Monday, July 07, 2008

Adventures in Texas: Days 3 and 4

We woke up at the “Beach House” the next morning to sit down to a delicious Tex-Mex breakfast of chorizos and migas. Yum! Seriously, I could eat nothing but Mexican food for the rest of my life and die happy.


Texas 065

Then we packed up the car and started our long drive to Dallas.

Driving through middle of nowhere, Texas

Through the middle of nowhere. And I do mean nowhere. Nothing but ranches and cattle and scrub brush for miles and miles.

Middle of Nowhere, Texas

Middle of Nowhere, Texas

Middle of Nowhere, Texas

We drove through a few small towns on the way. Most seemed pretty normal – a general store, a feed store, Jessie James museums, and an over abundance of churches. But one particular town struck us as very odd. The population, according to the sign, said 390. But they had a graveyard there with probably more than a thousand graves. The thing was huge! Half the size of the town itself! We found that very strange and creepy! What is going on in that town that there are more dead people than living?

I think vampires is the only obvious answer here…

Anyway, we finally got to Dallas after about a four hour drive. Actually we swung by Fort Worth first to see Jacob’s friends Trey and Carey’s new baby, JT. Poor Carey had to have a c-section so she was still recovering while trying to keep the baby happy. He sure was a cutie though!

Jacob and JT

Jacob and JT

After dinner with the new parents, we headed down to Dallas to meet up and go out with some of Jacob’s friends – Jason and Manoj. Went to a few bars. I didn’t get the same cool vibe from Dallas as I did in Austin. I mean, it was a nice city – and there was plenty of places to go out. But it just had that generic city feel, unlike the inherent hipness Austin exudes.

The next day we had brunch with some friends and then Jacob played tour guide and showed me around. Here’s me in front of the oldest house in Dallas. I finally found a Texas dwelling smaller than my NYC apartment!

Oldest House in Dallas

During our travels we encountered both aligators and Elvis.

Texas 102

Jacob and Elvis

We went to the Grassy Knoll (aka Dealey Plaza) where Kennedy was assasinated. It seems weird that tourist attractions pop up in such negative places. The Dakota, down the street from me and where John Lennon was shot, is another popular tourist spot like that.

Grassy Knoll

This here is the Texas Schoolbook Depository where, if you don't believe the conspiracies, the shot came from...

Grassy Knoll

We hit a couple country western stores, too.

Longhorn chair

Western Store


And Jacob got his cowboy on.

Texas 099

Texas 100

Texas 104

Texas 103

I found the oddity I was looking for – a stuffed armadillo drinking a beer. (Don’t worry, I didn’t actually purchase it!)

Texas 106

Then we headed to the airport, where we waited for our delayed flight to take off. We didn’t get back home and in bed til 2am – leaving me sooo tired today! But oh well – it was worth it! All in all a great trip!

Marianne

6 comments:

Stevi said...

Great photos! I like the southwest a lot. I have not been to TX other than to the Dallas/Fort Worth airport to change planes when my mom and I went to Santa Fe. But Santa Fe was beautiful, and some of the pics you took reminded me of that trip. :) Must have been weird to see wide open spaces when you live in NYC. ;) Heh, heh...did Jacob buy the black cowboy hat and boots? He could be the Goth Cowboy of NYC! LOL!

Anonymous said...

Well, looks like home to me! We're here in Amarillo. In the family of Texas, Austin is like our crazy weird cousin.

:)

Mari Mancusi said...

It was weird to be in such open spaces! And having everyone's living rooms be larger than my entire apartment! I had suburbs envy, for sure. I could never dream of owning a place here in NYC...

I've never been to Santa Fe, but I've been to Albuquerque and thought that was a cool city, too.

Jacob didn't buy the hat, but don't worry - he has a couple cowboy hats at home already! :)

Tez Miller said...

Crikey, at first I thought that was a photo of a bar, but instead of stools, you had to sit on saddles. Silly me ;-)

Have a lovely day! :-)

Jill Myles said...

Hey! I'm from Dallas and yeah, we don't have quite the same vibe that Austin does.

Austin is the party/college town, and Dallas is where they all have to get the jobs. Heh. :)

Mari Mancusi said...

Yup, that sounds about right, Jill. :) I'm in the same boat here. Being a television producer I'm stuck in basically NYC or LA cause of the job thing.