mountains, javelinas, and diesel.

The spontaneous camping trip to west Texas is an adventure I will NEVER forget, and the many, valuable lessons I learned:
1. We got to the campsite at dusk, and I was the one who could set up a tent. Camping as a child has mega benefits, as does planning things thoroughly. (picture at McDonald Observatory)

2. Javelinas (wild boars) are apparently not shy of people camping, and at like 1 am, we could hear them outside the tent, sniffing and scratching at it. Yes, i now fear them. Irrational? maybe so.
3. I love camping. I love the smell of campfire, being able to cook everything, and most of the time, not having electronics around. That's a good break. Rachel also loves camping like I do.  However, Paul is a city boy, and couldnt even tolerate cooking hot dogs over the fire. I never realized guys could hate camping. Lesson learned. (this describes the weekend extremely well; rachel happy and chill, paul reserved, hesitant, and not so happy)

4. The Chihuahuan Desert is pretty cool. same with the Davis Mountains. I totally never realized that texas actually had mountains, as the one time I had been through west texas, i was a child and it was dark. They are way different than Utah mountains. I love Utah mountains much, much more.
5. "The stars at night/ are big and bright/ deep in the heart of texas/" is a lie. They are much brighter in Logan Canyon. Extremely bright.
6. My Dad is a lot more understanding than I realized. I turned to him when the diesel problem occurred, and he wasnt angry and was very reasonable about it all. My mother doesn't know, but she was reasonable about everything, the whole trip. Rachel's parents were unreasonable, causing us to stop in Sonora, texas on the way back to sleep. I didnt sleep that well, and honestly, I was sick of Paul's negative attitude. (potential husband MUST like the outdoors and like camping)
7. If you think you have enough water, bring more. I was super thirsty all the time, and drinking warm water sucked some. Oh well.
8. If you don't want to spend the money, don't and speak up.  I really need to work on that. There was so much that went on that I didn't need to actually pay for and I could have saved a ton of money. Also, if you pay for a night to camp, stay. Just because a certain person heard thunder, doesnt mean you cant put the rain fly on and wait it out (it didnt even hit us).

Overall, it was an enjoyable trip, minus everything that happened in Sonora, Texas. I loved the spontaneity of the trip and I loved seeing West Texas, and I loved the mountains, and the low humidity spending time with friends.

And now, it is the end of June. Life is going by sooo fast. : (