South to Tucson, Slowly

Terri deep inside Antelope Slot Canyon - Page, Arizona.

It has been a long time since I've updated our travels. Following our Panama Canal cruise we stayed around Seattle and Tacoma for a few days to recover from colds we both caught upon our return to the PNW's fine rainy weather.

We decided that we were in no big rush to get back to Tucson to retrieve the motorhome from storage, so we spent a full month working our way down the West coast.  We stopped along the way and visited family and friends.

On the Oregon coast.

We traveled down Highway 101 along the coast and enjoyed the small towns along the way.  The Redwood forests of Northern California were next and we wandered every small road we could find.

We visited Terri's sister in Dublin, California and went to her grandson's little league baseball game.  Next we went to San Diego to visit Terri's childhood friend.  All our slow wandering took care of the month of May.  It was time to head east to Tucson.

Dangling her feet into the Grand Canyon

It was 103 when we arrived in Tucson so we only stayed a couple of days.  Phoenix was 107 so we only overnighted there to visit friends Daryl and Cindy from our old yacht club, DIYC.  We needed to gain some altitude so we headed for the Grand Canyon and the temperatures dropped to 90.  We stayed two nights in Camaron which is a town that I couldn't even find on a map.

We are now in Page, Arizona for three days to see slot canyons.  Here is a picture from Antelope Slot Canyon.  The next blog will contain many more photos.

We have 5 or 6 weeks to complete a 5 day drive back to Tacoma.  We aren't sure of our route but we will make it up as we go.  There's lots to see since we're not in a hurry.  One or two hundred miles every few days with a few vacation days in between.  No big hurry for us.  Once we get back we will begin our Summer travels to Banff and Jasper National Parks in Alberta, Canada on July 27th.

Life is good.

Norwegian Pearl - Panama Canal Cruise 2017

Norwegian Pearl

We have had a busy Panama Canal cruise.  Even though we purchased an internet package the speed and data limits have not allowed me to blog during our trip.  The daily schedule made me choose  between writing and actually doing the things we were here to experience.  “Doing it” won out over sitting around writing.

Hiking through the jungle in Costa Rica.

We have experienced interesting ports in each country along the way.  A few we loved and we will add those countries to our future bucket list, a few we have been to for our final and only visit. 

Columbia - proving that drug money can build a beautiful city. 

It had been 15 years since our last cruise, so one of our goals was to see if we enjoyed the lifestyle that cruising provided.  The short answer today is NO.  The biggest drawback for us is the short amount of time that is allowed in each port.  5-8 hours is not enough time for us.

Going through the locks in the Panama Canal.

In our normal RV travels we can stay in any location as long as we are interested.  If we don’t like where we are we move along the next day, if we like a place and need more time we stay as long as we want. New Orleans required 3 extensions to our stay, after 1 ½ weeks it was finally time to move along.

Guatemala even gave us an exploding volcano. 

Now cruises can be good and bad at the same time.  The food is too good!  I find myself overeating continually.  The staff has been amazing, I may need a steward to attend to my every need from now on.

Escargot anyone?

The entertainment has been great.  We have laughed, sung along, danced, clapped and cheered each day.  Some of the music round the ship is awesome and seems to go from afternoon until late night.  Although most nights I am asleep by 10:00.

Always friendly people.

If and when we do our next cruise it will be a 7-10 day trip.  We have a short attention span and 17 days is to long for us.

It’s good to be home.  Next week we will be headed back to Tucson to pick-up the motorhome to start our Spring RV travels.

Life is good.

Old People Having Fun

Traveling in style.

We enjoyed our first day at Universal Studios.  We liked seeing Harry Potter.  Here are a bunch of photos from our day.

Life is Good.... Enjoying Ourselves.

Harry Potter

After our short stay in Washington we are aboard an Alaska Airlines flight to Orlando.  The real reason we are going to Orlando is our Grandson Andrew.  Around 17 years ago Andrew was 5 years old and learning to read.  In those days there was only one thing he wanted to read.  Harry Potter.  So we all had the joy of reading the first books with him.  From there we continued to read each new book as they came along.

Andrew graduated from Kettering University a few weeks ago with his degree in Mechanical Engineering.  I can’t help but think that his early love of reading was the start of his education.  Somehow we all loved Harry Potter.

It’s time to head for Hogwarts to visit Harry.

We will spend a few days visiting Universal Studios to refresh our love of all things Harry Potter.

Next we head to Miami to board the Norwegian Pearl to begin our 17 day Panama Canal cruise.  After two days of theme park we will need the two days rest as the ship heads for Columbia.

We have completely over packed for this trip.  Last year we managed fine with our backpacks and a couple small carry-ons for 3 months in Europe.  If you saw our luggage this time you would think we were headed out for a year.

The last time we flew Alaska things did not go well.  We ended up stuck in the LA airport all night.    During my long night I wrote a letter to the president of Alaska Airlines.  His kind response means my flight today only cost $14.22.  Sometimes a well written letter is rewarded.

We will have limited internet once we board the ship, but we’ll do the best we can on blogging.

Life is very good.

Norwegian Cruise

We're out of Mexico after a great Winter.... almost.  Although we are sitting in Arizona for a few hours, we are headed back to Mexico in a few weeks.  Huh?

