the numbers are in...

...and we each spent a total of $140 dollars on communal things like the hotel room, gas and groceries. not too shabby of an attempt at a cheap spring break i think.

i presented my thesis sunday so i should finally have time to upload the hundreds of pictures i took and decided to keep. stay tuned.

Boys (and girls) in Da Hood (well...my car)

Here's the second video shot with Kim's digital camera as we were pulling out very old records of mine. Here we all sing along to Dynamite Hack's cover of the Easy E classic "Boyz in Da Hood" which I belive to be one of the true symphonic opuses of our generation (Easy E... we miss you, boy). I hope you enjoy the musical stylings and you'll see why I DJ and don't sing at all:




Don't Quote Me, Boy...

the first video is up!

Watch as Will, Matt and Robin discuss the silly demands of some artists as we wait our turn at the Chinati complex to view a piece that can only be seen by 5 or fewer people at a time...

Disclaimer: This video (and the others to be posted later) are taken with my digital still camera and aren't great quality. In this one, the wind tries to overpower my camera's baby mic.



More video fun to come later!

Too Little Time

I'm posting this from Austin as I didn't get a chance to write about it out there. Everyone got up early on Saturday, save Julie (who slept almost the entire day), Kim, and I. The rest of the group took a trip out to Ft. Davis to the Stables for an early morning horse ride. The horses went very slowly and everyone (except Tiff) wore a helmet which did not really make them look like "cool cowboys." After they got back, I had fixed everyone fajitas (they were a little too hot due to the addition of local spices) and we tried to see what else there was to do. Matt, Robin, Katie, Kim and I all went out to Monahan Sand Hills to ride down the dunes in these plastic disks, seen here:


Yes, I'm mooning the camera with my disk. The dunes were a lot of fun, despite the fact that I got sand on/in/attached to every part of my body and clothing. I didn't want to go at first and the 80 mile drive wasn't helping that, but Robin said it was a good thing and he wasn't wrong (not once) the entire trip- so I went. I was really glad we did that, though walking up the really tall dunes in very soft sand was such a freaking workout. I drove back (everyone was asleep except Katie) and all in all, I'm glad I went along!

After we got back and got showers (I don't think I've felt better after a shower in a long time) we decided to go eat at "The Cutest Resturant in Balmorhea" but then, the power went out. Cueva de Oso (Cave of the Bear) was out so we called up a place in Ft. Davis to see if the grid streched that far (power was out in our room too). Ft. Davis had power so we drove out there. It had turned cold and slightly rainy, so deer weren't really out (which is a great thing). Instead of the pizza place we had called, we turned into a well-lit mexican resturant called - I shit you not- Cueva de Leon (Cave of the Lion)! So as we traded one cave for another, we found that they had a cheap Saturday night buffet of beef and chicken fajitas, rice, beans, two types of cheeze enchiladas, chili rellenos, and a salad bar. The food was great and we took some pictures before we went back for an early bedtime (I packed first).

After waking up at six thirty, the gang got into the cars with amazing speed. We checked out at eight right on the dot! We had to stop at Ft. Stockton to take a picture of the giant roadrunner. Afterwards, we stopped in Fredricksburg for lunch at the Pizza Hut that Kim's mom used to work at as a teenager. The food was ok, but Kim and I passed off Julie to the other car so we could go visit Kim's Oma (German for grandmother) who lives in this beautiful house in Fredricksburg. After spending an hour and a half with Kim's family, we had some great cake and headed home, not too late after the other car.


Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping...

horsing around

The last full day in West Texas has been lots of fun. Got up early this morning and drove over to the Lajitas stables to ride horses. I've never ridden a horse before, so I was kind of scared of the horses. With the help of a safety helmet and the realization I was riding the prissiest horse at the stable (Paco was something of a diva), I ended up having a blast. I kind of want a horse now. Or a donkey. I would settle for a donkey.

This afternoon we went to the Monahan Sand Hills and sledded, of sorts, down sand dunes. Climbing the dunes was really hard, and I think that if I did that for an hour or so every day, I'd have the most fantastic legs in Texas. (Not that I don't already have some pretty spectacular gams.)

