Dallas, TX: May 18-22, 2007

I should start off by saying that it is all true - Dallas is basically Atlanta thrown into the Texan desert/plains area. Just like you'll find distinct little areas in Atlanta, each with their own beat, Dallas is the same way! It only makes sense then that I felt right at home in the "Big D." I love how everyone has to have "cool" names. The ATL, Big D, V-Town... haha. ;)

Anyway, I started off with - what else? - a delayed flight out. Sunny and gorgeous Atlanta, severely rainy and windy Dallas. So we sat on the tarmac for quite a while before finally taking off. I often wish in those cases planes would just give you an extra thing of pretzels or whatnot, especially considering one can't bring food through security. Well, perhaps you can, but I'm paranoid after they thought my flipflops and deodorant were causes for alarm, plus I keep hearing that food is a precautionary no (if someone knows otherwise... please inform!!). So I starved for a long, long time. Poor me. :( I finally get to Dallas and see why our airport "confuses" people even though it's not a hard layout, it's just designed to fit within our city. I walked off my gate (Gate E) and right out to the street, haha! Laura and her mom came to get me, took me through a Whataburger for the first time finally, and got to her new place! It's a very cute and rather large studio apartment. I mean seriously, her bathroom is bigger than the two in my new apartment combined and the kitchen... wow. A monster kitchen! She had no real furniture yet, so it was the air mattress for us!

The next day, Laura's mom sent me with Laura to explore because I had "city knowledge." Okay, so Dallas is like Atlanta when it comes to the layout and the feel. But the roads? Ha, you must be kidding me. I was so confused!! It was like a million Spaghetti Junctions everywhere, weird turns, funky double lights, and turn arrows that always seemed to change out of order... But we finally found it - a Super Walmart! Many miles away, but surrounded by a lot of great stuff! So Laura got what she needed at Wal-mart before we went to find someplace totally new to eat at... we chose Razzoos, a funky little place that served cajun food but at a much better price than Pappadeaux's (another cajun chain; good but so expensive!). We go back, build Laura's desk and TV stand, and hang up her curtains. I know, exciting vacation... I move myself for four days straight then go help my friend move in hundreds of miles away, lol! But we made it fun, so that's good! The bed finally came, but without the slats, so it was back to the air mattress... Our only other exploring was all of us taking a trip to Target to gather up a couple things and get yummy ice cream as a treat to go with the pizza we wanted to order. That's a feat in and of itself, by the way. Pizza places never know which one actually delivers to your area - they all just say "Call this one!" Weird. Just like Atlanta...

Early morning wake up call again so we can see Laura's school before her dad comes to get her mom and head back to Augusta. I saw a lot of the current student's art, so I can safely say that Laura's new school will be very good for her! A wise career choice - who knew I could draw organs all day and get $56,000 a year plus $12,000 a year in bonuses... Art isn't such a starving field after all, now is it? ;) We go back, Laura's dad arrives, we chat for a little bit, then they leave and it's down to Laura and me. It's true exploring time - in another words... the malls, lol. I haven't shopped in so long. I've gone into a mall knowing just what I wanted and gotten it, worried over cost, then decided it was for work at the very least. Not this time... I was on vacation! I got a few tops, a black hoodie (FINALLY), and some the best gelato I have ever had the pleasure of tasting outside of Italy. It couldn't be beat. And it's a chain. It was pretty authentic - unbelievable! There was also a duck pond in one of the malls... haha. It was basically turtles, ducks, and a Tiffany's. Go figure, I guess! We wound up exhausted, I wound up poor, so we went back for tuna melts at Laura's and ate the first dinner on her balcony and had an absolute blast! The food was so good it renewed our energy, so it was back out on the town for coffee. Only we couldn't find coffee. We didn't want Starbucks, we wanted a real coffee house! So after driving all over the place (and have "Tiffany", her GPS) take us to the total ghetto, we stopped at a Tavern in downtown. It was very friendly, great atmosphere, would've had entertainment if we were an hour later, and great prices! $4 for fried pickles (a lot of them, no less!) and $4 for a tall glass of vodka? Say it isn't so!

