The phrase, “Everything is bigger in Texas,” is not always true, but what was big, was the journey down there. My dad and I started our drive around 9:00 AM on Thursday, April, 13th.  Traveling to Texas was a thirteen-hour drive and was a very tiring journey, taking Highway 75 all the way down to Tupeca, Kansas where we got onto I 335 and took that to I35 which got me the rest of the way to Austin, Texas. While in Oklahoma City, rush hour started and driving became very chaotic. A truck driving ahead of us had either its drive shaft or transmission explode. Whatever it was came flying out from under the truck and nearly hit the car my dad and I were driving. Finally, we arrived around 10:30, and then my dad and I met my soon-to-be girlfriend Briley and her parents. We met at a Sonic so my dad and I could get dinner, but we both only got milkshakes. My dad and Briley’s dad had a debate over who was paying for food, which my dad ultimately lost. Eventually, Briley and I decided to step away from our parents to get some alone time together. We spent that night together watching videos on her phone and being close to each other. With my arm around her and her head laid on my shoulder, I ended that night by giving her a kiss on the cheek. 

I woke late on the second day, getting up at around 10:00, and planned to go exploring with my dad. I knew I needed a new suit due to my current one not matching correctly. The blazer I brought had a more greenish hue to it while the pants had a more blue tint. My dad and I ran to Kohl’s in an attempt to find a matching blazer for the pants. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a blazer that matched my pants so I needed to buy new pants and a new jacket. My dad knew I had been saving up my money, but didn’t want me to spend it all on this trip so he paid for my suit for me, which I really appreciated. After getting done shopping for my nice clothes for prom, we decided to go and get lunch. We were in the mood for pizza and were looking for a small local place with good reviews. We ended up deciding on a place called “Tony C’s” which was a local pizza place with around 1,000 reviews and 4.5 stars. It ended up being some of the best pizza I’ve ever had! They told us a little bit about the history of the restaurant and how they still to this day make their pizzas in a charcoal oven. After that, Briley was out of school and so me and my dad headed to her house. We spent some time just hanging out in her room and talking before deciding to go and play air hockey. Air hockey was very chaotic because we are both very competitive and the pucks kept flying out of the borders of the table. We constantly had to rush to grab the lightweight disks before her puppy Copper could snatch them. Eventually, we got bored of that and once more retreated to her room. While laying there we put on a movie and attempted to pay attention to it, which was ultimately a useless effort. We got distracted playing with her dogs and ended up not watching any of the movie. That night our parents were talking for much longer than originally expected and we got to spend time together until around 1:00 AM.

Saturday morning, I got up much earlier. I ended up getting up at around 8:00 and quickly getting ready for a day of local adventures. Briley was there to pick me up around 10:00 with her hair already done for prom. First, we went to this ice cream and gelato place called Jeremiah’s. Jeremiah’s was a frog-themed restaurant, and had some very interesting combinations of Italian ice and ice cream(gelati). Briley got a vanilla lemon gelati, while I got a chocolate peanut butter gelati. After that, we headed to Michael’s to get yarn and hooks for us to crochet. Along with that, we went to Target for face

masks, and to Walmart to get pajamas and a handful of other travel items I needed. Briley had crocheted before, but not seriously. She shared that she wanted to learn, and as a bonding experience, I asked if she would teach me as well. We had planned to crochet matching stingrays together but the effort was doomed from the start. We do however plan to learn and successfully make those over the summer. After giving up, Briley and I decided to wait in her room for when her mom would grab her to do her makeup for prom.

Once her mom grabbed her, I headed into the living room to talk to her dad. He and I talked about many different subjects including what I plan to do with life, the sports I play, where I currently work, and many other topics. Originally, Briley and I had planned to leave at 5:00 which was not going perfectly. It was already 4:50, Briley was still getting her makeup done and I was not yet in my suit. We both ended up being ready at about the same time, took a handful of pictures at her house, and headed to dinner. We went to a place called Sushi Fever, which up until that point, I had never had sushi before.

