Back in the desert

I made it back to Moab late last week. After a couple weeks of great skiing at Mt. Bachelor I packed the Westy and headed to Utah. It was about 90 degrees in town when I arrived, so I went straight to Negro Bill Canyon and took Ginger for a nice hike up in the shadowy canyons. There is plenty of water there to play in, and it stays much cooler there than anywhere else in the area.

I worked last weekend at the Chile Pepper Bike Shop. It was just like the old days, hanging out with Wendy and Monty and Ryon and Tracy, renting bikes, drinking FMC, and making trail recommendations for the mountain bike tourists. The riding has been superb. I rode the La Sal Loop Road with Hanka and Eugene, who is in town for the season working at the Poison Spider. The next day T-Roy joined us for a super fast lap on Wag's Way. The wildflowers are coming out and the sand is firm from the winter's snow and the desert riding is outstanding.

The Classic Car Show also brought a bunch of folks to town last weekend. The hotels were packed and the campgrounds were full. Moab doesn't seem to be as affected by the downturn in the economy as the rest of the country. Maybe it's because gasoline is so cheap right now. Most of the ski areas in Utah and Colorado are closed so people are coming to the desert to soak up some sunshine. My tan from the winter in Mexico has long faded, so I am back on the sunscreen program...

Dia de la Bandera

Once again it is flag day here in Los Barriles. There were races and dancing at the monument this year, but the flag was a much smaller version than usual. Maybe they decided to downsize it because of the wind from last year, but it wasn't as visually stunning to watch the flag-raising ceremony.

I have been very busy entertaining guests for the last few weeks. John Harley flew in early afternoon on Super Bowl Sunday. Rob and Miesha arrived later in the evening so John and I drove into San Jose to check out the new Baja Brewing Company. It is a very nice restaurant right off the main square in downtown San Jose del Cabo, and they brew some pretty good beer. We watched the football game on a big-screen television, then went to pick up the folks at the airport. We had a fun time that week, Rob took some kiting lessons, John flew the trainer kite, Miesha was ripping it up on the stand-up paddleboard, and we enjoyed many cervezas on the deck at Martin Verdugo's hotel where they were staying.

Mom flew in later in the week, after John and Miesha had left, so it was great to be reunited and catch up on old family stories. She stayed in a nice room over at Hotel Los Barriles, right in the middle of town. We had a nice drive into the mountains and down the San Bartolo arroyo before I had to take her back to the airport. I think she enjoyed seeing this part of the country, and she understands why I am drawn back here year after year...

Sky and Charlie arrived from Hood River last week and set up camp in our yard. Charlie is a kite instructor so Todd and I took advantage of his teaching skills and got out for a couple kite sessions. I had a little mishap and caught a fin on my shin. It required a couple stitches and kept me out of the water for a couple days. We had a few fun road trips to Cabo Pulmo for snorkeling and mountain biking, Canon de la Zorra for cliff jumping and swimming, and over to Todos Santos for some surfing.

Visitors from Moab

It was fun to have a couple VW vans parked at our house for a few days last week. George and Teresa brought Lily the dog in their tan van, and Jesse and Kristi arrived in their blue Westy along with a new dog, Frida. It's pretty cold in Moab right now, so they came to the right place for a long holiday vacation. They drove down the mainland of Mexico, then took the ferry from Los Mochis over to La Paz. After being confined to their vehicles while crossing over the Sea of Cortez they were excited to hit the beach on a nice sunny afternoon. Everyone brought their "old school" hardtail mountain bikes with them so we had a great time exploring the singletrack and roads all over the East Cape. They took off yesterday for a quick loop around the Pacific side and through the Cabos and will be back here next week before heading up the Peninsula and back to Utah.

We have had an amazing stretch of wind since the beginning of the year. I sailed 13 of the last 14 days, and I am almost ready for a day off. We finally had the El Norte winds that we all know and love, rather than just a few days of thermals and calm days in between. I have been trying to complete the Carving 360, and I am sooo close! The water is still warm, but the nights are getting a little chilly. No complaints, though, as it is warmer than normal.

I took care of Mateo and Jackie's place while they went on a ski trip up to Tahoe. Everyone came over for dinner, and every night was "movie night" on the new bigscreen tv in Mateo's new office/playroom. The hot tub also came in very handy.

Feliz Ano Nuevo

Happy New Year!!! Hope everyone is healthy and happy this Winter.

As always, we had an exciting celebration on New Year's Eve. We had our weekly bonfire on the beach in front of Playa del Sol, and everyone stuck around until midnight. Then everyone in town went to Palmas de Cortez to listen to the local band that plays there every year. The party went on until 3 or 4 in the morning.

This was definitely the busiest holiday season we have ever had. We may not have as many people visit this season, on the whole, but we were booked solid for a couple weeks through the New Year. Buck and Rahel, along with Jesse and Alexa, returned for their first visit in a couple years. Luckily it was windy and everyone got to sail. Even with all the folks at the resort the water never gets too crowded. At the most you will find about 40 people spread out over the bay at one time.

Rick Lowrey took Thea, Todd, and me for a flight over the Sierra de la Laguna this week. We surveyed a few new mountain bike trail possibilities in the hills behind Los Barriles, then flew over the lagoon and past the Picacho de la Laguna, a 7000' peak in the middle of the peninsula. It was a calm morning, perfect for flying. That afternoon I drove down to Canon de la Zorra with Todd and Neil. This is the canyon just north of Agua Caliente, and it displays one huge waterfall rolling off the most beautiful granite washes. There are a couple ledges that offer some very safe cliff jumping opportunities.

Feliz Navidad

Now that's a lot of gear!

We finally received all our gear! It came in many separate shipments, on many different trucks, delivered by different drivers, but it made it to Los Barriles. The 2009 boards and sails look great, and the new bicycles, equipped with disc brakes now, are ready to hit the trails.

Troy and Rachel arrived for a couple weeks of vacation in Baja. They borrowed my truck for a few days of adventure in Cabo Pulmo and the San Jose del Cabo area. I guess the battery died on them when they were at Agua Caliente. A couple Mexican folks helped them out, even though they didn't have jumper cables. They took the battery out of their car, turned it upside down, and touched the terminals together to get a jump.

We will be super busy for the next couple weeks. This is the time of year when all the families arrive. We will have Kids' Camp, lots of family activities, and hopefully Santa Claus will sail down to Vela on Christmas Day. Everything is ready and the whole staff is excited about the upcoming season.

Open for business

We officially opened for business on Saturday, but our first guests didn't arrive until today. That gave us a little extra time to prep things at the Vela center, build some new shelves in the retail shop, and clean up around the hotel. Unlike the last few years, it was very calm on opening day. The wind is supposed to return tomorrow, though, for at least a week's worth of fun on the ocean. As I sit here by the water writing this I can hear the waves breaking on the shore and the palm trees are already swaying in the breeze. That bodes very well for breaking in the new equipment tomorrow. We are all very excited about the season. Everything is better organized than last year, job descriptions and responsibilities have been clearly established, the gear looks fantastic, and we assembled the center in record time. Bookings are down a little bit from previous years, but that only makes sense with the elections this Fall and the ominous economic situation up North. I do, however, see many familiar names on our guest list already and I am looking forward to spending time with all the guests and old friends.