We are traveling back to Seattle to begin a vacation. Aren't we always on vacation?  We fly from Seattle to Orlando to visit Harry Potter World for a few days than it is off to Miami to begin a 17 day cruise through the Panama Canal.

We will be visiting 6 countries along the way, one of which is Mexico.  At least we will get to visit a new city for us, Acapulco.  Panama Canal, Panama - Cartagena, Colombia - Puntarenas, Costa Rica - Corinto, Nicaragua - Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala will all be new countries for us.  And then it is back to Mexico to visit Acapulco and Cabo San Lucas. We finish off the cruise by stopping in Los Angeles before going north to our final port in Seattle.

We have a little business to take care of in Washington after ignoring things for 6 months.  We also will be leaving our wonder dog, Eva, with my cousin Sandi so that she can meet-up with her boyfriend Tyson.

Mexico.... a Short Rant with Facts

We have lived through another Winter in "dangerous" Mexico.   Once again we didn't end up dead.  As a matter of fact NO Americans or Canadians ended up dead in Mazatlan.  I have read the statistic each year we have owned our home here in Mazatlan (8 1/2 years) and each year it's the same facts.  We expats are safer here in Mexico than we would be at home in the US.

Here I go with a short rant.  The most common comment I hear when I tell people we live in Mexico is, "It isn't safe there, aren't you scared."  I thought I would give you a couple of short comparisons to put things into perspective. 

Understanding the size and scope of Mexico.

Mexico is huge, ranking 14th among the world's 249 countries, and spanning over 2,000 miles from end to end. Mexico is a nation of 31 states as diverse as those in the U.S. To put it in context, Mexico is larger than the 19 U.S. states from Texas to Maine! All those states would be the 15th largest country, right behind Mexico at number 14. In addition to 31 states, Mexico has a Federal District like Washington D.C. which is many times larger and many times safer than Washington D.C.

Canceling a vacation to Mexico because of isolated border violence would be like canceling a vacation to Orlando because of the Boston Bombings or brush fires in Colorado. These incidents are hundreds, even thousands of miles from the vacation destination. People didn't cancel trips to Dallas or New Orleans in the aftermath of mass shootings in Arizona, Colorado or Connecticut, because they simply aren't related. Yet Dallas and New Orleans are closer to border violence than many of Mexico's peaceful tourist areas.  

Mexico has very low violent crime rates.

The U.S. Assault rate is 5 times higher than Mexico’s. Mexico’s violent crime rates for Assault, Kidnapping and Rape are substantially lower than Canada’s and yet the U.S. State Department issues no such warnings for Canada. The rate for Rape in the U.S. is more than double the rate in Mexico.

The numbers in the charts below have been adjusted for unreported crime from the respected 2012 Prominix report and are the most accurate statistics available on this subject.

Unless you are involved in the drug trade, you are statistically safer in Mexico than anywhere else in North America. Even though the U.S. murder rate of 4 per 100,000 is lower than Mexico’s, tourists and visitors are statistically safer in Mexico and much less likely to be a victim of violent crime than in the U.S., Canada and many other countries regarded as safe.



While the infamous cartel crimes in Mexico are disturbing, the rate of violent crimes in Mexico is still lower than the rates in many countries thought of as "safe."

Russ's comments:   I have no interest in joining a cartel, as a matter of fact I don't want any stinking job.  Because of my career choice of being "a lazy bum" my biggest fear is falling out of a hammock or being driven over by a crazy taxi driver. 

Watch out for falling coconuts..... a real danger.

Thrill seeker and danger junkie Russ Ranger says, Life is Good.

Winter 2016 - 2017

I'll see if I can remember how to write a blog, it has been a four month break since I last wrote.  My daughter Trinity asked why I had stopped writing.  The simple answer is, "I'm a lazy bum."

In many ways it has been a busy Winter here in Mazatlan.  We have over eaten, enjoyed dancing and listening to great live music, walking the dog along the ocean beaches, working at the animal shelter, painting pictures.... just enjoying being retired old people.  It has also involved perfecting our "siesta" talents.  We're getting good at this fine cultural custom.

Proof that I haven't been totally lazy.
16x20 oil painting.

In the last four months we have made a quick trip back to Washington state to celebrate Christmas with family.  We've done a road trip of 650 miles the visit San Blas, San Sebastian and Puerto Vallarta to visit friends from our former yacht club, DIYC.  We've hosted visitors to Mazatlan.  I guess it has been a busy Winter.

Amazingly the Beatles came to Mazatlan to play a concert at the Opera House.

We've also had a few nice sunsets.

We have a little over a week before we head north to the US.  This Spring we will get back just in time to fly to Florida to begin a 17 day repositioning cruise that will take us through the Panama Canal and a visit to 5 Central American countries before the ship moves North to Seattle.  After we return to Tucson to pick-up the motorhome we will move slowly toward Yellowstone National Park.  From there we will go into Saskatchewan, Canada.  We'll work our way West after visiting Saskatoon moving West through Canada until we return to Washington state in July.

We are looking forward to getting back to the motorhome.  It still feels like home, even though it moves every few days.

One of six dancers that I painted this Winter.
A few were donated to charity auctions.

  I'll be back to blogging once we are traveling again.  OK Trinity?

As we close-out our fourth Winter of retirement I can indeed say..... Life Is Good.