Spring Break 2005

[WARNING: this blog is super long, but what do you expect from a six-day roadtrip with GREAT people! And to think of all the fun stuff I left out!]

I can honestly say this was the best Spring Break I’ve ever had! It began on Friday, March 11th when Holly Herr and I took off for San Antonio from Dallas at about 11 AM. This was going to be both of ours first times to San Antonio and boy were we pumped! I had actually never been to Austin either, so since we had to go through there on the way down, we stopped so I could see the state capital building as well as get a quick glimpse at what all the excitement and spirit for the University of Texas was all about.

What was planned to be about a hour long stop turned into about a 2.5 hour stop! HA! Holly and I walked the perimeter of the capital building taking pictures, walked in the capital building taking pictures, went to the visitor center and took pictures (as well as got brochures and maps) and walked a bit into the UT campus so I could get closer to the ENORMOUS football stadium they have TOWERING over the whole campus. Unfortunately we were too tired to walk ALL the way to the stadium from where we were parked, so we detoured through the social work department building (thought it would be worth checkin’ out since we are both masters’ social work students right now at UT in Arlington). After all that walking and all the quarters for the time we were there in the meter, we were off again to I-35 South to head on to San Antonio!

In San Antonio we were going to be staying at one of Holly’s best friend’s apartment for the weekend. He too was beginning his spring break that week and he had headed outta town that day as well for a cruise, so he left us a key to his place (this was GREAT….free lodging for the weekend!)

We got into San Antonio around 7 PM. It was around 10 PM that our two buddies Brandi and Cheryl who were coming down from Abilene met us at the apartment. With it being so late, Friday night was limited to McDonalds and hittin’ the hay.

Sat. we all got up and went and hit Burger King for breakfast/lunch and then we were on to downtown San Antonio! The Alamo was first on our agenda. That turned out to be pretty cool, I suppose. I personally found it rather disappointing that it is RIGHT down town amidst all the big buildings and shops. I mean heck, there is a HUGE tall hotel directly behind it (kinda gets in the way for pictures). I just find it kinda sad that they have developed the town so closely around such a historic piece of their history; kind of seems to take away from it’s heightened honor and stuff, I suppose. Anyways, the Alamo was cool, but I suppose not growing up a Texan I didn’t find it to be as exciting and “oh my gosh” as I had thought it was going to be. Oh well….i still got some fun pictures there anyhow…HA!

After this we were all hungry and thirsty and tired of being on our feet. Time for the Riverwalk! We went and found a nice little Mexican restaurant and got drinks and appetizers and relaxed for a bit. This was a much needed break as it was a BEAUTIFUL day, yet kind of warm, so we were all thirsty!

I must say, the Riverwalk is really pretty! It is so cool to just stroll along down on the river-level under the shade of the fun trees they have down there!

After this we all headed back to the apartment for a short rest. After about an hour it was about time to get changed and go see what sort of a night life the town had. I have to admit, the Riverwalk is just as pretty at night as it is in the day time! The bridges and trees are lite-up and the boats are still going down the river…just way fun!

The following morning we had planned to get up in time to be at the Riverwalk for the 1 PM St Patricks day parade down the river. This was when they would dye the river green, but we didn’t all get up and get showered and fed in time to make it down there in time for that. Instead we just went down there around 2:30 and rode the riverboat tour thingy. That was a lot of fun and we had a WAY fun, nice guy for our boat tour guide. I got TONS of good pictures during this as well.

Around 4:30 PM we all hit the rode and headed to Abilene. I had never been going this route to Abilene before, but I must say, the scenery down in the south-western part of Texas coming up that way is SOOO pretty! Great hills! Unfortunately, since we got gone so late, the natural light was gone before we knew it and I found myself being more scared driving than I have EVER been before!!!

No, not that I didn’t know where I was going….i’m actually really good with directions and navigating new territories. What I’m referring to is DEER!!!! Yes! That’s right…DEER!

It started when Holly was like, “whoa, did you see that dear on the side of the road?” (which came only minutes after Holly had seen the mating cows on the side of the road…HA!). I was like, “No.” So then we both started talking about stories of people hitting deer in their cars. I still wasn’t all that worried or scared at this point, but it was right after I finished tell Holly about how my one friend had hit a coyote and it totaled her car that I noticed up ahead in the middle of the road TWO deer crossing right in front of me! I IMMEDIATELY yelled something…HA!...and slammed on my breaks! Granted, they were probably still 4 or 5 car lengths ahead of me, but it was just so ironic that it happened right after we were talking about it! So then I was scared. No lie! Being out on these two lane highways in the middle of basically no-where with hardly any other cars out there, with deer crossing in front of me was scary. I was literally going like 50 or 55 in a 65 for the next probably 50 miles. HA! All I could think about was hitting some stupid deer and having my stupid air-bag go off and I would have like whip-lash or a bruised face the rest of my spring break. Or, as Holly and I kept joking about, having the deer go through the windshield and be stuck in the cab with us…HA!

So yeah…no joke, we ended up seeing two more deer on two more occasions after those two that crossed the street (however these deer were on the side of the road and not crossing). So, the moral of this story…BEWARE OF DEER WHEN DRIVING UP FROM SAN ANTONIO TO ABILENE AT NIGHT!!!

Okay, so what’s next….ABILENE!

