The Best of Plans
Well, well, well. Not the first to hear about its creation, but the first to post about it, I'm going to talk a little about my experience of planning our spring break trip. I'm William (Jean Paul is my online pseudonym) and I'd like to tell you a little about myself. I am 22 years old, from Dallas, a 4th year microbiology student at the University of Texas and I like to SCUBA dive, DJ, blog, and generally have a good time. I'm a lifeguard, Eagle Scout, and not a bad cook (or at least hope I'm not).
Our spring break plans originally started as going to Mexico on the cheap. We had planned to go to Monterrey and see the Mexican Museum of Modern Art, the historical sites, mountain ranges, shopping, breweries and other great sights of the third largest city in Mexico. This fell through, however and we decided to try the United States instead. We had a good idea of who wanted to come, but the logistics of getting them together in one place was a little daunting. Kim, who will be posting later helped us out by using her internet savvy to create an "E-vite". Evite is a site that anyone can use to help plan, invite, RSVP, and create a great party or gathering. Kim used the voting function to work out what time worked best for everyone and the replies helped us to plan out a meeting.
Six of the "Magnificent Seven" came, each with a plethora of ideas and some with an attitude of "whatever-works-for-you-works-for-me." We suggested trying to avoid the gulf coast, as it would be packed to the gills with college students and what were we trying to get away from in the first place?
We instead decided to take some sage advice and, "head west, young man." We decided to set up shop at a place I had been before years ago: Balmorhea State Park. The park is mostly a pool created by the CCC ages ago around a naturally occurring hot spring welling up from the desert. The pool is two acres large, crystal clear, twenty-five feet deep, about seventy-eight degrees year round, and home to some beautiful species of endangered fish. There is a small dive shop next door and SCUBA diving or skin diving is enjoyed all year long. Only a few of us are SCUBA certified, so we'll be the only divers, but I promise pictures when they are developed.
Diving is not the only thing to do in West Texas, otherwise this would be a boring trip for most involved. Marfa, Texas is the proud home of the Chinati Foundation, a huge modern art gallery from Europe built out in the little town. There is also horseback riding not far from the state park at the Lajitas Stables and there are two wineries where one can indulge their palate after some riding (Blue Mountain or St. Genevieve wineries offer award-winning wines grown out in the west Texas sun).
The park is situated at the foothills of the beautiful, purple Davis mountains and as such, is close to Ft. Davis, Texas which is home to the Ft. Davis Historical Site and many other attractions. Lest the desert nightlife seem boring to you, Ft. Davis is home to the McDonald Observatory just outside the city. The observatory is run by our alma mater, and since our money is hard at work for space explorations, it seemed like a good idea to check out some amazing scenes through the powerful telescopes. Julie, our aerospace engineer also wanted to check out the unexplained phenomenon of the Marfa Lights, an eerie effect outside Marfa which seem to hover and roll out in the desert.
We've so far planned that we'll be taking two cars, our own food (as the room has a kitchen), and plenty of music. The desert gets cold at night, so we'll need to be prepared for that. I think I'll be driving my little Saturn so hopefully we can get good gas mileage going and coming. Kim did a little number crunching at it looks like the trip (for the whole week) will cost everyone well under $200 for all we get to do. I think I'll let her talk more about that as she posts.
With all the fun sights and activities, we all decided that this would be a peaceful (and most importantly--cheap) trip away from school to explore the little known area that is West Texas. Kim, Katie, and Matt will be introducing themselves as they post later, but I will take the liberty of giving a brief view of the "Magnificent Seven."
Tiffany (Tiff): Tiffany is a 22 year old, 4th year linguistics major from Dallas. Tiffany has a sharp, sarcastic wit about her and as such is the one with all the snappy comments for our screw-ups. Tiffany is a blast simply because she's never afraid to voice her stance on things and loves having a good time; it might also be good to mention she's a vegetarian.
Julie: Julie is a 21 year old, 4th year aerospace engineer from Shreveport, Louisiana. Julie is a cyclist, a future astronaut, a SCUBA diver and an all around tough girl. She's not one to take anyone's crap and as such she's a blast to hang out with. Julie is a carnivore.
Robin: Robin is a 21 year old, 3rd year civil environmental engineer from Dallas. Robin is the quiet one of the group and always has a smile. Very knowledgeable on all things environmental and outdoorsy, Robin was there with a myriad of options for other outdoor sights near the park and many of the day-trips were suggested by him. Robin is also a vegetarian.
Matt: Matt is a 21 year old, 3rd year English major from Houston. Matt was born in Dubai to English parents, is a South Londoner at heart, has lived in Texas, Scotland, and Canada. Matt is our very polite Englishman with a penchant for punk rock and having a good time. Matt hates to offend and as such is pretty easy going. Matt is a thespian and has an amazing sense of humor that really comes out in his writing. Matt is most certainly not a vegetarian.
Kim: Kim is a 22 year old, 4th year journalism major from San Antonio. As the only professional writer, she's been doing this better for longer than any of us. She's the original intern for Austin Traveler Magazine and got Katie involved. Kim is always really busy but she loves to go out and explore Austin. She's waiting to hear back from grad school sometime before the blog is over, so you may see references in her posts. She and I are in a relationship, so we're often in the same place at the same time--we are not, however, the same person!
Katie: Katie is a 21 year old, 1st year graduate student in communication studies. She's the new addition to the Austin Traveler team as their foreign movie reviewer. Katie is the girliest one of the group and worried about what the desert might do to her hair (it's nice hair!). Katie loves all things fun, Bollywood, and cute boys. Katie, though younger than most of us, already graduated but found that her undergrad friends are much cooler than depressed grad students.
