Erin’s company flew us down to Orange county this weekend for their annual holiday party. We left Friday afternoon and enjoyed a nice evening at the Orange Hill Restaurant. Saturday morning we drove up to Anaheim for some good clean Disneyland fun. Wildfires in the area made breathing slightly hard, but it also made for short lines. We didn’t have to wait more than 15 minutes for any ride.

We didn’t fly back to the East Bay until 7pm, so we decided to drive down to the beach for a few hours later in the afternoon. We drove down to Newport Beach and had burgers on the pier at the famous Ruby’s burger. We caught the sunset before heading to the airport for our flight home.

Our pictures are in, but I’ll wait for permission from Erin before I post them online. Here’s a little sample:

Erin and I drove the Westy up to Yosemite this weekend for a early winter camping trip. Friday was a beautiful day and the weather was great. We brought the heater and had to use it to keep toasty through the night. Saturday afternoon it started raining and it continued throughout the night. There were a lot of people camping in tents that were really wet Sunday morning! We had one small drip in the skylight that was cured temporarily with old fashioned duct tape.

Somewhere deep in the Maine woods……

Sunday, October 5th, Erin and I rented a Nissan Tzuru and drove north along the coast, stopping in Punta de Mita, Sayulita and finally San Blas. It was really fun to have the car and sight-see on our own. Here’s a corny video we made along the way:

We didn’t find much in Punta de Mita except for a small, dirty village so we just drove around for a short time and then got back on the highway. Sayulita was a really great little village. It is a little touristy, but it’s far enough away from Puerto Vallarta that there aren’t throngs of tourists. It is well known for surfing.

We stopped at the world-famous Choco-banana and had, what else, a Choco-banana. It’s a delicious frozen banana dipped in chocolate and served on a stick. Yummy!

We wandered the beach and shops for about an hour, ate lunch at a burrito shop and then continued our drive north.

When we arrived in San Blas, we asked around about a boat to take us through the mangroves. Fortunately for me Erin speaks fairly fluent (rusty) Spanish, since most people we met there spoke as much English as I speak Spanish. We hired a boat to drive us through up the river through the mangroves.

Our guide was very friendly and pointed out wildlife for us to photograph. We stopped at an island restaurant (barely) and had a beer and visit with a crocodile.

Well, she might not be quitting her day job too soon, but she sure does have fun!

S.F. Open Studio
Sculpture/Photography/Jewelry
October 18 + 19, 2008
11am – 6pm
www.javierperezstudio.com

“Cloud Dreaming” 19″ x 16″ x 8″ Clay/Underglazed

Saturday October 4th we got up and walked to Victor’s in the Marina for breakfast. It was nice to eat and look out over all the sailboats and yachts. From breakfast we caught a bus to Wal-mart where we stocked up on food for the week. We were getting really tired of eating heavy, expensive breakfasts.

After our shopping trip we relaxed by the pool for most of the day. Saturday evening we went downtown for dinner. We had heard that Puerto Vallarta is really hopping on Saturday nights, but we didn’t find too much excitement. I was amazed at the police presence everywhere. Check out the gun. These guys don’t mess around!

Along the Malecon (boardwalk) are many statues, restaurants and people. Most of the artwork is designed to be sat or climbed on.

We ate dinner at The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.