Road Trip to Tijuana

My dad and I spent two and a half days driving from Central Illinois to Tijuana.  I took only what could fit in my car and my two cats, Perla and Addison.  

My dad and I drove about 13 hours
the first day and stopped in Amarillo, Texas.  The next morning, we left before the sun was up.  That was when the trip started to get interesting.  As soon as we crossed the border into New Mexico, the landscape changed to mesas and small mountains.  We decided to go a little out of the way to visit the Grand Canyon.

I was so grateful that my dad was along because I never could have done this trip by myself with the 2 cats along.  It was a very warm day and I couldn't leave them in the car without leaving the air conditioning running.  So we took turns getting out of the car at the viewing spots.  The Grand Canyon is beyond words.  I'm sure my pictures don't do it justice either.

At the end of the second day, we stopped at Kingman, Arizona a few hours past the Grand Canyon.  It was a relief that we only had about 6 hours to drive on the third day.  But we still left early.  We didn't want to have to drive too close to L.A. if we didn't have to, so we decided to take the scenic route through the California deserts.  That was really beautiful too.  When I think of California, I definitely don't think of desert.

We reached the Mexico border around noon July 1st.  I was told my someone in the US Embassy in Tijuana that I might have to declare the cats.  So I made sure to get in the declare line.  But they were much more interested in my plates and glasses than the cats.  They didn't even ask to see them or their papers.  I didn't realize it would be so easy to get into Mexico.  I guess getting out of Mexico is a lot harder.

My dad bought me a GPS (which was an awesome gift for a road trip, thanks Dad!) and we drove right to the apartment without any problems.  We got there so early in the day, we surprised my husband and his brothers.  They weren't quite ready for us.  It felt really surreal to finally be there.  Tijuana, BC, México.