We got the 90% roll, which had rice, spicy soft-shell crab, and raw tuna, served with eel, and spicy creamy ponzu sauce. After that, we got what was called a Clay roll, which consisted of rice, shrimp, and jalapeño, wrapped in soy paper, served with crispy carrots, and a spicy creamy ponzu sauce. The 90% roll wasn’t my favorite, but without the raw tuna, it was really good. I also really enjoyed the more pleasant texture and flavor of the clay roll. After dinner, we headed to a beautiful area to take pictures around sunset. We went to a clearing near a lake and took pictures by the water feature in that park. After taking pictures for around 20 minutes, we headed to the venue for prom and got there around 8:00 PM. Prom was being held in the downstairs ballroom at the Austin Renaissance Hotel. Upon entering the event we noticed that it had a table with desserts and a table with various lemonades and limeades. The music that was played at the dance was not very good, so we only stayed until about 9:30. After leaving, we headed to QuikTrip to get ice cream and gas. Being in a sugary mood, we got a pint of both mint chocolate chip and oatmeal cream pie ice cream. After we got back to her house, we told her parents about prom and then went to her room to slow-dance to “Earth Angel” by the Penguins. After slow dancing, we changed into the matching pajamas we bought the previous day and started a movie. We put on “La La Land,” but once again, we started talking and got distracted, so our attempts never ended in success. As our long, eventful day came to a close, we both accidentally fell asleep in her room and had to be woken up sometime around midnight when my dad had come to pick me up from her house.

I woke up at 6:15 the following morning in hopes to spend the whole day with Briley. Quickly, I showered, brushed my teeth, got dressed, and ran out the door to meet her in the parking lot. As she sat there in the driver’s seat escorting me around, I couldn’t help thinking to myself how pretty she looked in her blue sundress. We headed back to her house where we cuddled until around noon, ate our ice cream for breakfast, and headed to the mall because that’s when it opened. We went there but only ended up buying cinnamon sugar pretzel bites and boba tea. It was a honeydew tea with strawberry boba and tapioca pearls. We didn’t stay for long after that because we didn’t see much that we wanted to get. We went to Michael’s again because we wanted to buy painting supplies and canvases. We got black paint for our background, glow-in-the-dark purple paint for my handprint, glow-in-the-dark blue for her handprint, and a white paint pen to write the date that we became official. We started them and while waiting for my handprint to dry we headed into her room to cuddle. We relaxed there until we were told it was time to leave for dinner. We went to a Tex-Mex restaurant called Jardin Del Rey Mexican restaurant. I got a really delicious fajita chicken quesadilla. We headed back to Briley’s house where she and we did strawberry face masks. I pulled mine off too early and Briley made fun of me for being impatient and not liking the feeling. She waited the proper amount of time and let me pull the face mask off of her. All of this was done while sipping on our Clearly Canadian we had bought the day prior. We decided we wanted to get out of the house to go gaze at the stars and have some alone time. We headed to a park near her house and laid in the grass looking up at the dark night sky. As I laid there with her, all I wanted to do was say a cheesy pickup line like, “Why would I look at the stars, when your eyes shine just as bright?” but I decided against it, not wanting to sound like an idiot in front of her. We laid there talking for nearly an hour before heading back home where we cuddled, not wanting me to go, and I cried in her arms before being told I had to leave.

I woke up very early the following morning to go to breakfast with Briley before she had to go to school. We originally planned on going to IHOP, however, they didn’t open at the proper time and we were unable to eat there. Our next plan was to go to McDonald’s, which was right across the street. Once again when we got to the door, it was also locked so we went to Dunkin Donuts to get breakfast. We got breakfast tacos, hot cocoa, and coffee which we both quickly ate before returning to Briley’s sedan once again. We cuddled in the back seat and I cried, not wanting to leave the girl I loved so deeply to travel nearly 800 miles away. Eventually, my dad arrived and we knew it was time to part ways. I gave Briley one final kiss and long hug while crying in her arms before deciding it was time to leave. Leaving that day was very difficult, but knowing I will get to see her again pushes me to be better each day and it was ultimately the best vacation I’ve ever had.