On Monday, Holly and I went to Chapel, hoping it might be praise day as it sometimes was on the first day back from spring break (since everyone was normally really loud and talkative that day back), but no, and maybe because Brad isn’t in charge anymore, I don’t know. It was actually a really boring Chapel, and my favorite part, the singing, wasn’t all that good either. Only like 3 songs and one of which I didn’t even know.

Then it was lunch time. We had Miss Jennifer Ellison meet us at Joe’s Italian for lunch! FUN! Then we got to see her office at ACU…really cute, decorated a lot like her newly decorated living room at her house…HA!

At 5 PM GATA had a softball game, but ended up not having one since the other team didn’t have enough players, so instead we all just practiced, and that was a BLAST! I LOVED playing with them again! Granted I got nailed with the ball in the shin (since I didn’t get all the way down with my glove to stop the grounder being afraid it might pop-up and take me out…but you know! HA!) We had some WAY fun folks out there practicing with us, so that made for a BLAST! I love being with the GATAs and getting to play sports again!

Then I got to go pick up some Betty Roses and hit my good buddy Becca’s house for some fun talk time and eating with her, Holly, and Laura. What’s better than stuffin’ your face and chatting with some of your favorite people in the world?!?!

The next day was lunch with Laura day! Laura is student teaching right now at a middle school there in town so Holly and I got up and went and picked up Wendy’s to go eat with Laura. The FUNNIEST part was when we got there and went to the office to sign-in. So we walk in and there are three people in there and I go “which of these clipboards is the one for visitors to sign-in on?” And this one lady is all smiling and excited and goes “it’s this one” and walks over and grabs out visitor badges for us and goes “Your daughter is expecting you! I’m so glad you’re here!” Well, of course, I know she must think I’m someone else, but I just let her say that and act like whatever. Well then she is like, “Your daughter is SOOO sweet! She is just a GREAT kid!” So at this point I’m lookin’ at Holly outta the corner of my eye and she is trying not to laugh, and I’m thinkin’, I have to tell this poor lady I’m not here to see my “daughter”…so I’m like “Uh…we’re actually not here to see my daughter” which that actually probably came out sounding like I still had a daughter there but wasn’t there for that purpose…HA! I was like, “we are here to eat with a student teacher, Laura Singleton” and then the other two people in the office started laughing, and this lady got kind of embarrassed I think, but I had to tell her....HA!

Anyways…lunch went GREAT! Laura looked all cute in her teaching outfit and all! And I love getting student teaching and teacher stories from all my friends nowadays! I’ve heard so many from everyone from Sharon, to JWalk, to Laura, to Misty, to Becca, to Janaye. I respect teachers so much (not that I didn’t before now).

That night I went with Holly, Hollie, Cheryl, and Ellison to see Million Dollar Baby. Have I told you before that I’m in LOVE with that movie!?!? It is a MUST see! I’m serious y’all! It will have you thinking about life because of so many things! Anyways…Holly and I had already seen it, but the others hadn’t. So I DEFINITELY wanted their opinions.

Well, the movie ended and everyone else in the theatre exited in complete silence. We all just kept sitting there. It was quiet and I’m thinking, well I gotta know what they think. So I turn to Cheryl and ask and she is like “that was terrible!” HA! I can’t tell you much to explain her saying it was terrible because I don’t want to give away the movie, but she meant it was terrible in a good way (I know that doesn’t make sense, but trust me). She did admit it was a good movie.

So then I turned to Inwood and Ellison. I really wanted to know what Ellison thought, because she was sure to let me know on the way there how I was the only person she had heard say that they liked this movie, all the other comments she had heard were bad (however I think they were all from people who hadn’t seen it…and were just basing it off what they heard about how the movie was….HA!) So I ask Ellison and she goes… “That....movie….was…..AMAZING!” (I put the periods in there to show how she said the sentence very slowly and drawn out, if that makes sense). She was just sitting there in shock, in amazement, she couldn’t believe how much she loved it! She was like, “I think I just need to sit here for a second.” HA! Seriously folks, if a movie can make Inwood and Ellison’s eyes water (not to mention mine too, even the second time watching it)….that movie has some power folks! I LOVE it! We all talked about the movie in the theater sitting there for probably about 3 or 5 minutes and then a lot of the way back home from the theatre too. Seriously, I’ve never seen people leave a theatre in utter silence and in deep thought and contemplation from a movie except from The Passion of the Christ.

[Has this worked?!?! Are you wanting to see this movie yet!?!?! Seriously, I’ll go see it a third time if you want someone to go with you!]

[Why I love this movie so much: good actors; it has a love and strong desire for a sport; it shows a love for a friendship; it will make you cheer, love, cry, grimace, and laugh all in one storyline! And it’s a great movie for girls and guys!]

After the movie that night and went and chilled with my buddy Becca at the library since I she couldn’t come with us to the movie that night because she had to work (and I had moved us going to movie from Monday night to Tuesday night which kept her from being able to go….sorry Becca…I still love you!)

Wednesday didn’t consist of much. Holly and I basically got up and went and got lunch at Little Panda (where we ran into about a MILLION ACUers we knew…ha!) and then hit I-20 home to Dallas.

I must say, this Spring Break rocked just because I got to be with people I love and be unscheduled! I love not having set plans and things I “have” to do. Nothing can beat a trip to Abilene where there are no set plans! Fun people all around!

So, I recommend taking a roadtrip if you can with friends! Or just go visit friends and don’t make any set plans! That is the thing about true friends, y’all can just wing-it and you can have one of the best times of your life!