Tree Sap: November 2011

Like every student, I savored last week's holiday as a much-needed break.

In fact, I got started early.

Instead of suffering through Monday and Tuesday classes, Ryan and I took off to Texas on Friday night. After several hold ups, we (Myself, Ryan, his sister Meagan, his cousin Jimmy, his cousin Brandon and his girlfriend, Allie) finally had the car packed and snacks bought, and were on the road just as the first real snowstorm of the year kicked up. 12.5 hours later, around 10 am, we arrived in sunny, WARM El Paso, Texas.

From there it was adventure after adventure.

Playing with Grandpa's knick-knacks while trying (and failing) to avoid being portrayed as unattractive to the entire facebooking world.

It's a whistle. Don't judge.

We worked it out. At a prison. Yeah.

We went to see Breaking Dawn with pretty much the entire extended fam. And Ryan inconsiderately laughed throughout the film.

The Twilight Saga can sure work up an appetite.. so we were treated to all-you-can-eat pizza afterward.

Ry taught me some lock-picking basics.


Focus on the successfully picked lock and not how terrible I look in this picture.

Did some shooting

..and went a little crazy

Haha actually that's just the face I made when I realized that shooting a shotgun kind of hurts.

Oh, and Ryan got some shots in too.

We went for a romantic, leisurely bike ride..

had an interesting 4-wheeling ride in the Rio Grande

Went running a coupla times, which I admittedly hated.

Got some desperately needed fresh air after Ryan introduced me to Chico's Tacos

The ride home was the least fun.. Ryan got motion sickness and looked like a zombie for pretty much the entire 12 hours. In his state of delusion, he forgot that we had stuck the cheese in the window so it could stay cool outside. He rolled down the window for some air and the cheese was no more.

Ryan's family were such wonderful hosts and I had the most amazing time. I cannot express enough my gratitude that I had the opportunity to spend the week with them. They gave me a lot more to be thankful for.

Still, it didn't suck to come home to this!