Ensenada, Mexico - City of Children

#192 (February 8, 2023): Thankfully, we didn’t have a long travel day today. In fact, we moved less than 30 minutes down the street to Lake Magic, a Thousand Trails’ Encore property, where we will leave our rig parked and plugged in while we take a short break and join some friends from Nashville for a long weekend at the City of Children, a children’s home in Ensenada, Mexico, that is sponsored by the churches of Christ. We did some last-minute preparation shopping at Wal-Mart, packed our suitcases, and ate yummy Greek food for lunch at Sarah’s Greek Cuisine (their almond cookies were delicious!). That night, we dropped Mac off with Emily’s childhood friend, Rachel, so that Mac can spend the next several days with her and her family.

#193-197 (February 9-13, 2023): This is our family’s fourth trip to the City of Children in Ensenada, Mexico. Each February, a small group of families fly to San Diego, drive big white church-bus-type vans across the border, and spend the weekend with the children and staff of the City of Children. We color, jump jump ropes, paint fingernails, run relays, and play games, 9-square, and soccer, and of course share many meals together. It’s as much of a blessing to us as it is to them. The mamas and papas at the home do a remarkable job loving and taking care of the many children.

On the drive back across the border into the US, we had a few more glitches than in years past. Construction, road closures, and detours contributed to multiple wrong turns and confusion. In addition, we mistakenly followed our GPS for the quickest route, which led us to the Sentri lane, and once we realized our mistake we were stuck in bumper-bumper traffic with no way to exit or get out of line. Because we don’t have Sentri passes, we all received “strikes” on our passports, which is a big deal. Evidently, three strikes and each person pays a $5,000 fee! Good grief! Well, thankfully, we only have one strike, and we now know not to follow the signs that say Sentri even if the GPS routes us that way!

We ate dinner at In & Out before heading to the Marriott Courtyard in downtown San Diego, one of our favorite hotels of all time! Before the building was a hotel, it was the San Diego Trust and Savings Bank Building. We had so much fun exploring the hotel with our friends, the Rinks, admiring the beauty, intricate details, and different bank features (i.e. vault, old phones, mail slots, etc) throughout this beautiful historic building.

#198 (February 14, 2023): We celebrated Valentine’s Day by resting in, unpacking, picking up Mac from Rachel’s house, restocking our groceries, and catching up on laundry. That night, Neil went to urgent care for an ear infection and sinus infection. Poor guy.