Northern Baja Mexico

Pine Mountain News

It was a holiday week this week. Thanksgiving has come and gone at Pine Mountain Ranch.We had a huge Thanks giving feast and Jeff and Squeekers join us from the Desert Outpost.

It is the end of November already and fall is almost over. Winter is about to begin. A winter storm has brought us 2 inches of snow tonight.



Poem of the Week





A Mexican Thanksgiving

by emily d stine

a suitcase, small smile, a passport (for good measure)
and we're the south.side of snow and Estados Unidos.

the sun is the weather and the stress is swept
seaside via wind and salt. we lay tanning
our faces and resting our eyes, eyelids imprinted
with impressions of blue skies.

soon time meanders around and calls us to eat.
ruffle our feathers inside where the staff dons white
linen uniforms for the occasion.

and the fare is American, Thanksgiving in theme,
from the big giant turkey to the banana creme pie.

we eat and we eat, though it's not quite like home,
and at the end, there's no dishes to wash, no table to scrub,
we simply throw on our bathing suits and digest in the sun.

Feature Story of the Week

Northern Baja Mexico






We entered Mexico at Mexicali. We traveled highway 5 and arrived in San Felipe about 120 miles later. San Felipe is on the sea of Cortez in the northern part of the Gulf of California. The last 19 miles to San Felipe is a paved 4 lane highway. San Felipe is a popular spring break destination. The town has many hotels and restaurants several gas stations and an airport.

History

The area was discovered in 1535 by Cortez and the area was named in 1746 by father Konscak. The town was officially established in 1925 as a fishing camp. The town grew slowly until the 1960’s when hotels and nightclubs opened. One of the newest is the Rockodile club and a giant crocodile sign advertises this club as you approach San Felipe.










When you have seen San Felipe and want to get away from the noise and people a nice trip is Puertecitos. This town is located about 90 kilometers south of San Felipe at the end of the paved road. Puertecitos is on a small peninsula with the Gulf of California on the east and Puertecitos bay on the west side. The bay contains a hot springs. The hot springs is best enjoyed at about mid tide. At high tide it is about the same as the Gulf of California. At low tide it is too hot and will burn you. The town consists of about 200 dwellings and is a mixture of expatriots from the US and local Mexicans. Puertocitos is what San Felipe was before it was developed. It is a great place to relax and unwind. There are several campgrounds and a small hotel.






After a few days we left San Felipe and made our way to the west coast.We stopped in Ensenada













then went to Estero beach. The people were warm and friendly but we did most of our traveling in the daytime. Night time is a time to stay in town especially when you are close to the border. These areas become a bit of a war zone at night with smuggling and so forth.


Pine Mountain Evening

We are gathered around a warm fire in the fireplace in the family room of Pine Mountain ranch. We have finished dinner and are relaxing with the coffee of the day from http://www.coffeefool.com Tonight we are enjoying Irish Cream. This American roast holiday coffee goes well with holiday meals and as an after dinner drink.

Well my coffee is finished now and the movie we were watching has ended. It is time for bed. See everyone next week.

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