Baja and Big News

Talk about heaven, look at all those sails and boards rigged on the beach ready to take sailing on the sea of Cortez
Two tents like this full of sails.

Sunset behind the Vela center with the croquet court lights visible on the right side
Why is it that just having your passport in your pocket makes you feel good? Just got back from a week in Baja and had a great trip (more to follow on that) and the big news is... Kate Dylan is walking! That's right she now stands up at will and takes off. In the time I was gone she is longer (taller) makes all kinds of new sounds and is definitely saying something, we just haven't quite figured out what language it is yet. The other day she just started taking steps on her own with a big smile on her face.
On less important news my passport has another stamp in it, another visit to Mexico and this time returning with out any broken bones. Baja was great. The wind didn't quite cooperate as much as I would have liked but I got a couple of days of amazing sailing, a couple days of marginal sailing and a few of days of absolutely no wind. I met a few people who qualify for the most annoying person in the world competition (if there is one) and I met some really amazing people as well. Had bonfires on the beach under a full moon, came in second in the Los Barriles international croquet competition (croquet is taken very seriously at the Vela windsurf resort at the hotel Playa del Sol and an international croquet competition is held almost every evening and twice on no wind days) and I also did some stand up paddle boarding, which I really enjoyed.
View From the Monument
You guessed it... The Monument

It turns out that Los Barriles is a world class mountain biking location as well as windsurfing and kiting destination. So with the wind not showing up a few days I decided to take a couple of rides. First trip was to the monument south of town, a decent ride with a fair climb (it's hard to tell by these pictures because the only camera I had was the Dick Tracey sized waterproof camera that Jenny let me borrow for my trip). the pictures show the view from the mountain looking north up the coast to towards where I was staying. The second ride was out the road to nowhere. I rode about 9k out before turning around, that's right 18 kilometres round trip which I realize is not much for some of you but for me that much time on a bicycle seat is almost worse than the way my legs felt from peddling. The road to nowhere was a multi million dollar highway that was started by a local politician and after getting about halfway to wherever they had planned they ran out of money and the road just stops! There is apparently a small village at the end but basically you ride through a series of climbs through these dessert mountains up one side down the other and then do it again for something like 50 km. I made it up the first hill which is 9km up hill with the angle getting steeper and steeper as you go. As I started to coast down the other side I immediately started to think that I couldn't possibly climb back up this hill again today and quickly turned around took a picture (with the tiny Dick Tracey waterproof camera ) and headed
Looking down the road to nowhere towrds Los Barriles
back to the beach.
The second day of good sailing I busted out the waterproof camera. I attached it to the boom on port tack (headed back to the beach) and snapped away at a few pictures hoping to capture some of the feeling of blazing through the big swell and choppy water that I was enjoying carving through at high speed. Unfortunately what I captured where embarrassing pictures of my ear and double chin. What is even worse is that this was the last big wind day of the trip so I never got a chance to play around with the angle of the camera. After seeing the results of my first efforts I think I could have gotten a few coll shots with the camera mounted on the mast for better a perspective. Oh well maybe next time. Anyway for your viewing pleasure I have attached a few of the less painful shots.


Nice chin!
As fast as vacation goes and as much as I cant wait to get back on the water or have a seat at an uncrowded pool side palapa bar to sip on a margarita after a draining day of windsurfing, hearing Kate's giggle as I tickle her leg and seeing Angela's smile as I walk in the door makes me very happy to be home.