A Day In Barra de Potosi Or Was It Playa Blanca?

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I'm not really sure which beach this was. Nick kept calling it Barra de Potosi but then when I just googled it to get the spelling it also listed Playa Blanca. We drove down a long dirt road to get there so I'm thinking Playa Blanca...not that you really care lol

Restaurants in the US should have hammocks!

I'm about to attack that grub...I think I ordered shrimp here...

Tortilla magic is happening in that little building!

Ok, now heading back out, down the dirt road:

Goat crossing!

dos cabra ;)

mas cabra! ;)

A hot and dusty way to travel! Interesting the way so many people there ride in the back of trucks like this...

Linking up with Tex's Good Fences

Sit Right Here & Have Another Beer In Mexico

Ixtapa Island, Mexico

Pretty much our mantra on the trip :)

Love Shack

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Las Gatas, Zihuatanejo, Mexico
Just up the beach from Owen's Place...

Linking up with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

Corpse Bride

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Zihuatanejo, Mexico

This was taken from my seat at a restaurant we ate at when we were walking around Zihua on night. It was a rainy night and we saw a crowded little restaurant filled with locals so we decided to stop for some tacos. We sat out on the sidewalk, right along the street. A stray dog was there, visiting our table, and the tables to the left and right of us. Being the dog person I am, I was thinking how rude everyone was for just ignoring this poor little hungry dog...soooo, I threw him some scraps of my tacos when Nick tells me to stop doing that. "Stop right now!" he says. He told me everyone was watching me with shock when I started feeding the dog. Then a little boy from the next table took some scraps in a napkin and walked the dog across the street to feed him. LOL...I guess I looked like a heathen, feeding the dog right where I was ;)

Ugh, I developed a horrible, HORRIBLE sinus infection. Remember when I told you I wasn't feeling well? Well, I felt like junk all weekend long. My head was killing me and I could barely be up off the couch. I took some decongestants all weekend and am feeling so much better. Sinus infections are no joke! Hopefully that's all behind me now!

Linking up with Monday Murals

Willy Nilly Friday 5 No. 88

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Sunset at Las Brisas Resort, Ixtapa, Mexico

Here we go!

1) If you didn't know, I'm back! For a brief update, Nick and I went to Ixtapa Mexico for a week. For a longer update, check Tuesday's post!

2) On the plane ride home I watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2...Oh my gosh, it was hilarious. I had my ear buds in and I kept literally lol'ing. Nick kept looking over at me like I was cuckoo!

3) On Wednesday I went grocery shopping. I have had a sore throat since coming back home from Mexico but by the time I was finished shopping I was feeling really bad. Run down and my muscles were aching. I took a few Airborne tablets Wed/Thursday and am now starting to feel much better...still have a bit of a headache but hopefully that will be gone when I wake up in the morning.

4) Since I wasn't feeling well I made a pot of this Detox Soup ...it's really good...full of yummy veggies: carrots, celery, turnips, kale, tomatoes, cilantro, zucchini...it's one of my favorite soups!

5) On Tuesday I took the kids to see Finding Dory...it was so cute! We really liked it. Nick had rented Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot so we watched that later that night. That was also really good. It was based off a true story about a reporter, Kim Barker, who is bored with her life/career and decides to take an assignment in Afghanistan. Such courage!

Well that's my 5 this week, short and sweet! I've got to run off to bed and get some more rest so hopefully I can wake up and feel 100% again!

I hope you will play along too! Post 5 randoms, link back and visit others! Have a great weekend!

More From Owen's Place - Zihuatanejo

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Continuing where we left off yesterday:

I liked these neat little sculptures...

Not what I would expect to see at the beach!

Does not seem to fit in with the rustic feel of the place...

Precariously balanced...

One of the rooms/huts for rent...a hot tub? With an electric cord?

A nice firm bed...

Dine al fresco...it really is a cute little place!

Laundry facilities...

Million dollar views...

