• Day 18: The amazing end of an amazing journey

    Cathy This was the day we had all been waiting for—the Great Wall! Like seemingly every day on this trip, it included a very long bus ride. But it was so worth the drive. The moment we got there, the tour guide said if you go up this way, it’s more difficult, and if you walk up the other way, that will be less difficult. Immediately our girls said let’s do the hard one!

    One of the things I’d been looking forward to was walking on the Great Wall with my whole family—my husband, my daughter and my parents. But my dad’s knees aren’t the best. And my mom had taken a little spill a few days earlier and hurt her knee. After about five minutes of steep climbing, I had to beg my parents to turn and go the other way.

    It was a difficult moment. I wanted to go with them to watch over them. But Nicki was saying come on, Mom! So they said OK, we’ll go. The rest of the gang, we all headed up the more difficult route, and I was glad my parents had agreed to take the other route.

    Lissa We’re talking straight up.

    Cathy There were some parts that were completely vertical and we had to hold onto a railing. Some steps were over a foot tall. Obviously when they were building the Great Wall a thousand years ago, there was no building code!

    How in the world did those ancient workmen do this with no modern equipment, no lifts? It was just mind-boggling. The wall was wide, too. Didn’t horses walk over it?

    Lissa I don’t know about that. It was steep. There were vendors up there, and they had to walk up carrying all their goods.

    Cathy You’d see people selling everything from T-shirts to hats to even heavy plaques! I’m thinking they have to pack their stuff up and haul it up and down every day! And here we’re complaining about walking up these stairs—and by the way, there were also senior citizens and people with babies.

    Lissa There were these pillars at intervals and those were our milestones. Let’s go to that pillar, and when you get there and look out, there’s another pillar.

    Cathy Nicki was saying, are we going to walk the whole wall, Mom?

    Lissa The view was incredible. When you stand and look out at the mountains stretching away, you really get a sense of how huge China is.

    It would have been cool to take up a picnic lunch and spend some time. I felt like we just ran up and ran back down.

    Cathy Our time was limited because we had to meet back at the tour bus. It was like hurry up, take a picture, OK come on, let’s go to the next pillar, oh wait, I want to get a T-shirt! It was a great experience.

    Lissa Something we’ll remember forever.

    Cathy Something we’d only seen in movies. We kept telling our girls, do you realize where we are? Do you realize we’re in China? We’re on the Great Wall! But they were like, come on Mom, let’s run a little faster!

    We had come to learn everybody’s habits on the trip, and as usual, Daniel and Keoni were bringing up the rear, taking pictures of absolutely everything. Kara was with Darrell, Nicki and me because Keri and Nicki wanted to play together. Lissa and Megan were somewhere in between. I think each of us realized what a moment this was for our individual families, and we each took some time to talk to our girls so they would understand and appreciate it.

    Darrell being Chinese, the Great Wall and the terracotta warriors were the two things he’s always wanted to see. We said, oh my gosh, can you believe we’re finally here! It meant a lot to him, and that’s why we kept saying to Nicki, we’re here! We wanted her to really understand that this was a once-in-a-lifetime moment and not just a hike. Look at the bricks! Can you imagine somebody had to climb up and build this by hand? Look at the opening—do you think that was for bows and arrows?

    And even though my parents couldn’t be there with us, I was glad that they were climbing the Great Wall.

    Lissa I was on the Great Wall 20 years ago, but now I really got to appreciate it a lot more. Even though it was quick, to feel like you’re virtually on top of the world, on such a famous ancient wonder, and to enjoy that moment with my family was awesome.

    Cathy I’m so glad this was last because it was the highlight of the trip. The trip of a lifetime. It was a beautiful day. We were with our families, we were with our friends. What could be better?