This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Sprint
I like spending Christmas at home. I like Santa coming down my chimney and leaving gifts under my tree and my children having memories of waking up surrounded by Christmas magic in their own beds.
But one year we made an exception. John, my husband Tom's youngest brother (he has eight) was getting married in Huatabampo, Sonora, Mexico on December 23, 1998. We couldn't resist - how could we NOT go? It would be such a great cultural experience for our kids to travel through Mexico...to experience a Mexican wedding!
It took quite a bit of preparation...and that's when I remembered the other reason why we never traveled on Christmas. I am one of those procrastinators who waits until the week before Christmas to do my shopping, and my cards arrive closer to New Year's Day than Christmas Day. But this time I had to have everything ready way in advance, and I came through with flying colors, down to every detail. We borrowed a large cooler for food; I bought books about traveling in Northern Mexico and a laminated, easy-to-fold map. We even let Santa know we'd be traveling, but gave him permission to come on inside the house and leave most of his presents under the tree (wink, wink!) because we wouldn't have room in the van for anything extra on the return trip.
Tom's parents traveled from Florida to our house. We would caravan to the wedding. The night before our departure, we spread a map on the dining room table and plotted our route - we'd head west on I-10 to Arizona and then turn left. From there it was a straight shot to Huatabampo. Easy!
But by the next morning Tom and his dad had changed the route, to my and my mother-in-law's grumbling dismay.
"It'll take hours off our trip!" Tom claimed, pointing to a narrow line on the map that twisted and turned acrpss the middle of the Sierra Madre Mountains.
"Are you sure that's even a road? Look how thin that line is!" But our protests fell on deaf ears.
I could have said "I told you so" two nights later when we were crawling at 20 miles per hour through the mountains along that thin line, but I was too busy praying and watching out for potholes..."Hail Mary, full of grace...POTHOLE!...the Lord is with thee...POTHOLE!...", translating the many "Curvo Peligroso!" (Dangerous Curve!) signs, and vowing to never take another trip with this man again. (I found out later my mother-in-law was making the same vow.) I was grateful for the pitch darkness - I suspected there were sheer drop-offs on the edge of the road, but I preferred not knowing for sure.
When the sun rose, it revealed a valley dotted with Saguaro cactus - we had made it through the mountains alive! Soon we entered civilization - Ciudad Obregon - and almost wept at the sight of the Holiday Inn. We straggled in to the breakfast buffet like a group of parched, ravenous wanderers to an oasis.
We were back on familiar ground - a highway took us in to Huatabampo and our hotel was in the center of town. The next few days were as wonderful as we had expected...we met John's fiance, Yadira, and her family. None of them spoke English - my high school Spanish really came in handy! We took a side trip to Huatabampito on the west coast of Mexico...on the Sea of Cortez, I believe...where we collected armfuls of spiral shells. The wedding was beautiful, even though we didn't realize we wouldn't eat until 1am - we were starving! The next day we traveled back into the mountains just a bit to Los Alamos, a colonial Mexico town, all decked out for the holidays. We toured the cathedral, explored some shops and enjoyed our Christmas Eve dinner there before heading back into Huatabampo for Mass.
Christmas morning we arose before dawn to head home, and what do you know? Santa had actually dropped a gift off for each of the kids!
It had been a memorable trip - it meant a lot to John to have some of his family at the wedding and it was a wonderful experience for my kids to really experience another culture. But I admit...it still felt great to cross back over the border into the United States...one of my favorite Christmas presents ever.
To enter, leave me a comment below and tell me about one of your funny holiday road trips - or you may leave a link to your post on your own blog in the comments below. The contest will begin on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at 9 am and will end Thursday, December 31, 2009 at 5:00 pm. Make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct. (This contest is closed! Thank you to all of you who participated. I'll notify the winner soon!)
Rules:
- No duplicate comments.
- You may receive an additional entry by linking on twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
- You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
- This giveaway is open to US Residents aged 18 and older
- Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
- You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
