In Which We Camp On A Mexican Beach

True fact: even though we are living in a large desert in southern Arizona, we are only a four-hour drive away from a beach. The catch is that the beach is in a different country! Puerto Peñasco (or "Rocky Point" to us gringos) is located in the Mexican state of Sonora; it sits on one of the northernmost parts of the Gulf of California. For decades, Puerto Peñasco was a sleepy fishing town; in the last few decades, though, it has begun to morph into a popular tourist destination for landlocked Arizonans.  Large resort hotels are starting to pop up along the shoreline; golf courses, restaurants, bars, and other forms of entertainment (four-wheeler rentals, sailing classes, etc.) soon followed. The recession in the late 2000s slowed Rocky Point's growth considerably, but it is still a city in transition, from a sleepy industrial center to a lively tourist trap.

Nathan and I heard about Rocky Point very soon after moving to Arizona. Nathan actually visited the city a few years ago on a short business trip, and he brought back a favorable report. We often talked about taking a trip there as a family, but we never made concrete plans to go. Finally, this fall, we were inspired to give it a try by many of our friends who have already made the journey.

The Egbert family, who are members of the LDS congregations adjacent to our own, have taken family camping trips to Rocky Point twice a year for several years now. Their preferred destination is the Playa Bonita RV Resort (an offshoot of the next-door Playa Bonita Hotel). It is a low-frills RV park that is located right next to the beach. The Egberts (Richard, Kara, and their five children) drive to the park, set up their large family tents, and camp out beach-side for several days. They'll spend hours at a time relaxing on the beach, letting their kids build sand-castles and ride the waves. At other times, they'll also go exploring the town and try out new experiences there as well. Over the years, they've invited scores of friends along for the adventure, and a few families have become "partners" with the Egberts in planning and organizing the camp-outs (typically, they go once during the early fall, and then again in the spring).

In recent years, legends of the Puerto Peñasco camping trips have expanded throughout our community, and more and more families have been interested in participating--us included! We finally decided to join in the fun this fall, for a few reasons. Our family hadn't taken a camping trip yet in 2015; we knew many of the people going, and thus wouldn't feel too lonely or out of our depth; we wanted to try a camp-out of more than one night (which we had yet to accomplish as a family); and we wanted to see more of Mexico. So far, our family's experiences in Mexico have been limited to an occasional day trip in Nogales, which is hardly representative of the country as a whole.

Besides those reasons, most of us were curious about what it would be like to camp on a beach; Nathan and I aren't the biggest fans of the beach, but we thought it might prove fun for the kids and at the least a unique adventure for us. Best of all, Nathan would be able to navigate our way around the country, since he still speaks fairly good Spanish. The kids were excited by the prospect, and Nathan and I thought it would be a great little vacation to close out our long Arizona "summer."

So we contacted the RV Resort, mailed them our deposit, and started planning our trip.We decided to stay three nights, mainly because Nathan wouldn't be able to get any more time off than that (especially considering he'd already taken time off to go see Wicked just a day before). On Friday, October 2nd, we hurriedly packed our car; the very next day (Saturday the 3rd) we headed out in the afternoon (after listening to some of the LDS General Conference broadcast). The drive was uneventful; the roads were in good shape, the traffic was minimal, and the weather was warm and pleasant. We arrived in Puerto Peñasco shortly before the sun set.

 

We were immediately impressed by the view, and we had a lovely walk along the beach that night just after setting up our tent. We also drove into town for our dinner; there are a lot of yummy little cafes throughout the city that we gladly sampled during our stay. That night, however, we noticed something unexpected: it was pretty windy! Our tent was constantly creaking, swaying, and rocking back and forth, due to the heavy gusts coming in off the Gulf. Needless to say, the noise (plus the wall of the tent knocking me on the head over and over) made for a mostly sleepless night. The next night was more of the same.

I know you can't see it here (except manifested by the waves), but there was a lot of wind in these pictures.

Sadly, this wind was our near-constant companion on this trip. The Rocky Point veterans we stayed with (the Egbert and Carlsen families in particular) were as surprised by the weather as we were. They swore it had never been windy for them before; at the majority of their visits, the air and the water were both calm and still all day and into the night. Not this time, though! I sometimes wondered if the weather gods decided to play a special prank on us to welcome our family to Mexico.

