How to describe the past two days?  This is a picture of the fishing boats moored in the "downtown" area of San Felipe.  We managed to get a LOT of errands done after leaving the Hot Springs RV park (which we loathed to leave and actually considered staying at longer) and hit the border by 11:30.  My cutoff was 12pm so we just squeaked in.  Border crossing was amazingly easy except for the obligatory backup into incoming traffic because I tried to use the "nothing to declare" line instead of "motorhome inspection" lane.  Dad had emailed me and suggested I try the "nothing to declare".  (so obviously this was NOT *my* fault.  :) )  Border guys were really nice and buttoned up well in sweaters and turtlenecks.  It was cold for them.  We were amazed by the sheer volume of garbage by the roadside which continued 50 kilometers past Mexacali. 

Sissy and the boys, being the kids that they are, were amazed and continually enthralled with the junked cars; rusting carcasses flipped or sitting all along the roadside.  Jamie and I were more amazed and enthralled with the mountains jutting out of the desert - some ranges began at the roadside and retaining walls kept them from taking over the road.  (Pike, as I write this, is singing along with the "Lion King" soundtrack, English accent intact) 

Thanks to Dad’s perfect directions, we rolled into Kiki’s RV park without incident.  We brought in an unseasonal rain and it only took about 3 hours to park the trailer into the space.  I am about 1/2 inch from one side of the palapa and about 2 inches from the other side.  The palapas are interesting; definitely not built for the RV community, but the vacationers (from Mexicali) that come in the summer.  Still, it might be nice for the boys to have an outside playspace.  Here is a view of Mom and Dad’s RV (far left) and the ocean (yes, I know it is a gulf, but the kids call it the ocean) from the top of our palapa.  The roof you see at the bottom of the picture is our neighbor’s Class A.

Today, mom and dad took us to an American Cafe for eggs, bacon, ham, pancakes and coffee.  The bread (bagels and loaves) are all made in the panaderia (bakery) next door and are REALLY good.  We had a nice walk through the souvenir part of town back to the park. We were shortly then off to "shell beach".  The pictures which follow are all from "shell beach".  I think the kids left some shells on the beach, but rest assured, they managed to bring home about 7000lb of shells.  We figure on being here for two weeks before we can tear ourselves away.  I’m also not very excited about getting this rig out of here; I’m going to have to back all the way out…  (did I mention how I’m loathe to move this thing?)  We were the sensation of the camp as I brought the trailer in.  Everyone came out of their rigs; milling about, watching the endeavor.