Away From the Beach

What does one do on a rainy Isla day? Spend way too much time burning up the newly acquired WiFi signal and downloading photos? Lie around reading a Stuart Woods' paperback -- Palindrome? Take a walk in the rain to the Mango Cafe and meet newbies pleading for a couple more days in the sun before they go home?

Craig and I love the rain. Our dry Phoenix skin is soaking up the humid air, but seriously, two days is enough!

Rain, rain, go away! It truly IS our time to play!

Up on the Roof

Remember the song Up on the Roof? No way anyone could be down up on this roof! I noticed a rainbow yesterday evening and that took me upstairs with my camera. Sometimes a cloudy day brings a nice surprise!

Do you think my pot of gold is out there at the end of the rainbow in the colonias?

He Finally Caught the Sun!

Today's moving day, so I have a little down time to catch a WiFi signal. It's been hot and humid, but a big squall just went through and it's now quite pleasant. We enjoyed the thunder and rain underneath the palapa at Bally Hoo, watching the whale shark and snorkel tour boats scramble back to the dock with their drenched clients. Not a good day to be out on the choppy water!

After many attempts, I think Craig and I finally got the sunset photo just right!

Finally, Life Is a Beach!

We've been doing all of the above and none of the below, so sorry if I haven't been keeping up with emails, Facebook, and anything that requires internet! Catch you in a few days!

First Sunset

We've gone off the map and will be internet free for a few days until I get to my usual perch, but here's a photo of sunset our first night on the island. It's muggy, but a lot cooler than Phoenix, Arizona. See you in a few!

Found Fotos

I've decided this trip once again to take my older Kodak camera along for the ride. The camera was almost brand new back in November 2009 on the ill-fated Hurricane Ida trip. I got extremely frustrated because the camera reacted to the extreme humidity and kept retracting the lenses and shutting down. So I switched to a little Lumix with more megapixels after that trip.

I took the Kodak to Isla last time, but only with rechargeable batteries. The battery charger and the two batteries not in the camera were evidently confiscated from my checked baggage, so I took very few photos. The camera also takes lithium batteries, so I bought some at Sam's yesterday. I powered the thing up and there they were -- the missing photos from the January 2011 trip!

Got any steak? Anything? Just a little bone for me?

Enough already! You again? Can't a girl get some sleep around here!

Move your hand down just a little more!

Ahhhhhhhhh.


Another day ends, and another trip begins! See you on Isla!

48 Hours

I'm knee deep in the cement pond today, but in another 48 hours I'll be in this kind of bliss! Put the pedal to the metal and get there!

Zac Brown Band - Knee Deep (ft. Jimmy Buffett) - For more funny movies, click here

Manic Saturday

What to do today? Take a bike ride, then a swim. Start packing. Go out for lunch. Come back and pack. Print off some travel documents. Book Best Day. (Oops. Do that now!) Do some laundry. Pack some more. Better get busy!

Almost forgot. Post some more Isla pics! These are from our last trip. Some are odds and ends I may have forgotten to post -- others are repeats.

Almost Beach Time!

It's time to switch off the Arizona roadtrips and get back to the beach, so I've posted one of my all time favorite Isla Mujeres photos as a header. I took this on a May evening back in 2006 while I was hanging out at Posada del Mar beach with a group of friends. That was back in the day when Chapoy ran the beach concession. The cotton candy man just happened to come strolling across the beach in the golden evening light and I was able to grab the camera.

We're six days away from departure and can't wait! I've been accumulating my pile of sunscreen, hats, tank tops, flip flops, and assorted beach neccesities.

To help get myself in Isla mode, I'll be posting some of my all time favorites in the next few days!

Out on the Antique Trail

Craig and I just had to laugh. We'd driven past this antique store in a little burg called Top of the World for years and never stopped. We finally saw an OPEN sign out and Craig decided to hang a U and go back.

Usually antique stores out in the middle of nowhere fall into one of two categories. They're either heaped full of sheer junk you'd never consider buying (one man's trash is NOT necessarily another man's treasure), or the antiques in the place are so overpriced, you'd never purchase anything.

This antique store fell into the latter category. Prices were double to triple the amounts I'd see on the same items down here in the Valley of the Sun. This old house was chock full of antiques, but as my dad used to say -- that man must really love his antiques!

Remember the photo posted last week of the cute aprons in the Jerome General Store? Old aprons must be a new trend in antiques. A shop in Globe had a hanging rack stuffed with vintage aprons.

After browsing all the shops in Globe and Miami, I walked away with a $1 purchase. It was an old strip of tin cut from a vintage coffee can. I thought it was novel since I collect old coffee cans. (I know -- how bizarre!) The store owner said they'd acquired the old strips of advertising tin from the roof of a miner's shack after it was torn down. The miner used his discarded food tins to patch the holes! From the looks of his roof, the miner evidently survived on coffee and pickled ham.

More Photos from the Friday Tour

There's copper in them thar hills.

Sidewalk historical facts.


Love these kitschy vintage buildings in Arizona that line the roadways.

Abandoned hotel in Superior, Arizona.

Flowers always look prettier at cooler higher elevations.

More vintage buildings in Old Superior.

We finally got to meet Elvis. He was behind security bars on our prior trips to Miami. Glad he's got a pot close by since he's all shook up.

These geraniums in Globe were so brilliant, I thought they were fake. Not so!


Armadillo guarding the Coca-Cola cooler.

Miami garage sale.