Friday, April 24, 2015

Shindig Swag !!!

When we left the Bay Area to go cruising, we had a decent amount of items with Shindig's logo: plastic tumblers, embroidered T shirts, and a really nice Shindig Battle Flag, which was designed by our neighbor, Jan Thomas, in Los Altos.  Last year, we added Shindig shirts to outfit our racing teams and special guests.  

Well, this year, Christmas came very early in Mexico via our friends, Katie and Mike on SV Pangaea.  In addition to doing some personal shopping for me while she was in the States for a long weekend (thank you thank you!),  Katie brought back a very special surprise.  

Their good friend, Al, who likes to sail, is also in the promotional logo business.   He had offered to try out some different styles with us, and only asked for our Shindig artwork.

Just look at the great swag he sent down with Katie last week. Shindig bath towels, tote bags, kitchen towels and sunglass wipes. The towels are made from the microfiber that is absorbent and quick to dry.


We are so grateful and were excited to try out our new bags, chamois like towels and kitchen towels.  (Do you remember the "Who moved my Brown Towel?" blog from Season 1?)

SHINDIG towel on Shindig at El Cid Marina, Mazatlan




Al's website and online business is just starting. Check back with us or through Pangaea on how to order your own special swag.

Friday, April 17, 2015

Anniversary in Banderas Bay






Our March anniversary had been postponed until we returned to Banderas Bay.  There's nothing like saying "happy anniversary, honey" when you're in passage mode fighting seasickness, drowsiness or general irritability.  :)
Once we got to Banderas Bay, we enjoyed a very nice stay at Garza Blanca Preserve Resort & Spa, high in the Conchas Chinas hills overlooking the Bay. Just found out that Locals in Puerto Vallarta refer to Conchas Chinas as "The Hills" (as in Beverly Hills of PV). It was a beautiful hotel, with a grand lobby, several towers including an adults-only one spread out over many acres with old fashioned, gleaming trolleys to take you around the grounds. We had a few meals at the hotel, and the menus and service were just spectacular.  Besides the brand new Sky bar which looked like a very chic, all white and stainless steel Las Vegas nightclub, Nancy was surprised to find she could search the web or send emails from the treadmills at the gym. (Unfortunately our workouts did not coincide with the live DJ in the gym from 6-8pm.)  But the
 Toto high tech Neorest commodes in every public area were another highlight.

It sure is nice to get off the boat every now and then!  



This Bathroom is bigger than our main salon on Shindig

View of our hotel room


We also decided to celebrate this anniversary by getting a couple of guitars!  The influence of last month's International Guitar Festival in Zihuatanejo as well as our cruiser friends and their guitars really inspired us.  

After a few adventurous shopping excursions we ended up with two beginning Fender guitars, one acoustic and the other acoustic/classical.  We are now sorting through the dozens of beginning guitar apps for the iPad to see which ones work best.  So far, the "guitarzjam.com" is a favorite.

Rob has a few songs he's targeted as his Goal Songs;  Nancy is plugging away at her instrument, and was caught referring to the guitar as a cello, or a violin.  Our friends Katie and Mike have been enthusiastic supporters and someday we hope to be able to jam with them.

We learned that the strings are "E, A, D, G, B, e", with the following mnemonic  helps: "Edward Ate Dynamite...Good Bye Edward!"