Feels like going home ...

This week is what summer is all about! What better way to enjoy summer than taking random road trips and staying up half the night talking to friends?!?

On Tuesday I drove up to College Station to visit Kate.  She moved back there a little over a month ago and I've been saying I would come visit, so I finally just did. To be honest, I'm not even sure I can put into words how I feel about that place, or how much I miss it.  I have SO many fond memories attached to so many things there. This is probably weird, I'm probably the only one in the world who does this, and I'm probably not going to explain it very well but I'll try.  Sometimes, when I go somewhere that has some sort of nostalgic memory attached, I get these vivid flashbacks to that time.  Almost like in a movie, where you are looking at an empty table or whatever, but seeing yourself sitting there and the memory unfolding before your eyes.  Does that make sense? Is that super strange? haha I don't care. Anyway, that's what every moment in College Station is like for me.  

• Driving past Olsen I don't just see the baseball field and stands, I see Tony and I sitting on the 4th row back, in the second section of bleachers, between home plate and first base, at my first Aggie baseball game. I hear myself asking Tony, "how do you know they've hit a home run", him looking at me like I'm crazy, and then both of us laughing hysterically when we realized what I was actually trying to ask, and how stupid it sounded.

• Driving down Rock Prarie I don't just see a bunch of houses and buildings.  I hear Missy's voice (through my tears because of all the drama) inviting me over for our first Wednesday night sleepover.  I see myself driving to Missy's every single Wednesday night my whole first semester.  I see the two of us laying in bed talking until well after 2am.  I remember the distinct feeling I had that life outside of high school (which I was so reluctant to leave) was going to be okay, if not great, because I had already made myself an amazing friend.

• I drive down Texas Ave, across from campus, and I see all of us jumping out of the car in the middle of the road and making our way across the muddy field cracking up the whole time trying to get to the Bonfire Memorial dedication.

• Sitting at a table on the back porch of Mad Hatters I see all my friends standing against the fence between 315 and Mad Hatters the night of graduation laughing and taking a million and one pictures.

• Looking at the duplex that Missy and I shared with the boys I see Missy and I sitting on the third step of the stairs having the most important of conversations (all important conversations seem to happen on the stairs haha).

I've got more, but I'll spare you.  It's hard to explain, you just have to feel it to understand. I bought this shirt and I think it sort of explains what I'm trying to say:

"From the outside looking in, you can't understand it. And from the inside looking out, you can't explain it"

I haven't lived there in two years, but it still feels like home.  I know a lot of my friends agree. It's just like going home ...

But, I digress (this entry might drag a little, can you tell?!?)

I drove up on Tuesday to spent the night with Kate.  It was so wonderful to see her (it had been too long) and we had a lot of fun going to some of my favorite places in town. I was just soaking up every minute of it!  We walked around campus and I marveled at how much has already changed in just 2 years. How strange will it be to go back in 10 or so years when so much will be different. That whole "life goes on without you" concept made me sort of sad.  

As I was driving back on Wednesday I was talking to Missy and we were reminiscing about college. We decided we wanted to take a trip up there together, and looking at our schedules the only time we could make it work before school started was to go yesterday.  So, I drove back in from College Station, packed up my bag for the next day, then headed to Missy's to stay the night so we could leave in the morning (it was a Wednesday night sleepover, for old times sake! hehe  What a great guy Tony is that he lets that happen).  Dad got us a free hotel room (thanks dad!) so we were set! 

It was SUCH a good Missy and Kerri trip!  It was perfect because we wanted to go to all the same places, and since we have so many shared memories we could be all nostalgic about it together.  We made a list of all the places we had to go to eat, see, or take pictures and we worked our way down it.  How fun! We went to McAlisters (where Tony says Missy and I would go on our dates if the two of us were dating haha), Shivers, Shakes, Fazolis, Cheddars, King Dollar, Campus View, the duplex, the little girl with the ducks (she needs to go home before it gets dark! hehe), everywhere on campus, the Mitchell Mansion ("this is where we first met!"haha), the schools we student taught at, and of course Northgate.

We got to meet up with Danny for dinner, Aaron came out and had a drink with us at ng for awhile, we saw Matt at a couple different bars, and randomly we ran into Elliot and Jordan while we were out.  It turned out to be a lot of fun seeing a bunch of people we know.

We packed a TON of places and activities into a 24 hour trip, but it was a blast!

Originally I was going to do a walkthrough of our trip in pictures, but we took hundreds, so I'll spare you.  Here are a few of my favorites:

My favorite place on Northgate! Looks like it came right out of an old western film

Need some good luck before an exam? A penny at the feet of Sul Ross should do the trick!

Century Tree - if you and the one you love walk beneath the branches you are destined to be married

I love my best friend!