So I feel like a bad little blogger for having gone so long without writing! But I don’t know about you but life has been blowing by! Way too fast. Can’t…. gasp….. keep….gasp…. up.
But I did have something quite marvelous happen that was like a screeching stop. The best kind, SPRING BREAK. Thank goodness! To be honest, I was going pretty crazy with a ridiculous amount of schoolwork, heavy expectations, and my own mind driving me crazy- this couldn’t have been better timing. I was pretty much living in the university library, all squirrely on Starbucks. They even had to put up this sign…
I knew there was a reason people were sitting next to me!
But I digress. I’m really excited to talk about my awesome trip with my lovely parents and boyfriend to the REAL West Texas. Even as a writer, I am stumped about how to describe the beauty of it all. But I’ll do my best.
We left Saturday morning and within a few hours we came upon the outskirts of the mountains. Rolling hills eventually turned into steep cliffs and uplifted rock. There were sweeping valley plains with long grass and native cactus and shrubbery shadowed by steep mountain peaks and cliff faces of many different rock colors. The magnitude of the mountains stole the skyline for miles and miles. My favorite quote from the trip was my dad’s “you can see something for twenty minutes before you actually get to it.” We first stayed in an old adobe lodge that was built back in the 1920s, which is settled in a beautiful mountain valley.
The cool mountain air breathed new life into me as I just soaked up the beauty that the West Texas mountains had to offer.
That night we went to the observatory high on a mountaintop. For avid stargazers like ourselves it was like a dream within a dream. I haven’t been able to see the stars that clearly in eons. Even though it was very cold with the wind cutting through you, some hot chocolate and really excited astronomers made it incredibly worthwhile. Plus, they agreed with me that Pluto is still a planet. Go Team Pluto!
After that we stayed at another old hotel where we lounged in front of a warm fireplace while my boyfriend strummed at his guitar. If I could find myself nestled in the mountains in an old Victorian style building, complete with a wrap around porch, a roaring fire, and a good-looking guy playing a classical guitar, I don’t think I could help but breath a little easier all the time. I’d say a pretty good Yoga substitute for the trip.
Ugh, and have I mentioned the food? There was lots of it and was just heavenly. You can’t go hungry eating in Texas, it just doesn’t happen. This little piece of work right here pretty much undid any healthy eating I was trying to maintain. Little slice of heaven, my friends. My boyfriend doesn’t even like pecan pie and he loved it!
I also saw my first Mexican mountains! They were gorgeous! (I am probably overusing exclamations points!! But so excited!! So pretty!!) It made me want to just swim across the Rio and go explore some more (though that would be heavily frowned upon, in fact I have a story about that, but I don’t want to get anyone into trouble…).
We also got to see the best of Texas history (or perhaps just most entertaining?) when we visited the famous home of Judge Roy Bean. If you are a Texan you must check this place out. We all got a bunch of laughs, he was quite a character! Insulting governors, dishing out justice however he saw fit, maintaining a saloon and the seat of Justice of the Peace in the same building. No wonder Texans have such a reputation!
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More than anything though, it was good for me to relax and take in the beauty of my home state. It is amazing what good company and beautiful nature can do for one’s soul. Oh, and I got an incredible story idea and I hope I can get it done in time for a publishing deadline, new experiences always give new story ideas!
I hope you can find a spring break of your own! Turns out, you don’t always have to go too far!
Simply & Softly 
