We flew down to Mazatlan, Mexico at the beginning of January and spent a wonderful month there, joined by family. We stayed in a lovely Airbnb condo across the street from the Pacific, with kilometres of beach spreading out in front of our balcony. We had tough decisions to make very day.......beach or pool?
Upon our return home we did manage a successful ski day but our tanned bodies demanded more, so we retrieved our motorhome from storage with California dreams in mind. We waited for a two day forecast declaring a sunny drive southwest and headed out. Our first day went well, making it all the way south to Pocatello, Idaho following an early morning start. Day 2 didn't go quite as well, with Mother Nature reminding the weather forecasters that she was the one in charge. After turning west along Interstate 80 we encountered a snowstorm 20 minutes later. With dark skies ahead, and the knowledge that we had to pass through the higher Sierra Nevada mountains, we made a U-turn and headed back to Salt Lake City and the I-15 South. Unfortunately, the snowstorm kept following us and we had to drive on snowy roads until late afternoon. We passed many accidents on the slippery roads and did contemplate pulling off and calling it a day, but we heard on the radio that more snow was coming overnight. We proceeded cautiously, hoping the snow would turn to rain around the next bend, but that was not to be until we made it to St. George, near the southern border of Utah. From there we continued on to Las Vegas, which was still feeling the effects of the southwest U.S. cold spell with single digit temperatures. We spent 3 extra days there, de-winterizing the campervan, stocking up with groceries and finding a golf course to restart our season.
At that point we decided to throw out the original plan so that we could still visit many of the planned places but in reverse order. We drove from Las Vegas to Palm Springs where we caught up with several friends from back home, including a 4 night stay in a lovely La Quinta winter home. Lots of good times ensued, reacquainting ourselves with some of our favourite places and meals with different friends, with warm weather keeping us outdoors most of the time. With another cold spell heading in we ventured further south to the small town of El Centro, near the California - Mexico border, which had a more positive forecast. Along the way we stopped for an interesting visit to Salvation Mountain, on the east side of the Salton Sea (which is finally getting some much needed attention due to a recent lithium discovery and environmental concerns). The quirky Salvation Mountain, a man made 3 story mountain covered in latex paint, was a testament to one man's personal focus, and perhaps some hope for those living in the depressed Slab City (a squatter's paradise) and the overall depressed Salton Sea area.
We are now in Temecula, northeast of San Diego, another former destination where we enjoyed ourselves over 10 years ago. We chose the beautiful Pechanga RV Resort for our stay, which had a pool and hot tub close to our large site. Several games of golf, a wine tasting at Wiens (good but overpriced wine), an old town walkabout and tickets to Cinderella at the Community Theatre kept us in good spirits for the week.
We will now start driving further north, heading towards Paso Robles, where we had originally planned to start our California travels.......unless we hit another snowstorm along the way!
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| The massive front deck at our Mazatlan Airbnb condo stay in January. The condo was half way between the Old Town (visible at the end of the bay) and the resort area looking the opposite way. A nice walk to either and a bit quieter at night. We could also see beautiful sunsets in the evening. |
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| Watching the sun disappear at Pancho's, one of our evening go-to spots. It was a nice 2 km stroll along the malecon (waterfront promenade) which stretched for 8 km's. |
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| Another favourite hangout was Sinoloense, where I kept returning for my seared tuna meal. At less than $10 and with $2 cerveza's, it was an easy call. |
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| Back to reality and gas at $5-6 per gallon, we came across the Seven Magic Mountains just south of Las Vegas beside Interstate 15. Created in 2016 by a Swedish artist and commissioned for a 2 year run, it is still going strong today with close to 100 people coming and going when we stopped by. |
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| We spent four days in Palm Springs, staying at the lovely winter home of Calgary friends, D & P. The backyard patio was a popular spot in both the mornings and evenings. |
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| While driving from Palm Springs to Temecula, we stopped in to visit Salvation Mountain. Using adobe mud and latex paint, this 28 year creation of Leonard Knight is a testament to his faith. Our panoramic shot does not include the various abandoned vehicles at the site, each painted colourfully with messages of love. |
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| On our drive through the mountains to Temecula we came across many spots where locals and their young children were out enjoying tobogganing wherever there was a clear slope. less than 100 km's north of the Mexico border, this scene didn't likely play out very often. |
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| We returned to Temecula because we had previously enjoyed their golf courses and winery visits. While the wine was still good, the cost of tastings has risen to $20 pp and we felt their wines were now overpriced. Hopefully Paso Robles won't have also jumped on the cost of goods bandwagon. |
