First things first: SARAH AND I WERE FINALLY REUNITED AFTER NINE WEEKS. Man, I missed her so much wow. She brought me flowers when she picked me up like what the heck she is such a good best friend. (She's a good best friend, Brent.) ((If you get that, god bless your soul)) Even better, she knows how much I like dead flowers so she chose ones that she thought would look good when they die. So thoughtful.

But anyways, so it's spring break in college. That means we should have been loading up our beer bongs and our gstring bikinis (I have neither of those, mom) into the car and headed down to South Padre for a week of being blackout drunk before 8 AM right? Nah. We grabbed a couple bottles of wine, I packed my mom jorts, and we booked three nights at this random place I found in Luling called Tiny Texas Houses (I'll refer to them as TTH from here on out because I'm lazy as heck). Basically, this place has nine or so houses that are roughly the size of sheds and are made up of 99% recycled material. They are so stinkin' cute and pretty cheap to stay in. 12/10 would recommend you guys check 'em out.

Me on top of the tallest mountain in Texas ;)

We got there in the afternoon on Wednesday and were greeted by this super sweet older woman who was country as heck all the way down to the accent and dental work. After showing us to our house she told us about the property and how they had a manmade mountain called "Miracle Mountain" a little ways away from our house. She continued to tell us that this was the "tallest mountain in Texas". We kinda laughed like haha that's a funny joke, you know because like the Guadalupe Peak is the tallest mountain in Texas and we just think this woman is being cute. But then she goes on to say that she's been up there and she said she can see another "mountain" a little ways away and thinks "maybe that one might be taller" but she "might be wrong". Yeah so Sarah and I exchanged a glance like oh wait a minute this woman isn't pulling our leg she really thinks this thing is the tallest mountain in Texas. So we went to go check this "mountain" out...and it was a hill about as tall as a two story house. Hey, no complaints. That hill had a great view of Luling. (and of that hill she was talking about a few miles away)

We stayed in a house called Blue Moon. It was precious.

After we unpacked and set the house up, (I say set up because when Sarah and I are together we reach new levels of hipster trash and we brought things like string lights to hang in the loft area and all sorts of other nonsense) we went to the grocery story to pick up some snacks and stuff and then drove to San Marcos (LOL because I just can't stay away right?) to go eat italian food at this restaurant near campus called Italian Garden. This place is so cheap and they give you so much food and I kinda think the waitress thought Sarah and I were on a date so that was a little weird. Then we went back to TTH and drank wine in the loft which we would end up doing every night we were there.

On Thursday we accidentally slept in past noon...oops. At that point we reached the flawed logic that we should just go ahead and turn it into a lazy day. TTH has this manmade mud cavern on the property that is ultimately just this pit at the bottom of a hill that mixes with water and volcanic ash from a volcano 30 miles away. It's supposed to be really good for your skin so we were like heck why not check it out because who isn't game to rub mud all over their body for fun? We spent about fifteen minutes looking for this pit because there were several holes of muddy water scattered around the property and we would pass one and be like hey maybe it's that one, but also we weren't about to just hop into a random hole of dirty water on a hunch ya know? After finding a map online of the property we finally found this place and I swear the temperature dropped ten degrees as we descended into the cavern and then dropped another ten as we made our way into the water inch by inch, letting our body numb completely before emerging deeper in the ice water.

Also, the mud caverns were clothing optional so...anyways...

Were standing like waist deep in water, and knee deep in mud (I just started singing Knee Deep by Zac Brown Band in my head) when we hear a dog barking and we turn around in time to see this giant dog come bounding down the hill and as soon as it sees us it stops dead in its tracks. So Sarah and I are having a showdown with this random dog without a collar and owner that isn't wagging its tail and kind of looks like maybe it wants to fight us. (except I would never fight a doggo so I was kind of accepting my death at this point) And you know how when you want to see if a dog is sweet or not you speak in a voice that's like three octaves higher than it normally is and go "WHO'S A GOOD BOY?" so the dog wags its tail and wants to play? Well I get this idea to try that and I slap my hands on my thighs and squeal "WHO'S A GOOD BOY?!" Yeah, apparently not him. This dog doesn't budge. Not a single tail was wagged. So you know I just mutter a word under my breath that I can't exactly type on this blog and Sarah and I exchange a glance that sums up that bad word and she's like "Should we run?" and I'm like "The only way to run is towards the dog so probably not" so we continue this stare down for another solid ten seconds and then just as easily as that doggo came, it turned around and ran off. Phew.

