We're in México...how did we get here?

-->

Wow, it has been an extremely busy past four months and this blog has definitely suffered for it! Carlos and I have been living out of suitcases/duffel bags pretty continuously since the beginning of May (when we traveled to Costa Rica for a month of field work). After visiting Costa Rica, Mexico, Australia, and Mexico again (this time including a road trip from DC), we are finally able to catch our breaths in our house in the city of Coatepec, México (outside of the much larger city of Xalapa, all in the state of Veracruz on the gulf coast of the country).

Although I am VERY far behind on posts here, I thought I would take the time to post something new rather than reach into the vast backlog (e.g., I still have to finish the Sisters’ WDW trip report...from last NOVEMBER, sheesh!). Anyway, Carlos and I left Washington, DC on 30 August 2014 with the goal of reaching Knoxville, Tennessee before nightfall. The drive was easy and we stopped at a couple of rest stops along the way (for gas, food, and leg-stretching breaks). We also were able to enjoy our first dinner at Cracker Barrel when we arrived in Knoxville. We really enjoyed it and would eat there again at our next stop in Louisiana.

On 31 August, we left after an early breakfast to make it to Slidell, Louisana for the night. Again, the drive was easy and speckled with plenty of breaks and we had a delicious country-style dinner at another Cracker Barrel (unfortunately our last of this trip).

We made our way from Slidell to Beeville, Texas on 1 September (Memorial Day) and spent an extra night there to take a break and recharge before crossing the border into México and starting the second half of our road trip. Beeville was a pretty small town, but we enjoyed the break and left on 3 September, heading to Laredo/Nuevo Laredo to cross the border.

The border crossing was surprisingly easy—especially considering that we had to complete some paperwork for the temporary import of our car. I think in total, the crossing took less than half an hour (we didn’t have to wait in any lines). The biggest “hassle” was on the US side of the border, with one of the guards asking a few questions, but it was really nothing too annoying. We drove to Monterrey for the night and again, we were lucky with weather and roads.

From Monterrey, we had an 8-hour drive to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Querétaro, where we spent another extra vacation/break day. At this point we ran into a few remnant bands of the tropical storm Dolly that hit the coast the previous day. We made it safely to Querétaro, toured around historical downtown, and planned the final leg of our trip: about a 5-hour drive to Coatepec!

We arrived to our house on 6 September and have since been settling in. Overall, this road trip was very easy (definitely easier than expected) and we were able to see some beautiful ecosystems and transitions from desert to wet montane forest. I hope to post more pictures soon (including some of our house and the city of Coatepec)!