We did not stop at Dairy Queen again, much to my dismay. Oh, well. I have heard we might be swinging by the one in Fort Stockton tomorrow on the way home, as well as stopping to get a picture with the giant road runner statue. I am really excited about that. Not so excited about going back to Austin and back to homework. Oh, well.

The Title Goes Here

Much fun has been had both today and yesterday. Yesterday, we drove to Marfa, home of the previously maligned lights. However, Marfa redeemed itself by being a very cool artsy city, in the middle of an area whose major industry appears to be jerky. We started off with lunch at Squeeze, a sandwich/smoothie cafe across from the Marfa courthouse. I had a delicious turkey sandwich, and everyone else's food appeared equally tasty. The staff were friendly and the weather was warm, so you couldn't ask for much better. We also ventured into the Brown Recluse, a coffee shop which was the very image of Austin's much beloved Spiderhouse. As Will noted, house roasted beans and an arachnid theme seen to be the key to coffee success. I call dibs on "Black Widow".

After that, Will, Kim, Robin, and I, eager to uphold our status as cultured art snobs went to the Chinati gallery. Built on an abandoned cavalry base, it houses some absolutely fabulous pieces of modern art and sculpture. It also has a fine collection of inscrutable "sketches", "art poetry" and other things which would have gotten me an F in Eighth Grade Art. The Dan Flavin installations were very interesting, and our tour guide helpful and knowledgeable, so if you find yourself in Marfa (and who doesn't at some point?) do go visit.

That evening, we went to the Davis Mountains, and enjoyed a breathtaking view, along with some sandwiches and soda. Very nice indeed. We were warned of bears and mountain lions when we went in, but a hungry Julie swinging a rock was more than enough to ward off any predators.

Today, Katie, Tiffany, Robin and myself went horseriding in Fort Davis. Apparently, it was early enough that the horses were still hungover from last night, because those beauties were slow as could be. It was a good time though. Staring up at mountains, among the cacti and dry river beds, I could almost imagine myself as a cowboy, tough folk legend of the open range. On further reflection, the dorky plastic helmet I was wearing did not quite gel with that image.

This afternoon, after a meal of "so hot your tongue is crying" fajitas, courtesy of a certain enthusiastic cook, we drove to Monohans Sand Dunes and spent a couple of hours sliding down the dunes on discs. We were gritty as a miner's socks by the end, and I loved every minute of it.

Sorry for the excrutiatingly long post. I'll be off now, as somewhere out there, is a quesadilla with my name on it.

The Third (and one-half) Coast

Due to car issues, Kim and I set off early yesterday to Marfa, Texas to get my car looked at. I dropped it off at a good mechanics and we went exploring. I have concluded that Marfa is a little baby Austin. I do not mean an Austin for babies, but rather that Marfa is a fairly liberal, artsy, and fun city with lots of culture. We started by going to Marfa Book Co. which is a small art gallery/ wine bar/ coffee house/ bookstore that is quite nice. Kim got a few little things and the nice guy at the counter told her how "RENT" was a modern version of "La Boheme" and that was odd if not fun. here's a picture of said bookstore from the outside:

Kim and I then went to the Paisano Hotel which was very swank and had a visitor information center where we found a map of town and some fun things we should do. After lounging in their soft leather chairs and looking out at their beautiful Spanish courtyard with a fountain, we decided to walk (no car yet) across the old train depot yard to another little coffee shop called The Brown Recluse. This place is so close to Austin independent coffee shops it was scary. They roast their own beans, sell used books and rare records, and even have funny cut-outs with staff-drawn talk bubbles ("alms for the pour" was on their tip jar). I will be writing up a "rate it" for Brown Recluse for the Austin Traveler Magazine when I get back to Austin. I guess the secret to a good coffee shop is to have an arachnid-themed name and roast your own beans (see Spider House in Austin). Here are a few good pictures taken at the coffee shop so you can have an idea of what it's like:

