that a reference the kids are using these days?

We sat on the patio and I began researching Guerrero Negro’s famous whale watching opportunities in earnest.

Here’s what I learned: half an hour south of the town is the Ojo de Liebre Lagoon, which is a popular calving spot for grey whales traveling their 6,000 mile journey from the Bering Sea. From January through April they come by the thousands to this lagoon, which is warm and protected from predators. The mothers feel so protected there that they seek out and enjoy the company of humans, and are even known to push their babies up to the surface with their noses to show them off and let them be petted. The height of the season is late January through late March, so our early February timing couldn’t have been better.

We met two awesome couples on the patio at El Malarrimo and spent a few hours hanging out over some beers and sharing stories. Marcus and Doria were planning to take a tour from Guerrero Negro the following day on a large tour boat with many passengers, and we met when I told them they might consider another tour. I’d just read on a website (because we got a wifi signal there!) that there are tours you can take on smaller 10-passenger panga boats that get you much closer to the whales, but I wasn’t sure where to go. As fate would have it, Di and CR had just taken a tour a day or two ago and they highly recommended that we drive the half hour south to a camp spot on the beach at Ojo de Liebre instead. They said the tour boats out of Guerrero Negro weren’t authorized to travel in the portion of the lagoon where there are the most whales, and because the boats are larger you don’t get a chance to touch them either. And I needed to touch a whale (now that I knew that was an option). They gave us directions and we started getting super excited.

The next day we ran around Guerrero Negro, eating as many tacos as we could manage.

With hard work and dedication, Andy was able to reach a daily total of seven tacos, giving rise to our new expression, “It really was a Seven Taco Day.” This can be used in any application as an equivalent to “best day ever.” And the tacos adobadas at Señor Taco were in the Top Three Tacos we had on the entire peninsula, so that was icing on the cake. The taco cake.

Later that day we followed Di and CR’s directions down to a campsite right by the lagoon, with huge round palapas at each site that basically doubled our living space. Fancy!

We walked down to the restaurant at the entrance for dinner and big icy margaritas with Marcus and Doria and a handful of other travelers who were all going out to see the whales the next day as well.

When we woke up the next day, it was pretty overcast and chilly. We optimistically mused that since it was only 7 a.m. maybe it would burn off, but the impression we got from the staff on the patio as we drank our coffee and watched the sky told us that what we were seeing is what we’d get. Oh well, we were going to see whales!

Marcus and Doria were as excited as we were.

We sped out to open water on our little 10-person panga boat and breathlessly watched the horizon for spouts.

It only took about 10 minutes before we saw not only spouts in the distance, but the whales themselves, and close up!

When we first began seeing the whales, a little girl on our tour was pointing each one out, saying, “There’s one!” “There’s another one!” until after a while we were seeing fifteen at a time, and she turned from the bow, threw out her arms and happily shouted, “We’re surrounded by whales!” It became the group’s catchphrase for the next few days.

It was a fun tour, but we all suspected that the overcast weather may have had something to do with how mellow the whales were. We decided not to be terribly disappointed since we just had a miraculous day seeing grey whales from 10 feet away, and we reminisced with Marcus and Doria at their palapa as the boys fixed a broken oil pan (not the Turtle’s injury, for once!).

Scout was no help at all, and silently criticized Marcus and Andy for misusing their frisbee time by working on the Golf.

Gracie oversaw the project from on high.

We considered the tour company’s policy of giving a discounted rate for a second day out on the boat, dropping the price from $45 to $20 if you wanted to go out again. We decided we couldn’t pass it up, and made plans with our new friends Ransom and Casey to meet up for coffee early the next day to try to get on the same boat.

The next day was absolutely perfect. It was warm and sunny, and we were able to get all our friends in one boat. Everyone felt positive about our chances to get closer to a whale on this gorgeous day.

Though the tour began at the same time as the previous day, it was clear that the whales were feeling much friskier; they were swimming right up next to the boat in no time!

I didn’t take many photos because I wanted to be present and experience the trip firsthand, but I did take some videos at chin level while I watched so I could relive it later.

It was a magical and deeply moving experience. These magnificent creatures were both enormous and gentle, and it was clear that they really did want to interact and play with us. The “little” 1,000 lb. babies followed their mothers right up to our boat, and flipped around onto their backs as they passed underneath us!

We watched these videos again after the tour, and Andy commented that I was grinning as widely as I had been when I witnessed it in real life. And now as I uploaded these I just realized I’m doing it again! It was a life-changing experience.

And then I GOT TO PET A WHALE!

I actually got a little teary-eyed afterward and had to sit back for a moment to take it all in. It’s hard to explain, but I felt tremendously close to nature and a part of another world that seemed so remote just an hour before. What’s another word for magic? Because I want to keep using that word as I describe the experience. I got to pet a whale!!!!

Almost everyone on our boat got to touch one at least once, which is why we looked like this on the way back:

What a day.

We got back to our mansion after a big celebration lunch at the restaurant patio just as the coastal clouds were beginning to roll in.

Luckily our suite had walls all around, so while the wind picked up and the rain began, we were all very cozy as we read books and watched the birds flying over the water in the distance.

Before we went to Baja, I didn’t know that one of my biggest dreams would be getting to pet a whale. Rarely do we get to realize a dream exists while it’s happening, and I’m so grateful I got to experience it. When we talk about our best days in Baja, this one always tops the list.

It really was a Seven Taco Day!!!

3 Months in Baja: San Felipe to Bahía de los Ángeles

This is the story about all Andy’s dreams coming true.

Well, maybe not all of them, but a lot of them. And awesome ones.

We’d spent our first week in Baja enjoying the quiet beach site outside of San Felipe with our friends Gary and Kiki, who were also planning on heading south down the peninsula, and neighbors Stashik and Dorota who were on their way back up to their home in Canada. We’d gotten a lot of great advice from the group, like “get money from the ATM before you’re completely out of pesos, because nobody takes credit cards and the ATM’s regularly run out of cash” and “bring the meat you purchase at Calimax to the lady with the grill outside, who will BBQ it for free and even add potatoes and onions to the mix.” We heeded their advice—useful and delicious.

The other tip we got was “although it looks like a much longer route to Bahía de los Ángeles, go back up north via Mex 3 to Ensenada and then south again on Mex 1. . . definitely do not take the Mex 5.” The Mex 5 is a construction site of a highway—dirt roads, potholes, huge jutting rocks, steep grades, unmarked routes, and completely inappropriate for a 2WD van-house. People regularly pop tires, break axles, and puncture oil pans on that stretch of so-called road that ends at the intersection of Mex 1.

Followers of this blog will be unsurprised that we did not heed that particular piece of advice.

From San Felipe to Puertecitos the road is paved, but still quite torn up and punctuated by deep ruts and potholes. Then after Puertecitos the pavement ends and the 131 km of excitement begins. We jolted back and forth, side to side, our bobble heads bouncing around as we slowly lurched down the dusty road. The Turtle began to protest, making new sounds that prompted a few pull-overs, but resulting in nothing more serious than some photo ops.

Some of the construction areas were relatively flat and comfortable.

I took a video during a smoother part of the drive, when I was able to hold my phone without dropping it, and the quality was such that it wouldn’t make the viewer seasick.

(For the record, we had more than 12 km to go at that point. But tiny hand-painted signs on rocks can be misleading.)

