Spring Break #2

So after my real spring break and birthday, I decided to take another long weekend off and head to Texas. 

My best friend, Megan Swan, returned from her mission the Manchester, New Hampshire Mission (encompassing New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, and bits of New York and Massachusetts) about a month ago. I knew I wanted to see her, weighed my options, decided that the 25th-29th would be the perfect time to visit because all papers and mid-terms were turned in earlier that week and the next round weren't due for another month, found an incredible flight deal and booked it. (Aaron also went out of town this weekend so I knew I wouldn't be leaving him all alone again).

So I flew to Houston early Thursday morning, got a mani/pedi, and then hopped in the car with Megan, her cousin Nicky, visiting from Canada, and we drove to San Antonio for three days. We stayed at the Westin hotel on the Riverwalk, thanks to Megan's dad's points, and we loved it. Most importantly, we discovered that the Cleveland Cavaliers were staying in our hotel. 

I saw LeBron James when we went downstairs to use the ATM. Even though he was decked out in Kentucky gear, humongous headphones, and sunglasses, I could still tell (which is weird, since I don't really follow NBA basketball). Megan didn't believe me until we looked up the Spurs/Cavaliers schedule on my phone. Then we got sort of giddy and ridiculous and decided to walk away instead of bothering them for autographs and pictures. Why? I don't know. We are still regretting that decision.

The next day, we went to the hotel gym and happened upon one of the trainers for the Cavaliers. Megan struck up a conversation with him, we talked about Lebron and Shaq, and then Megan ended up teaching him the first missionary discussion and "committed" him to go to mormon.org. He said he was going to try to get us tickets for the game, but he never called, of course. 

Anyways, when we weren't being starstruck over basketball players, we were enjoying San Antonio! 

The Riverwalk is so beautiful!

Remember the Alamo!

Six Flags of Texas

They were honoring the Scotsmen who fell at the Alamo on Friday

Nicky and I had our caricatures drawn...but we did not purchase them.

We celebrated Nicky's dinner at a place called Dick's. They are mean to you, even if it is your birthday.

On Saturday we drove to Austin and went kayaking at Barton Springs/Colorado River with our old highschool buddy, James. It was BEAUTIFUL outside and SO MUCH FUN. I didn't take pictures because I didn't want to drop the camera in the river but I did snap a picture as we were driving over the river to the University of Texas and downtown. 

We were driving through the UT campus just to look at the architecture, etc, when we happened upon a Festival of Colors! If you've ever spent any time in Provo, you know that the Festival of Colors in Spanish Fork is hosted at the local Hare Krishna temple and is basically a chance for BYU kids to pretend like they are at Woodstock. I participated in the nonsense that is the Festival of Colors all 4 years at BYU. In fact, one year, I had my hair highlighted just a day before the Festival and my highlights turned PURPLE. That was an expensive mistake. Anyways, it was a seriously fun part of my BYU experience but I was always PREPARED for it. Turns out now its kind of a cliche and funny BYU thing to make fun of. OH WELL. 

In Austin, the Festival of Colors is a FREE event sponsored by the UT Hindu Student Association. It was just being held in a grassy knoll on the UT campus. Of course, having participated in it before and having no clothes or towels, Megan and I weren't gung-ho about doing it but Nicky was really excited about it so we decided to give it a try. Nicky loved it and was totally messy and we just got bits of our faces colored and watched from the sidelines.

We cleaned up as best we could and then headed back to Houston. We watched High School Musical 3 that night with my parents and then on Sunday I spent the day with my parents and Megan and Nicky were able to come over and we watched my wedding videos and pictures and we played Beatles Rock Band. (My mom said it was the first time Rock Band actually sounded good)

So a super fun weekend and I am so glad I was able to be reunited with my friend!