Abilene, Fort Worth, Arlington, Mansfield and Melody and Stephen's, TX

Everything is big in Texas!!!

Wow so many American made trucks and SUVs you can't even shake a stick at. I tell you what, these guys with their 10 gallon hats and their Ford Duallies are happier than a ground hog in soft dirt!

Cool painting we saw

Now some of these phrases may seem foreign to you but I just learned them in Abilene. Now that we are in the heart of Texas, the Texas Twang is much more common. People are saying y'all and just have that southern way about them. It feels like I am in a very different land now that the majority of people have a different dialect as I do. Though it does feel different, I have enjoyed my time in Texas so far. When we were in Abilene we headed to the older historic part of the town and walked around getting to know the town. We went into an All Things Texas store, which is basically a tourist's stop to get novelty items relating to Texas. I found this funny book that explained all the nuances of Texas and got a good chuckle. I then noticed they had a stuffed animal of an armadillo and realized they had those here. I went to the cashier who was this sweet young southern belle and asked here where I might find an armadillo. She responded, (With a very Texan accent) "Gosh, dead on the side of the road I guess!"

Pondering the art

Some of the Architecture at the Museum

We laughed then she told me a good road to drive down to possibly see some armadillo road kill. She asked where we were from and I said Sacramento, California. I then hesitated then asked her, "If I just said Sacramento would you know where I was from?"

She said at least she would and thought most people in Texas would. I suppose I am a little paranoid that we are so far away from Cali now and that possibly Sacramento isn't all that well known that they would be clueless as to where I originate.

Well we walked around Abilene and about the time I started warming up to the city Anna was ready to go. You see I was kinda in the mood just to get on the road and get to Fort Worth after waking up in Abilene but she wanted to see the sites. We left for Fort Worth on a country road hoping to see some armadillo. We filled up and they had 93 octane! Maander was very happy with the upgrade in cuisine for himself. As we made our way to Fort Worth we didn't see any armadillo though.

Cool church in downtown FW

Cityscape of FW

We rolled into Fort Worth and headed for the Museum of Modern Art. We drove through Texas Christian University (TCU) and saw a sea of students. We soon realized that colleges were really important in Texas. TCU won the Rose Bowl just a few weeks ago and the area around TCU was all decked out in their TCU pride. We got through all those young people and made it to the Museum which is just a little out of downtown in an area that looks to like it is being developed. Fort Worth had a very familiar feel to it. Big City with lots of diversity and the twang was not very apparent in a lot of peoples speech.

Variety of buildings in FW

We meandered around the Museum and saw the art. They had some very prominent artists such as Andy Warhol. It was nice seeing the Art but we left the Museum feeling like the 10 dollar price tag was not quite worth it. We don't plan on going to anymore art museums unless there is a particular reason to go. The building itself was very interesting and everything was really well done but it just didn't float our fancy.

We then explored downtown Fort Worth. We first stopped in a coffee shop that seemed hip and had a cool coffee house feel to it as you would find in Sacramento or any other California major city. Downtown was full of different kinds of styles in architecture. We saw a lot of tempting restaurants to go to and read many historical plaques all about Fort Worth. It got cold and we decided to head back to a Walmart and shack up for the night, the nights looked to be getting colder and colder now :(

On the trail

We woke up and knew it was a lazy day. We got our laundry done and settled on going on a bike ride. We found a park with a nice long trail and first made lunch then headed out for a longish 11 mile bike ride. The weather was very nice and the scenery was beautiful. It had a winter feel to it without any snow. Texas is pretty flat so the ride was easy and we just trucked along. We saw and heard a russeling in some leaves just off the bike trail and slammed on our brakes!! It was an Armadillo!! We tried to get a picture but he quickly jumped into the bushes to escape. We hoped to see more. Oh and we did. We ended seeing probably 5 armadillos total. I was very happy we went on the bike ride.

OMG OMG an Armadillo!!

It felt good to get back to riding bikes after a long hiatus. Ever since Tucson we have been somewhat in a hurry to just get across the country. Now that we have arrived in Fort Worth it has been a bit more laid back and we haven't had to worry about extreme weather with the safety of a big city within reach. We hit up 24 hour fitness the whole week until we got to Melody and Stephen's house in Mansfield.

At Melody and Stephen's chillin'

In Mansfield we visited Melody and Stephen's church. First we went to the youth group on Thursday the first night we were there. It was a lot of fun to interact with them and they had some free pizza and I am all about that. We spent Friday in Waxahachie with Melody while Stephen was at work. It is this cool town with houses one would imagine would be in a Midwest country town. We visited the courthouse and walked around downtown Waxahachie. We stopped at a pub and had a pint which hit the spot proper. Friday was night the girls went to a girls function at the church and Stephen and I just stayed home and played video games. Saturday was the Botanical Gardens where we just stared at plants' private areas all day. We started acting silly and getting into trouble grabbing a cart meant for the staff there. We ended the night with some Settlers of Catan and passed out, Melody and Stephen were very kind and allowed us to use their bed while we stayed with them.

Melody and I getting into trouble

Cuuuuuute

Waxahachie courthouse

Waxahachie Museum
Anna like phone booths for some reason

They didn't answer

Sunday was church and the fast that Melody and Stephen were on was over so we had some Chinese food afterwards. This food was great and we ended it with some ice cream at this fast food joint called Braum's. We hung out with their family afterwards and ended the night with a rematch of Settlers where I was able to pull of a W.

Taking a little sippy sip
of the Holy Grail water

In the tropical greenhouse at the botanicals

They are way more in love than Anna and I are :)

.... NOT!

We are in Austin now and the 93 octane has turned Maander into a well performing beast who is gnashing at the bit to be driven. We got excellent gas mileage from Mansfield to Austin. I estimate the mpg to be at least in the 20 mile/gallon range. We have only heard good things about Austin and we plan on staying in Austin for 3 days if the weather permits. Looks like we will have to be strategic about how long and where we stay while we are in Central Texas because the weather can change quick and it can have snow or freezing rain. All stuff we want Maander not to be close to. We have a place to party for the Superbowl in San Antonio and hopefully my Uncle will shack us up in Houston. I gotta call him though :/