2025 Dec 2-7: roadtrip!

Dropped Fiona off in El Calafate and set out for Buenos Aires. Six days, five nights - over to the east coast and up:

Day 1 - Dec 2, left mid-afternoon after the Perito Moreno glaciers & goodbyes. Five hours Ripio (gravel) route 288; first night: Commandante Luis Piedrabuena.

Dec 3 - Piedrabuena in the morning:

Lunch stop at Puerto San Julian:

Caught a high school graduation celebration:

Route 3 hits the Atlantic at Coleta Olivia:

8:30PM. stopped at a random spot along the road north of Comodore Rivadavia for a home-cooked meal (Leslie takes SUCH good care of us) in the van. A good time was had:

Spent the night in Camarones. Kids had a room at an inn called El Faro, we parked the van in the yard. Pretty much right at the coast.

Dec 4 - Camarones in the AM:

1/2 hour out the ripio road to Reserva Faunistica Provincal Cabo Dos Bahias, where there are:

Penguins, by the hundreds.

A typical photo session:

Afternoon, leaving Camarones:

Drove to Trelew, checked in & headed to Playa Union for dinner:

(Didn’t eat at Comidas Calle, but it’s typical of the strip)

Dec 5 - Trelew has quite an impressive dinosaur museum:

I was particularly impressed.

Also a lagoon with flamingos:

Stopped GOAT for lunch to go (spent 45 min waiting, shoulda just eaten there):

Out of town, one finds the biggest dinosaur in the world:

Juan the van renter mentioned that puerto Madryn was nice, so we stopped for Helado. It’s a beach town, long wide beach with high-rise apartments lining the beach. Briefly considered spending January there; don’t think so:

One-point parallel parking, I still got it:

Landed in Viedma for the night. Same drill: kids got a place, we parked out front - in this case, a driveway with a gate that opened in, too short to allow it to be closed.

Dec 6 - I got up & did a sunrise walking tour, not a bad downtown, small town. Fine place to spend a night, wouldn’t go out of my way to go back:

Drove as far as Bahia Blanca, where we found a really nice spot for lunch - Casamonte. Recommended if you find yourself in town:

Fill up on the way out of town. This is typical of SPF gas stations!

And out on the plains…kinda resembles the Palouse, eh?

…to outside Azul. The most impressive stop, this guy built two log cabins by himself. [I’ll get the name]:

Dec 7, last day - such a nice place, decided to clean the van there rather than somewhere in BA. Left about 11. Stopped at a roadside Parrilla for lunch:

In BA, the apt check-in, van drop-off, children good-byes were successful but somewhat hectic, no photos.

it was fantastic being confined in a tight space with the kids for a week! Not sure we walked at all the whole way…

Next up: a month in Buenos Aires.