2022 Todos Santos - Day #5

A long day of travel misadventures...

We pulled away from the Wallen's house in Todos Santos at 9:15 am. Although again longer than I expected (an hour and twenty-five minutes?), it was an easy uneventful drive to the airport. We dropped the rental car at Hertz and caught a shuttle to the international terminal.

At this point, the fun started. The terminal was a sea of people. We got into a line specifically to check in for our Southwest flight. It took more than 45 minutes to work our way through a fairly short line. When we got to the front of line, they issued paper handwritten boarding passes and hand written luggage tags for Phoenix. I had paid for Business Select. The Southwest app showed that we should have had A5 and A6.

We worked our way through a fairly short security line and headed to the gate hand written on the paper boarding pass. It was bedlam. There was no Southwest representative anywhere. Wandering around, I found one person with a Southwest uniform who pointed me back to the gate that was written on the boarding pass.

Our Southwest flight ended being about an hour and a half late. Eventually with someone yelling and pointing, they lined everyone up in the order of the number hand written on the paper boarding pass. Of course, they then moved the whole line to a different gate and loaded us on to buses to get to the plane. I don't remember anyone ever looking at the boarding pass.

It turned out that the computers for most of the airport were down. Just as we were boarding the bus, we started to see some of the digital signage start to come back up.

In spite of all the bedlam, we somehow ended up in the nice exit row!

Landing in Phoenix, we went through passport control and grabbed our luggage. Due to the fact that they hadn't checked the bag through to Sacramento in Mexico, we had to leave security and go down to the ticketing desk. We ended up with a rude agent that initially refused to check our bags. Another agent came over the top and pointed out that we were on the ill-fated Cabo flight.

Racing back through security, we got to the gate just as they were starting to load the Bs. I frankly didn't think that we would make the connection. Again, I had paid for Business Select and was supposed to have boarding passes A9 and A10...

We did end up with row to ourselves. Sharon took the window, while I had the aisle.

We were back in Sacramento just before 7 pm. Unforunately, our luggage didn't make the flight. Sharon and a large number of other people from the flight got in a line to talk to Southwest baggage services. Our luggage was scheduled to show up on a Phoenix flight at 12:30 am. We will have to go back on Tuesday and get the bags.

By the time, we got home it was after 8:30 pm. We had been on the move for more than twelve hours.

Sharon says that she is done with Southwest.

In the more twenty-five years that Sharon and I have traveled together, we have one rule: any day that you end up where you were supposed to be is a good day.

2022 Todos Santos - Day #4

Up early, Wallen and I left house before 7 am. We picked up Scott and his son Matt. The plan for the morning was hiking the Sugar Port Trail. With about a 500 foot elevation gain, the hike has some amazing views of the area. We ended up hiking 4.7 miles in just over two hours. A map and a couple of photos are here.

After getting cleaned up, we took a large group to lunch at the Oysteria. The group included Scott, Gail, Matt, John, Jill, Elle, Sharon and I. For appetizers, I had clam chowder, while Sharon had a tostado. We both had the catch of the day as the entree.

We spent the afternoon playing bocce ball at Scott and Gail's house. Continuing their run from the previous night, Sharon and Elle beat Jill and Gail before losing to Scott and Matt. Scott and Matt then beat Wallen and I.

Afterwards, Elle, Jill, Wallen, Sharon and I took lawn chairs down to the beach and watched the sunset. Unforunately, there are no whales migrating this time of year.

The five of us finished the day with a late dinner at RomAntic Pizzeria Italiana. The night ended on an odd note...

2022 Todos Santos - Day #3

Up early, I shamed Wallen into an early morning run. For forty plus years, I have said that one of the reasons that I train so hard is so that I can run with Wallen a couple of times a year. We ended up running and walking about 3.6 miles in 52 minutes. Wallen's hip started to brother him so we walked the last mile.

We ended up at Las Tunas Coffee Shop just as it opened at 8 am. Grabbing a table, Sharon, Jill and Elle drove up a few minutes later. Scott, Gail and their son Matt eventually walked up. Both Sharon and I had hot cakes.

