Our Trip - Part One

I’m a chronicler. It’s what I do. So, while you’re perfectly welcome to read about what we’ve been up to so far on this trip, don’t feel like you have to. This post is for our own records and my inner need to keep track of things. If you get a kick out of it too, all the better! 

We left Xela around 2:00 p.m. local time on Tuesday, June 9^th, and took a different route north than we’d ever taken before (through Huehuetenango). The drive was much more rural and very beautiful. We crossed at a new border, which was a little bit quicker and easier, but you had to drive through a long, teeming, busy market in order to get to the immigration office. Definitely a crossing to remember for future. 

The rest of day one was pretty uneventful. We drove until almost midnight and stopped at Tuxtla Gutierrez for a bit of sleep. The stop would have been more restful had Rachel not sleep walked over to the door and opened it during the night!  I’m so glad the lock stopped her and I woke up. When I asked her what she was doing, she replied (with a great deal of attitude in her voice), “I’m going to bed, like you told me to!” She didn’t remember any of it the next morning. :)

 

We were on the road by seven on our second driving day in Mexico (Wednesday, June 10^th), and enjoyed another good (but long) day. It was amazing how much less terrifying and mystifying Mexico seemed to us this trip than the first time we drove down. Language issues, road conditions, culture and customs – everything seemed somehow much more familiar and much less strange. Our big excitement of the day was having to find parts and a shop to get our rear brakes replaced. They’d been making ominous noises for the better half of the day before, and we decided it would be best to just get them changed.

Since day two wasn’t mountain driving, we could go a lot faster and really ate up the miles. For most of the afternoon and evening we were skirting along the eastern coast of Mexico, and kept popping around corners and being treated to breathtaking views of blue water and beautiful beaches. It was so hard not to stop!!! However, we drove on until around 11:00 and stayed in a hotel in Tampico Alto where we saw the biggest beetle we’ve ever encountered. It was almost two inches long. We were fascinated, and very glad it was outside of our room, and not inside!

Day three (Thursday, June 11^th), started bright and early at 7:00 a.m. again. We were all very excited knowing we were only seven or so hours from the U.S. The scenery in northern Mexico was very beautiful. It’s a loooooooooooong country, and has so many different types of landscapes – from mountains, to deserts, to beaches, to rolling farmland. The flora and fauna are also fascinating, and kept us very well entertained. 

We crossed into Texas around 3:00 in the afternoon. Every border crossing is always interesting, and there were details and fees we had forgotten about since our last time through. Once we had things squared away on the Mexican side, there was much squealing and cheering when we crossed the bridge and found ourselves on U.S. soil. We said goodbye to our friends with whom we’d been traveling, and continued heading north.  Though we would have liked to have relaxed a bit, there was still a lot of driving to do in order to get Rachel to National History Day competition. It is as far from Xela to Brownsville as it is from Brownsville to Washington D.C., so we were only halfway to our destination, despite having already completed three very hard days of driving. We did give ourselves a bit of a break and stopped around 7:30 that evening and got a hotel just south of Houston, where we continued to process of rediscovering simple joys like carpet, free ice, and the ability to easily communicate with everywhere. 

On our fourth driving day (Friday, June 12^th), we got up early and hit it hard so we made it all the way to Memphis, Tennessee around 9:00 p.m. It was a pretty uneventful day, aside from the little excitements like lunch at a buffet, having our choice of dozens of radio stations in English, and getting to see the beautiful scenery of the south. Oh, and we made a quick stop at a Bass Pro Shop in Memphis! (We do so love to go to Bass Pro Shops!!) 

