Saturday, January 17, 2009

A birthday like no other

This particular birthday none of us will soon forget. It is not very often in a lifetime that a person with a January birthday gets to spend it in the sun, the sand and the surf!
We decided to take Victoria shopping and to a special restaurant for her birthday. We enjoyed this view of the ocean from the road to La Riberia.

And directly across from this view, was the "free range" horses.

Gentry was calling Roberto to get names of Restaurants. They were not to be had in La Riberia so we must travel on to Los Barrillas.
We decide to check out the town first. This is just a nice garden area we saw in town. Many of the homes did not have anything this nice.

And the requisite la vaca cruising the streets.

We took the back roads along the coast line (dirt road...very deep fine sand in areas) and came across this little roadside cemetery and sanctuary.





Impressed again by the size of the cactus we took this remote picture.

Remarkable because this is what the camera was propped upon to take the picture. Ouch!

Cool old barn/home?

Los Barrillas, or was it? It sure was tidy and neat. We took this road down to the beach and that is when the real adventure began. Have I mentioned that this was way past our lunchtime and we were getting very hungry. I wanted the quickest way into town to get a meal.....and that turned out to be a bad choice.
Because this is what happened when we tried to take the beach front road. Robere was a trooper but even at galloping speed he bogged down when we tried to turn around in deep sand. Gentry was trying to keep it moving and the crashing and banging of the under carriage was proof of the efforts being made. (Tip: Don't ever buy a rental car.) We were rescued after several attempts at pushing, digging out, pushing, digging out....so on. These two fellows came along and gave us a pull (this also took many pulls...ask Victoria what she thought of this part of her birthday sometime. It is humorous!) We all got out and Gentry really got Elf Robere going and we were so happy to follow on foot! Hope is a wonderful thing.
Proof right here that we did not let the children starve.

And Victoria got to have fried Shrimp! Yum! (Before you judge our hair don'ts here please remember what we went through to get here. Smile.)

Happy Birthday Honey, thanks for all the sand digging, pushing and running.

Discussing the days events with Dad. We did get to get some shopping in too. Very fun to spend some of the money they had been saving up on gifts and clothing and toys.

And one of my most favorite parts of this already crazy day was watching this dog in the back of the truck. Apparently dogs don't read Spanish very well either. Doesn't he see the Danger sign on the truck in front?

Hold on buddy, this is a sharp turn!

Makes me smile every single time!

7 comments:

NadineB said...

It's been fun to read about your adventures! You are very brave to be running around in a foreign country like that! I think I'd want to stick to the tourist area!!

Roger said...

Sounds like a great birthday adventure, Victoria, one that you will remember for a while!

I know you had a happy birthday...have a happy year.

Love, Pops

Kent, Melisa,Tiana (and Coda) said...

Very fun adventure! What a happy birthday you had!

Anonymous said...

Hi, What a wonderful vacation for you :) I might add that your "Time in the Bottle" song adds a great touch to viewing your pictures and thinking about the fun you had together as a family. We in Wyoming are having the most gorgeous January...40's and 50's and lots of sunshine. Love, Bonnie

Darren Maurer said...

You guys are great. That looks like a fun vacation. I love going to new places and just doing whatever and going wherever without any real set plans. It makes things much more interesting. I was laughing a little thinking of Gentry driving the car out of the sand and the other three of you running behind. If you ever want to come visit the great Midwest you're welcome here. I may have to give Grant one of my Nebraska Husker hats to wear rather than the Texas longhorns one I see in some of the pics. Ha Ha.

Brent and Dayla said...

Oh, I love reading your blog...it ALWAYS puts a smile on my face & most likely a chuckle, too, as I think of your very relaxed reaction & laughter to circumstances (such as getting a car stuck in sand. BTW, what is easier...sand, mud, or snow?). What an INCREDIBLE, MEMORABLE, WONDERFUL vacation! Hope there is more blogging in regards to your vacation & photos of the newlyweds.

ALB said...

Elaine - You sure had fun exploring what you could didn't you!!? Great photo's! Sure was fun.