Finally here!

Well Jack, Rudy and I flew in on November 11th from Seattle on a straight shot to San Jose del Cabo. This is the only airport where you can fly live animals into the Baja. I was pretty nervous about how Rudy would do in transit. He was pretty excited in the Seattle airport despite the doggie downers that he was on. Of course, his is the biggest size crate that the airline allows without special permission. We had to walk him into the airport, dragging the crate and several large and heavy bags behind. But finally he was through the check in, after getting lots of love from all the Alaska Airline people. We said goodbye to my mom and dad who had driven us to the airport. They were such a big help all summer long all the way up to our departure. We truly would not be here today without their help! Thanks guys.



The flight was great. The shock of the heat at San Jose del Cabo nearly melted me on the spot. In the airport imagine my surprise when I see Rudy's crate, with him in it, riding on the baggage carousel with the other baggage. Someone helped me heft the crate off the carousel, and then I could let Rudy out. He was a little rambunctious after about 7 hours in the crate. But that worked out well. He helped pull me along, while I dragged the crate with three of our big bags stacked on top of it. Getting through customs was a bit of a circus, but it only took about 45 minutes. Rudy kept on trying to jump on the customs agent and airport officials, which wasn't helping. I kept looking for Patrick to come and help me. He wasn't anywhere. I was starting to get a little upset that he had forgotten that we were coming in! Everyone else off the plane had walked out the front doors of the airport and it was only me, Jack, Rudy and about 30 Mexican airport officials left in the airport. They were all looking at me and talking to each other in Spanish , which can really make a girl cranky when she's being dragged by a dog who has sat in poop while simultaneously trying to drag along 100 lbs of luggage and a giant crate (Jack was also carrying luggage. Thank God he was there to help!) Then Jack said, "I can see his shoes outside the door." Most of the glass door was blocked out by a large poster. I was so relieved. It turns out they wouldn't let Patrick enter the airport. He had to wait outside, anxiously watching the people file out.

But the fun wasn't over. Remember how we had to fly in to San Jose del Cabo, but our boat's in La Paz? We now had a three hour drive on a windy mountain road at night in a small rental car with black Velvet interior. Have you seen Rudy? The interior was white with dog hair by the end. But we made it. I was pretty zonked, as was Rudy and Jack. Rudy was so stressed about his adventure that he tried to fit as much of his 75 lb body as he could in my lap the whole way. Since then we haven't been doing much. I feel like I just tried to beat Micheal Phelps in the butterfly. I'll get my energy back soon. I am already feeling a lot better today. This place is amazing. Our marina is a resort. More about that tomorrow!

Laura