Those of you familiar with this stretch of road will wonder if we stopped at Coco’s Corner, a super-popular tourist stop that even has a “historical place” icon on Google maps. Suffice it to say, that place may have been a great stop in its heyday but was a little depressing when we visited, with dusty undergarments covering the walls and a sullen Coco mumbling about the old days through a tiny window we had to crouch to see through. We didn’t stick around long, but upon our arrival we did meet a fun group of American travelers who were just departing, also on their way to Bahía de los Ángeles, and they invited us to watch the Super Bowl with them that Sunday. We got the location and said we’d be there!

After about six total brain-rattling hours, we finally made it to Mex 1 and cheered when we saw pavement! Andy just loves off-roading and seeing what our little Turtle is capable of, so he was very pleased that we made it without incident. The drive had taken even longer than we’d accounted for, so by the time we rolled into Bahía de los Ángeles, the sun was just beginning to set.

We found a nice little beach spot on iOverlander and parked by the water to watch the show.

Another van was parked there, and as the sun set we met its owner Lirón, a nice young guy from Israel who was also taking a few months to travel around Baja and then beyond. We made a camp fire, and talked about all the available shellfish in the area. Lirón had never tried any at all, so we all walked down to the water and harvested a bucket full of the biggest mussels any of us had ever seen!

We cleaned them, rigged up a little grill, and set them on the fire to cook.

Once they popped open, we took them off the grill, opened them up, and added either garlic butter or a tasty Thai chili paste mixture we whipped up in the Turtle.

The evening was warm, the beers were cold, the mussels were rich and delicious, and it was a really memorable travel experience with a new friend.

The next morning we parted ways with tentative plans to camp in same spot that night, and Andy and I drove back into Bahía to see the sights. The town is a super small coastal town with a population of about 800 and very little in the way of tourism. It’s a popular spot for fishing, snorkeling, and kayaking, and in our opinion was worth the drive out of the way to visit. We stopped at a restaurant for lunch and some wispy WiFi, and as we sat on the patio facing the main drag, Andy was delighted to see a number of “Baja Bugs” driving up and down the road. He chatted with a fellow named Richard, who was admiring the Turtle as Andy admired the bug he’d arrived in, and Andy learned that the very next day was the Bahía 200!

The Bahía 200 is an annual off-road race that runs on a portion of the Baja 1000 track, starting just south of Bahía de los Ángeles and consisting of a 4-lap course. All the drivers come to town the day before the race in order to attend the pre-race inspection and celebration the prior evening, which the entire population attends with much festivity. Andy reported this all to me, gesturing excitedly with wide eyes and a huge grin, hardly able to believe our luck and accidental great timing. We adjusted our plan to park in town in order to join the party and see all the cool off-road vehicles there.

Our travel guide told us a nearby restaurant also offered beachside RV parking, and as we hopped out of the Turtle to investigate, we ran into Lirón, who had just purchased some snorkel gear. As we talked about our new plan Andy noticed the yellow bug he’d been ogling outside the restaurant as he talked to Richard, and when he saw Richard himself we all walked over to say hello.

One of the biggest lessons we’ve learned in our years of travel has been that since most people are awesome, the more we go out of our way to meet new friends, the more our experiences take on new exciting flavors and expand in directions we never could have imagined. We’ve met so many incredible people throughout our travels who are now forever a part of our tales of adventure, and sometimes we wonder how much the experience would have paled in comparison without them.

Even with that lesson in our pockets, when we walked over to say hello to Richard and company, we weren’t prepared for the odyssey of fun we were about to embark upon with this wonderful bunch of wildlings:

Enter Bernadette, (Lirón you know already), Dave, Richard, Kathi and Kathleen.

This exceptional group of friends comes down from the Bay Area to Kathi and Kathleen’s place every year for the Bahía 200, and once we introduced ourselves they adopted all three of us into their circle, invited us to park both vans in their driveway for the evening, and asked if we wanted to accompany them to the race party that evening. Their generosity was overwhelming, and continued throughout the next few days.

They were cooking up a big dinner that evening and insisted we join.

Over dinner we got to know everyone better, enjoying their stories of the Baja races, in which all members of the group had been involved in some capacity or another. Dave, Richard, Kathi, and Kathleen have all actually raced in the Bahía 200 multiple times, and they related their experiences with broken racers, running head-on into cacti, taping parts back together, scorpions, being stranded in the desert, and so on. Andy was (literally at times) on the edge of his seat with joy, being surrounded by people who not only wanted to discuss off-road racing but who totally knew their stuff and were teaching him a bunch about it too!

After the meal we walked over to the town square for the party. Many in our group admired the racers. Others talked and watched the kids run up to Kathi to collect the stickers and sweets she saved up all year to give out at the event.

There was music, food stands, people of all ages, and of course, lots of off-road racers.

If that was all we’d done, we would have left happy. But the next day was the race, and the group invited us to spend the day with them there, too. I can’t remember what we decided.

Oh, that’s right, we went!

Andy didn’t stop smiling the entire time.

Dave and Andy were the cutest buddies you ever saw, and they talked racing and gears and equipment and miles per hour and suspension all day long. Also, beer.

Dave let Andy drool all over his Baja Bug throughout the day, and Andy asked me to make sure to get both angles of the bug so he could continue looking at it later.

Then the race began!

It was such an exciting and carefree day. Those in the group who had raced in previous years enjoyed the art of spectating, and we cheered heartily for every racer as they passed.

The backdrop wasn’t bad, either.

All day long Andy just kept grinning and disbelieving his good fortune in stumbling across this event—the right place, the right time, and the right people to enjoy it with.

After the races ended, Andy picked up a commemorative shirt that even had Kathi and Kathleen’s car from the previous year’s race on the back, and the racer friends signed it for him.

We went back to the girls’ house to cook some food, and it didn’t take Scout too long to make some new friends too. The local beach dogs all loved him and he soon became absorbed in the pack. His natural wild look really helped him fit right in.

We were already on Cloud Nine when Dave offered Andy a ride in his bug. Andy was so excited he immediately abandoned the guacamole he was making in the Turtle and nearly forgot to put his shoes on as he flew out the door.

They got strapped in, put the headsets on, and off they went!

As Andy was off realizing a lifetime dream, Scout was also reaching maximum joy as a beach dog. He loved the freedom, the friends and the water so much I’m surprised he came back with us at all.

Soon Andy and Dave returned, and judging from Andy’s smile and disheveled Muppet hair, I think they had fun.

They drove on the same raceway that is a part of the Bahía 200 and the Baja 1000, cruising at nearly 80 mph! Andy still hasn’t stopped talking about it.

Dave offered to take me on a run as well, so of course I had to see what all the hype was about.

I totally get it.

We blasted down the road at 80 mph but I felt like I was rocking in a hammock. Dave is an impressively super-skilled driver, and also intuitive enough to know I’m no adrenaline junkie so he took me on the smooth dirt road and not down the crazy bumps and curves that he and Andy went on. Thanks Dave!

After we returned, the boys got to talking about our route while the rest of us relaxed and gabbed on the patio and beach.

After another delicious dinner we got ready to head back to the town square for the announcement of the Bahía 200 winner and the closing ceremonies party.

Another great time was had by all.

The next day the group had to head back to the Bay Area to prepare for the upcoming work week. Kathi and Kathleen let us use their shower before we left, and I can’t tell you how much we appreciated that, ladies! From the moment we met you all were incredibly kind and so generously brought us right into your circle without asking for a thing in return. As we tell stories of our time in Baja, you guys always come up and have become a Best Memory of our travels. THANK YOU! We hope to see you all down the road.

After our much-needed showers, we headed over to the restaurant where we’d been told a Super Bowl party would be happening, and met up there with the group we’d run into at Coco’s Corner who had invited us. It was a beautiful spot on the beach with views of the nearby islands that make the Bahía de los Ángeles coastal views so unique.

