A Texan Time

Last weekend I spent four days in Texas with half of my family. If you recall from the news, U.S. residents, the Lone Star state flooded with the amount of rain it received. Luckily, it only really rained the first day we were there.

The one big thing that stood out to me was San Antonio's crazy road system. Ever heard of turnarounds? I certainly haven't, having spent the majority of my life on the east coast (except for that two-year stint in Colorado). It made navigating a challenge, but my mom and I made a great team in our snazzy rental car. She was the driver, and I was the copilot. The GPS was our first in command.

My two favorite places, both inspiring in their own way, was the Japanese Tea Garden and Enchanted Rock. There's a lot of history behind both places. If you are interested from the below pictures, I strongly encourage you to research on your own.

In San Antonio I learned a lot of things. 
1. I love the country. As interesting as the city was (there are HUGE shopping centers every three miles, I swear), when we drove out of the city limits and hit ranch-country...that's where I really started to love Texas.
2. Hotels can turn off smoke alarms remotely (attribute this knowledge to a certain burned bagel). Wouldn't that perk be nice to have at home when the alarms go off at 2 AM?
3. Airports will never be magical. After being stuck at San Antonio International for six hours because of delayed flight, I'm not to keen on air travel. For now, anyway.
4. As much as I adored Texas, there's nothing quite like home. Or, more specifically, familiarity. 
Until my next adventure!

Rhode Island Run-In's

If these tweets during the six hour car ride are any indication...

...my recent trip to Newport, Rhode Island was an interesting one. (Too bad I couldn't leave my cold behind) I've never travelled farther north than New York City, so visiting "the ocean state" was quite the experience. Not only is it colder up there, but the water is so blue. And I'm not talking "tropical" blue. I'm talking a deep, mysterious, sapphire blue.

Not only that, but everything is rocky. The beaches, the front yards, the soil. Fences and property lines were a plethora of rocks. Some mansions even had enormous boulders in their front yard!

Seeing the ocean again really helped me with TWW. Imagination will only take you so far! While on the Cliff Walk one night (a path that takes you along, well, cliffs as wells as the ocean and past mansions), my fear of the sea rekindled. Ever since my "incident" two summers ago, the ocean has terrified me. Coincidentally, my main character, Annie, is scared of water too. Now that this fear is fresh in my mind, editing TWW will be that much easier. Though, in the picture below, I look more cold than scared. Next to me is my mom. Which of us looks colder? We like to call ourselves Red Riding Hood and The Astronaut.

Another interesting place we visited in Newport was the Vanderbilt's "summer cottage." I'll let the pictures speak for me here.

Amazing, huh? There's not much left to the imagination here!

Rhode Island was a beautiful state, but I have to say, there's nothing quite like home.

And I don't think there ever will be.