We're on Top of the World!, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (Saturday, October 20th, 2018)

Our goal today was to climb to the cross and the lookout (Mirador De La Cruz) on the top of the hill east of the city.  

We walked north from our hotel to the Malecon, one block north of Neptune and the Mermaid, we turned east and headed up the hill.

We started out walking through town on the cobblestone streets.

We got to one section where the street dead ended, so we thought we had taken a wrong turn, but we continued up the steps, and that was the correct path.  This section is too steep for a street, so you can only get through on foot.

When we got to the top of the stairs, we took a small jog to the left, which lead us to another street, so we kept climbing.

Now we were entering the jungle on both sides of us.  We looked over the side of the road, and this house had two burros in the yard.

The streets are so steep here that they have these huge drains in them to divert the water when it rains. And it rains here!

And we continued up the hill.

It is really beautiful up here!

Near the top we came to this spot that had a cable car.  Yes it's that steep!

We're not at the top yet but the views are starting to appear.

We had to stop for some mosquito repellent.  The jungle is getting thick up here.  

I don't think that Steve is sweating, I think that it is just so humid that the water is condensing on him.

Almost to the top!

As we got near the top, the observation platform came into view first.

And then only about two more flights of stairs to get to the cross.  We stopped at the cross first before heading over to the observation deck.

Looking further east, there is a beautiful valley back behind the hill.  This is the section of town that is referred to as "El Tunel" on the buses, because the upper highway in this section of town goes through a tunnel.  If you want a bus that goes through the lower section of town, you look for the bus that says "El Centro" instead.

Now we are heading down to the observation deck for some views of the town.

The view of the Bay Of Bandaras from north to south.

Looking from the observation deck, back toward the cross.

We sat down at the observation deck and just enjoyed the views for about an hour.  There was a nice cool breeze up here, so it was comfortable and so tranquil!

We relaxed for awhile, and then it was time to make our way back down.

This is the cable car tracks running beside the stairs.

We made it back to the steep road.

 This is where we went today.

It ended up being another big day, although we didn't intend for it to be.  

We highly recommend this walk if you are looking for a free, energetic day.  It  was a great walk with great views that you just won't get anywhere else.  Give it a try if you are in Puerto Vallarta, it is well worth it!

Playing in Paradise and Desert Big Horns (Saturday, February 21st, 2016)

I often talk about how much there is to do and see in Lake Havasu City, so I thought I would share a few of our adventures these last few weeks.  It is almost a little unfair because of the amazing weather we have been having, so I am leaving out boating, jet skiing, paddle boarding, etc. to keep it a little bit more realistic of what a person might do in February in a typical year.

We had one windy day while we were down here, so we met up with Steve's brother Dennis and his wife Cyndi at Rotary Park, which is on the mainland side of the channel at the south end.  Dennis and Steve both brought their stunt kites (two-string) for a kite flying day.  We started out in the baseball fields, but decided that the wind was too gusty, so we moved down onto the beach.  The only problem with kite flying on the beach is that when the kite goes down, it's likely to get wet, and then muddy, but that was a risk we were willing to take.  I actually prefer flying on the beach because I just love the surroundings so much more.

Steve, Dennis and Cyndi.  Even though it was windy, it was still nice and warm!

Later in the day, we decided to stop by our friends house to check on their dog.  They have been out of town for a few days, and although they have a feeder and water for their dog, we were afraid she might still get lonesome, so off we went to see her.  When we got there, she was so excited to see us, so we played ball for a while and just loved up on her.  But within about 20 minutes, she had played enough, and went up on the porch and was done with us.  So cute!  As we were leaving their house, we noticed a roadrunner on the roof of one of the neighbor houses.  We thought this was odd, because we didn't realize that roadrunners could fly.

So when we got home, I did some research, and to our surprise, roadrunners can fly!  My internet research lead me to this beautiful picture of a roadrunner in flight.  Obviously, this is not my own picture, and I appreciate that the internet can help by providing such a beautiful picture!

