On The Road Again

We’re in El Paso, Texas!  We made it!

We loaded our two cars to the max, said our goodbyes and headed out. It’s about a 12-hour drive from SoCal to El Paso, TX. Thankfully we had a one-night pit stop in the Phoenix area to visit my “big sis” and her family. This was the first road trip I’ve had to drive myself and I decided rather quickly that I’m not a fan. You can’t nap when you’re driving! And besides snacking nonstop, napping is my second favorite part of road trips. Plus, I was in the car with the kids and there are only so many times a person can listen to Veggie Tales CDs and stay sane. 

Our last In-N-Out stop...G's shirt says it all.

 

We realized that between all of us we had to stop every 1.5 hours to use the bathroom and/or refuel. We stopped a lot...here’s a photo of us picnicking outside of Burger King. The kids were hungry and this was the last stop before we left the Tucson area. There wasn’t any outside seating so we sat on the curb in the parking lot, ate our food, and let the doggie stretch his legs. It was really classy. 

Why are we squinting? The 105-degree sun is in our eyes, that's why.

Between Tucson and El Paso there isn’t much to see. We really are in the middle of nowhere. Just a lot, lot of desert. I never thought I’d be so happy to see El Paso. In fact, I was so happy to see any type of urban activity. Cacti are lonely things. 

From the road

We’ve been here for a few days now and have made some large strides toward getting settled in. House and school situation is settled. Learned our lesson on which hotels to stay at and which ones to avoid. Found a park. We’re learning the streets. And, overall, our initial impressions are favorable. Having grown up in Southern California, this feels more like “home” to us than Georgia. There is no real suburb, the city stretches on forever with a mix of industry and residential and the airport and main post is in the middle of it all. The city seems to be in a valley surrounded by mountains and hills. The valley is shared between El Paso and Juarez, Mexico, and at various parts of the city, you can see stretches of both cities. It’s beautiful sparkly lights at night.

The view from our hotel room...that's the 10 FWY folks...

The weather is not unbearable. In fact, this dry heat is so much more tolerable than the humidity in the South. The sunsets are gorgeous and we've seen some awe-inspiring afternoon lightening storms too. It's bizarre to watch storms that are miles and miles away from you, the sun shining on your face while you watch the rain pour on someone else.

There is so much more to say but the kids and dog are bouncing off the hotel room walls. Can’t wait to be in our house…with a yard…although, having someone else make our beds is a nice perk to hotel living. Oh, and one side note about extended hotel living, packing my French press and favorite canister of coffee seemed crazy at the time but might be the best idea that I’ve ever had. It’s made hotel living so much more pleasant and homey.

More to come soon…Hasta Luego!