M E X I C O // 2 0 1 2

This trip was magical (for more reasons than one)!

Sunset at El Pabellon

I don't know if it was the the amazing rehash of our trip 7 years ago, the engagement, the places we have fallen in love with, the places that we hold deep in our memories and heart from these places, that new love feeling we still had 7years ago, the allure of Mexico itself, or the amazing off the beaten path adventure feeling you get when we go to these place, but I think it is a little bit of everything.

Mexico has been high on our list and in hearts for some time now.  It had been 5 years since we had crossed that border, and a lot has happened to our beloved Mexico during that time.  The growth there is insane.

A ship beached and abandoned in the middle of nowhere used to be the view of a small little lane of houses, and has now grown into a sleepy little fishing village stretching about a half mile. This would be Shipwrecks (or Freighters).  Now probably a favorite place in the world for the time being.

We had just come up from El Pabellón, arguably, the best nicest campsite in Northern Baja.  Here you find a little spot in the middle of nowhere where you can only see beach fro miles and you are the only two people on it for miles.  Nice drivable hard sand and soft sand dunes that open up to a nice flat campground that is definitely geared toward fishing and RVing.  Here Ozzie played for hours, we went for a beach run, we made chocolate chip pancakes, took tons of pictures and enjoyed the overcast, yet pink sunset.  Dolphins came to say hello and I was able to have a hot shower in a clean bathroom!

Views of El Pabellon

 El Pabellón is right outside of San Quintin where we fulled up and made our way north back up toward the border.  About an hour north we came into Camalu on Highway 1.  Here we turned left and hit the dirt for the coast, stopping at Shipwrecks, Robert's Left and finally coming to Cuatro Casas.

Perfect Baja truck

Robert's Left

 Quatro Casas is probably my favorite place in Baja so far.  Dolphins, high cliffs, a little cove, perfect waves, perfect sunsets, and make you want to get up early sunrises.  This was the perfect spot to celebrate our engagement.  Rum and Coke, steak, bonfire, hot pink sunset, dying winds, crashing waves and a warm bed to sleep in with my boy and my dog.  We have lots of pictures from this spot 7 years ago because it was freezing so we ended up in Jimi's truck with the heater and music blasting watching the sunset.  These are good photos from a happy time and are forever engrained in my head. I think that is what makes this place so special.  We now have a ton of new photos, same place, different day but still a very happy time.

Baja Doggie, Ozzie

Sunset at Cuatro Casas

Sunrise at Cuatro Casas

Me on the pebble beach of Cuatro Casas

Mexico = Happiness
Happiness = beach, off road, tacos, dolphins, things that take your breathe away

No matter how many times you see a sunset, you never grow tired of it.  We still sit there in awe of the colors and the beauty of it.  That is my favorite thing about traveling, seeing all the places that take your breathe away, no matter how many times you see it.

¡Mexico, hasta luego!

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2012: The Highlights

I could highlight a lot of events that happened in 2012, but I am going to break it up through our travels this year...it has become really important to Jimi and I to take weekend trips, and explore our local places and then get far away when we can.

January 2012
Ranch #1

Sunset on the roof

Love this bike!

We spent a lot of time on friend's ranches in 2012.  This one backs up to the SD Wild Animal Park.  Only ones for miles and you can hear the coyote pack at night.  Great for hikes in the hills and little motorcycle rides in the dirt.  This was a really special weekend...Jimi and I love a good weekend on a ranch with friends.

February 2012
Valentine's Day + Afternoons at the Ranch

Jimi and I like Valentine's Day a lot (we are even considering it as a possible wedding date ;)).  We always splurge on this day (maybe even more then on our anniversary).  This year we went to the Lumbar Yard in Laguna...a special place for me since my dad was on the job helping build and restore the site...the now restaurant is named after its former glory...a lumbar yard.

Our family friends have a ranch out in Trabuco Canyon, where when the days are warm, it is the perfect place for a fun, sunny afternoon.  A little bit of sun, a little bit of food and some Cook's Corner never hurt anyone.  I will miss those afternoons, because they warm my skin just thinking about the sun.

March 2012
Palm Springs, Craftcation and Lake Arrowhead

March is always all about the company trip and this year it was in Palm Springs.  We look forward to this trip every year and this time it got rained out, but we still had a ball.  Dinner and drinks, a tiny bit of sun, a movie and breakfast in bed on a rainy morning and dinner out at a little french restaurant to bring a little bit of Paris back into my life.  But we also had to stop and get one of these...

Craftcation....there are just so many amazing things that have come from that conference.  This is something that is so close to my heart and I can't wait to go this year! I have learned so much and have grown a ton since last year's conference, it has just been insane.

