One of the benefits of having friends that go to college out of state, is having the excuse to visit. I spent last week in Pullman, Washington at Washington State University visiting a friend of seven years. This trip allowed me to do two of my favorite things at once, travel and spend time with my friend.

I spent the weekend gawking at the picturesque WSU campus. Brick buildings with white columns, surrounded by trees losing their leaves, and a covering of snow made up  the setting. We celebrated Halloween and watched hundreds of students walking around in the 30 degree weather in their costumes.

I also went to the ASU v. WSU football game, which couldn’t have been better timed. And of course, I watched from the student section as ASU destroyed WSU 42-21. (Though from this experience I don’t know if I would recommend wearing your school colors in the rival school’s student section).

Overall this weekend was about catching up and getting to experience Washington state and its aptly named university. If you have a friend or family member that lives out of state, definitely take the opportunity to make a trip out of it. Do your research and learn about upcoming event, plan to stay with them and budget your trip ahead of time. Doing a trip like this is going to be a bit more pricey than a day trip, airfare being the most expensive. To find cheap tickets, there are several online guides about which days to buy. As long as you’re staying with a friend or relative, the rest is miscellaneous spending. I stayed at my friend’s apartment and didn’t have to pay for most of my food, which saved a lot of money. With airfare being $250, and spending an additional $100 on extra expenses such as entertainment, this trip can be done for $350. Though it is more expensive than going a few hours away, you can’t deny that once in a while it’s nice to travel farther, and stay awhile.