For our annual Trip to Texas this May, we found the best tickets through Chicago. Laura's advisor had some good advice about how to park for cheap, so we tested out the local Park-N-Jet, about a mile from O'Hare. We were a little nervous about leaving our car in a fenced-in area in the middle of urban Chicago, but there were enough other cars there to make us feel safer. And after a short shuttle bus trip to the airport, we were on a non-stop flight to Austin, a much better option than layovers anyday. The flight was a large jet and relatively calm weather followed us down, giving us a great view of the texas skies as we arrived. Laura has begun reading the A is for Alibi murder mystery series on this trip by Sue Grafton. With her up to P so far, it should be a good way to pass the time for a while. I think they should all have "Murder" in the title somewhere, but then I just like saying Murder in a creepy voice.

Laura's parents found us in baggage claim, but this trip we'd only used Laura's new backpack, as we were preparing ourselves for light travel and packing through Europe later this fall. We stopped by an authentic mexican lunch spot for some distinctly tasty beans and some tacos and enchilladas for lunch. After a brief rest and wandering around her parents' back yard, we had a peppery mushroom rice dish for dinner with fresh yellow squash and asparagus, yum!