The small hotel—Raquel and Larry’s—had a cute restaurant overlooking the bay, and a crowd of about 20 had gathered to watch the Super Bowl.

Just as the game started, the power went out and the motivated group came together to get it going again, driving into town for a new generator, running cords from various locations, and ducking into the kitchen to help troubleshoot the outage to the pizza oven. Andy was pleased that he was able to contribute a few extension cords and some electrical advice to the cause, and soon both the TV and the oven were back in action and we all enjoyed the resulting game and homemade pizzas.

The next morning we drove the short distance to a beach just outside of town called La Gringa. We spent a few days there, enjoying the rocky coast, the bird watching, the breezy hikes, and best of all, the clam-digging!

After a few days we decided to get back on the road. We had lunch at Guillermo’s on the patio, where the cat Bernadette had befriended and named Rosemary came by to visit and see if we might share any shrimp.

Andy was still flying high from all the dreams that had just come true, and over lunch we reviewed all the crazy things that had happened in the last few days. We got to test to Turtle’s mettle and drive on the most wicked roads we’d seen since the Dalton Highway, we collected shellfish right from the ocean and ate it fresh on the beach, we made loads of genuinely nice friends, got to watch a Baja off-road race just five steps from the track, and rode top speed in a Baja Bug!

When we got back to the Turtle, Gracie was reviewing the route we’d mapped out that morning. (She was big enough to not mention that we’d just been sharing shrimp with another cat.)

The plan was to continue down the slow and bumpy dirt road along the coastline instead of driving back west to meet up with the Mex 1, because apparently we’re gluttons for punishment. It’s as rugged—if not more—than the Mex 5, and it’s exceedingly washboarded, far less traveled, and has a longer distance between services.

I mean, what could go wrong?

3 Months in Baja: Border Crossing to San Felipe

Since we first moved into the Turtle, an extended tour of Baja had been at the top of our travel list, though it continuously got delayed due to too much fun in the border states! We’d prepared for the trip as much as we could manage amidst other adventures—which is to say we bought the book everyone recommends for travelers driving through Mexico. It’s called the Traveler’s Guide to Mexican Camping by Mike and Terri Church, and we found it a useful resource for planning the trip. We’d recommend it for anyone planning a van or RV trip to Baja and/or mainland Mexico.

It gave us enough information to choose a border crossing that worked best for us, informed us of the crossing process and procedure, what cards we’d need to obtain after arriving, and helped us make our lists of things to do before crossing, such as buy Mexican insurance, ensure we were up to date on the required pet vaccinations, and get some pesos to have on hand, as credit cards are scarcely accepted. It has a fairly up to date list of all the campgrounds in Mexico, which is quite useful since cell service is unreliable on the peninsula, making it difficult to look up places to stay while you’re on the move.

It also recommended we stay overnight somewhere near the border so we could cross earlier in the day when there is less traffic, which was something we’d planned on doing anyway as we still had some research to do now that our Baja trip was actually on the horizon. We found a great spot in El Centro—not far from our chosen border at Calexico—that was so fabulous that we decided to stay an extra day!

The Rio Bend RV Resort was the perfect place to relax, swim, and get all the necessary pre-Baja jobs done, such as laundry, flushing tanks, using WiFi to buy insurance and get it printed at the office, dying hair, etc. (Dying hair is on the to-do list for all travelers, right?)

They have a great dog park, a golf course, a pool and hot tub, an outdoor bar by the pool with great happy hour food and drink specials, special events like the Murder Mystery dinner we attended, and a staff that was so nice we felt like regulars the first hour we were there!

We were fully refreshed and super excited the morning we drove to the border. It was about 10 a.m. when we got there, and we only had a handful of cars in line in front of us! Of course since we’re in a van—and a bizarre one at that— we expected that every time a search was possible, for us it was inevitable. Over the next few months that assumption proved true, though every search was an easy and pleasant experience, including our first one going into Mexicali. They just asked us to get out of the van so they could look around in the back, and as I held onto Scout outside, Andy gave the tour and did his best with a language barrier to tell the young guy what our plans were in Baja. It took all of five minutes and we were on the way!

It was overwhelming driving our big van into Mexicali, where we didn’t yet know what all the signs meant and traffic laws seem optional. I recommend getting the signage basics under your belt before going to Mexico, since knowing that a sign with a big “E” means “Parking” is helpful when trying to navigate through a wildly busy city trying to find an invisible Banjercito. We somehow found a place to park, found the Banjercito, got our tourist cards, and got out of town!

We drove across miles and miles of desert on our way south, laughing about the funny thing that had happened the day before.

While we were staying at the RV park, we had casually been reviewing our plan to drive straight to San Felipe as we got ready to go for a swim. Andy sat on the couch and looked at his email, and after a few minutes smiling at his phone he let me know that he’d gotten an email from our friends Gary and Kiki, who we’d met at Mesa Verde National park last year and who have also been traveling full time in their charming van named Birdie. He related that they just wanted to say hello and let us know that they had decided to spend the winter in Baja, and presently they were enjoying a lovely spot on the beach just outside of San Felipe! Holy moly! Andy wrote back to let them know that we would see them tomorrow.

And now we were on our way, knowing we’d have a place to stay next door to friends!

We got to Gary and Kiki’s spot later in the evening, and sat outside for a few hours talking about where we’d all been and where we planned to go in Baja. It was totally surreal accidentally seeing friends in Mexico, and just so much fun.

We thought we’d spend at least a few days at that spot as we acclimated to the new environment and enjoyed some time with our friends. Birdie and the Turtle looked so cute on the beach together. Animal vans unite!

On our first day there we could hardly wait to go grab a few tacos, so we drove into San Felipe and picked a spot on the malecon for some carne asada and tacos adobadas. We sat outside with a view of the ocean and devoured those tasty cheap tacos. As we’re both big-time taco lovers, we made it our personal mission to find the best tacos in Baja, a job we exuberantly embraced.

We checked out a few nearby shops and then stopped at a cute spot for a beer while we tried to memorize the pesos to dollars conversion. I got all the coins out of my wallet to look at the pesos, and we laughed at the combination of change I had on me. It was a fun reminder of all the places we’ve been.

On our way back to the campsite, we stopped at the Calimax grocery store, and as we started the Turtle to leave we had our first Mexico breakdown! I took a photo for our records as Andy successfully fixed it. (It’s funny that these events are just a quick line item any more, as opposed to a tragic tale of how our day was ruined. Andy knows his stuff!)

On our second morning in Baja I woke up wondering where I was, as is part of my normal morning routine these days. I climbed down from bed and looked out the back window to this happy view:

What a spot for a morning frisbee session!

Until we learned more about the area and the potential wildlife that could be nearby, Gracie stayed inside or came out only on a leash. Luckily there were lots of birds around for her to chatter at through the window.

She also really enjoyed the warm weather and powerful sunbeams.

We also were very pleased with the warm weather, despite the first few days of wind. I spent a lot of time on the beach with Scout, who may have been the most pleased of all of us to have the endless beach at his disposal.

We also really enjoyed catching up with Gary and Kiki, who were the most fun neighbors during our first week in Baja!

We went for beach walks, talked vans and travel (of course), enjoyed morning coffee together, and sat out overlooking the water watching the sun set.

One evening as Andy and I walked along the beach with Scout, we came across this interesting fellow:

We also ran into another interesting fellow, our friend Jordan who we’d recently met at RTR, the van meetup in Quartzite earlier that month!

He was traveling south to the mainland, and swung by San Felipe to say hello and get Andy’s assistance with some new solar panels. The more we travel, the smaller the world seems to be, and having a friend just “stop by” our campsite in Baja is now a thing.

