Baja Blog: Mon, Mar 30 - The Town of Francisco Zarco and Surrounds

The Up Side Down House on the road from Tecate!

 Hilary here -  We had agreed to meet up at 8am to find breakfast.  We were hoping that Russian/Mexican place just down the street would be open on Mondays but alas, it was closed. We hopped in my car and took off for Plan B - Hacienda Guadalupe on the main road parallel to where we are.  It is on a side street across from the Museo del Vino (closed on Mondays) and got seated on their roofed patio with a great view of some of their vines as well as out over the valley.  We got coffee and ordered - huevos rancheros (very good), machaca (different from any Bob had had before) and chilaquiles.  

View from breakfast

We returned to the hotel to regroup and then set off for the town of La Misión to try for our first mission of the trip, San Miguel Arcángel.  We continued on La Ruta del Vino - passing an amazing number of vineyards and many fancy houses with remarkable architecture on top of hills on both sides of the valley.  We could see the fog bank ahead - you don’t realize how close to the ocean you are.  It cooled off and we were in fog but then popped in and out. We came down a steep winding road into the small town of La Misión.  I missed the turn for the mission itself, got back on the highway headed back  and found it this time.  The street goes STRAIGHT UP and we headed UP to see what we could find.

Very steep road!

The dirt road went DOWN and then back UP some more and I decided that I didn’t need to go further and headed DOWN, glad that I had my brakes checked recently!  (K- the mission is only a few melting mounds of adobe anyway!)

 We continued driving north on inland Route 1 (free) and were looking for the coastal toll Route 1D to return south.  As we came around one curve and,  could see the ocean but were stopped by a re-paving project.  While we waited, we noticed the great hillside of vegetation next to us.  There were yuccas, cholla and many Dudleas on the stony outcroppings above.  Hopefully we can botanize more later! We got on Rt 1D (toll) and headed south to just before Ensenada.

Dudleyas

We turned inland and back to the wine valley and managed to find the mission in our town, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe del Norte,    There is not much left of the mission - some lumps of clay and interesting signs describing the establishment and demise of this mission.

Melting remains of the mission

  But there is also a little museum - closed on Mondays of course.  But a young woman came along and asked if we would like to see the museum.  We said sure!  She asked us to sign in but date it for Wednesday when they would next be open officially.  She told us all about  the mission, the indigenous people of the area, and the Russian families that moved here, from which she is descended and showed us photos that included her grandparents and maybe great grandparents.  The indigenous people and the Dominicans did not get along well and eventually the Indians attacked the mission and the mission was abandoned in 1840.  It had only been established in 1834 and was the last mission founded in Baja.  One of the displays in the museum was of wonderful Indian baskets - large ones of a really interesting construction and smaller ones with intricate designs.

We returned to the hotel and then Katy and I decided a little walk was in order.   I found a small city park a short drive away so we went to explore that.

Katy and I returned to the hotel and ventured into the now open tasting room.  The woman working behind the bar recognized us as hotel customers and that we were entitled to a free welcome glass of wine so we obliged.  We sat outside at a nice tile table and enjoyed the attention of the hotel dogs as well as our wine. 

It is starting to cool off a bit with some overcast.  We are headed to Latitude 32 for dinner shortly. (K- our fancy dinner for the trip!)

The menu has many interesting dishes from starters to desserts.  I ordered the Burnt Caesar salad and the Pescado on a cilantro sauce.  Katy and Bob shared an appetizer - Tostada de Pepino Pibil or Pibil Cucumber Tostada.  Bob also had the fish and Katy ordered a most unusual spaghetti preparation.  Bob also ordered a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc called Cassiopeia.  We were served a delicious Amuse bouche - carpaccio on a crisp beet (?)and beet sauce.  The wine turned out to be delicious.  We ordered 2 desserts - a Malva Pudding and a Tamal de chocolat. The meal was excellent.

BTW, our next spot - Rancho Meling - has no wifi so we will write but likely cannot post until Thursday.

Baja Blog Fri- Sun, Mar 28 - 30 - Santa Barbara to Baja

 Thurs:  We put Mitsy in her junior suite at the Cat House Hotel without too many howls!

Longhorn Grill

Fri: We flew to Phoenix with no hassle from the pleasant TSA people.  In Phoenix someone forgot to screw the plane's potable water cap on so we had to return to the gate for a 5-minute repair, arriving in Tucson an hour late.  Hilary picked us up and we drove down to the town of Amado for dinner at the Longhorn Grill, ten miles south of Hil's house in Green Valley.

Sat:  I spent the morning struggling with Bob's computer as it wouldn't let me sign onto AOL, and then didn't recognize me as the blog owner.  Much swearing and panicking, but finally got it set up. Always Hell to use someone else's computer!

Temperature in the 90s so we didn’t get in a walk. We met our friend, Teri, whom we hadn’t seen in a while to catch up at the Quail Creek Grill during dinner.  

There was quite a good band playing with a lady almost our age, but with way more energy, who sang a bunch of Tina Turner songs with the same spirit and with such a sound level that we were fairly deaf when we left!

Sun:  Up at six and were ready to leave at eight.  Hil drove the whole way: 447 miles in 8 1/2 hours!   We headed up I-19 to I-10 past Tucson and then turned onto I-8 to Yuma.   Hil pulled off at Dateland so we could get one of their fabulous Date Shakes.

 By the cash register were some bags of Trump
Gummy Bears.  Not sure if they were pro or con, but we didn't want them to pollute our car in any case.

We headed straight south from Yuma on A-195, crossed the border into the city of San Luis Rio Colorado where in about 20 minutes we got our FMM forms, found the bank to pay for them and returned to the immigration office to get them finalized.   We got on Mexico toll road 2-D west, bypassed Mexicali and continued through many miles of farm land similar to the Imperial Valley.

We passed the north end of a huge dry lake, the Laguna Salada, and started up into the incredible boulder pile of the Sierra Juarez on a beautiful route through the mountains that looked on the map like spaghetti. Fortunately it was two lanes in each direction so we could pass the endless lines of big trucks grinding upwards.  We came into an area of rolling hills and mountains covered with more large boulders and valleys full of oaks, resembling very closely the backcountry of San Diego.

We bypassed Tecate and turned south on Route 3 and immediate started seeing vineyards.  

These continue to the coast but we stopped in the town of Francisco Zarco, and after driving around town a bit found our lovely hotel, Casa Entrevez.
 We were pretty tired by then and were ready for some food.  We backtracked a bit to a cafe called Valley 13 and had an OK meal of shrimp and fish, and Tecate beer as it’s the local specialty.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a little more relaxed as we start exploring Baja.

Blogger note: don't know why Blogger shifts the font size, and why it highlights certain words!!??

 

Dear Bloggistas- We’re setting off this Sunday to drive down Baja in search of missions and Boojum trees, plus a few fish tacos y muchas cervezas!   We’re flying to Tucson on Friday to my sister, Hilary’s, and the three of us will set off from there in her trusty Subaru. 

We took this same trip 50 years ago in December 1976 with Burt Jones and Bob Brucato.  Then we drove down from our house in Laguna Beach and camped on the beaches in tents.  This will be a little more civilized as we have reservations in hotels, and Baja hopefully has better roads!

The map below shows our proposed route and the missions we hope to see.  The labeled towns are where we have reservations.