Just the beginning

Darlene and I started our road trip on Thursday March 24 heading down to Texas. My friend drove down with me to see our other friend and her boyfriend who live in Denton, TX. We spent the weekend catching up, going out for drinks, and visiting Dallas and Fort Worth. Our Dallas day started in the Klyde Warren Park area grabbing snow cones and people watching on a beautiful and sunny Saturday. We then went over to Deep Ellum and walked the sidewalks, occasionally stopping into a store front that piqued our interest. We found a vintage/second hand store filled with awesome items. We spent some time going through the racks of clothing, pointing out outrageous fringed dresses and crazy prints. Next, we found a place selling alcoholic popsicles and couldn’t help but give those a try. They were surprisingly strong for being frozen alcohol. We found a roof top bar and hung out for a long time chatting and watching as people walked the street below. As the night went on the more crowded the roof top bar got. Eventually we headed back to Denton and watched the movie Aquamarine. Overall, I enjoyed Dallas but expected way more people in cowboy boots. We maybe saw four people wearing them…

Fort Worth made up for the western feel Dallas lacked. On Sunday we went to The Stockyards and watched as cowboys drove a small herd of longhorn cattle down the main road. It was all very much for show but it was fun! There were lots of western type stores and BBQ and Tex Mex restaurants, cows wearing saddles that people could pay to sit on, wagon rides, a petting zoo, trail rides, a little of everything. My friends and I found a brewery/bar called Second Rodeo Brewing and it was such a cool place. They had jail set up for fun pictures, a nice outdoor seating area along the little canal, food, lots of beers on tap, and really good bloody marys. We sat for awhile hanging out and listening to live music. After, we walked for a bit more and ended up eating at Risckys BBQ. That night we went out in Denton to a bar that had Karaoke, which was pretty entertaining. We ended the night at a local brewery we had been to the previous day. On our last morning, we walked the University of Northern Texas, where my friend is going to grad school, before saying our goodbyes. I drove my friend to the Dallas airport and then I was on my way to Austin to meet up with a friend I met at my ranch job last summer.

On my way down to Austin I stopped in Waco to the Magnolia Market at The Silos. It was just a quick stop to check it out and use the bathrooms. It was a really pretty spot in Waco and was fun to look through the stores. I got back on the road and after some traffic, I was in Austin. I immediately liked Austin after seeing so many people out and about along the river and downtown. My friend and I met up on South Congress and had fun walking the street and grabbing dinner and a beer. After a couple hours of catching up we said our goodbyes and I was on my way.

My first night alone was spent driving for about an hour and a half and calling it a night at a Walmart in Fredericksburg, TX. I accidentally parked my van in the shade all weekend so my electrical system batteries were dead so I couldn’t use my lights that night. But I had flashlights and wasn’t bothered since I was going to bed right away anyway.

I had a great time while in Texas and really loved getting to be around friends I hadn’t seen in a while. Texas was very pretty and busy and I would love to eventually come back to see more of it.