Toured around Austin today. Checked out 6th Street and walked around a bit. Just finished up at The Salt Lick. Good god is that good. Far and away the best BBQ I've ever had. Place was way more touristy than I was expecting as I waited an hour for a table for 1. I wanted to head back out tonight to a bar or something, but my allergies are crushing my face into a black hole. It was also nice when at the Hertz car rental place, the guy there said my signature looked like I had a seizure.
If it makes you feel better, I judged Texas by what I saw at a fast food place when I was passing through Dallas. Kidding. I've driven the length of Texas from El Paso all the way to Louisana. I wouldn't say its the most diverse state I've seen but definitely several distinct regions. The people are big though, I've found that isn't a stereotype.
There is no land I have yet seen as forsaken by God as West Texas. And I've driven through South Dakota border-to-border. The long way.
I think Eastern Colorado is the the most barren, desolate area of the country I've ever seen. West Texas isn't much better but its not worse. Eastern Colorado is just horrible. The thing I least understand about Texas is the whole Texas citizenship/pride thing. Ive heard people talk about being a 7th generation Texan and shit like that and I just don't get it. No one in Southern California says there a 22nd generation Californian and there ancestors came there with the missionaries.
Indeed. Though you can travel the whole state and find that each region is completely different from another. edit: Re: Texas pride...Our status as a republic prior to Houston getting us into the Union did a number on our egos. Re: West Texas...When The Husband was stationed out in San Angelo, I became CONVINCED that the whole reason that shithole town formed was because the male settlers kept pushing westward, and the women finally were like "GODDAMMIT FRANK we're stopping NOW before this gets worse!" East Texas and the piney woods, I get it. It's beautiful and there's game and coverage and there's rain. The Hill Country and Northeast Texas...Rain. Something resembling seasons. Water. Shit like that. Once you get about 100 miles west of Fort Worth...there's fuck all. It takes a special kind of hardy to live out there.
First of all, Texas has some extremely beautiful places. West Texas, to me, is beautiful. Being out there makes me feel tiny and insignificant and it's a great place to eat shrooms. There's also the Chinati Hot Springs about 2 hours west of Big Bend on the Mexican border. Also, Austin is a douche-filled hipster town with wayyyy overpriced real estate. Everybody in Austin thinks they have the best food and that's because they haven't been to Houston. We have better food and in multitudes. If my job keeps progressing the way it is though, I will have to live there. The best part about the Austin area is San Marcos and New Braunfels. Just beautiful hill country towns where the rivers are.
Ok. Yeah. That's fair. You stand under a west Texas sky on a clear July night and look up. You'll know your place in the universe, and how insignificant you really really are. I haven't been to Big Bend. I meant to...and didn't. I always smiled driving past that Ballinger Cross. Sometimes west Texas is weird. And the sheep in San Angelo. But goddammit. I'm so sick of Old Bay. I want queso and chips and salsa.
I got nothing bad to say about Texas. Well, that's not true - I hate the Dallas Cowboys. And, not west Texas, but the most stars I have ever been able to see in my life, was lying in the mud of a plowed rice field at 4:30 a.m. getting ready to shoot geese somewhere outside Altair, Texas. Which is somewhere outside Eagle Lake, Texas. Which is about halfway between Houston and San Antonio, I think. I've enjoyed myself every time I've been to Texas. Also drove through Amarillo about 25 years ago. I remember something about a place with a big steak.
Back when I drove to California, I had to go up the top of the panhandle, then over through Albuquerque. Holy moly there's some HOLY ROLLERS as you're driving up 287. The signs about Jesus and salvation and DO YOU KNOW HIM had me wondering if I was living right, and made me call my mama.
It's funny how legit queso is made with velveeta. Also, no one has real Mexican food like they do here in Houston, San Antonio, and other southern border towns. And not Texmex either. Real Mexican food.
I live in a place where they hand me Old Bay covered chips and some Pace picante sauce and then charge me 4 bucks.
Also - The Husband has started watching the original Independence Day. It's like...brain crack. I can't look away. What is Will Smith made of? He looks the same...