First Visitors

Dustin hates crocodiles, so where do we go first?

It took them two extra days to finally arrive at Casa Rosa, but Jenna and Dustin Burtis finally made it! Why such a long journey you ask? Both Jenna and Dustin work for United Airlines, and to make the trip a bit less expensive they flew standby at no cost.  Their problem came when they got to Mexico City and just missed their flight out to Manzanillo.  The hold up was a domino effect that caused their predicament. The airport in Mexico City is tough to maneuver through at best, signage is poor, location of gates are confusing, and then you add the Spanish language factor into the equation and the results are usually disastrous. It took them three tries to connect to Manzanillo, but they finally arrived on Saturday morning.

Once they arrived we helped them settle in and they started their vacation.

Crocodiles of La Manzanillo.

Since their arrival, we have gone out to eat several times and let them catch up on much-needed sleep that they lost on the journey down.

Sunday we woke up and took the bus to La Manzanilla where we spent the morning.  We sat at Pedro's and enjoyed the views while eating and getting caught up on each others' lives.

We returned home about 2:30 PM, hit the pool and then Justin and Jenna got to watch their first real Melaque sunset.  Included in the sunset were visits from some dolphins, fish jumping and their first exposure to the big waves that hit the shores of this quiet little town.

John and Beth joined us for dinner and afterward, we all walked the Zocalo in search of churros.

Up close and personal.

Filled with food and drink, we returned home and watched the Seahawks game that Dustin had DVRed. The win was a great end to a wonderful day with these friends.

First real sunset on the beach in from of Casa Rosa.

Switching Gears

Once a year we settle into a completely different routine. Yesterday we made our way down to Casa Rosa in Melaque, Mexico. The trip down was nothing exciting. Leaving home at 2:30 AM (PST) and arriving at our doorstep at 5:30 PM (CST).

Oh, what a change in temperatures! We left in a slight snow, probably about 28 degrees and arrived in a very humid 89 degrees.  It was instant perspiration!

It took us forever to enter Mexico, I think they are taking security seriously in their own Mexican way.

Our taxi ride was nothing, the driver must have been getting off work because he sat back and cruised slowly to Big Pink at # 1 Reforma.

We got into the house and put a few things away and then walked to the beach where we met Beth and John, joining the sunset regulars watching Dec. 2 sink into the ocean. Almost all our friends from Las Palmas (the casa next door) were in attendance. It was good to see them again.

Once the sun dipped out of sight the four of us walked into town to a beach bar called The Albatross, where we toasted Mexico with some cold drinks. We were tired, but just being in this place brought us back to life.

Our traditional dinner stop called to us and we walked the four blocks and found a table on the street. My guess is that we have eaten at Buen Gusto for our first night's dinner the past fifteen years. They never fail to provide a great, inexpensive meal. Once dinner was over we walked back to Casa Rosa and passed out in bed. Our long day was over.

The pattern for our days began the next morning with breakfast, volleyball, grocery shopping and afternoon siestas. It's going to be hard, but switching gears will take a bit of time. We're up for it, though!

Steelhead Fishing

Over the last couple weeks, I have been able to get away and go steelhead fishing on the Clearwater River. Both trips took place on the past Thursday and Fridays, and we did the same routine each time we went.

Our pattern goes like this. We drive down to Uniontown Washington and spend the night and fish all day Friday, then we drive home.  It varies a bit, one time we drove down late Thursday night and only fished on Friday and the other time we drove down Thursday morning, fishing the day and then fishing again on Friday.  Both scenarios make for long days and I get real tired, being able to fish the river is worth it.

The weather on both trips down was great.  We had some rain on the first trip, which we thought would help the fishing, but it didn't.  The second trip was very sunny and cold. You would have thought that with two very different weather conditions we might have hit a few fish, but over the three days total of fishing we only had one landed and four good hits.

Tom landed a wild steelhead on the second Friday fish. It wasn't the biggest fish, but it was sure a beauty.

This was my last fishing trip of 2015.  I wish I could have landed one of those biggies, but they will be in the system when I fish again in 2016.