July 2012 Puerto Morales, Mexico! Jewel of the Mexican Riviera!

For our 15 year anniversary, we decided to go big and not go home...for 5 days anyhow.  We wanted warm water, somewhere tropical, and somewhere that all worries could be erased temporarily...even money while traveling.  We opted for Puerto Morales, a quaint town about 15 miles south of Cancun and 15 miles north of Playa Del Carmen...two highly commercialized tourist towns.  It was perfect for what we were looking for. Quiet, uncrowded, and tropical. ;-)

We decided on a medium sized resort Marina El Cid.  It is an all-inclusive and we opted for the bells and whistles package...it was on sale and in our decided budget (under $3000 total air/car/hotel/food).  We even chose to splurge and get the "honeymoon suite" with in-room jaccuzi.  When we got to the hotel...which I must add was quite the ordeal...I better explain that first.  Our flight got in around 9pm, we got our bags and through customs and into our car by around 10 and we were on our way in an unfamiliar land.  The Mexican riviera is fairly simple to navigate as it has one main road that goes along the the west side of the coastal towns.  You just have to pay attention to the signs...in spanish, of course, and you have to know your turn off points.  Be advised of the crazy speed bumps along the highway...you don't see those in the USA...maybe we should have those...nah.    We did find our turn off but once in Puerta Morales, we got totally lost as the signage to turn for our hotel didn't look like a it was leading to a resort...it looked like a dirt road to nowhere..especially in the dark of night.  We did a few loops around the little town and there were armed police on the streets.  I got out, and in my poorest attempt to get directions (yes, I was talking slow and motioning with my hands and pretending to know a few spanish words), they were able to figure me out and they directed us back to the poor signage.  We went in faith down this dirt alley that wound around for a while till it became paved and grand.  We had arrived!  It was well after 11:30pm by the time we got into our hotel room and we were famished.  All the restaurants had closed down but since we had splurged for the preferred package, we were able to order room service and that was a huge PLUS!  But, our room was the biggest plus of all.  We had been UPGRADED!!!  It was awesome!!! We had a huge balcony the size of our room and it had a large hot tub on it...pictured below.  

Our room...before we messed it up with all our stuff. Hahahhaha.

The pot-holed alley that we drove through to get to our hotel...and a crazy looking bird we saw.

The road to our hotel where it started to be paved...

Our room was on one of the upper floors with the awesome upgraded balcony.

View from one of the restaurants at the resort...there are four.

Hacienda Arrecife--Mexican gourmet--fabulous dinners! We liked the buffet here for lunch.

Alhambra--buffets...we ate their mostly for breakfast items

El Alcazar--Upscale dining featuring Asian-Mediterranean cuisine...Very tasty and elegant!

La Marina--Nice seafood dining on the marina 

My view from my lounge chair...Baywatch?

Nice.  A view of my hubby is always nice...especially when he is having fun!

The resort took great care to keep the beaches pristine and the water was absolutely warm--LOVED IT!  On the beach there you can reserve palapas and you have free access to kayaks and boogie boards.  Waiters are there to attend to your needs if you need drinks or whatever.  We are not alcohol drinkers but we drank a lot of virgin fruity drinks to stay cool and hydrated...gotta get our moneys worth, right? =P

This is the view from one of our balconies.

Here is a picture of the AWESOMELY huge deck!

LOVED this!

Pool slide.  I didn't venture down it but my husband did.

Kid friendly side of the pool--basketball, volleyball, and kiddie pool.

We wanted to go see some Mayan ruins.  There are so many down there to see. We chose the coastal ones in Tulum.  

The water was absolutely the bluest I'd ever seen

There was a swimming area but we chose not to get wet since we were about 45 minutes away from our hotel and didn't want to mess with it.

This was in the town of Puerto Morales...most of the architecture was similar to this

This was a typical "no worries..no pressure" flea market in the town

Big reason to get out of Dodge to celebrate!

We would go back again. Oh yes, we would.

A note about all-inclusives--Loved locking up the wallet and just enjoying everything prepaid.  If you have teenagers, this would be awesome for them.

July 2011 Waldport, Oregon Coast Family Getaway!

Waldport is a fairly quiet town of about 2,000 on the Oregon Coast, about 20 minutes South of Newport. This is a stretch of coast that quickly gets "less busy" with people (as if Oregon beaches are ever that busy) and the towns are small, from Newport to Florence to the South. It is one of our favorite stretches of coast for this reason, and one of the prettiest. We stayed at the Ford House through Bayshore Rentals (rental management located just North of Waldport, we had stayed in another house last year). This one was 3 bedrooms, and looked right over the sands of the beach. It was a great deal at only $80 per night. You can imagine at this price that it was small, it we were even warned of that by Bayshore, but it was just great for our needs. Bedrooms were indeed very small, but the front room with kitchen was great, and there was a big window and deck overlooking the beach. It's not a luxury home, but after having stayed in several cabin-type setups this summer, we thought it was just great! Cable, DVD, a fully stocked kitchen with more than enough stuff for a family of 5 (no dishwasher was only thing you might miss, but not too much). The coastline is quiet and sandy, not much for rocks, but some driftwood for the kids to mess with. There is a Ray's market in town that is reasonable.



Sunset walk on the beach

Interior of the Ford House

View from the Ford house

The only downside I can think of was parking (a little tricky with a large vehicle, don't bring more than 1 car). Otherwise, we very much got what we hoped for.....a great location and great price. The home is located on a beach with other homes only.....so there were very few people out. Getting a feeling we like to get away from crowds? One other great thing about this particular coastline is that where we were, the sands sloped up into the beach, making it so waves are more predictable as the crashed on shore....meaning, the waves would not break and go on and on into the beach, but stop pretty quickly. This is a nice, safe beach for that reason.



