El Dia de los Muertos

While you were celebrating Halloween back home, our Mexican neighbours were preparing for El Dia de los Muertos. On November 1st and 2nd Mexico celebrates El Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. These days, and the days leading up to them, are marked by many festive celebrations. Plans for the festivals are made throughout the year, including gathering things to be offered to the dead. Cemeteries are cleaned and decorated, special food is prepared and home alters are designed in honour of one’s ancestors. Vendors, selling all types of real and artificial flowers, appear on the streets and alley ways of every town and city. Toys, figures, decorations, poems, songs and other items are created for the celebration.

Mexican shops sell a wide selections of Day of the Dead art figures, skeletons, skulls, alters, catrins & catrinas (beautifully decorated dead people) , papel picado (tissue paper banners) and sugar skull candies.

The souls of children (called angelitos or little angels) are believed to return first on the afternoon or evening of October 31st and stay through November 1st with adult spirits returning on the afternoon or evening of November 1st and leaving on November 2nd.

It is maninly the wealthier families who build alters in their homes.

Most people simply visit the cemeteries, where their loved ones are buried, and decorate their graves with offerings of ornaments, candles, flowers, food, candies, liquor and other Mexican drinks.

Pan de muerto (bread of the dead) is a sweet egg bread that is made in various shapes and sold in all the shops and markets around the time of Day of the Dead.

Some people may think the celebration of the Day of the Dead is gruesome, scary or sad, but to the Mexican people it is a very special ritual. It is when the Mexicans happily and lovingly remember their loved ones that have passed away.

Riu Emerald Bay in Mazatlan

Riu Emerald Bay was a very inviting sight after many long hours on the road in Mexico. Sometime during our trip, we decided it would be nice to stay in Mazatlan for a couple of days. Some total relaxtion would be great before facing a week of unpacking, cleaning, gardening and shopping. I went online and looked for the best deal in Mazatlan and I found it. The brand new Riu Emerald Bay was charging $128.00 per couple per night for this spectacular resort. What a bargain! It is an all-inclusive resort set on a beautiful, wide sandy beach in Nuevo Mazatlan. The hotel lobby is massive and very luxurious. It had many comfy sitting areas for those who wanted to get out of sun.

It was also a nice, cool spot for Bruce to work on his laptop and catch up on the market.

Our deluxe room was on the 8th floor, in the middle of the building, and had gorgeus views over the pools and out to the bay.

Not bad views for $128.00 a night, especially when the price included our room, all meals, all drinks and nightly shows.

We had a fridge in our room that was loaded with soft drinks, juices and bottled water at no extra charge.

Above the fridge was a liquor dispenser that was also kept stocked at no additional charge.

The following photo of the hotel was taken from the beach.

There were plenty of loungers scattered around the premises.

The resort had several bars and piano lounges including a swim-up bar.

It was really nice to catch the evening sunset from one of the outdoor bars.

The magnificent grounds became magical after dark.

The nightly shows didn't start 'til about 10 o'clock and that was much too late for us old folks so we missed the shows both nights, but I heard they were very good.

There were five restaurants on site including two buffet, one Asian, one Steak House and one Mexican.

There certainly wasn't any shortage of good food or drinks.

We hated to leave this beautiful spot, but it was time to head for Casa Que Sera.

Last fall, we spent a few days in both the Riu Vallarta and Riu Pacific Palace in Nuevo Vallarta and also loved those hotels.

I'm already online checking out prices for a few days later this fall.

Further South

Our final couple of days in the States were spent travelling down the California Coast.

We spent an afternoon at the aquarium in Monterey which was a real treat.

It has nearly 200 fabulous, award-winning galleries and exhibits.

I especially loved watching the jelly fish and sea horses swimming around in their own natural habitat below the aquarium.

During the summer the aquarium gets at least 10,000 visitors a day and approximately 5,000 visitors a day during the rest of the year. It was plenty busy when we were there so I wouldn't want to see it in the summer.

Our next stop along the coast was Carmel By The Sea where we spent some time around the craggy shoreline and village centre.

We had planned to take another drive along the famous 10 Mile Point, but found they are now charging about $20 to drive that stretch so we decided against it.

If we hadn't taken that route in the past, we might have paid the fee.

We also poked around the shore in Santa Barbara and found another great farmers' market in town.

Ventura was close by so we got to see the 1,959 foot long pier that was buit in 1872.

Our last day in California was spent in Palm Desert.

We strolled down El Paseo Drive and stopped at a lovely Italian restaurant for lunch.The world famous El Paseo Shopping District in Palm Desert, features over 300 world-class shops, clothing boutiques, art galleries, jewellry stores and restaurants.

Tommy Bahamas, Talbots, Tiffany & Co., Williams-Sonoma, Saks Fifth Avenue, Harry & David and De Luca Jewellers are just a few of them.

Everything is located in and around a beautifully maintained, floral and statue-filled mile!

El Paseo Drive is known as the Rodeo Drive of the Desert.

We had thought about stopping by De Luca Jewellers while we were there to pick up a couple of Rolexes, but decided to look around a bit more before making the big purchase.

