kyle nystrom: everything is bigger in texas (except the tempurature).

Our last expedition sent us to Texas. Oddly enough, Texas was really cold, even during the day. It sometimes got down to below freezing at night.

The biggest part of the cold front was backpacking in the Chisos mountains. It was so cold one morning that if you licked your lips the spit would freeze within the minute. It was really hard to get out of your sleeping bag in the mornings. Even with such huge challenges, we did really well with the cold. We helped each other out, and worked hard.

After the backpacking trip, we went to a hot spring! It was a nice change of pace. It was a five minute hike from a parking lot right to the Rio Grande, which is a river that borders both Mexico and America. The hot spring was a small pool on the American side of the river. We spent a few hours just soaking and chatting. It was really fun.

The next day, we went to the McDonald observatory. It was fun seeing the stars, but the telescopes were really cool. One of them looked like it belonged on the Millennium Falcon. 

We also went to a pool. Luckily, that was a pretty warm day (65-ish degrees), and the pool was pretty warm (72-ish degrees). I did a cannonball so big the mushroom cloud splash went higher than the board.

Guadalupe National Park was rather cold, but mostly from wind-chill. We went into Carlsbad Caverns, which is a neat place. We saw several formations that looked like gnomes (should we be afraid?), and a rope leading into the roof, to a place called the Over World. We didn’t get to go in (the cave is about 200 feet up). The next day we went to summit Guadalupe peak, which is the highest point in Texas. It was a tough hike, but it was a cool view from the top. It was so windy at the very top that it was hard to stand in one place.

The reason I don’t have any pictures of Cedric is because he really didn’t like the cold. He wasn’t even willing to come out of his home. So, gno gnome pictures this expedition, sorry.

It was a pretty good expedition this trip, but I think the next one will be my favorite. I’m going to my home state (and home area) of so-cal. I’m hoping to see my parents, and even maybe have the group go to Islands (a very California-style restaurant) with my family. All-in-all, it promises to be a good trip.

Random thoughts

“Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” looks like a really good game, since they are adding a lot of things fans have been asking for for a long time. I know this because I got the newest game informer when I got back. Also, Bioshock 2 (one of my favorite games) was in the top 50 games of 2010! And Gideon Graves (the seventh evil ex from Scott Pilgrim) was the tenth greatest 2010 villain!

Wal-Mart stopped selling magic cards, sadly.

Feel the gnomes burning stare and change your ways.

Quotes of the expedition: “if I die, you can have my orange juice. But not my cookie. I want to be buried with it.” And “pfft, doom blade.” And “I love you… but only enough to kill you for your bacon (said to a pig, AU.)”

by the way, if any of my friends can see this, feel free to comment. that way i can answer questions.