We waited (and waited, and waited) for the wind to die down. Throughout Sunday and Monday, however, it continued unabated. In fact, on Monday morning, it grew especially strong...up to thirty-mile-per-hour gusts! While walking around outside, the wind sometimes threw me off balance.  Palm trees groaned under the strain; the waves got really choppy; birds sought shelter. We sought shelter, too...luckily, the RV park had a "social club" and we were able to spend a great deal of time inside. Luckily, lots of the Carlsens are board-game lovers and brought along several of the European-style games that our family loves. That, combined with the games already on hand in the social club, helped us all pass the time.

 

I braided Celeste's hair; it both kept me busy while sitting indoors, and helped keep Celeste's hair from blowing into her face for the rest of the trip. Lorelai and Aurora both refused braids of their own, however. In spite of the wind, the girls still had a lot of fun at the beach; they would spend long hours running in and out of the surf, looking for shells, riding the waves, building sandcastles, burying themselves in the sand, and exploring the shoreline.

 

 

Sitting on the beach was less fun for me; due to the wind, I was unable to set up the shade structure we'd brought. I had to park myself on a beach towel (that blew away every time I stood up), with no protection but my sunglasses. We all got pretty sandblasted and sunburned on this trip!

By Monday night, the wind had slacked off a bit, but by then the damage was done. Our tentpoles had been so battered by the gusts of wind that the entire shape of the tent had become warped. Just after darkness fell Monday night, the tent collapsed and we weren't able to fix it. We had to pull out our sleeping bags from the wreckage and spend the night in the social club. We felt a little bit like hurricane victims hiding out from the weather. It was also a little embarrassing to be in that predicament when many others in our party were managing just fine. In a way, this trip reminded us how ill-prepared we were for "roughing it" on our own.

However, we weren't alone in our frustration. In fact, this outing (which was originally to have had 12 families participating) shrunk significantly as the wind raged on. Several families packed up and went home after just one night, citing their frustration with the weather as their reason for leaving. So even if we grumbled a lot, at least we stuck it out and finished our stay, despite the temptation to leave. If nothing else, it made us feel like we'd accomplished something difficult.

But hey! Things weren't all bad on this trip. Let's take a look at some of the highlights:

 

We got to eat at a lot of yummy restaurants...especially Pollo Lucas, which was a no-frills fire-grilled chicken diner. We ordered a whole chicken; it came with sides of tortillas, salsas, rice, and amazing spicy refried beans. It was incredibly delicious; !

On our last day, we got to eat at this little roadside diner. They had all sorts of different items on their menu...if you were in the mood to eat cow. If you were craving any other animal, then sorry...they couldn't help you!

 

I decided to walk on the (slightly) wild side and try a taco de cabeza (meat from the cow's face!). It wasn't half bad! For the record, it tasted a lot like pot roast...nice and tender, a little on the fatty side, with a mild flavor.

 In spite of the wind, we still had a lot of time to catch up on our reading. I brought a nice mystery as my "beach book," and Lorelai inched closer to finishing out the Harry Potter series (she'd finish the final book just days after we got home). Nathan spent more time doing puzzles than reading, but he enjoyed it anyway. It was a nice activity to do while listening to General Conference broadcast through the Egbert's cell phone.

 

There was a "hot tub" next to this little ramada; I'm not convinced the water was heated at all. But that didn't stop the girls from spending hours playing inside it, both with themselves and with their friends.

 

We took several short trips into town; however, my favorite trip was further down the shoreline into a tiny village called Bahia la Cholla.  It sits just adjacent to Sandy Beach, and is home to some really cool tidal flats. It was fun to drive our car right out along the flats, and explore the lands which would be covered by water again in a few hours.

 

We got to see lots of incredible shells and pebbles on the tidal flats.

 

I also saw several tiny crabs scuttling along the ground from hole to hole. They looked exactly like most crabs (big pincers, sideways walk), but they were barely bigger than ants! I wasn't able to get a clear picture of them, but they were still really neat to see.

