San Felipe

Once we arrived to San Felipe, we had to figure out where we were going to stay.  This time of the year is not the tourist season, so the places looked a bit run down.  We spent hours trying to find the right place to stay. We had our guide book which gave us a good insight at the places.  One of the places we checked out is this giant condominium place.  I can't remember the name...but, it was quite fancy and quite out of our budget to stay.  It was quite fancy and it has my taste in furniture and decorating, but we were not planning on staying indoors the entire time.  We'd rather use that money on eating out.
As a side note: We don't do resort vacations.We don't like to stay at a resort the entire time.  That's not how we do our vacations.  I guess we are more hands on type of tourists.  The idea of staying at a fancy resort drinking fancy drinks by the side of a pool sounds dreadfully boring.  May be for a day, that would be fun, but then, I'd be bored out of my mind.  I don't think you get to experience the real place you are visiting by staying at a resort. That being said...San Felipe is not a fancy place.  The place is a bit sad looking and a bit run down.  It appears there was over speculation about the growth of the place, but it ran out of money. There are a lot of empty and unfinished buildings in the area.  Also, this is a great place for foreigners to retire, but they don't live in the actual city.  They mostly live in these gated communities with way too much security and keep to themselves.  They don't really interact with the locals...I think they (retirees) are kind of silly for missing out on the real experience.

Walking around San Felipe

So, off we went, and we practically looked at every hotel in the area, until we found the right place for us, with the right commodities (by the beach), for the right price. Later, there will be a photo of the place we stayed.  Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the place, but the rooms were clean and when we needed something, it was quickly provided to us.  Also, it was just a few minutes walk to the Wharf of San Felipe.
We liked walking by the beach and watching the fishermen arrive with their catch.  The kids really liked looking at the crab carcasses, shells, and enjoying the outdoors.   Arden had a bit of croup the previous night, so we didn't let him swim in the cold water...although the following day we did let him get a bit wet.  The sunset was gorgeous and it was so relaxing to be there.

Even though the book recommended a few places to eat, we asked the locals, where was THE place to eat.

Fishermen

The locals recommended Chuys and it didn't disappoint! Even though we were in Mexico, our kids ordered hamburgers, WHAT? However, they were pretty delicious and not American style.  These burgers were well seasoned and savory. Also, they serve fresh clams, on the house, and they were the best clams I've ever had. It was so good, we went back for dinner the following night.  Also, the service was great.

At Chuys

We enjoyed our leisure walk back home that evening.  It was so great to be creating such fun memories.  I hope my children are actually grateful for these experiences.
I know people freak out about Mexico's drug war and lack of safety, but I felt so safe in San Felipe.  I felt so safe, the following morning I got up and went out for a run. Me, big chicken me went running by myself...and I lived to tell about it. 
Later, we ate breakfast at the hotel and even though the view was great, the food was not worth writing home about...
We were getting excited to see the tide go down, so after breakfast, we rushed to get our swimming suits (even though we were not planning on swimming) and went to play by the water.  Of course Arden and Maya were in beach heaven.  We practically had the beach to ourselves.

Our hotel in the back

Newel wanted to try out going on the dune buggies, but we didn't know where to rent them. Some places only rented ATV and that didn't seem safe to ride with our kids. So after we playing by the beach, we checked out over priced properties that were sold to foreigners in over secured gated communities.  It was okay...I guess.


Then, we headed to the Valle de los Gigantes (Valley of the Giants).  The giants are those amazing cactus tree we are standing by.  Those trees are hundreds and others are thousands of years old. No kidding.  We walked for a while, but didn't hike the entire trail, since it's recommended to go in a all wheel vehicle...our minivan wasn't going to make it.

Cactus older than us

Those giants were impressive. It's amazing to me, how those cacti are not extinct since it takes almost a hundred years before they can even start germinating. And out of those thousands of seeds, may be one of them, might make it into becoming a tiny cactus, if all of the conditions are right. The hike around the Valley was really interesting.


The photo where Arden is standing by the small cacti plants, the bigger one is about 70 years old and the smaller one is about 20 years old.  Crazy.
After our trip to the Valle de los Gigantes, we stopped by our own private beach.  We played and collected some shells.

This beach was pretty cool because it had a bunch of sand dunes and people were driving their ATVs and other vehicles.
After the beach, we headed back to the hotel to wash up a bit and change out of our sandy clothes.  We walked back to the wharf. This was a festive night, being the 31st of December.  There were vendors selling hot chocolate, churros, and other goodies. We made a quick stop at another fish taco stand. The fish tacos were good, but the kids were in the mood for more hamburgers.  So, off we went to our favorite restaurant.  This time we special ordered some of the dishes and we were not disappointed with the results.

After dinner, we bought some fireworks and set them off by the beach...that was fun. We were worried we were going to get in trouble, but around 10PM, people started the New Year's celebration and fireworks, 10 times bigger than our puny stuff were going off until about 12:30.  We didn't go to the hotel restaurant to celebrate.  We were kind of tired from that day's adventures, so we stayed in our rooms and relaxed.

The following morning, we packed our bags, got ready for church and then headed to a panaderia (bakery) to get our breakfast. We also bought freshly squeezed orange juice and headed to the church's parking lot to enjoy our breakfast.
Church was great.  It was like a mini United Nations with people from different parts of the world.  I served as translator.  I hadn't translated in about 5 years, it was fun and at times confusing since I had to translate in both languages.
After church services, we headed north to Mexicali and back to the States.