The boys got to work wiring and affixing the panel, which was not always easy, but entertaining to watch.

We went for dinner and drinks after the job was done. Jordan introduced us to quesatacos, which are a perfect blend of carne asada and melted Mexican cheese, and became a favorite of ours throughout the trip.

We had a campfire that night while we watched Jordan’s first few YouTube videos documenting his travels. They’re hilarious and really well made, and if you want to follow his journey you can do that here:

We thought it was funny that, while we watched a part about a wood piece he’d had in the back of his truck but just removed, we were at that moment using it as fuel for the fire! So I took a picture of them side by side.

A day or two after Jordan took off for the mainland, we were still at our awesome beach overlook site when my birthday showed up! It was a most incredible day. For breakfast we had coffee and fresh Mexican pastries.

Then as I got ready for the day, there was a knock at the door and standing outside were Andy, Gary, Kiki and our other sweet neighbors Stashik and Dorota. They sang Happy Birthday to me and Stashik played a second verse on his harmonica. What a wonderful start to a special day!

I played on the beach with Scout for a while and collected sea shells.

Then Andy and I went into town for lunch. . .

Walked along the malecon. . .

And then on the way home we picked up some fireworks! We had a campfire with all four neighbors, and lit sparklers.

Then we went down to the beach and lit off some mortars, the first time my birthday was celebrated with fireworks! After the show, we went back up to the campfire and had birthday cake. Gary played some songs on his guitar, and we all told stories of our lives up north.

Then if all the festivities weren’t enough, that night was a full lunar eclipse! We all went to bed after the fire and set our alarms for 4 a.m. so we could wake up and watch the show. We had coffee and thin slices of birthday cake as we watched the moon disappear. What a day! It was all very special.

After a week at our lovely spot, we thought it was time to hit the road. There was still so much more to see! Stashik and Dorota were headed home to Canada, and Gary and Kiki had planned to stay a bit longer and then drive to their destination outside of Mulege. We all said goodbye-for-now, and Andy and I continued down the road.

We stopped for the night at a dispersed camping spot on the beach just south of Puertecitos. We got there right in time for a beautiful pastel sunset and a quick frisbee session before dark.

After the sun went down, we put our head lamps on and explored the rocky beach. We saw more sea life than some aquariums have to offer! It was super neat.

We’d also been tipped off by some locals that the beach had rock oysters, and after extensive searching in the dark we found about five of them, which Andy ate raw right on the spot. I tried one and did not enjoy it, but I do like the searching part.

The next day was another sunny morning in Baja. After coffee on the beach and some pelican watching, we hopped in the Turtle and drove further down the crazy Mex 5, bumping and lurching our way along the dirt road they call a highway that rivaled any we’ve braved before!

But that’s a whole other story.

Desert Magic

The desert is magical, and the desert is bizarre.

Between the rich January sun, the vivid colors blooming in every direction, and the fruit trees weighted down by citrus, we were feeling energized and enjoying the magical aspects of the region as we walked around Palm Desert. And though we were in no hurry to leave, we did have a lot of jobs to get done while we were in a bigger city to complete our pre-Baja checklist.

The more mundane jobs included getting my contacts prescription filled, shopping for supplies, doing laundry, cleaning sand out of all the corners of the Turtle, picking up our General Delivery mail at the post office, and trying out the Amazon Locker service. Ok, actually that part was pretty exciting. When you order your item, you get a code mailed to you to have scanned at the locker, and when you scan it, a drawer pops open with your package inside! We liked it.

The funny thing is that even those tasks seemed exciting while in the desert, since we were running around in the sunshine wearing flip flops and picking oranges off the trees as we walked around town. It was truly a memorable few days of errands, woven in with the fun things we got to experience in Palm Springs and Palm Desert.

We went to a polo match and sat in our chairs on the grass and cheered arbitrarily for various teams. Not only was it exciting to see the athleticism of both horses and riders as well as all the ladies’ fancy hats, but we also now know the word chukker. So it was a big day.

We had the best pupusas ever at Fernanda’s Restaurant, and even went back before leaving town to get more to go, and now that I write this I’m feeling very wistful just thinking of them. Deliciously light and savory, the cabbage slaw on top perfectly zesty, at first bite I knew they were the best I’ve ever had. (Uncles Kevin and Bob, if you are in Palm Desert, you must go try them and weigh in.)

On Jen and Ken’s recommendation, we also went to see Robolights. It’s an indescribable art installation in a local man’s back yard that is open during the holidays and that we just happened to catch while it was still going on. The artist has taken reclaimed materials and created sculptures and vignettes with toilets, telephones, mannequins, gas masks, microwaves and more along paths traversing his property. It’s simultaneously eerie, whimsical, disquieting, and beautiful. (If that makes no sense, then please refer to the part above where I said it’s indescribable and give me a few points for at least trying.)

After a few days combining errands and fun, we returned to our convenient and comfortable dispersed camping spot south of Joshua Tree National Park. That spot served us well during our entire southern California stay, especially where the animals were concerned. They had enough room there to play safely, so they could experience some freedom before we took them to unfamiliar territory where they’d be leashed much more often.

At one point I went up to the attic to take down some summer clothes and saw these darling little paw prints covering the entire roof.

Often when we’re sitting inside we can hear her stomping around on the roof and we pretend to complain about our loud upstairs neighbor. And usually if the vent is open, she shoves her face against the screen and meows at us, and we say we can’t take it anymore; we’re moving.

During our three-day BLM stay, two very awesome things happened.

The first was that we had a chillier day, so we stayed in reading books and when I made chili for dinner I decided to try out stovetop cornbread as well, which turned out great! Our oven is still currently being used for storage until we decide to sacrifice the extra space and get it fixed. So it’s always fun to figure out ways to prepare oven-y food on the stovetop.

The second awesome thing (and actually awesome, not like the last cornbread thing) happened as we prepared to leave on the third day. As we packed up, a guy in a white Toyota 4WD van pulled up to introduce himself. His name was Alex and we’ve been following each other on Instagram ever since he spotted the Turtle up in Yukon last summer, found our Blue Turtle Crossing account and messaged us! He’d just happened to be driving around checking out vans in the BLM spot while he waited for some friends to finish up their tour of Joshua Tree and he saw the Turtle. Small world, right?

He invited us to join them all at their campsite in Painted Canyon that evening, which we happily did. The wonderful spot took second seat next to how much we just loved meeting Alex, Andres and Desiree and getting to know them as we sat around the campfire that evening. It’s so exciting when overlanders come together to share vandwelling stories and travel experiences, since it’s such a unique lifestyle that being able to relate to new friends with a common mindset is refreshing. And they were all just a treat to meet.

You can follow them on Instagram here:

@roaming_northamerica

@papapitufo_follow_our_trip

They were all headed to Slab City, which is where we were headed as well, so we made plans to join them there the next day. You might recall that we travel slowly so we needed an extra day.

On our way, the bizarre parts of the desert began to reveal themselves. First we stopped at Bombay Beach on the edge of the Salton Sea, an enormous inland surface water body that is only about 100 years old and lies 228’ below sea level. Bombay Beach used to be a thriving resort town, but is now almost completely abandoned and looks like a post-apocalyptic movie set.

Equally as strange and fascinating was our final destination for the day, Slab City. This “town” sits on an abandoned military base and is comprised of vans and RV’s scattered in semi-organized clusters of visitors and full time residents, some of whom live there even through the 125-degree summers. Others stay there for just days or months at a time, and all travelers are welcome. Many of the residents have built fences, patios and artwork around their rigs made from reclaimed materials, and the town even has a music venue and café. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

We found our friends parked up above the town, and made our way through and around the streets to meet them up on the bluff just a short walk to Salvation Mountain.

