Flat Stanley

The day before I left for Cabo San Lucas, I received in the mail a brown envelope from Virginia. Two of my daughters, and my only granddaughter, live in Virginia; but not at the address on the envelope. So I almost didn't open it until after my trip. But I did, and it turned out to contain Flat Stanley, a cutout character my granddaughter, Cailey, had made in school. Her teacher had sent Flat Stanley to me, along with a letter from Cailey asking that I allow Flat Stanley to accompany me for a week or so and then to respond by telling his adventures. This blog entry is for that purpose.

Flat Stanley is about 12 inches high and maybe the same wide, since his arms are outstretched. He fit fairly neatly into the bottom of my overnight bag. That was good, because his first adventure was to go to Mexico with me! And I wasn't about to buy him an airplane ticket.

At the airport, the first thing we had to do was go through airport security. This is a place passengers go through before boarding the airplanes, to make sure none of them are carrying dangerous nail clippers or too much shampoo. Our bags are X-rayed, but since X-rays pass through paper, Flat Stanley was invisible to the security people and so accompanied me to Mexico undetected.

Cailey lives in Virginia, which is on the east coast. I live in Arizona, which is almost on the opposite side of the country. Mexico is not a state; it is another country that is immediately south of the United States. It is a big country, almost as large as the United States. But I was going to the town of Cabo San Lucas, which is south of Arizona. In fact, it is at the southern tip of Mexico's western peninsula, which is called Baja California.

So we rode to Mexico, Stanley and I, in an airplane and soon landed at the airport nearest to Cabo San Lucas.

Cabo San Lucas is famous for its unique rock formations that form a string of islands that separate the Sea of Cortez from the Pacific Ocean. Flat Stanley was excited to see them and wanted to visit them. (The locals call the body of water between Baja California and the mainland, the Sea of Cortez. Americans usually call it the Gulf of California, but it is the same sea.)

At the beach, we found a boat that would take us to the southernmost island, and even drop us off on the beach so we could play in the sand before returning. The captain, whose name was Daniel, even let Flat Stanley help steer.

The islands were very interesting. They are made of very hard granite but have been carved into fantastic shapes by millions of years of ocean waves pounding on them.

One of the islands is home to a colony of sea lions. Flat Stanley wanted to visit them, but returned very quickly because they smelled so bad! Sea lions are messy eaters. They like fish, but they leave the parts of the fish they don't eat just lying around where they rot and smell awful.

The most famous formation in the island chain is called "El Arco", which is Spanish for "The Arch". Flat Stanley was so excited by this that he insisted on looking at it instead of the camera when I took his picture.

Flat Stanley insisted on putting on a bathing suit so he could play in the sand. We couldn't let him go swimming in the Pacific Ocean because, well, he is made of paper and so can't swim.

Eventually we were picked up by our boat and returned to our bed and breakfast. And the next day, we flew back to Arizona.

On Tuesday, I took Flat Stanley to work with me. He enjoyed listening to music through my headphones so he wouldn't disturb me while I worked.

And on Thursday, my office mates and I went to a Japanese steakhouse for lunch, and we took Flat Stanley with us. In a Japanese steakhouse, the chef prepares our meals right in front of us, instead of in a hidden kitchen.

Our meal was very tasty. Unfortunately, Flat Stanley couldn't enjoy any of it, since, being made of paper, he can't actually eat.

He did almost have an adventure on the way home. Here in Arizona, it's a lovely temperature (right now it's 71°, like it is in Virginia during the spring) so I had the truck windows open. The wind began to whirl Flat Stanley around and he almost flew out of the truck, but I managed to catch him in time. And so I will be able to return him safe and sound to Cailey, along with these pictures, so she will have a record of his adventures.