USA Trip: Dallas/Austin and San Antonio

Howdy Y’ALL from Mez and Ann

Day 1 - 7

I totally understand why we don’t get the tourists down under that the rest of the world enjoys as that trip is a killer. 15 and a half hours, not being able to sleep and when we got to Dallas we stood in a cattle yard queue for 15 mins off 2 hours. Think they may have been introducing us to the state of Texas-EVERYTHING IS BIGGER IN TEXAS. They even gave out bottles of water to try to compensate.

Have been up now well over 36 hours and we are delirious, have just had the most unhealthy start to the holiday having a burger and fries on recommendation next door to the hotel which is in the middle of nowhere but apparently it is only 10 miles to downtown Dallas.

Well we have only been in the country a short time and already have had to move rooms as outside the window of the room on the 7^th floor was the hotel’s generator- very noisy.

Day 2 - Monday -we spent shopping which we had planned to do. Needed to buy GPS etc for trip.

This shopping centre has 4 major department stores similar to DJ's and Myer plus heaps of smaller stores it was BIG.

Day 3- Tuesday - picked up our car ready for the road trip. We are driving a new Ford Focus but we are swamped by the land of the pickup, BIG PICKUPS.

Texas is the land of big open spaces and on our journey to Austin there wasn't much to see but freeways that head south in straight lines for miles and miles.

Their freeway system is amazing. If they need a new road to somewhere they just put it on top of the existing freeway.

They have BIG signs everywhere just in case you can't find what you are looking for.

One of the many freeway overpasses

Loads of money spent on the roads as everyone drives everywhere.

Transport system seems to be non existent. When you want to get anywhere they always ask 'where'd y'all park your car'- it is presumed that you are driving.

Arrived at our first bnb accommodation - an airstreamer in a families back yard.

The weather here is HOT HOT HOT. We spent the first night's dinner at Hoovers(up the road from our accommodation) and as typical with Americans a lady heard us talking, introduced herself and then invited herself to sit with us.

I must admit the people in Texas are very friendly.

The airstreamer in Austin

You lose track of the time here as the sun doesn't go down till about 9.30pm and at 7 or 8 at night it is like 2 in the arvo.

Breakfast under the chandelier outside the airstreamer

Day 4- Wednesday -today we organised the cab driver who drove us home last evening to take us for a few hours to see the sites. So we started our first very touristy day in Texas. Drove around all the important places eg. The Capitol, the LBJ Building and the University which is massive - this is where the University Football Team- The Longhorns train and play. They even have a special training field that is completely covered by a dome so as to avoid the heat.

State Trooper Car bigger in Texas

Longhorns Supporters Shop

History of the south in sculpture

LBJ's limo

Had lunch at a cool lakeside restaurant called the Hula Bar.

Lunch at the Hula Bar

If you look closely at the pic there is a margarita with a corona floater - a margarita with an actual bottle of corona in it.

Dinner has to be mentioned as we ordered food that was served in a saucepan.

Comfy stay in the airstreamer.

Dinner served in a saucepan

Day 5- Thursday- drove further south to San Antonio and this time we are staying near downtown in a granny flat called The Casita by her owner - Sharon.

Inside the Casita

It's the 4th July and American Independence Day. We decided to head downtown and Sharon, our host, who is a triathlete said it wasn't far. Well her idea of 'not far' and ours is SLIGHTLY different. After walking about 7ks in over 95 degree heat we made it to the mayhem of downtown. We battled our way around for a while had fried beets for very late lunch and caught a cab out of there. Way too busy for us. We kept seeing groups in different coloured shirts - they happened to be part of 27000 students in San Antonio for a conference. You can understand why we hightailed it out of there.

Mez getting into the swing of Independence Day with her blue star shorts and Y'ALL T shirt.

Day 6- Friday - today we headed to the Texas Hill Country. First stop Boerne. We put the GPS on to take us to the town centre. Well we got out of the car and there was nothing there but a rundown old saloon and of course a restaurant.

Old Saloon in Boerne

So next stop Comfort. Lovely sleepy little town and we were told to have Pie on the Porch at Miss Giddy's.

Sawdust Pie tasted like a combination of walnuts, coconuts and treacle.

So after having sawdust pie we headed to Fredricksburg a busy town with lots of people and heaps of trendy cowboy shops.

Along the way we passed lots of impressive ranches and lots of open spaces. Our hostess is very friendly and we had drinks on her porch chatting to the locals after a big day sightseeing.

We needed supplies and went shopping American style

We could not believe the size of the onions similar to a softball. Everything is bigger in Texas.

Day 7- Saturday- we decided to ride bikes into downtown this time. Left the bikes tied to a tree on an innercity street and hoped they would be there on our return. Jumped on a hop on hop off bus to do the tourist thing again. Stopped off at El Mercado Mexican Market and after walking through heaps of shops with the same stuff joined in the festivities by sharing a LARGE margarita and a LARGE turkey leg. The locals were all dancing and having a great time.