Oh, did you think the bizarre part was over? It is not. Salvation Mountain is a total trip. It’s a 50-foot-high mountain made of adobe and covered in layers of paint that a man named Leonard Knight created to share his deeply felt message of God’s love to the world. It’s bright and beautiful and feels like walking on a cake in a children’s book. We’d seen pictures before we got there, and honestly the experience of walking the “yellow brick road” path of the mountain was much more impactful than I’d imagined it would be.

We got back to our little neighborhood and hung out for a bit before collecting wood for our evening fire. It was another great evening with the caravaners!

They planned to take off for Baja quite early the next morning, so we said our goodbyes that night. The next morning I saw a photo Alex had posted about them getting stuck in the sugar sand as they tried to depart, and I felt sorry that we hadn’t heard them so we could have come out to help. But they’d made it out, so it all worked out.

When we tried to leave later that morning, we weren’t so lucky.

The flour-soft sand swallowed our tires and no amount of digging and laying rocks under the tires would get that Turtle out. We worked for hours and hours, but every attempt ended in us being settled deeper in an ever-growing depression in the sand. A few people came and attempted to help free us, but to no avail. One guy tried to tow us out and got himself stuck in the sugar sand too, so once we’d dug him out he left us to our own devices. Unfortunately we didn’t have many. We weigh nearly 11,000 pounds and that sand really was like powdered sugar and gave us no traction whatsoever.

I called the nearest tow company to price the job, just so we’d know we have an option if nothing else worked. He quoted me $600 so we crossed that option off the list and decided that even if it meant digging the bluff down one shovelful at a time until we hit the firm dirt down below, we’d do that. Andy walked down into Slab City to find someone with a truck, and with a promise from one resident that he’d return the following morning we spent one more night in Slab City, wondering if we were destined to become residents as well.

The next day we began with about 100 fewer bruises than we’d have on our arms and legs by the end of the day. The man who’d promised to come help us did indeed bring his 4WD truck up to tow us out, but there was so much sugar sand between us and the hard dirt path that our tow strap wouldn’t reach. Another resident who had come up to see the action loaned us two lengths of chain and a thick rope. A couple riding bikes stopped to help, and between the husband’s hard work ethic and his wife’s cheerful attitude and no-nonsense management style, we were soon ready to give it a try.

The number of times that it didn’t work should have defeated the group to the point of giving up on us, but they stuck by it, digging and digging alongside us and trying again, until another local brought his truck up to contribute to the effort. One truck pulled the other truck who pulled the long rope which pulled the two lengths of chain which pulled the tow strap pulling the enormous blue Turtle which was being pushed by four of us, and suddenly we were inching our way out of the sand to firm ground.

HOORAY! The Turtle was mobile once again. We are so often humbled by the kindness of strangers; we could not have done it without a single one of them. We profusely thanked the group, and after talking for a bit we all departed the sandy bluff. I took some sugar sand with us as a souvenir, and in high spirits we drove to the other side of Slab City to see East Jesus, the art and sculpture garden created by the residents.

And once again we were back on the road, as if we hadn’t just been in a real pickle and then immediately afterward saw a wall of old TV’s carefully painted in the middle of an art field in the middle of next-to-nowhere.

The desert is magical, and the desert is bizarre.

Mojave National Preserve: Kelso Dunes

Everyone has heard me say it over and over—whether in defense of my inability to supply Turtle arrival dates and destinations or even just to tell stories involving unexpected delights and trials—and just in case you haven’t heard me say it lately, I’m here today to say it again! When you travel full time and are regularly on the move, there’s not a lot of time to make future plans. We’re always in the middle of an experience, so not only do we not have time to sit and research, we also could change course at a moment’s notice and then all the time we spent planning would be for nothing. So we just wing it, and more often than not we’re pleasantly surprised!

There was a whole lot more to Mojave National Preserve than we’d imagined, and the next stop was the Kelso Dunes on the south side of the preserve.

Just a little ways past the Kelso Dunes Trail parking is a free dispersed camping area, where we found a nice spot against the dunes, had some lunch, and let the animals out to play in the sand.

While Andy sat outside the Turtle, basking in the sun and sanding a car part to artistic perfection, Scout and I embarked on a hike up the dunes.

The dunes give the landscape no sense of perspective, but if you can see the line where the light sand meets the darker shade, just to the right of the green swath in the middle is the lighter dirt of the parking area, where a teeny tiny turtle sits almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

After a few hot hours of slow and steady climbing, we got nearly to the top when we were faced with a nearly vertical wall of sand. I tried scrambling up at top speed, but the moment my hand dug into the sand, this happened:

My hands and feet would get buried in the sand avalanche and I’d slide right back down! After some serious top speed climbing and a ton of grunting and a few requests to Scout to stop making it look so easy, we made it to the top.

Totally worth it!

A wonderfully long hike is not its own reward in Scout’s opinion, so I had to make the journey worth his while by playing a little frisbee with him on top of the world.

When the day began, I couldn’t have anticipated that this would be my backyard vista. Another pleasant surprise for the books.

A Sun Story: Canyonlands National Park

Both Andy and I grew up in Montana, and later lived in Seattle and Portland for the better part of our adult lives. This was mostly a coincidence, as we didn’t meet until we were both living in Portland, though early on we discovered that our paths had crossed many times over the years. We joke that our first concert together was The Pixies at Bumbershoot years ago, despite the fact that we didn’t know each other at that point.

We love Montana and the Pacific Northwest dearly, or we wouldn’t have stayed so long! But I think we can all agree that none of these places are known for an abundance of warmth and sunshine. Which is why, as we get farther and farther south, we’ve been amazed at the effect the sunshine has had on us. We’ve been infused with energy and feel so ready to take on the day each morning, and it only occurred to us after a few weeks in Utah that the sunshine may have something to do with it. We’re not used to all this vitamin D and the great feeling of sunshine warming our toes in their flip flops.

Luckily, we made it out to some seriously wide open spaces that can accommodate our ebullient sunshine-infused energy. After exploring Arches, we stayed one last night at our great BLM site north of Moab, then drove the short distance to Canyonlands National Park.

It’s big.

The park is divided into four sections, with no continuous road connecting them due to the paths of the Green and Colorado rivers.

The districts are:

Island in the Sky
The Needles
The Maze
The Rivers

They each have separate entrance points and every area offers a unique park experience. We were closest to the Island in the Sky, which is one of the more developed portions of the park, with hiking trails and a designated campground.

Right away we decided to drive straight through to the end of the road, at Grand View Point.

There’s an overlook with an incredible view, and an easy walking trail that follows the rim of the Island in the Sky for about a mile out one way.

The viewpoint at the end of the trail is 360 breathtaking degrees of, well, canyonlands! It’s hard to grasp the scale of it.

On the walk back we wandered off the main trail to check out the landscape a little farther from the rim. It’s a great playground, and we ran and climbed around the smooth rock formations under the sunshine.

When we got back to the Turtle, the sun was beginning to go down. We drove out to the Green River Overlook to watch it slide like melting butter across the rolling hills below.

The view in the other direction wasn’t bad either! The saturated evening sun lit the rocks and bushes, painting everything in rich golds.

Near the Green River Overlook is the Willow Flat Campground, where we decided to stay for the night. There’s a lot of room to walk around there too, so we took Scout out to explore while we watched the rocks change colors. (As we walked he was on his leash per park rules, but I liked the backdrop so I took it off for the photo. He’s getting a lot better at having his picture taken and didn’t move an inch the whole time. Good boy!)

