Day 7

I woke up at 6, breakfast and cleaned up, while the others packed everything in the cars. And there was a lot to pack. We left by 9:45 to be engulfed in the usual traffic crawl, until it gave way past Disneyland. It was slowed down by a police car doing a zig zags across the highway. No idea why, but it slowed the traffic right down, before they just drove down a turnoff and all went back to normal speed.

We turned off at San Diego for a lunch break at Old San Diego. where we all had delicious Mexican food and the kid’s meals were free. The kids didn’t eat much, but enjoyed being out of the car and had a bit of a run around.

Back in the car for the run to the border crossing. Easy entrance into Mexico. But then began our “adventure”, which we will blame on the signals for the internet dropping out as soon as we went across the line and a lack of signage.

Tim missed the turn off to Ensenada at the border and we travelled along a road for many kilometres through ‘interesting’ suburbs in what was obviously the wrong direction, trying desperately to get either of Tim's phones to get a signal and narrowly missed being side swiped by a truck.Tim finally got a bit of a signal, which sent us following a “smurf” truck up a dirt track. It was slightly disconcerting when the truck suddenly turned into a factory on the other side and we had to keep going down the track. BUT there was a major road at the end which took us in a better direction towards the beach.  We wound along the coast on a very minor road for many kilometres, passing lots of small villas, beach shacks and huge hotels, until we could see a major highway above us. (Where we should have been)

We found an entrance and turned onto that road, driving along a very impressive road that hugged the coast. Steep cliffs down one side reminiscent of the Amalfi Coast to beautiful crystal clear water below. 

Next stop was the first of our toll stops $1.75 just above Ensenada. (We should have gone through three-obviously we took the scenic route) We soon turned off onto a local road, which took us to our holiday accommodation past very sparse hills, which gave way to small farms and the vineyards.

We arrived slightly after 4. Andrew had arrived 20 minutes before us. He had not missed the turnoff at the border. Susan and Oscar had gotten there much earlier this morning after leaving LA at 4:00am.

There was a very short playing / chatting time before Susan and Oscar had to leave to see the wedding planner. 

There were some fairly important issues for those with kids but it had been a very last minute booking. Our original place had cancelled at the last minute, so Susan had to frantically find a replacement on a long weekend. 

It is set in a vineyard/ orchard. There are several small cottages on the property and it is a very steep block. Great views from the terrace. Dinner was a cup of noodles, which made everyone a bit cranky. Everything eventually settled down, especially as the children settled to sleep.