Pic-of-the-Week for July 7, 2016

Hello Friends,

The last Pic-of-the-Week we left off on our trip north at Santa Rosalia, an old copper mining town started in 1884 and operated until 1954 by the French.  One of the interesting things about the town is that most of the old building are constructed of wood instead of stone.  This is because they would ship the ore to the state of Washington, USA, for further refining, and then return with lumber for construction.  It is said that there are hundreds of miles of tunnels to retrieve the ore which was hauled out by trains.   Below is one of the steam engines used to haul the ore out of the ground.  I can’t imagine how dirty the air was in those tunnels with steam engines running in the tunnels.

Further north there are 3 non-active volcanoes known as the Tres Virgenes, or the three virgins.  This is the largest of the three, and the closest to the highway.  This volcano, the furthest one south, has the official name of La Virgen.  There is not a lot of vegetation in this immediate area.

 

 

Further North from Tres Virgenes is the Catavina area.  I think this is a beautiful area.  The flora is quite varied with many kinds of cacti, 2 different types of elephant trees, and the Cirio trees.  Also ROCKS!  Rocks, and more rocks.  All sizes of rocks!  This is a typical scene from that area.  Lots of cactus and Cirio trees.  The Cirio trees are hard to see, and they are mostly in the background, but they are the real slender ones in the photo.

 

 

Here is a photo of Cirios in the foreground and agave cactus in bloom.

 

 

The last place on the Ben travel log in Baja California is “Hotel Jardines Baja” near San Quintin.  It is not just a hotel, but also a wonderful restaurant and the grounds are like a beautiful park.  It is now one of our “must stay” places when we travel north, or south.

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you have enjoyed photos from our 2^nd half of our trip through Baja.  We think that these are some of the highlights of the trip.  Until next time (whenever that might be!)

More from Harriet:  We are currently at the Malpass Farm (Harriet's relatives) near Harrisburg, Oregon.  Also here is our daughter Rebecca with her husband Tim and their children David, Aaron and Eleanor.  We are having a good time getting re-acquainted with the kids and getting our share of Grandma and Grandpa time.  

 Aaron and David posing in front of a BIG fire engine that was in the Harrisburg July 4th parade.

Eleanor enjoying the abundant candy handed out by parade participants.  Wow!  We gathered a large bag full of the stuff! I am sporting the head piece that Eleanor didn't like.

I was also able to spend some time with my brother and sister, Rich and Sharon (sister Shelley is in Montana).  It was real nice to see them.

This Saturday is the Purkey get-together while Rebecca's family is here so she can catch up with all her aunts and uncles in one place!  That should be fun, too!

 We hope to see many of our Oregon friends while we are here.  Send us an e-mail or call us at 541-854-5303 if you want to get together.  We'll be in the Eugene area until July 18th when we will travel to Bend for a while.  

Oh....Zoey continues to improve.  She can stand, and walk a few steps at a time.  If she wants to get somewhere in a hurry, she will scoot.  I still use the sling most of the time for her "walks".  She looks rather like a drunken sailor when she walks...those feet just don't want to cooperate!  But like grandson David says when she takes a few steps, "the message squeezed through to her feet that time!"  (He's learning about nerve damage!)  

Hasta la proxima vez,

Your friends enjoying an Oregon summer (although it is raining right now!)

Ben, Harriet, Sam & Zoey