The sunset was as grand and spectacular as the canyon views.

The next morning we got up before the sun rose to walk up to Mesa Arch, which the ranger recommended we see at sunrise. Apparently it’s the most photographed spot in the park, as the rising sun illuminates the underside of the arch beautifully.

He was right!

We drove around the park afterwards as we drank our coffee and looked at the map to find one more hike before leaving. We decided on Whale Rock, which was a moderate hike with a cool name. I loved this hike.

The views were expansive from way up on the huge smooth rock dome that actually did feel like walking on a whale’s back. We played with shadows in the crisp morning light and tried not to blow off the edge as the wind picked up.

We left the park glowing with happiness and moved west until we reached a dispersed camp area outside St. George. Scout and Gracie were ready to get out and play too, and this spot was perfect for us all to hop out and run around.

I looked out the back window after the animals had been out for a bit and caught them in a sweet moment.

I guess all this sunshine is really working wonders for everyone! I think we’ll stay down here a while.

Disc Golf, Hot Springs, Board Games, & Animal Photos: The Nelsons Come to Missoula!

Guess who came to visit us in Montana last month:

Kona!

And she brought our good friends and long-time-ago neighbors, Lisa and Rhema!

We were super excited when we heard that they would be coming out to Montana around the same time we were dropping in from Canada, so we made plans to meet up for a week in my beloved old stomping grounds—Missoula.

Fall was in full swing when they arrived, and despite the fact that the forecast said we’d have mostly rainy and cold weather, it was crisp and sunny for almost the entire trip. Since we’d anticipated the October-in-Montana weather, though, Rhema and Lisa had planned on staying in the Jeep, and they made a super-cool bed platform and suction cup curtains so that they could sleep inside. They did an awesome job, and had lots of room for storage under the platform and so much overhead clearance that Andy and I commented numerous times about how luxurious it was! Lisa even strung up tiny lights across the inside making it incredibly cozy.

(I forgot to get a picture of that, probably because we’re all animal people and mostly took photos of the pets having fun. So brace yourself for copious animal photos!)

Since both parties were mobile, we’d planned on visiting a few camp sites around the Missoula and Lolo areas. It’s the winter season so we had only a few options for open campgrounds, but the ones available were some of my old favorites, so it worked out brilliantly.

The first site we visited was Chief Looking Glass, just south of Lolo. We like this spot because there is a great site on the edge of a huge field, so Gracie can roam and the dogs (and their people) can run around and play frisbee.

Both Rhema and Lisa are incredible disc golfers, so we told them before they came to bring their discs because Missoula is a big “folf” town and has two great courses nearby. (For Rhema’s sake, that’s the last time I’ll use the term, but for accuracy I have to acknowledge that it’s what Missoulians call the sport.)

On our first full day of the trip, we went up to the Blue Mountain course and Andy and I got a lesson in disc golf from the pros. They were so professional in fact that they didn’t once complain about having to walk slowly beside me as I threw 5 times before my disc reached where their first throw landed.

We all agreed that this was a great way to get a taste of the Montana scenery while catching up and playing a game. And aside from a few minutes of rain and later a few minutes of hail, the weather held up quite nicely.

Kona also tagged along and sniffed her way through the course, though Scout did not, for obvious reasons. For a frisbee-obsessed dog, it would have been pure torture watching us throw discs and making him leave them alone.

Toward the end of the course, Kona’s sniffing led her to a very wild and wonderful smell which she loved so much she couldn’t resist rubbing her face and body all over it. It turned out to be some wild animal scat, which was so potent and foul that she required a soapy shower when we got back to the parking lot!

She was pretty sheepish about it, but a good sport.

If it hadn’t been for the fact that we had to walk down to the river to rinse her soap off, we wouldn’t have seen the tiny fuzzy bear cub that walked across our path on the way back! We waited a bit to make sure his mom wasn’t right behind, then quickly got back to the cars and drove back to Chief Looking Glass.

The next morning was another sunny one, and we had our coffee by the river near our site.

Then we took advantage of the sunshine and drove out to Pattee Canyon to try out the disc golf course there. It’s a very densely wooded course, so the soundtrack to this outing was the constant cracking of plastic against trees.

We kept score this time, and it will surprise no one that Rhema and Lisa did very very well, Andy did well, and everyone acknowledged that I participated.

Whether or not you’re a first-rate disc golfer, it’s a beautiful walk through the woods and we had a great time. Afterwards we took our sore arms (it truly is a work-out on the old triceps) to Tamarack Brewing to try lifting some beers, and also ordered their Keg Of Nachos that is as delicious as it is enormous. Between the four of us we couldn’t finish the thing!

We decided to switch things up and go to another site for the night, a favorite of mine when I lived in Missoula—Thibodeau Campground. It’s open all year, right on the Blackfoot River and far away from civilization, so you can hear the river while you watch the myriad stars at night. It’s a great spot.

Rhema and Lisa have a great camera and when paired with Rhema’s equally great camera skills, we got a bunch of gorgeous photos of the animals!

Just a few minutes from the campground is a local-favorite day-use spot called Red Rocks. It’s just a short walk from the parking area. . .

And then you’re right on the river with a stunning backdrop across the water!

It was another beautiful day, and Scout wasted no time getting in the water to swim, fetch sticks, and watch us skip stones. Rhema caught his tail in mid-swish as Andy skipped a stone.

We spent a few hours at Red Rocks, enjoying the weather and making some sweet cairns.

The water was so lovely and appealing that after some time considering it, Rhema finally couldn’t help himself and had to jump in!

As he dried off, he and Andy built a very charming stone man.

Scout just pretty much tried to get us to throw sticks the whole time.

And Kona practiced her camouflage skills.

On the way back into Missoula, Kona rode along with us in the Turtle. She loved it and sat up front the entire time like it was her usual spot!

Scout sat in the front-middle for the first part of the trip, and then in the back for the last bit.

When we got back to town, we stoped for a beer and a few games of shuffleboard at Kettle House Brewery.

Scout and Kona watched us from the Turtle when we came out to the patio to play a game of Rummikub.

The next day we drove into Lolo National Forest to stay a night at Lolo Hot Springs. We got a nice spot at their campground and paid entry to the hot springs so we could soak before dinner, after dinner, and then before bed. We got our money’s worth for sure!

The next morning we had coffee at the restaurant and discussed plans for the day. Should we drive farther into the forest and find a dispersed camping spot, stay another night, or camp somewhere else on the other side of Missoula? As we thought it over, we noticed that since we’d been at the restaurant the night before they’d added a bunch of balloons hanging over the bar. We asked what they were, and the bartender said they were full of coupons and cost $2 each to pop one and see what’s inside. Well of course we had to!

We each popped one, and the bartender bought us two additional balloons, so we ended up with six coupons, one for a free tent site and one for a free cabin site! Plus free soaks and free drinks. . . and the decision was made. We stayed another night!

The cabin was tiny and adorable, and made for a great spot to dry our swim suits in between soaks.

That night we spent a few hours in the restaurant eating dinner, playing Catan, having some drinks, and laughing about how we basically got a free day of fun at Lolo Hot Springs!

When we woke up the next morning, it had snowed a little bit.

But as we drove back toward Missoula, the snow eventually melted and we had beautiful views of the bright yellow larches covering the mountains.

When we got back to town, we stopped at Rockin’ Rudy’s to browse for souveniers, Andy got a fancy new pair of sunglasses, and then we took the dogs down to Bark Park, a great dog park right on the river near the university.