Wallen, Sharon and I wandered about a mile back from the coffee shop to the Wallen's house. While Jill and Sharon watched My Octopus Teacher, Wallen and I facetimed with Nooter. It sounds like he is going to come to Bachman's celebration of life.

The four of us headed into town about noon. Wallen and I camped at Todos Santos Brewing, while the girls went jewlery shopping. We ended up having lunch at the brew pub. I had a Todos Santos Burger [Fresh ground local beef, fresh lettuce and tomato, caramelized onion, cheddar cheese, and bacon], while Sharon had fish and chips.

We had a lazy late afternoon, Sharon took a nap. I took a dip in the pool and started a new book: Sooley by John Grisham.

In the late afternoon, we headed to a potluck birthday party for one of the Wallens neighbors. It was a group of 40 plus people, almost all Americans living in Todos Santos.

Sharon and Elle ended up playing bocce ball as a team. They bested all comers and took home the prize. Heading back to the house, we crashed fairly early.

2022 Todos Santos - Day #2

I was up fairly early. I spent some time reading my book in the kitchen and trying to figure out how to the start the coffe pot.

Eventually, Sharon, Wallen, Elle and I took a long walk south along the beach. We covered 3.6 miles in just under an hour and forty minutes.

Wallen fixed a late breakfast for the group. After gettting cleaned up, we headed into Todos Santos to get money and do some shopping.

We headed north to The Green Room for a late lunch. I had Shipwreck tacos [Caribbean chili stuffed with cheese, gusanillo style octopus and shrimp, with roasted vegetables garnished with mixed sprouts and a garlic aioli], while Sharon had Magbay tostada [Fried corn tostada, fresh tuna slices, shrimp with grilled vegetables, drizzled with chile morita and fresh guacamole]. Several miles north of Todos Santos on a dirt road, the restaurant is an interesting spot that seems like the end of the world.

We spent a lazy afternoon hanging out in the back yard. As I told Drew, we were just chillin'. The backyard is a wonderful oasis. I finished reading my book: A Life Of Picasso: The Minotaur Years: 1933-1943.

John, Jill, Sharon and I spent a long time on the rooftop with gin and tonics.

Wallen made flank steak for a late dinner. Afterwards, Sharon, John and I went back up on the roof to look at the stars. Sharon and John spent a long time solving the world's problem. I wandered down the end of Mulan with Jill and Elle. We crashed about 11 pm.

2022 Todos Santos - Day #1

Up at 4:15 am, Sharon and I rolled from the house at 5:15 am. We caught a 7:15 am Southwest Flight from Sacramento to Orange County. Boarding with A30 and A31, we were able to get the two seat exit row on a 737-700.

With a two hour layover in Orange County, we had breakfast at Ducks Breakaway [vegetarian omletts]. We caught a 10:45 am Southwest flight to Cabo San Lucas. Boarding with A50 and A51, we were able to get the middle and window in the nice exit row. As I have said before, I just don't understand why people don't pay more attention to the exit rows on Southwest flights.

It was an easy two hour flight. We were on the ground in Cabo by 2:00 pm. Getting through passport control and customs was fairly easy. I had forgotten what it is like coming out of customs in a Mexican airport. There are a million people trying to grab you and sell you something.

Eventually, we hooked up with the Hertz representative. After a quick shuttle ride, we picked up the VW SUV. Taking the toll road around Cabo, we headed to Todos Santos. I was surprised how long it took; the drive was almost an hour and twenty minutes.

With one wrong turn, we rolled up to the Wallen's house about 4:30 pm. We are spending four nights with them. They built a house in Todos Santos that was finished in late 2020.

After getting settled in and visiting for a while, we wandered down to Scott and Gail's house. We spent some more time visiting there before the six of us headed to dinner.

We had dinner at Los Adobes de Todos Santos. Both Sharon and I had the catch of day, yellowfin. After an early start to the day, we crashed early.