3 day weekend = ROADTRIP!

So, I finally got to go to México.

A girl in my Engineering class called me randomly 2 weeks ago asking if I wanted to join a group of about 8 classmates on a trip to México, so I said yes.

We left Friday afternoon, and got back Monday night. We stopped at In-N-Out Burger in Vegas on the way. I’d heard so much about In-N-Out, and never been before. It ended up being pretty good, but I suppose I’d hyped it up a little too much beforehand.

We got to In-N-Out at around 11pm, ate, and continued driving to Barstow, Cali. We got there at around 1:30AM. The stupid Motel 6 had given away our reservations (what incompetence), saying “sorry, you’re out of luck”

To which Emily replied, “Oh, you need luck even when you’ve made reservations, and even called to confirm 6 hours before!!!” It was really ridiculous.

Fortunately for us, we were “lucky” and found another motel around the corner. We woke up the next day, and continued the drive to to Tijuana. We were in 2 cars, and we agreed to drive to right before the Mexican border, park, and walk across. I was in the first car. We got on the highway, and started driving south. We saw a big sign saying “Last USA exit” but for some reason, the driver decided that instead of taking the exit, he’d get his camera out and take a picture. We drove straight over the border.

We called the other car and told them we’d gone too far. They told us to come back (after all, we didn’t want to park out car in Tijuana!). It took us a little over an hour to get back. Unfortunately for us, one of the guys in our car was Mexican, and didn’t have all his paperwork in order.

They treated us like criminals, and made a bunch of phone calls to check if the Mexican really had a student Visa. We finally got through, parked, and walked back across the border. The fiesta could now finally begin.

TJ started out with our driver buying a bunch of penicillin at the nearest Pharmacy. It’s cheap, and there’s no need for a prescription! We then bought food. I was able to get 4 tacos and a drink for $5. I was surprised by the price. I know it’s México, but it’s a tourist place, and I was expecting things to be a little more expensive. The food was really good and authentic. I hadn’t had Mexican food like that since the mission. It was a good reminder. Much better than the supposed “Mexican” restaurants here in Utah.

We stuck around until about 8PM, and left. We then decided to head to the beach (in Cali). We ended up getting there at around 10PM. Emily (the planner of the trip) had decided she wanted to have a bonfire on the beach. We bought some firewood, and brought Garner’s useless excuse for a Calculus book to burn with it. We ate some food (mostly marshmallows) and played a few games.

It ended up being quite fun. We ended up getting to bed at around 4AM.

The next morning we visited a catholic mission (Basilica), and then went to church. Afterwards, we ate Mexican food again, and started our way back. We stopped in Vegas again at In-N-Out (this time I got the vanilla shake instead of strawberry, and it was much better) and continued on to St. George.

We got to St. George at around 2AM, and ended up getting to bed a little after 4AM. (Meanwhile Emily taught us lots of the kinds of games that are only funny when it’s that late…) We then finished the rest of the way the next morning.

I got back still needing to code up a CS lab that was due on Tuesday, so I didn’t get to bed till really late. Despite the lack of sleep, it was a really fun experience.