My friend Kelly (check out her blog here) has a family cabin out in Lake Arrowhead and we went out there for her birthday at the end of March.  There was still little piles of snow, it was cool, the air was crisp and we took a lot of walks to explore the area around her cabin.  We went into town for a good, warm dinner, to view the lake and check it all out.  A good little weekend in the woods with friends before paddling season takes over! ;)

April 2012
Canning 101 for Mom's Birthday + Paddling Season Start!

For Mom's birthday we took a canning class through the Road Less Traveled with Delilah Snell (of Craftcation!) One of our favorite craft celebrities.  In an old house in Old Town Orange in a kitchen that anyone would love to be able to cook in.  My Mom, my sister and I were Team Strawberry where we made two different types of strawberry jam while Jimi's Mom, Cathy, tackled the pickled carrots!  We can away with 4 types of Jam, a syrup and some pickled items. Well worth the class to know how it all works.

April always marks the paddling season's start...as far as practice goes.  The days are longer, the nights are warmer and we finally get back together for the start of another summer.  It is a good time of year.

May 2012
Joshua Tree + My Aunt came to town

My first time to Joshua Tree and we went straight for back packing into the back country and it was HOT, but it was a gorgeous night.  The only ones for miles, a full moon as our own personal night light and a tent to call home.

My aunt Mary came to town in May and I love it when she does.  She is one of my only visitors and I get to have the house all ready, the guest bedroom made up and I get to enjoy her company! Love this time with her.

June 2012
Costa Rica with the Spoto Clan!

This trip was truly amazing because Jimi's family got to come see what my Aunt is doing down in Costa Rica and experience the wonderful place of Playa Negra for Cathy's birthday.  Lots of fun, discussions, and drinks were had on this trip! :)

July 2012
SanO Sundays + Florida in a weekend

We were able to get a lot SanO Sundays in down at Dog Patch with the canoes in July.  These days are always mellow and fun! Beach, BBQ, Good Friends, Surf and Sun...cant go wrong there!!

Florida went by in a flash and undoubtedly so..we were only there for one night!  Delayed flight, almost missing our connecting flight, quick nap, big family reunion, little get together with Jimi's cousins, finally some sleep, flight cancellation, a Tampa tour, back yard Spoto band party, and finally a flight home was all packed into one crazy weekend.

August 2012
Birthday + KONA!

My birthday landed on  a practice day so naturally we didn't really practice, we paddled but we stopped along the way for some good food, drinks and cupcakes (made by Molly Bishop) at Woody's Wharf.  Truly a great night!

Kona was a blast! We had a oh so fun crew, an awesome, fast boat, no drama and placed third in our class! This was my first long distance Kona race and it was perfect, coming into Honaunau was really a site to behold!  Thanks to these girls for a fun, beautiful race!

September 2012
Catalina + Riding Giants in Molokai...literally.

Catalina, we had a good race, and it was a nice day out (not always the case).  Mom's crew got second (which is basically first) and Jimi came in 4th, which was great considering the competition.

Molokai was a huge experience and I am so glad I went to have experienced it first person.  We were literally riding giants coming out of the harbor entrance,  facing gnarly conditions for 8 hours, had a lot of first timers become masters and the everyone else gained a ton of experience.  Everyone was so positive, and that is how it needs to be to get through a race like ours. Thanks to these girls for a strong, challenging and unforgettable crossing!

October 2012
CAF and End to a good season

CAF was good this year.  I always do the swim.  It was warm and I just had a rash guard so I was so comfortable and free to move without the restriction of a wetsuit.  I did my personal best improving 5 minutes form last year.  My uncle and cousin came down to watch and my parents were by the phone for updates.  Love a good ocean swim.

My cousin, Jenna!

October marks the end of the season in our house.  Jimi has gone to Molokai for the past 4 years so I am always ready for it. It is really exciting to watch this race and be involved through him.  He has got talent and a passion for steering that is fun to live vicariously through.  Come October there are all the end of the year parties and it is great to get together one last time before some us start to go into hibernation for the winter.

November 2012
LA + Thanksgiving at home.

Coffee and Breakfast at The Mill

Last year we were in full swing preparing for France.  But this year we got to have a fun weekend in LA for Lily's birthday, a wonderful Thanksgiving at home and a fun dinner for Dad's birthday.  This is probably my favorite time of year, right behind Christmas.  Lots of things to celebrate and be thankful for!

December 2012
Los Padres, Joshua Tree, Mexico, and the best Christmas present ever!

I have to say I didn't notice how much we traveled in one month until I just wrote the sentence!

Los Padres National Forest was a weekend trip at the beginning of the month that really set the ton for the month of December for us.  It was amazing!  Even with the rain, it was filled with bright exploration and fun times.

