Friday Sep 1, 2023 - Yuma AZ to Tijuana Mexico

The hotel breakfast started at 3am for the dove hunters but we strolled in around 7:30. Great hotel breakfast which should hold us until supper.

We found the local Micky D’s for coffee and then filled up with gas ($3.79). Then hit the freeway (Rt 8) and crossed the bridge into California. We have both been across southern California on Rt 8 before but we forgot how many sand dune / desert miles there are before you climb from sea level to 4000+ feet in altitude. We stopped at one of the few rest areas (not much going on there) and then easy going until it got more challenging after we left Rt 8. Google maps is wonderful normally but she got her panties in a bunch just when we went from 2 lanes to 4 lanes, then 5 lanes. It lost GPS and then seemed to use a Ouija board after that. Deb came to the rescue with her iPhone until my phone straightened out again. Grrrrr for you God fearing folks out there and @#^%$ for you others!!

We ended up in the same US side of the border parking lot that we parked in on our last Tijuana trip, packed enough stuff for a few days at Nath and Jacob's, and walked over the pedestrian bridge. 10 minutes later we were standing on the street in Tijuana and Jake and Nath were there to meet us. They took us out for a delicious lunch at Restaurante Chichos, and then we walked around a lot of markets in downtown Tijuana. Mostly food, pottery, clothes, kids stuff and lots of chiles. The power was out in that part of the city but everything kept on going. I get the sense that power going out was not unusual.

We left the hot temps in Yuma and now we are near the ocean so it was a nice cool 80 degrees here, but more humidity.

We then drove to Jake and Nath's new home about 15 minutes south and got a tour of their house. They have a garage with an electric door which creates an inside open yard. Downstairs are the dining and living room and the kitchen, second floor is two bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and Jake's office. The cool thing is the third floor rooftop patio with a view of the ocean (small view) and a view of the big apartment towers overlooking the ocean. The other fun thing is they are only a block and a half from the beach with stairs that drop you right onto the beach. We took Tyler (the dog) for a long stroll on the beach and thanks to another dog, the two dogs wore each other ragged running up and down the beach.

The beach is mostly just people going for walks, a few fishermen reeling some big perch looking fish, and dogs and owners getting their evening exercise.

Nath made dinner and we all caught up. A great first day!