Well howdy y’all!!
Guess where I am… Yup, Texas. Second night in, and I gotta be honest, its everything its cracked up to be.
As you get off the plane at Dallas Love Field airport, its just country music and Texan hats everywhere you look. The people are really friendly and even though it was like 0′C and raining, everyone had a warm smile and if you got within earshot of an airport attendant, you usually got a “How ya’ll doin’ t’day?”
Man it was cold when we arrived – I’m talking Hypermarket meat fridge cold. Kinda cold that goes right through you no matter what you’re wearing. Anyways, we got dressed in the airport bathrooms and then rushed off to pick up our rental car, a Chrysler 300C. Wow, what a car. We got lost a few times finding our meeting venue, but we eventually got there and spent the rest of the afternoon chatting business and stuff.
After that we checked in @ the less than fancy Dallas Plaza hotel, and after a hot shower, went out looking for a traditional Texas bar-b-que joint. We drove down into downtown Dallas to an area called Ellum and managed to find Bakers Ribs. Man, it was just what the doctor ordered – a plate of 2 salads, pork ribs and chopped beef and a buffet of rolls, bread, chillis & gherkins. We chatted to the more than friendly manager from the store who heartily addressed me as “brother!” when he found out that I was from South Africa. Like most Americans, he was quite shocked to find that we DIDN’T have lions and leopards walking around our streets. Anyways, we took some pictures and he gave me one of his work t-shirts (a clean one) and signed it for me.
Then we took a brisk, frozen walk to a nearby country bar where we got a pitcher of Shiner beer and then had some local Texan beer, ‘Lone Star’. The walls were covered in messages and stuff that you can write with a permanent marker that they supply. I left some messages to friends in South Africa, took pictures and left.
Today, Saturday, I slept in, did some work, and then left the plaza and about 2 hours ago, checked into the Dallas Hyatt. Wow, what a difference from the 1 or 2 star Plaza to the 4 or 5 star Hyatt. The place is incredible. We took the lift to the Hyatt tower – a 560ft high tower with a rotating restaurant at the top and an observation deck. We ordered some nachos and watched Dallas move below us.
Tonight I’m gonna go take some pictures at the grassy knoll – the place where JFK was shot, supposedly by that Oswald dude, and then head out for dinner to a place called Y.O’s.
Texas is very very cool. Last night, walking around downtown Texas was really cool. Meeting the locals and checking out the downtown vibe was brilliant. Hopefully there’ll be more days like this to come.
