Packin' Heat

So, 'new friend Laura' (as she is known by my work friends) planned a surprise last weekend to celebrate my upcoming birthday and she wouldn't tell me what it was - just to keep the date open.

A couple days before the 'event', she told me to meet her at her apartment at 9:30, the event goes from 10am to 12noon, bring a notebook/pen, wear closed-toe shoes and pants, it will be inside and outside and that we want to get there early to get a good seat. Hmmmmm.......And when I met her and jumped in the car, she STILL wouldn't tell me what the surprise was! But when we pulled in the gun range, then I knew.....we were going to be shooting guns!!

Signs like these were a little unnerving and foreign to me, but I suppose 'when in Rome.....'

I don't want to perpetuate too many stereotypes here, but there were a LOT of pickup trucks there and I saw this bumper sticker - LOVE IT! I love me some Texans!!

Here is a picture of their 'promotional' vehicle for the gun range - and on the passenger door, it says "Riding Shotgun" - SO FUNNY!

The first thing we did when we arrived was take a handgun class that lasted about an hour in this classroom. The place was called Elm Fork Shotgun Sports - right on the freeway in corporate America (near the border of Las Colinas and Dallas)!

Laura and I thought this sign was really funny - it was on the door of the clubhouse where we took our gun class.....Notice the TINY TINY "with" on the sign. HAHAHA! At least they have a sense of humor.....

After we took our class (they taught us about ear protection, eye protection, safety rules, the parts of a gun, how to handle a gun, the correct stance, types of bullets and guns, gun laws, etc.), we all headed down to the shooting gallery place outside with our instructor, Jeff.

There were 6 of us in the class, so he brought down 3 guns and we took turns - 3 at a time shooting. Here is Jeff putting up our 3 targets (with our sweet guns in the foreground)!

We were shooting with Beretta 9mm handguns - here are our bullets! We each got our own box of 50 bullets.

Laura and I were in the second group, so here's the first group firing their first shot from 'the 7-yard line', as Jeff called it!

And after the first shot or two, then Jeff started to teach us how to load our 'magazine'. I put my own bullets in the magazine and got to hear that 'click' when I loaded the magazine in the gun! I felt like Jack Bauer!

It was all so much fun! My first two shots were kind of high - I aimed for the X on the chest, but hit the target in the head.....but he showed me how to aim better and then I was going for the heart after that. My only complaint was that I kept getting hit with the shell casings from the guy shooting next to me. They hit my sunglasses, went in my hair, and I swear that one of them went down my shirt!

I felt like I was in the military - Jeff would call out commands and then we would do them. Things like "get in your stance", "insert your magazine", "resting position", "firing position", "take aim", "FIRE WHEN READY!" I like that last one the best.

It was such a fun time - we were sweating our brains out in 100 degree heat at 12noon, but it was still AWESOME!!! Thanks, Laura - I loved my birthday surprise!!!