Baja del Sur

Another first. I landed at an international airport! After leaving Palomar airport, Robert, DJ, Holden and I flew to San Felipe Airport in Mexico. We were greeted by armed, friendly soldiers who showed us where the fuel station was and directed us to the administration building.

Inside the administration building, we filled out some forms, paid some money and used the bathroom. My passport had expired so I had some 'splainin' to do but everyone was extremely friendly.

The flight to Mulege was only 2.5 hours. Because highway 1 is on the West side of Baja in Baja Norte, there isn't much to see on the Sea of Cortez side except beaches, mountains and islands. It was beautiful.

When we arrived at Mulege I found my mom's beach and did some slow flight above her cove to let her know we were about to land. We landed at La Serenidad, the local hotel that has an attached airport. It is probably the nicest hotel in the area. Again, we were met by Federales and had to show them our permit. No money this time. Don Johnson, owner of the hotel and honorary mayor of Mulege came out and helped push the plane back.

While staying in Mexico, we flew to several destinations just for kicks. My favorite was a little place on the Pacific side called Campo Renee.

We were sent by pilot friends in Mulege to get some oysters there. As promised, we were able to taxi from the air strip to the restaurant. We had seafood cocktails and sent someone for six dozen oysters at the local oyster farm.

The boys never asked to watch TV or movies the entire time we were there. They had too much exploring to do. Plus, there was Nana constantly keeping them busy with fun activities and making them pick up after themselves.

On New Years Eve we had a feast at an international survival school down the beach. They had no students, but the staff and others from the beach brought in food and lots of expired flares to light off.

On January 1, we flew direct from Mulege to Tijuana Airport. Robert dropped us off and flew to Brown Airfield in the US. We had to walk across because my passport expired. The kids had to come with me because I held the permission slip from their mother. On the way from the airport to the Otay Mesa pedestrian crossing, we ate genuine street tacos and sugar sweetened Mexican Coke. Both boys said the tacos were the best they ever had.