so after an awful day of traveling on friday (note: stay away from air tran), i finally made it to dfw airport around 10:30pm cst. keep in mind that i was supposed to leave nyc around 1:00pm est, but got delayed. then arrived in georgia and my layover got delayed. but i made it.

then of course, the next day i had another full day of traveling with my mom and my cousin down to south texas. after the 8 1/2 hour drive (and the pit stop to do some quick shopping), we made it to the rio grande valley. one thing we noticed once we were about an hour outside of our destination, we saw illegal immigrants on the road parallel to us going in the opposite direction. there must have been about twenty people jump out of a car about a mile outside of the border patrol stop and they jumped the fence. it was so surreal. i'd never seen anything like that before in my life. and although i believe that anyone who wants to enter this country should be able to, as long as they go through the process of doing it legally. but then, i couldn't help but feel sorry for them as they all tried to make it toward freedom and a better tomorrow. i wish i would've gotten a picture, but imagine them jumping over a fence into a field like this in the hot texas sun, minus the mountains in the background:

so i've been in south texas since yesterday. spending time with my dad and my family. i forgot how hot it was down here, but i'm glad i'm here nonetheless.