Ok, now this portion of the resort looked like someone was living here...the grounds were raked nicely and then a big dog rounded a corner and watched us so we politely made our way out (I had already taken these photos before the dog appeared!):

And no, there wasn't a bartender...Nick had carried his drink over with him from Otilia's :)

Now back to the more rustic/abandoned area:

Across the bay you can just make out the string of restaurants, where we started!

A 3 hour tour?

One last look back...Goodbye Owen's Place!

Your charming tour guides, Nick and Tanya :)

I am sorry this post was so photo heavy! There are links to Owen's and a bit of the story in yesterday's post!

If this loads weird for you will you let me know? I rearranged my blog a bit this morning because my photos were loading so small so I moved all the sidebar stuff to the bottom!

Tuesday's Treasures - Owen's Place, Zihuatanejo

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Look who's back! So last week we went on a little jaunt to Ixtapa/Zihuatenejo, Mexico. This is Nick's favorite Mexican vacation. He worked down there briefly when he was fresh out of the Marine Corps, selling time shares. This was my 2nd trip there. The biggie was that this was our first actual vacation without kids since having Braden and Dalton, over 14 years ago! My oh my! So, we left the younger 2, with the older 2, a list of rules and phone numbers and boarded the plane...My first set of photos I am going to show you is from Las Gatas Beach, Owen's Place:

Last Tuesday, our first visit (on this trip) to Las Gatas...you take a water taxi to get there and then just park yourself under a palapala at one of the beach restaurants that line the beach...these aren't your typical touristy restaurants, these are more like someone's house with a big kitchen and lots of lounge chairs to relax in...we hung out at Otilia's both times because we liked it and our waiter Franco was the bomb-diggity:

Hola Franco!

Hola Blackie! Another reason we liked Otilia's...Blackie! You know how much I love dogs and I was really, really missing Ozzy...he missed me too!

So anyways, while kicking it at Otilia's, sipping on a cold cerveza, I noticed a place out on the point that looked interesting....Nick told me it was Owen's..This guy Owen Lee was a diver with Jacques Cousteau and opened up this resort but unlike other resorts, this one isn't fancy schmancy, just little bungalows, kind of rural...our waiter Franco said it was deserted since Owen had a stroke and passed away a few years ago (Owen didn't pass away though, more on that in a bit) so imagine my excitement at the thought of an abandoned resort! So...we just chilled at Otilia's and then went back to our own resort in Ixtapa after a few hours but I couldn't get Owen's out of my head so a few days later we returned to Otilia's and asked Franco if we were allowed to walk over there.... "yeah, yeah" he said so off we went!

Welcome to the Hotel California.....

While walking around this empty place we saw 2 ladies, one seemed to be talking a lot about Owen's as if she knew stuff, lots of stuff so we asked her some questions...turns out the one lady was originally from Zihuatenejo, now living in Norway, yes, Norway! Her friend was also from Norway but didn't speak a lot of English, or Spanish...but the Mexican lady knew Norwegian! The Mexican/Norwegian lady was telling us that she knew Owen Lee when she was growing up, he was like an uncle to her. She explained that it was not easy on him back then opening this place up as an outsider. The following photos are from Owen's house (she told us):

She explained that Owen did have a stroke, but is now living in San Francisco...he has some expat friends that are taking care of this place for him. His expat friends run a sunset cruise on The Picante that Nick and I took 20+ years ago, and again on this trip!

The lady also noticed that he left his books behind...she became a little emotional at that and said she was going to contact him to see if he wanted her to send them to him...

Well that does it for my photos of Owen's bungalow but I have a few more from around his resort that I will be posting tomorrow so come back!

Linking up with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures
and I've found a few blog posts on Owen's HERE and HERE and Otilia's has a Facebook page HERE

Had fun but there's no place like home!

(I don't know why my pictures uploaded so teeny tiny...thanks blogger for welcoming me back with a blog bug!)