 
Joshua Tree was equally amazing...the perfect day trip.  We went out to celebrate our best friend, Chris' last weekend in California before he headed out to Germany.  This was not the happiest of things to be celebrating but we sure as heck made the best of it with some great hiking, scenic views and crisp desert air!

Mexico - what a whirlwind of a trip.  It came barreling down right with Christmas and all the sudden we were off.  It took me a second to realize what this trip was about, what it could be and how much we had missed Baja.  It was a perfect weekend and we were the happiest of couples after Jimi popped the question.

Christmas was great with lots of celebration with our families...it will be one that we will never forget.

Thanks for being apart of 2012! It turned out to be a great year in the end...looking forward the fun to be had in 2013!

Enjoy!

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Our Story

I am so excited that this story is my first post of 2013!

For those of you who don't know the story, kind of know the story, or love the story...
 here is our love story. 

Maddie + Jimi

Part 1
To start, I must tell you, I fell for Jimi pretty much from day one.  I met Jimi in April of 2002 when I came down to the NAC to try out outrigger paddling for the first time.  That day I was put into a 12 person canoe with 11 other girls and one floppy haired 14 year old boy.  At that point I was just one of this crazy group of soccer playing girls who came down to paddle so they didn't have to do track.  It wasn't till summer hit and the school year ended that our group came down to a size that had potential to become really close over the summer.  By that point I already had a crush on Jimi, and we all became fast friends, but we were just at the beginning of this seemingly epic friendship.  I still find myself thinking about our story and am in awe of how lucky I am to have found him.

Part 2
Then, fast forward to 2005. Jimi and I were really good friends, I still had a huge crush on him, even though there were others boys that had come and gone, he was still my favorite.  It always seemed that when one of us was more interested than normal, the other was in a relationship or just getting out of one.  It never really seemed like the right time until we were on a paddling trip in Hawaii at the end of September.  I had honestly given up a lot of hope that it would ever work out in my favor, but low and behold he asked me to dinner way high up in the sky on our plane ride home from Oahu.  I was not sitting by any of my friends...just sitting in my seat freaking out, not being able to stop smiling!  The old ladies next to me probably thought I was crazy, watching Ice Princess. We went to dinner two nights later to Islands and it just felt so right from the very beginning that the rest is history.

Oahu 2005, out in front of Kaneohe Canoe Club

Part 3
Now, this part I think needs some back story.  About 4 months after Jimi and I started dating...at 19 years old we decided to take a surf trip to Northern Baja Mexico.  That may seem very soon or too young to just go on a trip to a foreign country, especially one with the history Mexico has, with someone you had only been with for 4 months in his off road truck, but like I said everything felt so right that no one even thought of that until way after the fact (not even my parents).  This trip was truly an adventure and one that we promised each other that we would one day do again.

Shipwrecks, Baja California, January 2006

Now that you know that, almost exactly 7 years later in December of 2012 we finally redid this trip.  There were about 7 surf spots we had been to over the years, but there are about three that really hold dear to us.  Let me be clear we actually have never surfed at any of these spots, but the scenery is what makes it so special.  The first night we stayed at El Pabellon, an endless beach full of dunes, where you will find a very clean and quiet campground.  We were really the only ones there.  On our way back up the coast we stopped at another favorite spot called Shipwrecks (or Freighters) in Punta San Jacinto.  Here you find a huge shipwreck on the shore with a little seaside fishing town.  We took a favorite photo here 7 years ago so I, of course, asked if we could recreate it.  As I turn to get into position Jimi, with a gorgeous engagement ring in his hand says, "How about this time you wear this?" I was a bit shocked, because when it comes to Jimi, he always reels me in right when I think it isn't happening.  I had hoped it would be this trip, but had my doubts and didn't want to get attached to one idea.  So after a second, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him...I said of course and we hugged, kissed, laughed and couldn't stop smiling.  Questions, celebratory Rum and Cokes, and pictures is what followed.  By now it was late afternoon, and we were hoping to be farther up the coast at this point, but were not too bummed, because that meant we got to stay the night and celebrate in probably our favorite spot...Cuatro Casas.  We camped out on this bluff over looking a famous and gorgeous surfing cove on a clear night...perfect for a Baja sunset, bonfire and sunrise.

Shipwrecks, Baja California, December 2012

Yep, he got down on one knee!

Christmas Eve was a mad dash to the border, an inspection at the boarder, a need to stop for food and gas along the way kind of trip home.  We stopped in at Jimi's parents house to say Hi and drop off our pup, Ozzie, where we ended up lingering and celebrating...but to my surprise my family showed up! We toasted and were very merry.  One little surprise after another.

I have to hand it to Jimi, this was completely planned by him, and he exceeded my expectations, made it romantic and totally made it us! I couldn't have asked for a better weekend, and a better Christmas gift.  I thank him for that.

Part 4
...to be continued.

Much Love, 

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