Our Guadalajara adventure went off without a hitch. It was lots of fun to go to the city and the shopping was wonderful. If anyone is planning a trip down there I can offer some good suggestions on where to go. The hurricane had blown itself out before it even got over the Sierra Madres so we got almost nothing out of it. Maybe a tiny mist and a breath of breeze.

So, Barbie didn't find her windows, but did find lots of other glass. We watched some glassblowers making bottles and Barbie had to have several of those. I bought some glass vegetables (I'm too practical) to put on my dining table as decoration. A large glass tomatoe! Red glass with a lovely stem. And two different peppers. One red, one green.

Bella was happy to have me back yesterday since me=bucket. I hosed her down to get some of the dust and sweat off. This is the time of year that is almost impossible to ride since the weather is so hot and humid. It's like deep winter in the northern states...reversed. So, just going out and spending time with the horses is nice for them. After I washed her down I let her loose to roll in the dirt. Then, she got to go back to her stall with the mudpack on. I also put Swat on any and all little spots on Pony to keep the flies away.

It's almost time to take Barbie across the border and say goodbye as she flys back up to Oregon. So, I'm off again but only for one night. I don't think my husband can take much more of my absence so I'd better not make any more plans for awhile.

Guadalajara

I'm taking Barbie down to Guadalajara tomorrow for a week of shopping. She has some notion about what she can buy down there. She has seen some beautiful colored-glass windows that she simply must find. They look a little like the bottom of a wine bottle. ha. Wonder why that would interest her. So we are taking off early to catch a flight down and are scheduled to return on Friday. No big deal.

Except

There is that bothersome big hurricane that will come ashore on Mexico's east coast around Wednesday and could impact our flight, or drive, home on Friday, over here on the west coast. I'm terribly worried about our countrymen all along the east coast and will be monitoring Dean's progress as closely as I can. You guys can help me beg Mother Nature to blow this bad boy out with little to no destruction.

I hope to see you Saturday.

My baby Bella, who thinks she is quite grown up and doesn't need a mother anymore, kind of ignored me when I arrived to visit her for the first time since arriving back in Mexico. That lasted all of 2 minutes until she realized I had the long lost bucket she so craves. She had to wait impatiently for me to clean out her feeder and then she buried her face in the fresh pellets. As I started brushing her in some of her favorite spots she stopped eating and put her head on my shoulder. I think that might have been a hug.
She's developed quite the Andalusian neck. I need to get and post some new pictures.

That shiny Prius took us up and back to Oregon with few refill stops. It gets better gas milage than I do. I can't go as long as it does between pit stops. The best milage is best found in town, but I would not complain about that road milage vs. my Pathfinder milage. I believe we averaged around 43.8 miles per gallon.

Oh, Mt. Shasta has very little snow and the lake level is terribly low.

It was nice being cold in Oregon and Northern California. We stopped in the Tamales Bay region to sleep and visit an old friend. I'm sorry I haven't been there before now and have it in my mind to certainly return.

We hit 5 wineries total going and coming back. I was the designated driver but did buy a few bottles. Paso Robles seems to have tons of Zinfandel grapes and we learned that Pinot Noir grapes have gone way up in price since the movie Sideways. So the Pinos are more expensive than they used to be on the central coast. Hahn was my favorite and very well worth a few miles off the highway to visit.

Back to Mexico and my Bella after the weekend :)