On Friday we took a day trip to Puerto Morelos, a fishing village just 30 minutes north of Playa del Carmen. I didn't know until putting together this post that there is an important marine terminal at Puerto Morelos; it's actually the largest sea port in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo (source: Wikipedia). We walked over to the ADO bus station here in Playa and bought our tickets, which cost us just $24 MXN (less than $1.75 USD) each, an incredible deal for such a comfortable "first class" bus. Immediately after boarding, it began raining, then pouring. Since it looked a little threatening out before we left our rental, I'd checked two weather sites before we made the decision to go; one of which said 40% chance of rain (MSNBC weather app) the other 0% (weather.com). Zero percent?!? I think the Weather Channel is too busy focusing on winter storms in the US to get it even close to right here in Mexico! Fortunately, we soon drove out of the rain as we headed north, and when we arrived at our stop, it was a bit cloudy but not raining. The Puerto Morelos bus stop is at the highway. There are actually three parts to the town, but we were headed towards the beach or "Antiguo (old) Puerto Morelos", the charming part of town, in other words, and the part that attracts tourists. To get to the coast from the highway, we had a choice of taking a taxi or walking approximately 1.8 miles one way. If you know us, you know we walked! One side of the long, straight road is a nice sidewalk/bike path, but with no shade. The side we walked on was unpaved but shadier. As we walked the sky got brighter and brighter, and by the time we got to the beach, it was completely sunny, as it remained for the rest of the day. There was an attractive mangrove lagoon beside the road, and a couple of signs warned of the possibility of crocodiles. This surely reminded us of Ambergris Caye in Belize. Fortunately, we didn't see any. I took my chances on this small fishing dock. Briefly. Before too long, we arrived at the beach side of town, where there is a central city park. Of course I had to pose in front of the sign. Not sure who this guy was, but I'm sure he's important. I didn't see a plaque! A short walk across the park, and we were looking at the absolutely stunning Caribbean Sea. And the beautiful Mesoamerican barrier reef (the same one we used to see from our condo on Ambergris Caye, Belize every day) is very close to land here, just 100 meters off-shore. The reef is part of a National Marine Park, and as such, you must have a guide to visit it for its protection. I love the brightly colored fishing boats. There are also boats taking folks out to snorkel at the reef. I was struck by this sign explaining that they do not rake the beach of sea grass along the shore here since it helps prevent erosion and helps feed the birds. The seaweed may not look pristine, but it is good for the health of the coastline, and that's far more important than appearances. Here's one place that Mexico is getting it right! We stepped out on this section of beach and checked out an impressive sand sculpture and two lighthouses to the north. This leaning lighthouse is well-known for its uniqueness, and I found it incredibly charming. It even provided some shade for visitors enjoying the beach! This sign explained that the lighthouse was tipped in 1967 by Hurricane Beulah (which I'd never heard of) and has withstood other hurricanes since without falling. Pretty amazing! I'm guessing this is the newer lighthouse standing straight and tall, and farther from the ocean's shore. Looking north, the beach is absolutely gorgeous and seems made for walking. Here's another fantastic sand sculpture right in front of the park. They'd put a tent over it to keep rain off. We knew we'd come back to the beach in a bit, so we decided to walk around town a little. First we headed south of the square and came across this colorful mural. And this adorable hut caught my eye. I had read about this Mayan flea market, but we didn't go in. I'm sure there are some interesting items, but with our backpacks and pack-lightly philosophy, we just don't have much carrying capacity. Loved the brightly colored blankets hanging outside, though. I was starting to get hungry after all this walking, so we cut back out to the beach and started walking north, looking for a place to stop to eat. This restaurant associated with a hotel right on the beach looked like it would fill the bill just fine. A million dollar view for sure! I ordered the "Mixto Coctele" (mixed seafood cocktail), which was packed with shrimp, octopus, fish, and avocado too. The sauce was not spicy at all, so I asked the waiter for some hot sauce, and he brought a nice little bowl of habanero sauce to the table. NOW we're talking! Barry got grilled fish a la diabla that came with some yummy sides. After enjoying lunch and a couple of tall cold ones, we walked back out to the street, then up the road north. Here we found the fancier area of town with numerous beautiful homes and stylish condo buildings, but nothing too huge or garish. The vast majority of buildings are no more than 2-3 stories high. There were plenty of trees and almost no passing cars. The peace and quiet was so very welcome after the often noisy streets of Playa. Several short east-west streets led back out to the gorgeous beach, so we took one last, fond look. And yes, people were swimming! Walking back to the town park, I noticed this small sign. Looks like it's mostly a bike rental place, but they have some great bike art and other things cycling related on their Facebook page. Got a "like" from me, of course! Our final stops were at one of several similar gift shops for a Puerto Morelos refrigerator magnet (maybe one day we'll have a fridge to put it on again!) and to this well-stocked and organized Alma Libre bookstore with mostly English-language books. They have a huge used book selection as well as some new books and a few other items. I bought a couple of inexpensive used paperbacks. Bookstores always make me a very happy camper! By this point our feet were getting tired, so it was time to make the hike back to the bus stop. At this point I was thankful for the chilly air conditioning in the ADO bus!
Puerto Morelos was a pleasant change from the hustle and bustle of Playa del Carmen, even though we love Playa as well -- the two are just very different environments. Since it's so easy to get to from PDC, we'll definitely head back to Puerto Morelos again before our time here in Quintana Roo is up. Sometimes being worlds away from the busy pace of a city is just what the doctor ordered.
