Gonzaga Bay, Baja California.

After a night in Puertecitos, we made the 50 km drive south to Bahia de San Luis Gonzaga (also known as “Gonzaga Bay”). The Wandrly crew had possible bad fuel from a Pemex station up the road so they were having a some issues climbing up the mountain roads to get to this spot.

Oh hello there, Airstream. Haven’t seen many of these here in Baja. But Silver Streaks? We’ve seen sooo many of those. If you ever in the market for one in the states, just head south. There are tons here.

This is not my first time coming to Gonzaga Bay. I came to this same exact spot at least a handful of times during my childhood. The paved road here today was nothing compared the miles and miles dirt road we used to take here all those years ago. I have vivid memories of riding in the back on my dad’s orange Toyota pickup truck with my little brother. We were packed like sardines in the back with all of stuff for our stay. Umbrellas, coolers, water, food, vino. Being squished didn’t bother us. We turned it into our magical fort. It was all fun and games… until he started wipe his boogers on our umbrella. Then game over. Haha.

We pulled up to a deserted campground. Not another soul around. We got our pick of any of the 50 or so palapas and a free stay. No one ever came by to collect money.

We ended up parking between an open palapa and a semi-enclosed one.

No services here except for some pit toilets. Actually, they had a ton of pit toilets. It seemed like there was one for each campsite.

Some where standing. Some were not. Some had two seats. And some made funny props during golden hour.

When I stayed here as a kid, we actually didn’t camp at the campground. My uncle had a place here. It was  basically a vintage trailer with a huge front porch and large garage in the back.

Once we settled into camp, we made the walk to the community where he owns his place. I haven’t been here since high school so my memory was fuzzy when I tried to pick out his spot. Plus looks like most people ended up ditching their trailers and built a proper house in its place.

At the end of the community lies a hotel/restaurant called Alfosina’s. As soon as I walked up to the open air portion of the restaurant, a familiar feeling washed over me.

Memories of my parents using Alfosina’s telephone and ordering rounds of margaritas came rushing over me.

Things were different but still the same.

Instead of walking on the steep beach on the way back, we gave our legs a break and took the back road for our return trip to camp.

The funny thing is that my uncle was actually there at Gonzaga Bay during our one night stay but we had no idea. First I didn’t recognize his place and second we didn’t have reception. I found out once we reached our next destination after I posted photos on our social media accounts.

The hike to Alfosina’s was a little longer that we expected. The kids complained of tired legs on the way back. But then look at this. A MIRACLE! Their legs magically don’t hurt anymore when they start playing freeze tag AS SOON AS GET BACK!

We noticed something a little ways down the beach. A bunch of vultures were pecking at something so some of us went to investigate.

We ooh’ed and ahh’ed for a bit and then came to the conclusion that this had to be a dolphin.

The next morning we were up again before the sun and were treated to this.

The winds were calm so Dan decided to throw his drone up in the air.

Only to find out that his battery was dead. DOH. So it got charged and a flown a bit after the beautiful morning light.

We didn’t set up our outdoor table for our short stay so just threw a tablecloth (gift from Kerri) over the wall separating us from the beach for our breakfast.

We didn’t bust out our toys either. The kids spent their time collecting shells, sand dollars, pumice stones and other treasures.

I get a kick out of bringing the kids to places from my childhood. As a kid I never imagined coming back here as an adult, let alone with a gaggle of kids. But here we are, making new memories together.

We got an early start out of Gonzaga Bay since the next portion of the road was going to be brutal. 25 miles of dirt road were ahead of us and the 78 VW bus was acting up. And thank goodness we did. It ended up being a very looooong day.

Thanks for reading,
Marlene