 

The morning we left (Tuesday, October 6th) was of course calm and beautiful. I shook my fist in rage at the sky, cursing the weather for calming down just as we were headed home. At least we had one lovely morning on the beach with friends! Lorelai learned how to boogie board, and wanted to stay and practice for hours.

I was relieved she had so much fun that morning; she had been the grouchiest of our three children regarding the weather. I was happy she made some nice memories that last morning.

Despite having to wait a while at the US/Mexico border, our drive home was uneventful. We left behind several families, including the Egberts and Carlsens. The Egberts in particular were real troopers; they stayed from Friday night until the following Thursday! They were amazing campers and their high spirits were a real inspiration to us. I wish we could have shared their enthusiasm, even in the face of the unfortunate weather. We couldn't have chosen better people to go camping with!

Overall, I'd say our trip was about half good, half bad. Nathan was a good sport throughout, even though neither he nor I especially enjoy beaches or camping. I wish the weather had been better, as it really restricted what we could do at times and it discouraged us on several occasions. However, we enjoyed a lot of our outings, and we saw a lot of potential in another Rocky Point trip in the future.

Next time, though, we probably won't bring our tent! The Playa Bonita Resort hotel, which sits right next to the RV park, had very reasonable room rates. It's very possible we'll return to the beach...but this time, with a cozy, secure hotel room to retreat to, if the wind should decide to pick up again. I guess this proves that I am a city-fied wimp...but if that's going to be my label, so be it! I would love to go camping again...and I would love to visit Rocky Point again...but I don't think I ever want to do both those things at the same time again. Either way, though, it would be nice to have friends along at our next Rocky Point visit; they made our challenges more bearable and our downtime more fun. We're blessed to know a lot of great people!

Having A Wicked Good Time With Grandma

A few years ago, Nathan and I watched the Broadway musical Wicked on its first-ever trip through Tucson. It was a great experience, which I documented in some detail. Very shortly after watching it, Nathan and I agreed that Wicked would be a great show for our girls to watch someday; it has two strong-willed, dynamic female leads, both of whom get awesome character arcs complete with awesome songs. We were certain they would love it once they got a little older.

Finally, four and a half years later, "someday" arrived, and it was time to make good on our promise! In the intervening years, Wicked made one more appearance in Tucson; Nathan and I considered going again, but ultimately decided against it for financial reasons. Early this year, we heard that Wicked would be coming to Arizona in the fall of 2015.

This time, however, it would be playing in the Phoenix area. Arizona State University (in Tempe) is home to the Gammage Auditorium, which was designed by none other than famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright! I was definitely intrigued. Gammage sounded like a nicer venue than the University of Arizona's Centennial Hall, which is a little old and has trouble accommodating a full-scale musical production.

At first, we weighed the pros and cons of taking the girls this year. By October, Lorelai would be ten years old and Celeste would be almost eight; we reasoned they would be mature enough to sit through the show and stay alert and focused (it was an evening show, so we did worry somewhat about their stamina). We were less sure of Aurora; she would still only be five years old, and a still-adjusting-to-school kindergartner to boot. For a time, we considered leaving Aurora in Green Valley, to spend the night at Grandma Barrett's house. However, we got a surprise when Grandma herself expressed a desire to go! With that decision made, we decided to make our Wicked night a whole-family affair. In addition, we decided to spend the night in Phoenix; since we were attending an evening show, we didn't want to deal with a long drive home in the middle of the night.

So, keeping all that in mind (and thanks to a small financial windfall), we purchased six tickets to Wicked for the night of October 1, 2015. We purchased them in early April 2015. Can you tell we were very excited to go?? That gave us time to get the kids prepared. True, Lorelai and Celeste had attended Beauty And The Beast last winter, but this time, they wouldn't know the play's story going in (given Wicked's many significant differences from The Wizard Of Oz). In addition, this would be Aurora's first time a a full-length play. We wondered if the girls would be confused the whole time, or spend all night asking us questions. We also wondered if they would simply be bored and "give up" on the show halfway through.