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The primary reason we traveled through northern California was to see the coast redwoods -- a first for both of us. And they were even more than I ever dreamed they'd be; it's truly impossible to imagine the size and breadth of these incredible trees until you stand beside one and realize just how small you really are. There are numerous state parks and a national park in the north coast section of the redwood forest, and they are all free to visit (a real surprise to me). The parks kind of blend together so we didn't always know which one we were in; we just drove and parked in various spots and explored further on foot. There's always something beautiful to see! Here's a map of the entire area. Over a three-day period, we visited all three of the state parks near Crescent City. The Redwood National Park land intermingles with these, in partnership, but is not shown on the map. I did stop at the national park visitor's center to buy a magnet and sticker. Here's some excellent information on this area and the redwoods that I pulled from Wikipedia: The Redwood National and State Parks (RNSP) are located in the United States, along the coast of northern California. Comprising Redwood National Park (established 1968) and California's Del Norte Coast, Jedediah Smith, and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Parks (dating from the 1920s), the combined RNSP contain 133,000 acres (540 km2).[3] Located entirely withinDel Norte and Humboldt Counties, the four parks, together, protect 45% of all remaining coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) old-growth forests, totaling at least 38,982 acres (157.75 km2). These trees are the tallest and one of the most massive tree species on Earth. In addition to the redwood forests, the parks preserve other indigenous flora, fauna, grassland prairie, cultural resources, portions of rivers and other streams, and 37 miles (60 km) of pristine coastline. ---- Source: Wikipedia We'd heard that the Stout Memorial Grove in Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park was one of the best places to view the redwoods and to take photographs, so we made sure to stop here and walk around on the lovely paths, gawking. This one was a monster! I felt like a character in "Land of the Giants"! Even our car looks teeny when driving through the redwood forest! After checking out the redwoods, we drove just a bit farther south, parked again, and hiked a portion of the Coastal Trail, which spans 70 miles through the state and national redwoods park area. There's much more to see here than redwoods! We took a side spur trail to check out Endert's Beach. It was rocky, rugged, and beautiful. It was hard to believe we'd been deep in the lush redwood forest literally minutes before, and now we were at the beach listening to crashing waves. We continued down the trail enjoying the local flora and fauna. The ferns here were huge -- we almost felt like we were back in the rain forests of Belize; however, it was quite a bit cooler! We encountered a well-known species in this area: the Banana Slug. These things are unmistakable, and large! I was amused to see all sorts of banana slug paraphernalia (aimed at kids) at the national park gift shop. Ha! The second one we saw (below) was much smaller than the guy above -- I remembered to put my hand in the photo for a size reference. We drove a bit further down the coastal highway (101), stopping to look at another beautiful beach, before heading back to the hotel for the day. Stay tuned -- more redwoods yet to come!
After leaving Crater Lake and one uneventful night in nearby Klamath Falls, we headed south into California and spent three nights in the Crescent City, primarily to see the coastal redwoods. They were AMAZING! But first, just a few photos from the city itself. We stayed in a nice Quality Inns & Suites very near the shore. A short walk away, we had great views of the harbor and the historic Battery Point Lighthouse, which was first lit in 1856. The harbor itself was very pretty and resonated with the sound of sea lions barking. When the wind was right, you could hear them all the way to our hotel. I have read that they are stinky, ornery, and a real nuisance to boaters in certain marinas, but I thought they were awfully cute. I love this one swimming along, looking at us. There's a Pacific beach on the far side of the rocks that looks inviting, but there are signs up stating that the rip currents are dangerous and warning people against swimming. It was a bit too nippy and windy for us to have any notions of doing that anyway on our late September visit. There's some interesting art scattered around the harbor. Of course we had to try a couple of restaurants while we were in town. After taking a Subway sub back to our room (a budget-friendly choice) on our first night in town, on our second night we walked across the street to the Good Harvest Cafe. We discovered our new favorite brew -- Tangerine Wheat Beer by Lost Coast Brewery out of Eureka, California. It is incredibly refreshing and delicious, and Great Harvest served it ice cold. Yum! We both tried the fresh salmon for our entree. It was tasty and served with healthy sides, brown rice and steamed veggies. Perhaps a bit too spartan for my taste at least, it left me wanting something decadent, so... ...we split this moist, delicious, large piece of carrot cake. Now that hit the spot! I think we'd been really spoiled by all the desserts in Eugene and were starting to crave something like this every night. This could be a dangerous precedent! On our last night in town, we tried one of several small Mexican places in town, Perlita's, which was only a short walk from our hotel. It was inexpensive and tasty. Barry got the chicken fajitas, which surprisingly were not served on the traditional sizzling plate, but he seemed to enjoy them anyway. I ordered a delicious shrimp burrito, which made for a boring photo (and is thus not included here) but tasted great, with large shrimp cooked just right, veggies, and rice inside. We managed to survive without a dessert this night! The amazing Redwoods are up next...and I do mean UP!
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Emily & BarryWe're a long-married, early-retired couple who are currently traveling as nomads with no fixed home base. After years of living in North Carolina (Emily's home state), we spent 18 months living oceanfront on Ambergris Caye, Belize, a year road-tripping the US in a Honda CR-V, a year in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and are now roaming North America in our 32' motorhome, Pearl, following warm weather whenever possible. Archives
July 2019
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