As the day neared its end, so did our visit with Rhema and Lisa. We went back to Chief Looking Glass for one last night of fun and games and animal friend snuggles. Gracie adopted Rhema early on in the trip, and every game session in the Turtle looked much like this:

Also this:

We realized after the sun had gone down that we hadn’t taken a group shot yet! So Rhema set up the camera and we gave it our best attempt.

Perfect.

We were very sad when it was time to say goodbye the next day, as we always are after a visit from Lisa, Rhema and Kona.

We miss you guys! But especially now that you have that sweet setup in the back of the Jeep, we know we’ll see you down the road. Thanks so much for coming our way and spending your week off with us! We’ll keep you posted on our progress toward Baja, so you can start driving that way too. . .

Wildlife Safari on the Alaska Highway

Remember that time I said we loved spotting wildlife? Well we really loved the drive down through British Columbia into Alberta.

As we pulled away from Liard Hot Springs, we made it about 100 feet before spotting this darling lineup of wood bison.

We read in one of our travel pamphlets that while wood bison are a subspecies of the American bison, they differ slightly from the plains bison that are more common in the States. The most obvious difference is in size: these guys are much larger than the bison we’d seen before, and when we looked it up we learned that they are the largest land mammal in North America. Large males can weigh over 2,000 lbs!

I found this handy visual online which compares the two:

As I read this information aloud to Andy as we drove, he tapped my arm and pointed up ahead.

There, on both sides of the road, were about 60 or more wood bison! They ranged in size from hulking males to darling little fuzzy babies.

We pulled over to watch them graze and nap in the tall grass, while others crossed the road right in front of us to meet their group on the other side.

It was very, very exciting—for us, not the wood bison. They seemed pretty nonplussed by the whole encounter.

After a while we decided to move along, and the landscape along the Alaska Highway was just as incredible to watch as the wildlife.

It wasn’t long before we came across another neat animal: a female rock sheep. She was the only one we saw during that portion of the drive, despite the signs all along the road telling us to watch out for rock sheep.

After we passed rock sheep country, we stopped to take a picture of the beautiful rainbow of fall colors on the hill, and this time I was the wildlife being observed from someone inside the Turtle.

The drive took us up into the mountains and then back down again as we approached Fort St. John, B.C.

Once we’d left the mountains we thought the wildlife spotting was over, but just outside of town we came across this handsome couple:

We hadn’t seen as many caribou as Andy had hoped, so this close-up view was just perfect.

There’s a great rocky beach just south of Fort St. John that lots of locals go to launch boats and spend the day, and we saw other boondockers there for the night as well. That night we watched the Northern Lights while Scout and Gracie sniffed around on their leashes, and in the morning we played outside for a while before getting back in the Turtle and driving some more.

Typically we prefer to move really slowly and drive a maximum of two hours a day when we’re not camped out. We’re not in any hurry, it’s cheaper and uses less gas, and we get to see so much more of the world and have more impromptu adventures that way. But since we were trying to stay ahead of the weather, we’d been driving much more frequently than usual, and it was starting to catch up with us. Being in a van all day is not why we’re living in a van!

So when we finally reached Whitecourt, naps were in order. Gracie is the best nap buddy a person could ask for.

Waking people up to interact and play is much more in Scout’s wheelhouse.

We pushed on, and within about 20 minutes of each other we watched a black bear cross the road in front of us, and then a lynx. I speculated that British Columbia wanted to make sure we left satisfied and was quickly sending animals out for us to have one last treat before we crossed over into Alberta.

Alberta felt very metropolitan compared to the rural areas we’d gotten used to, but it was exciting to have cell service and reasonable gas prices again. We decided to take a trip to the West Edmonton Mall to get our wave pool and waterslides on at the World Waterpark. It was a great way to spend a blustery day, and as full-time travelers we always appreciate a fun activity that ends in free showers.

The next day we returned to check out Galaxyland in the mall and went on the “largest indoor triple-loop roller coaster,” the Mindbender, which is very aptly named. Holy moly.

After a few days in town, we escaped back to nature. We had plans to meet up on the road with some friends we met at Diablo Canyon in New Mexico last year, Eric and his PBD (plain black dog), Willow.

We stayed for the weekend at a dispersed campsite outside of Hinton, AB. It was a great spot to catch up on the past year’s travels, have a few beers, enjoy a nice fire in the pit Andy built, and watch some animal playtime.

Now that we were moving away from the land of many predators, we let Gracie have a little supervised off-leash time, and she chose to use her freedom to revisit her favorite sun porch and oversee everyone else’s activities.

While we’re on the subject of wildlife, there are three pets in this picture. Can you spot them all?

Eric is a 5-star animal lover and was a patient and accommodating friend to Scout, throwing toys for him almost every time Scout asked. That meant he was busy from morning to night. Willow loves a cozy chair and a sunbeam, so she didn’t mind watching her human play with another dog.

In case you were wondering, this is what the aftermath of two days of being totally spoiled looks like:

The next day, he was back to his old self and ready to go again!

Of all the wildlife we’ve gotten to see along the way, these two are the strangest and sweetest.

Hmm . . . make that “these three.” Wild beasts, all. I think I’ll keep them.

Yukon Gold

The first thing I said as we drove back into Yukon was, “Wow, the skies are just as big as when we left!” Yes, it’s the same sky as everywhere else, but somehow in Yukon I was constantly aware of the magnitude above me more than other places. It’s beautiful.

It was an exciting time to be my camera, because I had that thing working full time during our drive through Canada. The fall colors were really beginning to explode, and I filled up the camera to capacity every day. I’m sure if Andy asked you to quote me on the trip it would be a three-way tie for, “That YELLOW!” “That RED!” and “That ORANGE!” And that’s only if gasps don’t count.

After spending a few weeks high up in wintery weather, the temperate fall was a welcome change. Scout and Gracie also got to spend more time outdoors, so everyone was enjoying Yukon to the fullest.

On our original trip through Yukon, Andy had mentioned wanting to pan for gold, and as we drove farther through the province, we realized we still hadn’t tried our hand at fortune-hunting yet. We found a nice spot to pull out by the river, took our pot lids, food scoops and a very excited doggy down to the water, and got to work.

It was a lot of fun and pretty exciting, even though we didn’t see any sparkly signs that we were in a good spot for panning. We wished we’d started sooner in the trip, because I could have panned for hours and hours in any river around.

Scout had other plans for our time outdoors and tried all his best methods to convince us to throw all the sticks he found by the river.

So on the walk back to the Turtle, we threw sticks, played hide and seek behind the trees, and then on the last leg Scout just bounded up and down the path with general Border Collie joy.

Farther down the road Andy wanted to check something under the hood, so we pulled over for a riverside picnic. Though the Yukon is so wide it looks like a lake!

We panned for gold again after lunch, but no luck. We did see a fresh bear paw print in the mud near us, so we decided to make it a quicker stop and get back on the road.

We could see some storms ahead, which made the light moody and surreal.

When the most spectacular rainbow poured out of the sky, we followed it for a full 15 minutes before it evaporated back into the air.

The storm moved all around in the distance, and when we stopped outside Taro for the evening, we could actually see the sheets of rain traveling east along the riverbank.

It never hit us directly, so we basked in the after-storm light and played outside until the sun went down.

Everyone had a successful day, I think.

We had to try one last gold panning session before we left, so we played outside for a bit before packing up.

As I put the panning implements in the Turtle, I laughed at how instantly messy it gets in there, between the toys we keep out to use later, the mud we inevitably and consistently track in, the rocks I can’t stop collecting and have no room for, the boots laying on the floor that we removed to change into “gold-panning shoes”, the travel pamphlets shoved into the front console, among the other regular chaos specific to Turtle life.