Hit the road, Jack...
Our spring break plans originally started as going to Mexico on the cheap. We had planned to go to Monterrey and see the Mexican Museum of Modern Art, the historical sites, mountain ranges, shopping, breweries and other great sights of the third largest city in Mexico. This fell through, however and we decided to try the United States instead. We had a good idea of who wanted to come, but the logistics of getting them together in one place was a little daunting. Kim, who will be posting later helped us out by using her internet savvy to create an "E-vite". Evite is a site that anyone can use to help plan, invite, RSVP, and create a great party or gathering. Kim used the voting function to work out what time worked best for everyone and the replies helped us to plan out a meeting.
Six of the "Magnificent Seven" came, each with a plethora of ideas and some with an attitude of "whatever-works-for-you-works-for-me." We suggested trying to avoid the gulf coast, as it would be packed to the gills with college students and what were we trying to get away from in the first place?
We instead decided to take some sage advice and, "head west, young man." We decided to set up shop at a place I had been before years ago: Balmorhea State Park. The park is mostly a pool created by the CCC ages ago around a naturally occurring hot spring welling up from the desert. The pool is two acres large, crystal clear, twenty-five feet deep, about seventy-eight degrees year round, and home to some beautiful species of endangered fish. There is a small dive shop next door and SCUBA diving or skin diving is enjoyed all year long. Only a few of us are SCUBA certified, so we'll be the only divers, but I promise pictures when they are developed.
Diving is not the only thing to do in West Texas, otherwise this would be a boring trip for most involved. Marfa, Texas is the proud home of the Chinati Foundation, a huge modern art gallery from Europe built out in the little town. There is also horseback riding not far from the state park at the Lajitas Stables and there are two wineries where one can indulge their palate after some riding (Blue Mountain or St. Genevieve wineries offer award-winning wines grown out in the west Texas sun).
The park is situated at the foothills of the beautiful, purple Davis mountains and as such, is close to Ft. Davis, Texas which is home to the Ft. Davis Historical Site and many other attractions. Lest the desert nightlife seem boring to you, Ft. Davis is home to the McDonald Observatory just outside the city. The observatory is run by our alma mater, and since our money is hard at work for space explorations, it seemed like a good idea to check out some amazing scenes through the powerful telescopes. Julie, our aerospace engineer also wanted to check out the unexplained phenomenon of the Marfa Lights, an eerie effect outside Marfa which seem to hover and roll out in the desert.
We've so far planned that we'll be taking two cars, our own food (as the room has a kitchen), and plenty of music. The desert gets cold at night, so we'll need to be prepared for that. I think I'll be driving my little Saturn so hopefully we can get good gas mileage going and coming. Kim did a little number crunching at it looks like the trip (for the whole week) will cost everyone well under $200 for all we get to do. I think I'll let her talk more about that as she posts.
With all the fun sights and activities, we all decided that this would be a peaceful (and most importantly--cheap) trip away from school to explore the little known area that is West Texas. Kim, Katie, and Matt will be introducing themselves as they post later, but I will take the liberty of giving a brief view of the "Magnificent Seven."
Tiffany (Tiff): Tiffany is a 22 year old, 4th year linguistics major from Dallas. Tiffany has a sharp, sarcastic wit about her and as such is the one with all the snappy comments for our screw-ups. Tiffany is a blast simply because she's never afraid to voice her stance on things and loves having a good time; it might also be good to mention she's a vegetarian.
Julie: Julie is a 21 year old, 4th year aerospace engineer from Shreveport, Louisiana. Julie is a cyclist, a future astronaut, a SCUBA diver and an all around tough girl. She's not one to take anyone's crap and as such she's a blast to hang out with. Julie is a carnivore.
Robin: Robin is a 21 year old, 3rd year civil environmental engineer from Dallas. Robin is the quiet one of the group and always has a smile. Very knowledgeable on all things environmental and outdoorsy, Robin was there with a myriad of options for other outdoor sights near the park and many of the day-trips were suggested by him. Robin is also a vegetarian.
Matt: Matt is a 21 year old, 3rd year English major from Houston. Matt was born in Dubai to English parents, is a South Londoner at heart, has lived in Texas, Scotland, and Canada. Matt is our very polite Englishman with a penchant for punk rock and having a good time. Matt hates to offend and as such is pretty easy going. Matt is a thespian and has an amazing sense of humor that really comes out in his writing. Matt is most certainly not a vegetarian.
Kim: Kim is a 22 year old, 4th year journalism major from San Antonio. As the only professional writer, she's been doing this better for longer than any of us. She's the original intern for Austin Traveler Magazine and got Katie involved. Kim is always really busy but she loves to go out and explore Austin. She's waiting to hear back from grad school sometime before the blog is over, so you may see references in her posts. She and I are in a relationship, so we're often in the same place at the same time--we are not, however, the same person!
Katie: Katie is a 21 year old, 1st year graduate student in communication studies. She's the new addition to the Austin Traveler team as their foreign movie reviewer. Katie is the girliest one of the group and worried about what the desert might do to her hair (it's nice hair!). Katie loves all things fun, Bollywood, and cute boys. Katie, though younger than most of us, already graduated but found that her undergrad friends are much cooler than depressed grad students.
Hit the road, Jack...
posted by wcyarbrough | 10:20 PM
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