New Year's Eve 2012

Every New Year's Eve for the past several years, Ken and I have taken food and drink over to Grandpa's and toasted the new year with egg nog, good beer, and a touch of the bubbly. Our first silly hat photo, the predecessor to this one, was taken in 2009.

I posted a different photo on Facebook, because I have my apron on here. But I really like this one with the Felix photo-bomb.

Grandpa's hat isn't silly, but it is special: it's his Verlen Kruger hat. It came in really handy to protect his noggin from bumps when getting in and out of the car and dining in rooms with low-hanging pendant lamps.

Standing Rib Roast

Here's the four-rib roast (from Meijer's) I made for Christmas this year, ready to go in the oven. I used softened butter with black pepper and herbs (Spice Islands Bouquet Garni) and a liberal coating of kosher salt.

Twenty minutes at 450 degrees, then 325 degrees till it reached temperature (about another hour and a half). Took it out at 118 degrees (temperature probe timer was set for 115) and it rose to 128 while the Yorkshire Pudding was in. Could have taken it right out at 115, or maybe even sooner. The middle was medium rare (very pink and warm). It was delicious through and through. Used beef stock to deglaze the pan, which yielded plenty of fat for the pudding and lots of yummy "au jus."


Kept the sides simple this year; no casseroles. Guests: just Adam and Grandpa. Joe was sick, Jonna recovering from flu, Tomi in Brooklyn, and the Balcoms at home.

Back to Michigan - non-stop!

Boy oh boy, were we lucky to get a direct flight to Detroit from Puerto Vallarte! Now that we're home, I  can say with certainty that this was one of the simplest, trouble-free international flights ever. Time in the air - only 3 1/2 hours. End to end, from the time we left the resort to the time we drove into our driveway, 10 hours, including early arrival to clear security for the flight in PV, picking up luggage in Detroit, clearing customs, shuttling to the parking lot, driving home, and dropping off the Faulds. The Bosses and Switzers left Friday afternoon and only got home this morning at 3 a.m. today!

We had a last beer and a sandwich when we got to the airport, then headed for the gate. The final treat was the plane was about 1/4 full! Lots of empty seats; Ken and I had a whole row to ourselves.

Last minute candy shopping

The duty free gauntlet

Final toast in Mexico

Super attractive photo of me

At the gate - our direct flight

Boarding pass and passport

On the plane - our buddies the Faulds

On our way home!

Last full day before departure

Over the years, we've learned to treat the last day of vacation no differently than the rest. That way we avoid any needless anticipation of packing, getting to the airport, etc. Things will get packed, we will make our flight, all soon enough. Might as well pull out the stops and really savor our last day.


Although I look about six months pregnant here (it's the wind blowing down my bosom unobstructed by boobs), I like the photo. I bought the hat at the little market down the street.

I had my second massage today. Those are my feet on the right. The masseuse, Valeria, is very good and I admire the strength these people have in their hands. It did wonders for my shoulders.

Seems like every time I leave a warm locale I spend a lot of time taking photos of my feet in the water. Today was no different.


Ken snapped some action shots of me in the setting sun and a stranger offered to let us both compromise our dignity for the camera. I love this photo.




At the end of the day, this beautiful sunset; one of the prettiest of the week. As it grew dark, we caught our first glimpse of the moon in the tiniest waxing crescent - just a bright rim on the bottom of a plump silver sphere.

We all walked down to the market and had a double scoop of gelato, then back to the room to watch TV (Ron and Ken) or pack (Karen and Jane).

Great vacation.

Puerto Vallarte

On the return leg of our tour of the country-side, we decided to drive past Nueve Vallarte and continue on into Puerto Vallarte. Our destination: The Cheeky Monkey, where the beers are $1 U.S. a piece. Even the Margaritas were cheap, as long as you could tolerate the cheap tequila (Jane couldn't - it tasted too smoky). We sat in the open air second floor and ordered onion rings (they were huge broad chunks of deep-fried onion - very good) and pizza. The third floor of the restaurant was reserved for smokers, who stumbled up and down the stairs wearing balloon hats.

After the Cheeky Monkey, Ron drove us back toward home. We dropped David off near his apartment with a case of the giggles about our frequent speed bump alerts for Ron - "Boom boom!" "No boom-boom!," and got home after a brief diversion to obtain gasoline and loop around in the correct direction.

Thanks for driving Ron, you did a great job!

The Malecon (waterfront promenade) is lined with statues.

The artists accept tips for their accomplishments in sand sculpting 

This must serve as today's fruity drink (there is a lime in it).  I stuck to beer all day to avoid problems with local water. 

Separated at birth?

Kenny thought this sports bar looked pretty cool.

Sayulita

This map shows all the stops we made on the way to Sayulito

When you drive into towns, especially near more affluent areas, you encounter lots of speed bumps. They have the kind we see in the U.S. - a long bump that goes evenly across the street - and some other more brutal types as well. One kind we don't have in the U.S. is made up of a series of steel semi-spheres imbedded in a line across the road. There's a warning sign before them, and if you ignore it, you are in for a big BOOOMP.