After hanging around the coffee shop for a while, we went to Squeeze Marfa, a little sandwhich/ juice/ chocolate place hidden across from the courthouse (Matt will be putting this place in a "Rate It" on the Austin Traveler Magazine site soon). with lots of shade, very nice staff, and sandwhiches that were the best I've had in a while! They had lots of veggie options and no one was left out. If you're ever in Marfa (you should go) then this is where you must have a healthy and tasty lunch. We got a few pictures when the rest of the Magnificent Seven joined us from Ft. Davis. This is the courtyard where we ate because the weather was just so nice and breezy:

The group split again a little before 2pm and Matt, Robin, Kim and I went to the main gallery about a mile or so from downtown while Julie, Katie, and Tiff went exploring around Marfa. The galleries were about 50% great and 50% crap, so it was better than most modern art exhibits. The were some great Dan Flavin works and many others. The galleries need their own post so perhaps this evening I will write about the galleries before Julie and I go on our night dive in the spring. Suffice to say we got dozens of great pictures from the galleries and Matt, Robin, and I need to make a band because the shots we took are so money as cover art. We will call ourselves "The Checkered Demon Leisure Institute" so you should buy our album (if we ever make any music):

Head out on the highway, leave the world behind..

Picture This

Hello readers. Kim is terribly eager to show you some of the picture highlights of our little excursion, and I am only too glad to help. Enjoy, and reflect upon the wonders of modern technology.

Here's the natural pool at Balmorhea. Not pictured, ravenous fish.

Will enjoys a pint at the brewery in Alpine. I'm not sure why we drove 500 miles for Will to drink beer. He does that in Austin all the time.

The gang assembles in Marfa. Notice the total lack of Mystery Lights and the total lack of enthusiasm for waiting in a cold wind for said lights to show up.

I hope that you all enjoyed the pictures. More are coming soon, thanks to the tireless photojournalism of Kim, Tiffany, and Katie.

message about pictures

so our internet connection is slow and we're more than half way to our monthly flickr upload limit... the gazillons of pictures we're taking will wait to be uploaded to a storage site until after we're safely home and have our cable internet connections.

until then, you will have to content yourselves with limited relevant pics that will be loaded into the blog. and of course, the ones that are already uploaded from the first day to our flickr site...

i will have someone without carpal tunnel upload ones from the past couple days that are relevant to previous posts.

OMFG

I find laptops extremely hard to type on, so this will be short.

I love that damn bird Coco. He loved me, but then he left me for Julie. I tried to get him to perch back on my shoulder, and then he tried to bite me. Cheating bastard. Julie steals all of my boyfriends.

So far, this has definitely been the most interesting trip I've ever been on. My only complaint: sandwiches for every meal. No one else seems to have a problem with this, but damn if I'm not tired of peanut butter sandwiches.

The landscape here is definitely beautiful. Very austere, and nothing I actually want to be right in the middle of (I'm not much of a "nature" person, and I'm damn scared of rattlesnakes), but pretty to look at nonetheless. The sheer rock cliffs I find particularly nice. However I've begun to get homesick for Austin, and I've realized how much I've taken for granted the fact that you can drive down the street to purchase hard liquor, and not 35 miles.

We've seen antelopes, deer, horses, a skunk, rabbits, a duck, a heron, and a crapload of cows. I tried to catch the duck, but was foiled. And then Matt yelled at me for trying to feed the fish.

The one thing I DIDN'T see was the very attractive German boy who led the Marfa art museum tour. I can't believe I missed him. I mean, only for the opportunity to speak German. I am a German major after all. I expect Kim to post a picture of him. HOTT.

Tomorrow we ride horses!!!! Besides Coco, I expect them to be the highlight of the trip. Hooray!

It's A Long Way To Anywhere

Day Two of our trip proved three things.
1) Spring Break with friends is great.
2) Sometimes, places are 50 miles from gasoline and hamburgers.
3) Highways through the mountains are rarely well lit.

Things are going well on the trip. We started off with some swimming and I even tried my hand at snorkeling. I loved the view under the water, and sincerely hope the fish did not mind my intrusion. After that we headed to Alpine, to the smallest brewery in Texas. It follows German purity laws (which I pray refers only to beer), and I enjoyed the food, while non drivers enjoyed some beer.