Our fifth day of driving (Saturday, June 13^th) was also Rebecca’s 11^th birthday. I can’t say that spending fifteen hours in the car is the most exciting way to celebrate, but we did our best to make it special by letting her choose which spot she got in the back, picking where we ate lunch, and allowing her to touch and bother her sisters as much as she wanted to. :)

 

We got into the suburbs of Washington DC around midnight Xela time, 2:00 a.m. local time, and were immediately greeted by gridlock traffic created by construction. We quickly discovered how much our driving experience in Guatemala would come in handy. Without even knowing it, we’d become experts in making difficult merges and dealing with bumper-to-bumper traffic, since they’re daily realities where we live. We were so grateful to be welcomed into the warm embrace of H.(a friend of mine from high school), C., and their dog, Panzer. They opened up their home to us, and we were SOOO grateful to have comfy beds, room to spread out, and wonderful company during our time in DC.  We were even greeted with three different types of freshly-baked goodies. Hospitality doesn’t get any better!

The next several days are a bit of a blur. On Sunday, June 14^th, we met up with M and P (family who came to see us), and wen to registration and attend the opening ceremony for National History Day. Monday, June 15^th, was our big tour day. We saw the National Archives (including the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and a 13^th century copy of the Magna Carta on the documents 800^th birthday), took a special tour of the Capitol given by a member of the Capitol Police (complete with insider-access to some pretty cool places in the building), visited the National Botanical Center and Air and Space Museum, and did our own walking tour of the National Mall, Reflecting Pool, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, and Vietnam Memorial. All told, one person’s pedometer estimated that we walked almost 14 miles during the ten hours we were out, some of them in the driving rain. Definitely a day to remember! 

On Tuesday, June 16^th Rachel and her team faced the judges for NHD, and then we were able to meet up with some old friends we hadn’t seen in years before having a relaxing supper with H and C where the kids chased fireflies and played with the dog while the grownups laughed and swapped stories until it was way later than we should have been up. Wednesday, June 17^th was another tour day, and we split up and covered the Air and Space Museum, Natural History Museum, and enjoyed an NHD-sponsored evening at the American History Museum. 

Thursday morning, June 18^th, we had the NHD closing ceremonies, which were pretty impressive. There were almost 3000 young scholars and their teachers and families present at the Xfinity Center at the University of Maryland campus. None of the teams from our school received any awards, but it was such an honor and a thrill to be part of representing the nation of Guatemala for their first time ever at the competition. We’re really hoping to be back next year, too! Afterward, we went to the National Cathedral, which is an impressive building. Its main chapel is a tenth of a mile long, and is the sixth-largest cathedral in the world. It was an interesting visit, and made for another long, interesting day.

On Friday, June 19^th, we slept in late (SO AWESOME!) and enjoyed a great breakfast before going  to Gettysburg. It was everything we expected it to be – hallowed, historical, memorable, interesting, difficult, emotional - and so much more. What a privilege to be able to have seen and experienced this wonderful place, and to be citizens of the Union that this battle (and the entire Civil War) helped to preserve. 

And, that brings us to today. (Is it really June 20^th already!? How did that happen?) We headed out early and our morning started with Dunkin Donuts, which is immensely satisfying in and of itself. Add to that that we got to see the Jefferson Memorial and the Pentagon from the road, and this day is off to a great start! It’s a travel day today. We’re headed south, with the Gulf Coast of Alabama as our final destination.  Can’t wait to see what adventures lie ahead! 

Capitol Tour Highlights –

Walking on the steps where the President walks to the inauguration.

Getting to stand on the floor of the Senate, and seeing signatures inside the desk drawers from Kennedy, Obama, etc. Also, seeing our Senators’ desks, and “the candy desk.”

Seeing Jefferson Davis’s senate desk, which was battered by the bayonets of his colleagues after he announced he was leaving to be preside of the Confederate States.

Seeing Walt Disney’s graffiti signature behind a window shutter.

Seeing the place in the Capitol that the designer had made as a vault for Washington’s body. (He didn’t want that, choosing to be buried in Mt. Vernon instead.)

Getting to stand on the Speaker of the House’s private balcony behind his office, and seeing the Bob Dole patio (so named because he used to spend so much time there, even having a desk and computer taken out so he could be there all day).