Beach in front of the Ford House





View South from the beach in front of Ford house...notice the crowds!



Nearby there are several great places to see. Yachats is one of our favorite places on the Oregon Coast....an even smaller town than Waldport, but with an amazing rocky coastline that creates tide pools, waterspouts, and crashing waves to watch. There are many restaurants to choose from, some of them pretty spendy, and many of which that got packed fast on a Friday night. We settled on eating at the Blue Whale, an average looking place on the East of 101 (no view). We had eaten there once before, but it had been many years. We were nervous that it was not that busy when we got there, but by the time we left it was. We were happily surprised by the amount and quality of food for the family, and would visit again. Of note is the amount of fresh pies they have on hand, though we were too full to get any this time. Cost for the family of 5 was around $50. Not much in the way of "ambiance" but the kind of place you can take your kids and know you will find meal choices everyone likes.

Oh yeah! The kids were waiting for explosive waves!

Daddy showing the boys how to chuck a log into the surf

A good thought is to plan to go to the Yachats coastline when the tide is close to in, so the waves will really be spectacular. It's a little like Depot Bay's coastline, except there are lots of places you can walk right on the rocks. Ice cream at a local sweet shop finished that night.

Nearby attractions (a few miles south of Yachats) include Cape Perpetua, which includes Devil's Churn (go when the tide is in, again, for loud surf) and a drive up to the top of the Cape, where there is a rock shelter built during the Great Depression and lots of trails. The little hike to the shelter has some of the best views of the Pacific anywhere. There are more hiking options if you choose that. My biggest annoyance on this part of the trip was that the state park would not take debit cards, and when I had cash, had actually run OUT of permits.....so we went without and took our chances. Otherwise it would only be $5 for the day for access to some great sights.

Looking down from the top of the world just above Devil's Churn

Gorgeous views from the Rock Shelter

Cool Rock Shelter

View down from the Rock Shelter...Devil's churn is at the bottom

Great trails weave around lush forest

Just north of Waldport is Seal Rock, which has several nice sections of beach and rocky shores....if the tide is low, you can explore the rocks and many, many tidepools. There are places to park near the actual wayside that are not as busy, but they also have steeper trails to get down to the beach itself. It was fairly busy on a Saturday, but the kids liked climbing around and seeing everything there.

Seal Rock, one of the coolest beaches to explore

Seal Rock...tide pools galore

Elephant Rock at Seal Rock beach wayside

Rock climbing behind Elephant Rock

Our Ben was in heaven with all the opportunity to scale rock walls

Right behind Elephant Rock

The kids liked watching the surf at Yachats so much that we visited it again....the parking area on the North side of the river is great, because the rocks go out into the ocean further from the bay, so the waves are breaking almost right in front of you. The other side of the river is good too, just not as spectacular of waves.

Just a few miles south of Cape Perpetua is the Haceta Head lighthouse, one of the most photographed places in Oregon (and the US, I think). We did not go there this time, but it's worth it if you have not been. A short trail uphill to the lighthouse from a small beach, and you can get a tour and the history of it.

Overall we were very, very happy with our 3 day weekend getaway. Our goal this summer was "most bang for the buck" and where we stayed had that. Oh, I forgot to mention that we had two straight days of no clouds! If you are looking for a scenic, relaxing, quiet place to stay, Waldport is a great choice.

Clear Lake for a Family Reunion

June 7-9, 2011

Location: Clear Lake between Detroit Lake and Sisters near Fish Lake
Accomodations:  Rustic and "Modern" cabins, camping and RV spots available

Things to note:

• Bring linens and food as you would for camping
• Rustic cabins do not have bathrooms but "modern" one's do...they are bare bones (shower, basic sink and toilet) type bathrooms but certainly better than not having one.  I would suggest bringing a bath mat as a bathroom comfort item.
• Modern cabins have cement flooring, rooms are a good size and you could easily fit a queen blow up mattress in the rooms for extra sleeping space.
• Bring your non motorized boats--canoe, kayak, or row boat OR rent one from the "resort"
• Plan to take the hike around the lake...it is worth the 5 miles to see the sites/views.  Not recommended for people with walking difficulty as part of the hike is through loose volcanic rock and some hilly portions.
• Fishing...we didn't catch anything but the fishers next to us did....they used corn soaked in some kind of attractant.
• Fire pit.  There is only one place you can have a fire and that is down at the main resort  "beach".  We basically commandeered it for our large group for meal times and smores.
• Water temperatures linger at 38 degrees year round so I wouldn't recommend swimming unless you have special wet/dry suits.
• Because of the water temperature there are preserved ancient trees  that you can see under the water.

Hiking trail around the lake

The water is like a mirror at times.  This is the "beach" common area for the resort.  The red building is the office/restaurant/marina where you can get life jackets, boats, and some food.

Modern cabin duplex.  We had one side and the other side was occupied by family.

Taken while in a canoe on the water

Clear Lake view from the hike around the lake

Community fire pit taken over by our family. There are two picnic tables and a log bench.  We brought additional seating.

View from the hike.  In the distance we could see three Sisters mountains but my camera just couldn't pick up what we were seeing.

The boaters.  Yes, the colors of the water are really that beautiful and varied as the light hits it throughout the day. And, yes, it is called Clear lake for good reason.

Out on the water for some peace and quiet...ahhhhhhhh!

"Modern" cabin interior

Photo opp on the hike

The kids had fun here

Our teenager eating lunch and reserving his seat for the next round out on the lake.
Clear Lake held the interest of all ages in our group for a short two night three day trip.  Any longer, I think the kids would have been bored and any shorter, they would have felt shorted.
We did attempt to go visit some nearby waterfalls but there literally was no parking left it was so crowded so we skipped it this time.