Like the bandit attacks of old, Fort Davis repelled our incursion with a 5 o'clock closing time. Instead, we enjoyed the Largest Rattlesnake Exhibit in the World. The snakes were suitably impressive, and the owner was a real character. One of the best parts of trips is meeting new people, and Buzz, the owner, was fun to meet. Born in Upney, London (small world huh?), he runs the rattlesnake exhibit in Fort Davis, which is quite the journey of a lifetime. He clued us in on some good places to visit, and told some good engineer jokes too. Thanks Buzz.

The Marfa Lights lived up to their mystery, by asking the question "Why would seven people drive fifty miles to see some lights which may not really exist?" Adventure is why. We didn't see the lights, but the stars were wonderful and time with friends is never wasted. Fingers crossed that today is as interesting.

so far so good

Yesterday we got up early and went to the pool here at the Balmorhea Park. The pool is absolutely gorgeous, clear and blue straight to the bottom. I opted out of swimming, but laying out and watching my friends paddle around was still a lot of fun.

After swimming, we got dressed and headed out to Alpine, Texas. We visited a Bavarian Brewery for lunch (service was kind of slow, but the waitress steered us clear of bad dumplings and in the direction of good beer, and the cheeseburger was fantastic). Alpine is a pretty interesting little town, and I wish we'd had more time to stop and look around. In one store we poked in, they had a lot of vintage jewelry and sunglasses, which I thought was pretty spectacular.

After Alpine, we drove back to Fort Davis, but it was almost closing time so Matt, Julie, Tiff, Robin, and I decided to visit the Rattlesnake Museum. The guy who runs the place is named Buzz, and on top of catching his own rattlesnakes, he also has a lot of interesting stories to tell and a very fickle bird named Coco.

We drove back to the state park for a much needed nap. When everyone was awake and refreshed, some small children staying next door showed some of the boys to a very large turtle. The boys then showed the rest of us the turtle, and I must say, it was quite impressive. Then we bundled up and headed to Marfa to see the mystery lights.

When we got there, a guy from the Observatory was there with binoculars and telescopes set up, and we got to see the moon and the Pleiades, which were very pretty. He said he'd been out there a couple dozen times to see the lights and so for was 0 for 25. His luck didn't get any better last night. Oh, well.

After that, it was back to the hotel for sandwiches and sleep. All in all a pretty good day.

an update from Julie

After a long day of driving, we finally made it to Balmorhea State Park yesterday. After arriving we went swimming, picked up some SCUBA gear, and had a relaxing evening in our hotel room (seven people and two beds makes for an interesting time!).

Today began with a breakfast of pancakes and a trip to the pool. Will and I suited up in our SCUBA gear and went for a dive in Balmorhea’s nearby hot spring. The dive was amazing, and was my first dive since I got my diver’s certification in June. Several different types of endangered fish swarmed around us as we explored the depths of the hot spring. The visibility was excellent. At the bottom of the pond/pool we found the small upwellings of hot air that give the spring its year-around comfortable temperatures. The dive lasted about 50 minutes and will be followed by a night dive sometime in the next few days (probably Saturday).

After that, the entire group cleaned up and drove to Alpine, about 50 miles away. Alpine is the home of the Holland Hotel and its well-known German restaurant, where we all gorged ourselves on sausages and other tasty food.

Our original plans to visit the Historic Site at Fort Davis were overturned in favor of seeing the famous Marfa Lights, which we will head out for in a few minutes. Across from the Historic Site (which we briefly stopped at) was the Largest Rattlesnake Museum in the World (so said the sign at the front). For the bargain price of $12, Tiffany, Matt, Robin, Katie and I saw a collection of live snakes, spiders, scorpions, and other creatures that would blow your mind. The best part, though, was the flirty bird Coco, who wooed Tiffany and then abandoned her in favor of a nice perch on my shoulder. Coco sang to me for about 15 minutes before we finally decided it was time to put him back in his cage and head back to Balmorhea.

After my brief romance with Coco I joined the others for coke floats and a nap. Stay tuned for more updates!

PS: Kim says that she is resorting to photo-blogging instead of real blogging as a result of her carpal tunnel. So check out the neat photos of the trip!!