I've never been to the Botanical Gardens in Atlanta. I think it's the cost. It's scary. $12 to see a bunch of plants. I want to go, but you know, the park next door is free so somehow we always wind up there. I figure in Dallas, I'm on vacation, so we should see the Dallas version. Quite nice! You can't beat a massive lake in the middle of a park, you just can't. White Rock Lake is just beautiful, and of course everything else was just as nice. So many waterfalls and trails and bridal photos being taken... even a wedding was being prepared for. It was obviously a family thing too, because there is one fountain that is basically there to drench children in water. I would've taken a photo because it was hilarious, but then I figured their parents might not like a random girl taking a photo of kids in bathing suits through a bush. Especially in Texas, lol! Time to wander again... we wanted to find a fun place to eat. I suppose we found it... Gator's! Rooftop dining and a very tasty burger with french fries that totally reminded us of McDonald's (and you know you can't beat those fries). It was fun to eat right out on the roof and see the city. Then we wandered around and I found some random yet cool crap. Yes, it was crap. But it was cool crap. Too bad it was $18 crap... It's basically legos for your office called Cube Figures. They have all kinds of "cubical characters" of which I wanted the IT guy so I could make it a design guy but for $18 I figured my money was better spent elsewhere. I also found The Avenging Narwhal which was a giant narwhal that could impale a penguin, koala, and baby seal. I... don't ask, but in the context of some inside jokes, that crap was pretty hilarious! Ah, then the rain. It was Laura's first Texan rain in the new apartment, haha. Once again, we're pooped, so it was back to the apartment for stirfry. So tasty... so tasty. :) Of course, we can't just eat for free (relatively), we had to go back out. We wanted to try the coffee house idea again, except we didn't make it. We wound up at Cosmic Cafe which was this great little R.Thomas lookalike, minus the live birds. It was some great hummus and a vegan cake that you'd never guess was vegan. Very tasty indeed! Now we sleep again. That's the most exciting part. Lying awake in the dark chatting before one of us passes out mid-conversation. Just like the old times~

Art Museum Day! We saw the Dallas Museum of Art and the sculpture collection next door. So much art... so little time! 3 hours later, I still can't say I've seen all of the art. There is just so much! If an artist's brain is going into overload, I can't imagine how anyone else feels, lol! We spent most of our time at the museums, so we decided to plan a "go out with a bang" dinner idea. Now... I've been in Texas for 5 days at this point without getting Tex-Mex. I still don't. I craved good pasta. So we went to Ferré, which was SO GOOD. I mean wow wow wow. The prices weren't too bad either. About right for a place that was certainly an upgrade from Olive Garden fare. Then we got gelato... again... yes, I ate it every day since we discovered it, but it's just that freaking awesome. :) One final trip to Wal-Mart after that ended my trip to Dallas...

So this day is somewhat boring, except I found a better Mexican chain than Taco Bell - Taco Bueno! So yes, I got my Mexican in the form of fast food, but it wasn't bad at all and quite tasty actually! It was then back to the airport with me, where I got myself a shot glass before boarding the mostly empty plane back to Atlanta. On the flight home, I flew off into the sunset (literally) and took many, many photos of the sky. I'm a photo nerd... not to mention sounding like an old Western flick.

So, that was Dallas. I hope I at least managed to list many places for others to see and do if they ever go... Loved every minute of it, and it was so good to see Laura once again!

Day 1: San Antonio started out as a random idea a coworker, Lori, and I had to go see the Mall of America 10 days before Christmas in 2005... until a week long blizzard and her being in a performance of the Nutcracker forced those plans to a screeching halt. Oops. We made plans instead to get both of our moms to come along on a short trip with us, but it had to be somewhere Delta could fly standby easy to. After a lot of debating, we finally picked San Antonio! ... IN AUGUST. Speaking of Delta standby, it went pretty smooth for the most part. The moms lucked up with first-class, and Lori and I would up in the first row of coach so we still had tons of room. Whew! Somehow, fortune smiled upon us in the weather department the day we landed. I was amazed at how cool the air felt - as cool it could feel in Texas in August - and we literally missed flooding by a day. Good timing! Of course, since the weather was being so nice, we had to have other misadventures. What else is new? We hop in our taxi from the airport and arrive at the Marriott Riverwalk Hotel. We go in and start the check-in process, only to find out that Lori and her mom had booked a stay in the other Marriott called "Marriott Rivercenter." The two hotels, oddly enough, are only separated by the Riverwalk below and one other building. I can't make this stuff up! So we wound up in two different hotels by accident, but Lori's had the rooftop jacuzzi so all was definitely well.