Our next adventure was remote control float planes.  Steve's brother Dennis is very into radio control planes, and on Tuesday mornings the RC plane club of Lake Havasu was doing a float plane fly out at Rotary Park, so Steve and I decided to go down and watch them for awhile.  As we were waiting for them to set up, we got to enjoy an incredible sunrise!

Looking across Thompson Bay toward California

Looking back toward the Bridge Water Channel at the San Bernardino Mountains

Looking straight across Thompson Bay to the Nautical Inn

Dennis and Steve with Dennis' float plane

Bringing in the plane rescue boat and hoping it's not needed...it was!

We also discovered pickleball while we were down here this time.  It's probably been around for years, but we didn't know there was a club here.  They set up three nets on the basketball courts by the dog park on the island.  They play everyday except for Monday and Wednesday from 8:30 am to noon.  There are also a few indoor locations where they play, but half the reason we play is to be outside, so the outside courts caught our eye.

They only had two nets set up at this point, but there are usually three

Steve and I went down and played with the club one day, and they invited us back to play in a round robin tournament that they were holding later in the week.  So we signed up for the round-robin, and went back later and played.  The round-robin was men first from 8:15 to 10:15, so I dropped Steve off and went to the gym, then came back to the island for my turn.  The women played from 10:30 to 12:30.  It was the perfect thing for Steve and I because almost everyone that signed up was at about our level, and we got to know a lot of new people.  This is definitely something we will start doing while we are down here.  We're not sure if they play in the summer or not, but we'll get it figured out.  

Our next big February adventure was a hike at Sara Park.  Sara Park is located on the south side of town, and is where we went for the fireworks show earlier this trip (see our post "Pyros in Paradise, Feb 12th and 13th). We parked back by the rodeo grounds and took the "Crack in the Mountain" trail. For this hike, you follow the yellow markers, and it will take you all the way down to the lake. Most of it is a normal desert hike, but it has an area about half way down that has some really fun narrows to hike through. 

When we arrived at Sara Park, we realized that there was a mountain bike race happening, and we were not able to park in the normal parking lot.  So we parked down the road and made our way over to the trail.

The race course was on the ridge above our trail for part of the race

Approaching the narrows

I had a bandana on to protect my chest from the sun.  It burns easy!

There used to be a ladder here, but now it's a rope and a Carabineer

My first time repelling.  I'm glad it wasn't too far!

We're almost to the lake.  We are glad as it is hot!

And then after a brief stop at the lake, we started back into the desert, but this time we took the blue trail up and over, instead of through the narrows to take in some different scenery.

You can see our trail from the lake

And then we ran across this family of desert big horns.  It appeared to be a mom, two yearlings and a baby.  Although we really don't know!  They weren't afraid of us at all.  They must see a lot of hikers.

A yearling and the baby

Yearlings and baby

Mama and baby

 What an incredible reward after a nice desert hike!  Everytime we hike in the desert we are amazed at the beauty it holds for us to see.

The next day we caught up with our friends Tim and Cheryl and Brian and Kathy for a trip up main street for the Winterfest Street Fair.  Vendors come in from all over the area and set up a huge craft show for all of us to browse and enjoy.  There are food vendors available, but since it's on Main Street, there are also restaurants that you can duck into for some food or drinks. 

Kiln fired wine bottles!  They're Awesome!

Metal yard art.  I LOVE it!

Cheryl and Kathy enjoying a desert martini (a beer with an olive in it)

Check out this yummy looking food stand!

I loved this sign that was on display.  It truly describes my life!

And here we are ducking into the No Name Public House.  It's new, and I thought it looked sketch, but once you are inside, it is a warm friendly neighborhood bar

It's a boat car!  You can drive it on the road or the lake!

Winterfest was a great end to a fabulous two weeks in Lake Havasu City.  Now we must once again say goodbye to our home away from home, and start thinking about moving on.