Day Tripper

What’s the best thing to do when you have some free time? TRAVEL! I purposefully decided not to go home between my last final and graduation for the specific purpose of absorbing every last moment I could spend with my friends. We’re unfortunately living on borrowed time. Baylor is coming to an end.

Since three of the five of us were non-Texans, and therefore not privy to a year of Texas history/ hours of Texas pride being drilled into the marrow of our being there was one important part of Central Texas we hadn’t experienced yet: The Alamo.

Actually, it was all of San Antonio that Kimberly, Rachel, and I hadn’t seen, so we took off last Tuesday and headed to that part of the state- straight down I-35. We spent the entire afternoon walking around the Riverwalk, eating TexMex, and taking a River Cruise. And, after a quick history lesson compliments of Wikipedia, the three non-Texans were ready for The Alamo the next morning.

There were a couple of things left to do once we returned to Waco. One was a trip I’d been waiting to take a long time. What’s the first thing you think of when you hear “Waco, Texas?” The Waco Mammoth Site? Sorry try again. Jeff Dunham (apparently a fellow Baylor student, along with Willie Nelson. No one is sure if either of them actually have degrees from here, though). Incorrect as well. What about David Koresh and the Branch Davidians? Ding, Ding! I’ve spent four years wondering where Mount Caramel was and Thursday we finally completed our expedition. This was as close as we got….

Each tree behind the chapel is planted for someone who died in the fire. There are supposedly nameplates at the base of them. Also on the property there are (so I’ve read) remains of parts of the compound, the ruins of a pool liner, and the old school bus. This was as far as we were willing to go so I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of these items.

Trivia: did you know that the Branch Davidians still exist today. Not only do they still own the Mt. Caramel property (and use the chapel to worship every so often) they have a church in downtown Waco somewhere on North 17^th Street.

After such a harrowing visit we drove out to West, Texas to indulge ourselves in kolaches from the Czech stop bakery. I feel now that I have seen all there is to see of East Texas. It’s time to see something else. Bring it, Alabama.

Post Final Recooperation

My last final was on Friday. It started at 4:30 and I was walking away as free as a bird an hour later. For three months at least, I'm not a student: no assignments, no reports, nothing I have to read. Freedom. I totally lived the dream on Saturday, an afternoon spent on the couch reading and doing nothing else (except for the occasional nap).

My friends and I have a biannual tradition. Each semester, we take a dead day (or in this case a free day after dead week) and head to Practically Pikasso, a paint your own pottery place. This being our last Pikasso visit, there seemed to be a theme to our pieces.


We choose our pieces...



and plotted our designs.



( Some of us plotted more than others)




Then we got to work... ( note Valori's tendency toward radical rebellion as she decided to paint a flower pot.)



Kimberly splattered cutely,



I painted letters intently,

Valori posed cheerfully,



And Rachel wrote thoughtfully.

End the end we had a beautiful conglomerate of wonderful masterpieces:

Valori's "Friends flower pot"

My "Baylor Bears" frame

Jennifer's cool stripey frame.

Kimberly's splatter work.

Rachel's signature work.