Exploration time! Okay, so it was more like "FIND FOOD NOW." We found this totally awesome place called Casa Rio and oh my word. Best Tex-Mex ever. Right on the river, ducks going by (or biting my leg, whichever method they preferred), awesome food and service... it wasn't wise for us to choose this place if only because it meant we set the bar way too high the first time around. It was worth the "mistake", though! Our next stop was the riverboat tour, and we had such an awesome guide. I love it when the guides are fun and knowledgeable. Makes learning fun, ha! We noticed a big mall on the river while on our ride, so we wandered over there afterwards and discovered that it was kind of boring and blah. Gorgeous setting, though. Instead of shopping - though I admit to buying two shirts - we moved along to a little ice cream shop where we had some tasty treats. Yum. What else would four tired gals do after that? Hang out on the rooftop jacuzzi overlooking the city, of course. The view was just amazing, and we all got some lovely shots. I wish it were possible to do that in every city...

Sushi was next on the agenda. Don't ask questions - there is always a time and a place for sushi! Sushi Zushi it was. Tongue twister of a name, right? I was able to stack my four rocks in a zen formation without them falling over. I AM PROUD. Ha! With full stomachs, it was time to visit the Majestic, where they put on shows based on the ancient Mayan stories and tales that the interior decorating is based on. Children cry, of course. Bleh. Lori and I were kind of uncaring until they set everyone up for the end of the world... then a "candy dragon" pops up and goes "Greetings!" and had many cheerful things to say. I don't think I'd laughed that hard in quite a while. We took so many goofy shots in this place and ended the night on a great note.

Day 2: Remember the Alamo? Yeah, so did we. Lori even remembered the PeeWee Herman dance to go along with it. Pure genius! The Alamo is very tiny. The grounds are large and in charge of the block they occupy, but the building itself is rather small. I'm sure back in the day it was the biggest thing out there, but it was interesting to see this once mighty building now dwarfed by skyscrapers right across the street. I thought I heard it mentioned that the Alamo was running out of funding and could possibly be destroyed. Sigh... America, WAKE UP! Preserve the important stuff, please! The Alamo was pretty fascinating. They had some great story tellers talk about what happened there - though I'm sure it was glorified - and you could see the results of gun shells hitting the walls and women and children scrawling out messages. I am not big on historical lectures, but when I'm sitting there and can physically see what the history is, it's a very awe-inspiring experience. So it's okay, tiny Alamo. I loved you.

After our history lesson and some gift shopping, we wandered about the river into this old-town section called La Villita, which contained plenty of folk shops and gift stores to peruse. Being Texas in August, though, it was hot. Death was surely imminent if we didn't find food and fast! Supposedly this area would have great food. Supposedly is the key word. We went to Guadalajara Cafe. The decor was funky and fresh, but the food was merely decent. Enough for a burst of energy and some refreshing drinks, really. I just kept ordering fish tacos... seemed safe, not to mention I have this extreme love for fish. There was one more redeeming aspect of this restaurant - a stray cat basking in the sun. Yes, I know... I'm a crazy old cat lady. We were over that place pretty quick. It was time for something different. A long haul to the viewing tower, perhaps? Why yes! The walk itself wasn't so bad; it was that annoying Texas heat again. There were some interesting historical buildings and sculptures along the way, but we had a mission so there wasn't time to stand in the sun and stare at the information signs. Sorry, did I mention it was hot? Upon arrival in the viewing tower area, we were greeted with a million fountains and waterfalls, and a water sculpture that we could run through. THANK GOODNESS. It was a dream come true! More funny photos ensued; would anyone expect any less of me? Ah, the viewing tower. This place was pretty awful. Dead crickets everywhere. It made the whole place reek, and there was cricket corpses in the gift shop all over everything. In the end, we decided we couldn't last in the viewing tube as it slowly went up and down with that horrible stench going on. Yuck.