I decided to take a picture for posterity, since in 20 years we’ll want to remember the reality of our lives and not just the pretty pictures immediately post-clean-up. Right as I took out my camera, Scout came running to the door to see what I was up to, and the smile on his face and mud on his paws inadvertently made the photo complete: the reason we live this lifestyle, messy as it may be. At the end of the day, we all have that goofy smile on our faces.

There weren’t many gas stations around, so we stopped in Taro for a fill-up and an ogle at this awesome orange beast.

Then back onto beautiful Highway 4 toward Watson Lake, which we’d be passing through one more time on our way into British Columbia and Alberta. But first we had to stop at what was to become our Favorite Campsite Ever, a free pullout on postcard-worthy Finlayson Lake.

Due to the burn ban, we hadn’t been able to have a fire for months, and it seemed like fate that the ban had been lifted right as we came upon this site, complete with cut firewood scattered around for the taking.

We were sitting just a little elevated from the water, overlooking the lake. There was no one around except the two people flying sea planes nearby. It was crisp, cool and clear, and we were on cloud nine that we got to live there for a whole day.

It was such a perfect spot that I took a quick video of the fire so that in future years we can relive the moment.

If we didn’t have the winter weather nipping at our heels, we would have stayed for days. But that chill wasn’t far behind, so we moved on toward Watson Lake.

We thought it would be fun to go visit our signs at the Signpost Village, especially because it’s not too often these days that we’re somewhere familiar. There they were!

Then on we drove into the endless green and gold mountains and valleys of British Columbia.

We had a garbage bag to toss, so we pulled over at a viewpoint to use the waste bins, and accidentally stumbled across this vista.

And this was the view from the other side of the parking lot! Beautiful British Columbia, indeed.

And then to add even more icing to the British Columbia cake, we stopped at Liard Hot Springs and accidentally had the time of our lives. We’d read about it over and over while researching the area, but didn’t think much more of it than “Sure, we could stop at a hot springs; that sounds nice.”

It was wonderful. It’s a provincial park and not privately-run, so for starters it’s really affordable. The day use fee is just $5 per person, but the hot springs fee is waived if you’re camping, which is $26 a night. That’s actually a little on the spendy side for boondockers, but it’s also really nice to have water and garbages at your disposal now and then, in addition to the free hot springs. So we paid for our site, got settled and then went straight to the hot springs.

It’s a beautiful walk down the boardwalk to the springs, over the warm marsh that is very popular with the wildlife, especially during winter.

For a developed hot springs site, this one is surprisingly untouched in all the best ways.

There are bathrooms, changing rooms, and a deck, but other than those few comforts it’s just a lovely pond that’s a piping hot 110-120 degrees at the source and then cools the farther away it travels from there. So the upper pool stays super toasty, and the lower pool is a perfectly warm and slightly deeper swimming pool.

We loved it so much we spent a few hours there on our first trip before going back for dinner and some travel planning.

The Anti-Project always has other plans, but luckily she has a short attention span and was soon on the prowl for buggies while we got a little work done.

As we planned we decided we weren’t ready to leave the hot springs already, so we decided to stay another day, then went back for our night soak. Liard doesn’t have closing hours since it’s a natural springs, so we got to soak until late when we were ready for bed.

The next day was another sunny fall day, perfect for multiple trips to the hot springs.

That night as we splashed around the warm lower pool and visited with some other travelers, the Northern Lights came out in enormous green flickering bands that twisted and arched from one side of the sky to the other over our heads. We laid on our backs and floated in the steaming water, watching the lights and laughing out loud at how perfect it all was.

When we got back to the Turtle, it was late and we were all warm, cozy and ready to snuggle up. While we got ready for bed, Gracie crashed out under her own personal quilt that my niece Ava made for her before we could even make it up to the loft!

With plans to return as soon as possible—especially in the snowy winter months—we got everyone ready to move on.

Gracie’s preferred and self-appointed travel spot is in a clothes bin in the closet, which is kept open for her as we drive. Usually when it’s time to go she hears the engine start and hops into her spot, but if she doesn’t sometimes we have a conversation about it to give her a chance to get in before we start moving. And it’s adorable.

And with the huge skies of the Yukon in our rear view mirror, we set our sights on the road ahead.

Heading South: North Pole and Chicken, AK Are Real Places

After our long journey up to Deadhorse and back, we needed a few days to recover.

We decided to post up in Fairbanks for a day or two to do some laundry, resupply, see the Ice Museum, and just generally knock the dirt off of ourselves.

After a few days, we began the journey back down south which surprisingly brought us to the North Pole! Ok, not THE North Pole. But North Pole, Alaska which is as close as you can get to the real thing.

The whole town is Christmas themed year-round, from candy cane light poles to road names like “Mistletoe Drive” and “St. Nicholas Drive,” and there are resident reindeer who live next door to the Santa Claus house, where we spent some time getting in the spirit of Christmas a few months in advance.

We’d had our hearts set on seeing a huge herd of caribou in the wild while we were up north, but we made do with Santa’s reindeer. (Which we learned on this trip are the same animal—reindeer are just domesticated caribou! The more you know.) But then on our way toward Tok, AK we came across a darling mama moose and her baby, and felt very lucky indeed. They hung around right alongside the road for over ten minutes before meandering back into the trees . . . but not before they posed for this glamour shot.

The sun was setting as we neared Tok, which we’d traveled through on our way up and had stayed overnight with the dirt bike rally racers at an unused airstrip outside of town. We went back to the spot, and had the whole place to ourselves! That night we saw the best Northern Lights of the trip so far, and the next morning we raced around the track at Top Turtle Speed. I’ll let you speculate on what speed that could be, and hopefully you’re generous.

A much-needed Turtle bath afterwards helped us offload many of pounds of dirt, and we wondered if maybe we should have gone back to try the race track again to see if we could shave some time off our record. But we had more stops to go, and with the dirt highway ahead of us, we knew we were pressed for daylight.

Beyond Tok lay Chicken, Alaska: a real place that I did not make up. We got to town shortly before the one store that was still open for the season was closing for the day, so we looked around, admired how wonderful the chicken soup smelled, took some enormous chicken photos, and drove on.

The next portion of the road is a beautiful drive called “The Top of the World Highway” which was where we finally had to say farewell to Alaska as we crossed back over into Yukon once again.

We had an amazing vantage point to watch the sun set over the valleys far below.

The sky was dark as we approached Dawson City, YT, and since we hadn’t had cell service for most of the last few days, I hadn’t noticed the map showed an unexpected break in the highway until we were right on top of it.

The Yukon River divides the road right outside of Dawson City, so we got to take the Turtle on a small ferry that was luckily still operating on summer hours and ran every 15 minutes or so. Had we been two weeks later, I’m not sure what we would have done, but we took our accidental good timing and ran with it.

This actually might have been one of Andy’s favorite parts of the entire trip. He was so excited. He kept pointing ahead and telling me to look! even though I was of course looking already, but he just couldn’t help himself. It was pretty funny to be sitting in our Turtle and watching water flow by on all sides.

We spent a few days in Dawson City, a historic town full of stories of the Gold Rush and prospecting and super-tough men and women. In the interest of time, and because they haven’t made many appearances in this post, I’ll just show you a few adorable pictures of Scout and Gracie at a nice site we found for an overnight stay as we left Dawson City.

The Alaska chapter of our journey was done, but as we mapped out our progress over Tiropitas, it was clear that there was plenty of adventure ahead!

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