And my mind was blown...

And the road trip continues... Houston was awesome! I did one night with Jenny & Alana, one night with Miguel from Martel, and two nights at Lovett with Dave (my freshman from Sid). That was really cool because he lived right next door to Rachi, so the 3 of us hung out a bunch! Of course, I hit up all the restaurants I missed so dearly and chowed down on some delicious brownies, courtesy of the Jenny & Alana bakery :)

Then it was off to Austin to visit Bradley. We did dinner on Tuesday with our friend Michael and then went to a cafe and walked around downtown a little. We took the tour of the Texas State Capitol on Wednesday, followed by the botanical gardens and chillin back at his house. His parents cooked us dinner and we said grace... it was soooo nuclear family. I arrived in San Antonion on Thursday morning and hung out with Andy (Miguel's twin) all day. Then Tamara (old Brown President) picked me up and we went down to the riverwalk to be EXTREMELY gluttonous with our 20 oz. margaritas, then strawberry margaritas, then chips and salsa and queso and delicious. By the time our food arrived we were stuffed... of course, that didn't stop up. We walked it off a little and then went to Dirty Nellie's Irish Bar where we had beer and peanuts and listened to some old guy on a piano sing popular songs with a dirty twist! It was super fun, though most people in there were like 30 - 50ish. Friday I hung out with Andy again during the day and then met Tamara again and we just chilled and had dinner and relaxed some more at her house. It was nice, and I got some good sleep :)

Today I did the "horrible" drive from San Antonio to El Paso. Everyone kept on saying how awful and boring that drive is, but I actually loved it! I made it in 7.5 hours and saw all kinds of new scenery- desert with cactus and mesas and stuff. It was a nice change from the forest and swamp and orange groves that I saw all the time driving from Coral Springs to Houston. I arrived around 4pm and hung out with Brenda. We went to dinner at the State Line- a BBQ joint that lies on the Texas - New Mexico border! Basically, you park your car in Texas, and as soon as you enter the restaurant, you are in New Mexico! It blew my mind! And, Brenda lives across the street from New Mexico- literally- the people across the street from her have a New Mexico area code! I always thought the Rio Grande divied Texas and New Mexico around El Paso, but apparently New Mexico has land east of the river. It was crazy. It was the first time I have been back to New Mexico since we moved when I was 4. I was less exciting than I expected. Oh- and the Rio Grande is the most disappointing river ever. We drove along it and looked at Mexico- only I didn't realize it until Brenda said something because the river is basically empty and even if it were full it'd be about 4 feet across. Anyways, we went out to some bars tonight- it was good- I had a beer and a mojito.

I'm off to Tucson tomorrow! Then L.A. to stay with Rachi's parents and see Virginia who will also be staying there with her whole family... weird. Then up to San Fran for a week! YAY!

Don't do drugs,
Phill

p.s. I'll post pics of Carley's place next time I can use my computer on the internet...