Lori and her mother decided to rest up before dinner, so my mom and I took to the bus system. My poor mom; she wanted a relaxing vacation, but I want to see and experience everything I can possibly soak up in the short time I have somewhere. We went to the botanical gardens, at least! The heat had killed off most everything, or at the very least it was lying dormant. What was blooming and the set up of the gardens, however, was very pleasing. Old homes from the plains had been set up and you could easily explore them... people were my height back then! Short little Germans... haha. They also had these amazing greenhouses with different types of climates set up. The big, one-hundred year old palm was amazing. So tall! I really do love botanical gardens; it was just unfortunate about the heat.

Dinner for the evening was Rainforest Cafe, a place like an expensive Chuckie Cheese for kids without the games. Tons of talking animals and the wildest decor I've ever seen. It is a chain, but Lori and I were itching to try it at the Mall of America (before we couldn't go) and here was our chance. The food was actually very good, but the proportions were insanely huge. A wonderful break from all the Tex-Mex food (I had, of course, fish) but we still felt that Casa Rio was the best place we'd been to so far. I told you we set the bar up a little too high...

Day 3: We wandered out to Market Square today. It's a cute little part of town with all sorts of shops and restaurants that appear to be stuck in the past with a touch of the modern. Delicate paper flags lined the streets, and the place was full of whimsy. I really enjoyed this area. We didn't do much besides ducking in and out of various shops and stopping for a bite to eat at La Margarita (a local recommended it to us - tasty, but again it couldn't compare to Casa Rio!), yet it was very enjoyable and a nice, slow pace. The Riverwalk is peaceful, but often crowded and full of people; Market Square was much more calm and laid back.

After lunch, it was clear that we loved to feel tall - we visited the old Governor's Mansion which was made for someone who averaged out around 5 feet tall. The courtyard was lush and beautiful, most likely because the sun was almost entirely blocked out by an old,knarled oak tree. The amount of history they had preserved was amazing. Atlanta tends to destroy everything to make for something new (to be fair, everything was burned in the Civil War... mostly) so it's always a treat for me to walk through the same rooms used by someone else over 100 years ago. Across the street was an old church, and there was a coffin in the nave with a plaque announcing that Davy Crockett - or at least his remains - were inside. That was a little morbid to see a coffin just up on the side of a wall for all to see, but from what we understood, it was to be buried again in the near future.

We once again parted to go shopping or do our own thing, and it seemed like we had the same idea - wander around the Riverwalk. There isn't much else to do without a car or real knowledge of the transportation system, so shopping was fine by us! For dinner, my fish craving took us to Landry's Seafood House. It was supposed to be a top notch seafood restaurant, and while it was very good, I don't think it was entirely what we were expecting. Once again, it came as no surprise that Casa Rio held our stomachs from day one. Yum. As Lori and I were taking "we're sad" photos on the way back to the hotel (something I always do on my last day in a new place) we noticed a really bad Elvis impersonator and figured we'd get a photo with him for a co-worker back home who loves Elvis. Sounded simple enough. I was the guinea pig and hopped into the photo with him, where he asked me if I was single. I technically was at the time, so in the middle of the photoshoot he just plants a big wet kiss on the side of my face, mostly over my ear. At least I have another fun story to tell along with the duck biting me for a chip? Actually, there's another story here at the end. Since Lori's hotel was high and overlooked the city, we decided to spend the final night in the hot tub and watch the city lights. The hot tub was glowing red, so Lori and I ask my mom to take photos of us looking devilish. Some how my mom then managed to slip mid-photo... She was fine, but it was a big scare. How do you tell your family that your mom broke her leg while taking photos of you being a devil? Luckily, none of that needed to happen. Whew!

Day 4:Probably the most exciting thing was walking the Riverwalk one last time and then praying we could board the flight on standby without too much trouble. Not only was the buddy pass a piece of cake this time around, but Lori and I also wound up in first class!

Overall, it was a great trip. Lots of history and plenty of fun. It's a very cute city with plenty to see and do. Coupled with Austin, it's nearest neighboring city (about 45 minutes away), this part of Texas definitely has a lot of life and culture to embrace and celebrate. If you're ever planning on visiting Texas, you should place San Antonio on your list!