Mike printed off a very non-detailed map from the internet. The girls had come home from Xi'an the night before, so we all piled into the van. It was my job to navigate us through all of the craziness they call road signs. Most of the road was a nice toll-road, and fairly straight-forward. Not too many cars. But, the signs are very confusing, and all I can figure, is that they think differently than we do out west. Once we actually got onto the right road, we did very well. There were beautiful farms all along the way. They don't have the big tractors like you see in the U.S. It's more the old style.
Road Trip!
I thought this was worthy of inclusion because we've never gotten gas by ourselves before! Well, here in China.
This sign was on the outside of the bathrooms at the rest stop. We totally agree that you have to have a sense of humor to use them, especially if you recently had hip surgery and aren't as flexible as you used to be!
We have never felt so welcome at a rest stop!
We arrived safely in about four hours. The Priestley's were very gracious, and we had lunch, and then went to the Han tombs. These are small warriors, also made of terracota. It was very interesting, the most interesting part being the actual tombs that we were able to walk into. They were made of huge, hand-cut stones. They were so smooth and straight! It was a neat thing to see. The next day, we went to do some rock-climbing. It was lots of fun, and everyone, except me because of my hip, tried it. I was really proud of the children and how brave they were. The girls have rock-climbed before in a gym, but this was the first time on real rocks! It was so great of the Priestleys to take us. What a great activity.
Here is Emporer King Chu Liu Zhu (who reigned between 128 BC-116 BC) The tomb was made for him and his wife in the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-24 AD)
This is a jade burial armor that was made for the king.
Pottery found in the tombs
We got a cart to take us around the huge park because of me.
If you can't read this, it says "Keep silence"
These gentlemen asked to have photos with the girls.
That little red dot is Jay. Way to climb!
Caitlin is ready!
Here is Eli, repelling down after his climb.
Coli-way to climb
See how close Rach is to the top?
Here we are with Tammy, Ron, Derek, Emily and Danni Priestley.
The next day was fast Sunday, so we had fast and testimony meeting with them. It was a really sweet experience with them in their living-room, just the two families, sharing our testimonies. We had a wonderful time with all of them and really appreciate their hospitality. We did well getting home, except as we got close to Nanjing, they had some crazy signs again, and we ended up going the very long way around. It took over an hour extra to get home. We were just glad to arrive back. At one point, we had no more ping-ying (Chinese written in the western alphabet) signs, and just had Chinese charactors. We knew we were out of our league with this! We immediately back-tracked.
We had a great time, and I was quite impressed with Mike as he was able to swerve around people, carts and animals suddenly showing up out of the bushes on the sides of the freeway. Unfortunately for Rachel, this made it impossible for her to practice her driving skills and get several hours in. It was a great road trip.