On our way to the beach in Sayulita - with three people in the back seat of the Jetta - we went very slowly over a few speed bumps that made the car go CLUNK. I resolved to walk up the hill past the bumps on the way home.

This little shack is emblematic of the kind of culturally blended architecture we saw in many areas.  It's clear there is gringo-influence, and in this case, even Native-American, but the colors and informality are pure Mexico.

This place was a surfing school - I'm guessing the proprietor may have been one of the old-gringo-surfer-dudes we saw on the beach.

The lane in the photo below runs perpendicular to the beach.  I took the photo while walking up the hill to avoid the speed bumps, so I couldn't take the time to walk down the lane and see what else was there, but it was visually charming and in better shape than some of the main streets.

The next photo is of a couple we saw on the beach who had dug two "recliners" into the damp sand. They had luggage with them; perhaps it was their last day of vacation, or maybe they were just bumming around and this was their own form of bed and breakfast.

We enjoyed watching the surfers and paddle-boarders, in particular one little guy who never fell off his paddle-board the entire time we watched. What a childhood!

The charming architecture of Sayulita

Recliners in the sand

This is what low-tide looks like here. There were a couple of guys sitting on the stones picking up and eating oysters.

The beach in Sayulita. Beyond the pond, there were lots of outdoor bars, similar to Orient Beach in St. Martin's.

Surfers!

This little guy looked to be about ten.

A beach vendor with a wheel-barrow crammed with Tupperware tubs full of candy. 

Cheers!

Punta Mita

Punta Mita is on the northern-most point of Banderas Bay. The point itself is occupied by a huge gated residence/resort and golf course, where people are so rich they wouldn't even allow us to drive onto the property. They told us, however, we could make a reservation to drive onto the property TOMORROW.  Thanks, pal, but no thanks.

Everywhere you go in the resort areas, people try to get you to come into their restaurants or shops with more or less aggressive entreaties. There seems to be a code that allows you escape - yet be a little bit nice - if you break off eye contact, say "no, gracias," and keep walking. But slowing down, or looking at the person or the wares one fraction of a second too long will earn you even more energetic pitches and assurances of special deals and low prices, requiring you to be much more emphatic in refusal.

I say all that to show this picture of Punta Mita. The parking is arranged off a narrow entry and faces a long stretch of restaurant and shop entries. This means there's nowhere to hide as you look for a lane that will take you to the beach. Fortunately, we could honestly say we had just eaten and the hawkers seemed to accept this explanation as final.

This is the beach in Punta Mita proper. Not much to write home about, but interesting in that it was populated less by short term visitors like us and more by locals and aging gringo surfers. Of course, this is not the busiest time of year; we are told the influx of visitors happens later this month and through the early months of the year, for obvious reasons.

La Cruz

La Cruz is the home of a huge marina. It has everything from local fishing vessels to huge swanky yachts. We walked through the fish market at the marina, and had a bit to eat at the yacht club restaurant. David's friend Angel works at the restaurant; we were served a lovely complimentary ceviche (a kind of marinated fish salad) along with the food we ordered.

Inspecting octopus and shrimp

The fish was very fresh - didn't smell fishy. Well let's face it, this guy can't smell anything (ba-dum-ching).

Parrot fish? This was the real color of the fish!

Local fishing boats - love the colors

The top half of a grouper

The view from the top of the restaurant - residents must paint their homes only certain colors here, we were told.

Our complimentary shrimp ceviche

Bucerias

The first place we stopped was Bucerias, a town just north of Nuevo Vallarte. We drove down narrow cobblestone streets and parked near the beach. It was a cooler, misty morning, perfect for tourism. We walked on the beach and explored the town. It was too early for lunch, but we saw lots of places we'd have been happy to stop and eat.

The Sierra Madres from the beach in Bucerias

A guy on the street selling oysters

A very old cactus plant over one of the shops

 

An amazing day of tourism en Mexico

Start with this: I took 298 pictures today. Granted, some of them were multiple action shots of surfers and paddle-boarders on the beach at Sayulita, but I found lots of great subjects on our trip around the north edge of Banderas Bay today.

Here's the little Jetta Ron rented for the day. It was actually roomy inside, although the back seat had to fit me, Jane, and David Galeana, the nice young man who accompanied us on the trip. It was great having a native Spanish speaker from the area along with us--as a practical matter it saved us lots of time and confusion, and David is also great company. He waits tables at the beach in front of our resort, so we've had lots of opportunities to get to know him.

Dinner at Fajita Republic

We took this self-portrait in the bathroom mirror

Tonight we had dinner at Fajita Republic, a cool outdoor restaurant within walking distance of the resort. I loved all the rustic hand-made lanterns.

Before our dinner was served, some local wildlife paid a visit to beg for treats: three smallish racoons one level below where we were sitting. Knowing as I do how aggressive they can be, I told them to get lost - they weren't going to get anything from me.

And...here's today's FRUITY DRINK OF THE DAY!!!