The next leg of our trip would take us to Mexico where we can buy a Rolex at the tianguis for just a few pesos.

The Historic Sonoma Valley

The Sonoma Valley is much more laidback than the Napa Valley.

The beautiful 17 mile Sonoma Valley is located just 45 minutes north of San Francisco and is adjacent to the Napa Valley.

The Sonoma Valley is dotted with hundreds of huge farmer’s fields and over 250 wineries. The rows of grapes go on forever.

I'm really glad that we made this trip in the fall so we could see some of the vineyards beginning to change colour.

Many of vineyards had already been stripped of their fruit, and the air was filled with the smell of wine.

Thousands of pumpkins were also being harvested in the Sonoma Valley.

Many lovely shops surround the town of Sonoma's beautifully-kept town square.

Like the Napa Valley, the Sonoma Valley has lots of stylish spas, hotels, wineries and restaurants.

One of the main differences between the Napa and Sonomo Valleys is that everything is a little less expensive in the Sonoma Valley.

The Napa Valley is one vineyard after another with no empty spaces between them.

Spending a day in the Sonoma Valley was almost like taking a breath of fresh air.

We thoroughly enjoyed the long, leisurely drive through the quiet countryside.

The large crowds got left behind in the Napa Valley.

We considered going over to San Francisco for a couple of days after leaving the wine country, but heard it was turning cold there.

We've already been to San Francisco a couple of times so opted to head south for more sunshine.

The Napa Valley

We've wanted to see the Napa Valley for ages and this seemed like the perfect time.

The Napa Valley is home to hundreds of wineries, world-class spas, unique hotels and excellent restaurants.

All of these are set amidst rolling, mustard flower-covered hills and vast stretches of vineyards.

The Napa Valley in California and the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia are both famous for their vineyards and wineries.

Before leaving home, I asked a friend how the Napa differed from the Okanagan and she said “They are both very beautiful, just different".

She was right.

They are both incredibly beautiful and are similar in many ways, but each has its own distinct attractions.

The Napa Valley attracts visitors from all over the world to experience its world-class wine tasting & dining, exquisite retail shops, gorgeous antique & art galleries, exhilarating balloon flights, superb hiking & biking trails or simply to be pampered in one of its elegant spas.

Both the Okanagan Valley and the Napa Valley have miles and miles of vineyards and lots of wineries.

The Napa Valley just has MORE of them.

Both Valleys have much the same climate and are about the same size, but everything in the Napa Valley seems much more crowded.

The Okanagan Valley is is also a very popular vacation destination, full of fresh water lakes, higher rolling hills, wide open grasslands, wilderness parks, sandy beach communities, colourful orchards & vineyards, lush green golf courses, numerous fruit stands and excellent winter ski hills.

You can see from the following map of the Okanagan Valley that its towns, vineyards and wineries surround a series of lakes.

One of the highlights of our trip to the Napa Valley was coming upon a farmer’s market at about 7:30 one morning.

The produce was out of this world!!!!!

We could have spent days touring all the wineries in the Napa Valley, but chose to tour just the Beringer Winery

and the Robert Mondavi Winery.

Both wineries were very impressive.

We spent the rest of our time driving around and seeing the area.

It was fun to snitch a few grapes from the vineyards.

The grapes were nearly ready to harvest and were super sweet and delicious.

We got to have a look at Thomas Keller’s well-known restaurant called French Laundry which is located in a rustic stone house in the town of Yountville.

French Laundry is surrounded by country gardens of vintage roses, colourful perennials & herbs. Back in the 20’s a Frenchman used the building as a steam laundry.

In 1978 the mayor of Yountville renovated the building into a restaurant.

The building was sold in the early 80’s to a couple who called it French Laundry.

I couln't help comparing French Laundry to Hastings House, a famous restaurant on Salt Spring Island near us back home.

Hastings House and French Laundry also have many similarities.

They are both famous, world-class restauants which are housed in very old buildings surrounded by pretty country gardens.

French Laundry was later sold to Thomas Keller in the early 90’s.

Thomas Keller, the chef, restauranteur and cookbook author has won numerous awards, as has his landmark French Laundry restaurant in Yountville.

Dining time at French Laundry is a 3 – 4 hour affair with 2 fixed menus to choose from. Reservations are taken 2 months in advance and jackets are required.

Thomas Keller's less formal restaurant called Bouchon is also in Yountville.

He also has a fabulous bakery there called Bouchon Bakery.

As you can see on the following map, the main towns in the Napa Valley are Napa, Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga.

Each town has its own individual charm.

Napa is the largest of the towns with over 70,000 people while the other towns are much smaller.

Yountville is the most sophisticated town with the most high-end restaurants and hotels.

There is a much more relaxed atmosphere in the shops and restaurants in St. Helena.

Calistoga is noted for its deluxe spas and is home to the famous geyser, Old Faithful.

I'm sure we'll return to visit the Napa Valley again someday.

The next day of our trip was to be spent in the Sonoma Valley of California.