texas

so i went to texas. at the urging of my boyfriend.

he wanted to do a cross-country train trip, encompassing two weeks and multiple stops throughout the country. but i had to plan my ireland trip during the two weeks he had designated for it. so he cropped his train trip into a tour of texas and requested that i tag along.

he started for texas the day i got back from ireland. first he flew to el paso. renting a car, he drove to an artist community a few hours south of el paso. then he drove back through el paso and continued an hour north to the white sands national park. all of this took 2+ days. he then returned the car and caught the train in el paso. the train from el paso to san antonio took about 13 hours. with plenty of desert to view.

in san antonio he went to see the alamo, the riverwalk, and other random sights that were suggested to him, by locals. his second day there he met up with his friend from austin, armando. after a little sightseeing with him, they drove up to austin.

then next day i flew in the meet up with them. we went and got the best tacos ever before venturing to the capitol. the capitol building in austin is ridiculous! it's on lavish grounds and screams texas. they recently renovated so the whole place looked amazing, plus there is a newer addition that is completely underground (so as to not ruin the view of the capitol building). the light fixtures said 'texas' in light bulbs. and everything had a five-point star on it. even the door hinges were engraved with 'texas capitol' on them. we thought we were just going to poke into the lobby and take a cursory look around, but we chanced upon the tour and were given a full texas history lesson. by a very amusing and very texan lady.

next we went to the infamous 6th st. it is bar after bar after bar; we were too full and it was too early to partake in any of it though. we popped into a few shops and got some italian ice. we then went to congress (st or ave, who knows?). and went into a few shops there, mostly to pass the time. we went back to my boyfriend's friends' and had a swim. nothing beats diving into a cold pool in 100 degree weather. armando and his wife liz took us to a restaurant called chuy's. it was delicious! i got blue corn tortilla enchiladas that weren't really enchiladas. it was more like mexican lasagna. we went back to their house and had a wine and cheese tasting. (liz works as a food writer, and needed to finish up and article about the products.)

the next day we drove out to the outskirts of austin and ate lunch at this riverside hamburger hut. we sat for hours while eating and chatting. afterward we went again to congress. this time to actually shop. i ended up buying some gifts at turquoise ... and at the boot place. my boyfriend finally decided on a pair of cowboy boots he wanted. we also got a gift for our hosts. a quick stop at sonic for some cherry lime deliciousness, then we made our way back to their home. after some napping/chilling out/digesting we decided to go to dinner. but first a stop to watch the congress bridge bats. apparently every summer a breed of bats comes to austin and settles underneath this bridge to raise their young. every night at sunset they emerge en-masse to go feed. it's pretty crazy. after 30+ minutes of watching them emerge, we walked to dinner. it was this fancy-ish french bistro. good but had one of those menus that you stare at for a while and still can't come up with something you want. and not from the large selection of food.

the next morning was our train so after a quick stop at whole foods for breakfast we went to the train station. promptly at 9:30 we departed austin for dallas. the train for this part of the trip was nice. there's lots of legroom and plenty to see. i think i even napped a little. we were in dallas by 3 that afternoon. we checked into the hotel then set off in search of a citibank atm. then we had to search for food. we had decided to have a large afternoon meal to offset the time of the train travel. we randomly landed on sonny's. it's definitely a lunch place with pulled meats galore. my boyfriend wanted to see the location of the jfk assassination and we went to see it and found that there was a museum at the location and that it was still open. that was how we spent the afternoon. i now have an incredible amount of pity for jackie kennedy.

friday we spent in fort worth. we caught the commuter train early in the morning. we very quickly got to the kimball art museum (to find that it opens at 11am on fridays). so we went to the modern art museum first (it's right across the street). i have to say that i love tadao ando! what he does with concrete is amazing! the light and the glass and the concrete. all utterly amazing! and with snazzy detailing! i'm so happy to know about him. also the museum's collection wasn't bad. the collection is small, but the museum is appropriately sized. i don't think fort worth could support a larger museum.

then the kimball. and i thought the modern was small! it had a film exhibition going on, based off of the museum's collection. it was interesting, but i was only compelled to see two out of four movies. and the collection is an array of lesser known pieces by famous artists. so nothing was particularly compelling. we really only went because it was free and my boyfriend really wanted to see the building. it was also done by someone famous. i was unimpressed by the building so i do not recall who designed it.

that night we went out to a burger place suggested by my boyfriend's friend liz. apparently they make everything from scratch, including the ketchup, mustard, and bbq sauce. we got there and it was packed. halfway through the line we thought we had come at the busiest point, but by the time we had sat down the line was twice as long as when we came in. i was slightly scared cuz i didn't see turkey burgers on the menu and we had walked pretty far to get there for me to not be able to eat anything. but upon perusal of the menu they did indeed offer turkey burgers. and they also offered fried green beans. if you have never had a fried green bean , you have no idea what you're missing out on. it was easily the best green bean i've ever had. it's fried and delicious, but still tastes like green bean so you still feel like it's healthy. mmm mmmmm good!

we finished the night off with a nightcap at a mexican place closer to our hotel. where i had the worst gin and tonic of my life. the bartender asked about it and i think my direct quote is "there is something seriously wrong with this gin and tonic." hahaha he wanted to blame the tonic, but it was fine (as i discovered from a tasting). it had to be the gin. lesson learned. don't order well gin.

the next morning we toured the arts district in dallas. everything is sectioned off there. like the government actually decides the neighborhoods and their contents. deep ellum is the dive bar area (where the hamburger place was), west ... was the warehouse district, and the arts district had all of the museums and the theaters. it's super creepy. but so the boyfriend wanted to see the new rem koolhaas building. which is apparently a theater still under construction. it looks like it's a monster about ready to eat you. complete with spiky teeth. not my favorite. plus it's nickname is 'the cube' and it would be a cube except for some unfortunate bump outs in two of the faces.

after walking around this district we made our way over to sonny's again to eat at the chipotle across the street. then an additional trip to the jfk assassination museum to browse the gift shop. then it was time to catch the train again.

this time we had a sleeper room. it had two seat in it, which folded into a bed for one. and an additional bed folded down from the wall. it was nice because we had real beds to sleep on and all of the meals were free. amtrak food surprisingly isn't bad. i had pasta for dinner, really it was manicotti, and an omelet for breakfast. it was really nice to watch the country pass by. we sat in our room for a while then moved to the lounge car for a change of scenery before dinner. then we had such an entertaining dinner companion that we sat in the dining car for 2.5 hours. off to bed after that. then the next morning i just caught the end of the breakfast service. then we sat in our room for a little bit (i napped). at some point we moved to the lounge car in search of some lunch (the lunch service was abbreviated and was too close to our breakfast time so we skipped it.) i napped some more between watching illinois roll by.

i have to say that traveling by train is quite a relaxing way to travel. especially if it's a long trip overnight. to be able to saunter on then off the train, be catered to in the way we wish airlines still did, and sleep soundly through several hours of the trip while actually lying horizontal, instead of being in a stiff chair. woo! it was amazing!

now i'm back and starting school. (started, but i'll write about that later.)