My West Texas Top 5 (so far):

1. Giant wind mills
2. Truck removing dead deer from highway
3. Giant statue of road runner in Ft. Stockton
4. Pretty rock found at a rest stop
5. The Balmorhea pool...you can swim in that

Honestly, I slept through about 6 hours of the drive here, so I didn't see much. For the brief period of time I have been awake, though, I have decided that West Texas is beautiful.

the photos are coming!

I'm still in the process of getting them uploaded but the first batch of photos will be posted at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/westtexastrip/.

We may move to a different storage site for later ones because we may exceed flickr's uploading max soon... Stay tuned.

Destination: Arrival

400 miles, 2 gas stations, 1 German bakery, and 1 Dairy Queen, and we arrived in Balmorhea. The drive was long, with delightful scenery, ranging from big rocks to roadkill. We made great time, even without the hyperdrive engine Will apparently has access to (I was the slow driver). Their car speeded along with mechanical precision, with my humble posse and I following to the sounds of the Pogues (if I had the stereo), Cake (if Robin did), and the Starlite Mints (if Tiffany controlled the music). Special thanks go to Robin, who translated complicated concepts like North and West, into simple Matt level commands like "Go left now".

We made it safely, and things are going well. The water's crystal clear, and cold enough to wake you up, without being cold enough to actually cause pain. We had soup last night, and I helped by not ruining the mushrooms. Today, we are going to swim, then go to lunch in Alpine. I anticipate more fun than seven and a half barrels of monkeys. I'm glad to be here, and things are going to be even more fun.

Tequila Sunrise

The drive over wasn't too bad. I drove with Kim and Julie and we bumped and beeped and thumped with our robot music all the way to Balmorhea. The drive wasn't too bad, I drive a '97 Saturn and as such it's pretty aerodynamic. I stuck pretty close to the speed limit the entire way, though the other car (Matt drives a Honda CRV) swears that I was hitting the triple digits. Mom, I swear I wasn't.

We had a pretty uneventful drive, save for a few stop overs that ended up almost taking all the time we saved by taking forever to eat or pee or whatever the hell they were doing. We got to the park, checked in, got our gear (SCUBA) and got unpacked and still had time to go swimming in the pool/lake/spring. Everyone seemed to really like it and the girls actually went swimming too!. The pool is a little different than I remember, the bottom seems less interesting (the rocks have been moved I think) though all this is from the surface, not from underwater where I saw it last time.

We went back (swimming in warm water makes you cold when you get out...very, very cold) and I made everyone some mushroom, green onion, lime, ginger udon (Japanese noodle dish). I went into the town with Katie and Tiffany to get a few supplies that we had forgotten and everyone else relaxed on the bed and watched Contact on the TV. Julie and I planned the dive (that should take place shortly) and then I went to bed alone with my fan in the kitchen.

I woke up pretty early (I went to bed about ten and got up this morning about six) and made everyone pancakes. They seemed to enjoy and I didn't want anyone to skip out the most important meal of the day. Well, now that everyone is up (they missed the most beautiful sunrise) I think we're going to the pool and I get to hang out underwater...I'll post about my dive later tonight.


Morning I'm waking up...can't focus on the coffee cup...

OBLIGATORY POST

Hello there.

I suppose I too should post on this thing. I tend to avoid anything blog-y (bloggy?) like the plague since my unfortunate Xanga phase, but since this is for science, I will post. This is for science, isn't it?

All I can hope is that I have packed enough underwear. Nothing ruins a trip like not having clean underwear. You can be having the most fun in the entire freaking world, but if you're wearing dirty underwear you'll still feel cold, oh so cold.

I'm worried about the shower situation. Smelliness is another of my phobias. I'm kinda out of the loop when it comes to the exact accommodations at our fabulous hotel suites (haha).

Actually I've been kinda out of the loop with most things affecting our trip. I've had other things on my mind. Like the thought of clean underwear, fresh out of the dryer, lightly scented with the mountain breeze scent of Downy softness.

I wanna go horseback riding. I WILL pout if I don't see at least one pony. Just putting that out there.

Also, I am not a morning person. Let it be known in advance. The unlucky one who awakens me tomorrow will be very... uh... unlucky.

Ok the end.