Back in the US, back in the US, back in the USAAA

Tuesday April 5 through Tuesday April 12. California is not very exotic (except the Buckhorn Saloon in North Fork, the geographic center of California was pretty exotic) so I will close with a quick wrap

The cactus garden at the Getty Center in LA

up of our return home. We spent a day and a half in the art museums and Goodwills of LA, three days touring Giant Sequoia, Kings Canyon and Yosemite National Parks, and two and a half days driving north with stops to see Booth, Iris and Sarah.

So what are some of the things we notice in the US after three months in Latin America? Here are ten:

• All the US bathrooms have toilet paper, I can throw used TP in the toilet and not a smelly basket, and I never have to pay to use the bathroom.
• No need to wonder whether the water is potable or not.
• The roadsides and towns are clean; no trash strewn about.
• The pavement is good, the signage is clear, and the driving is easy.
• No animals on the roads or in towns: no free ranging horses, donkeys or goats.
• No ground fires along the roads or in the fields.
• Police presence: armed national police and military are everywhere in most of the Central American countries, and rarely seen here in the US.
• In Central America few people own cars. People walk a lot, take buses, and ride bicycles or sometimes horses. Mothers cross the busy highway with a firm grip on their young child’s hand. Here, everyone drives. OMG, cars cars cars everywhere! SUVs and trucks!
• Airplanes. We rarely head them in Mexico or Central America. Here we hear them frequently.
• Here I can speak English and I understand every word that people say to me. Though I am impressed with how much of the new signage in the parks is in both languages, and how many people in California are bilingual.

The trip was fabulous, but it feels good to be home.