We did our best to prepare them for the experience. Nathan and I gave them several talks about theater etiquette and behavior. In addition, we decided to "spoil" our girls as much as possible (within reason) as to Wicked's plot. Lorelai in particular is hugely curious and asks a ton of questions about movies & television shows we watch; she likes to know what to expect. Rather than endure that questioning the night of the show, we decided to give her the basic story so she could discover the details on her own. We also got the CD featuring the original Broadway cast, and we listened to it often at home and especially in the car on the way to and from other activities. By showtime, the girls knew the lyrics to many of the songs!

Getting Aurora prepared was perhaps the trickiest part. She was excited to go, but I knew she would have a hard time staying focused, and I worried she would try to wander around and disrupt other patrons. I ended up bringing a coloring activity into the theater in my purse; Aurora colored during pre-show and intermission. Celeste had a coloring activity as well, but it wasn't as "needful" for her as it was for her younger sister.

At last, the day came and we all excitedly piled into the car and headed up to Tempe. We first checked into our hotel and unpacked our suitcases for the night. Then we headed to an early dinner...Rudy's BBQ, of course! It is one of our favorite Phoenix restaurants, and we finally got to share it with Grandma Barrett on this trip. Once our bellies were stuffed, we headed back to the hotel to get prettied up.

It was fun to see all the girls put on their pretty dresses, and to curl and style their hair for the big night out. I even got Lorelai to consent to some small touch-ups (remember, this is the girl who would be happy to never brush her hair or wear a dress for the rest of her days). But the thought of our "big night out" had everyone in a festive mood.

 

We were all impressed by the beautiful theater, and we had plenty of time to explore it; we arrived pretty early, before the theater doors had even opened! It was nice to see this striking building from many different angles.

We were very excited when we finally got to take our seats. We were on the upper balcony, but we were pretty far down, and our seats were dead center! We had a nice view of the stage.

My only complaint about the Gammage? The rows of seats were really steep. You can sort of see it in our group family picture. The rows descended at such an extreme angle that it gave the illusion they were slipping away from each other towards the floor. In addition, the lowest balcony row had only a very small guardrail protecting theater patrons from a potentially deadly fall. For someone as afraid of heights as I am, this was not the most comfortable place to sit.

Thankfully, none of this was noticeable once the show started up. In my last post about Wicked, I critiqued the play at length, so I won't do that here. But I will say that overall, this was a slightly better viewing experience. Our view of the show was clear and unobstructed (with a couple of exceptions. Tragically, the large mechanized dragon blocked our view of Elphaba flying during the "Defying Gravity" number. Alas!). Our audience was excited and responsive, clapping and laughing at all the right times (there were a couple of catcallers in our Tucson audience that disrupted the flow of the show somewhat). The actors all did a wonderful job and had lots of energy (although that waned a bit towards the end).

Most of all, it was thrilling to occasionally peek over at our girls (and Grandma Barrett, too!), and see the smiles on their faces as they took it all in. No one asked any questions; they were all able to follow the plot easily and they really got invested in the story and the characters. Even Aurora survived the night! Things got hard for her in Act 2, which was very late in the evening. She ended up curled up on my lap crying softly for several long stretches. Fortunately for everyone else around us, the lights and sound from the stage managed to (mostly) drown the poor girl out. And even though she was clearly tired and sad, she didn't ever fully lose her composure; she tried to behave herself, even though it was becoming very hard for her to do so.

After the final curtain call, there was one more neat bonus to our evening: we were able to approach the stage and sit down for a special Q&A with several of the actors from the show!

It was neat to see them up close and personal, without their makeup or costumes. We got to listen to a couple of the Company performers (including the stand-by actress for Elphaba). The actress who played Madame Morrible and the actor who played the Wizard of Oz were also in attendance. We stayed for an extra 15-20 minutes, listening to them describe their lives in a traveling theater production. They also revealed some secret details about the set construction and their ordeals in the makeup chair. Nathan, Sandy, and I would gladly have stayed for a while to listen to the actors, but the girls were very tired by this point, so after a while we quietly excused ourselves and headed back to the hotel.

The next morning was our reluctant return to reality; we got up, packed, ate breakfast, and then drove home to Sahuarita. We didn't have much time to linger; that same afternoon, we had to start packing for our trip to Rocky Point (blog post coming soon!). But we were so grateful for the opportunity to have a fun, cultured night out with the whole family. Here's hoping for more nights like it in the future!