That was a fairly anti-climatic story, I know, but man we were freaked. And I mean where did you want the story to go? Did you want us to have to fight off the beast waist deep in mud? Yes? Yeah that would have actually been more entertaining huh? Oh well.

Stargazing, wine, "the tallest mountain in texas", and your best friend. Honestly does life get any better?

In the evening, we were feeling like sad alcoholics because we only brought two and a half bottles of wine with us (because we are both clumsy as heck and I ended up dropping an entire bottle of Moscato in the front entry of my house and she dropped a bottle of Sangria in her kitchen sink LMAO truly why are we like this). So we road-tripped up to Wimberley where Sarah's family was staying to score another bottle and when we got there we ended up staying for dinner because Sarah's mom is a brilliant cook. Also, this was the ranch house that I mentioned we stayed at last spring break that was so hecking beautiful. Anyways, so we casually mentioned that we wished for more adult grape juice and the groundskeeper for the ranch mentioned that the guy who owned the ranch was a wine connoisseur and had 200+ bottles of like really nice wine and that we were more than welcome to take a few bottles back with us. Ha Ha Ha Sarah and I left with 3 bottles written entirely in french. Truly blessed.

That night we went up to Miracle Mountain, passed a bottle of wine back and forth, star gazed (with no light pollution, thank goodness), and talked about life, boys, and memes. Then we flipped on the flashlight, saw a scorpion behind Sarah, found a snake skin, discovered a swarm? of rolly pollies, and decided maybe it was time to go back to the house.

On Friday we gave productive and extra a new meaning. We began our morning by waking up at 7 AM to go sit at the top of Miracle Mountain to watch the sunrise.

Then, we went back to the house and made pancakes and eggs using the portable stove we brought with us from home. Making breakfast is my jam. Are breakfast fetishes a thing? I think I have one? That's weird, I'm sorry.

But yes, I have this playlist on spotify (shameless self promotion amiright) called "when the day met the night" that has music that's great for mornings and that's what we listened to, so if you want smooth jams-check it out. ;)

After breakfast we got ready (which naturally took a couple hours because girls can be extremely indecisive about choosing an outfit to wear. Katy Perry was spot on about both men and women when she said "you change your mind like a girl changes clothes") and drove up to Waco to go to the Magnolia Silos. We didn't know there was going to be this huge spring festival going on so we were not pleasantly surprised when drove up and were greeted by hundreds of people packed onto the grounds. We ate these crepes at one of the food trucks there and wow. One was filled with blackberry jam and cream cheese and the other one was filled with all sorts of great tasting things like chicken and spinach and avocados. For sure a 12/10 lunch. After we forfeited the crowded market, we hit up a couple coffeeshops around the area because what would an Emily/Sarah vacation be if some sort of coffee induced exploring wasn't involved. We went to Pinewood Coffee Bar and Common Grounds in Waco (all thanks to Harper Neitzey for these bomb suggestions) which both were amazing. Afterwards, we walked next door to Heritage Creamery next to Common Grounds and got Ethiopian Coffee ice cream which was one of the most unique tasting ice cream flavors I have ever had (which was also really good like wowza way to go Waco).

On our way back to the TTH, we swung by Pizza Hut and grabbed a large cheese pizza to go and ended the night just like any other; in the loft of the house with a couple bottles of wine and great music. A perfect end to an amazing vacation.

Saturday was sad. Leaving sucked. Partially because it was so much fun and also because it meant Sarah and I had to go back to college and part ways which is always hard to do after a solid week of hardcore friendship shenanigans. (And when you know you have essays and exams and crying waiting for you with open arms)