Thanks!

Thanks from the Wandering Berkmans!

A rainy day in Ensenada, Mexico (in Baja California) is the perfect time to catch up and rest up after a busy and more -involved-than-anticipated Thanksgiving in New Mexico.  How involved?  Well... let's just say there were pros and cons to this visit.

Pro-- always great to see our family in NM and the perfect excuse to bring the kids to see us.  Especially when they cook a majority of a delicious meal with military precision, thanks to Julia's color-coded spreadsheet.  Zach brings a taste of Mexico with his mole sauce for the turkey

Con-- As always, we miss the family that couldn't join us.  Bob barely makes it with delayed flights on Thanksgiving day

Pro-- our 3rd Thanksgiving spending a week in a house with beautiful views of the mountains.  Here we are shamelessly taking pics of us with our luggage in front of this view in the hopes that Away luggage will take us into their marketing campaign.  We also take advantage of a freak snow and make our friend Chauncey

Con-- uh...are those really bedbugs in the master bedroom?? The bites all over Don's body are proof positive.  Here's a small example uggg...   Surprisingly, this is the first time in all our travels that we've ever had this happen to us.  We've now become those people that strip the bed and inspect the mattress as soon as we arrive in a new place, Airbnb or hotel

Pro-- Our rental house is cozy with a fireplace and perfect for great political discussions and laughs

Con-- for 20 hours, that fireplace is our only source of heat when the power goes out.  The Berkman Siblings make do with a gas stove and sheer nerve, boy scouts they are.  Did I also mention the roof in Pat's bathroom sprung a leak?   Bring it on!

Pro-- breakfast at Placitas Cafe is always a treat, that piñon coffee can't be beat!  (OK, it's no match for espresso but when you're there you have to drink it.  With Monkey Cakes.  It's a tradition.)

Con-- except when 4 in our group really want oatmeal because we've had no power and little warm food since the day before.  And the server informs us that they in fact have no oatmeal that day.  True tears were shed.

But please-- travel, thanksgiving, life gives you lemons, you make that lemonade!  And I'm proud to say we did.

Did I mention that in the Hillcrest Diner in Las Vegas, New Mexico, Don orders like a true tri-state area resident and changes 5 items in his order (if you've ever had a meal in a restaurant with him, you know this to be a regular thing.  Lucky he's so charming)?  Our poor server Marta-- she could barely keep up.  And he didn't even ask for egg whites only-- she would have kicked us out for sure.

We'll leave you with the view from our Ensenada place.  Happy 31st wedding anniversary to us!  Until next time...

Thanks for joining us!
Don and Monica

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