everything is bigger in texas.

crazy highways in dallas.

eventually, i made it to texas. everything really is bigger in texas. the land, the sky, the traffic, the weather. on friday, i made it through dallas and drove into houston around midnight. marc and i headed out to sherlock's to get a few beers and play some darts. i won at darts.

SATURDAY

saint arnold brewery.

we got lunch at this great trinidadian restaurant with a few of marc's friends from grad school. holy moly it was tasty! afterward, we toured the saint arnold brewery and enjoyed a few beer samples. the heat in houston, my lack of sleep, and those few sips of beer necessitated a nap. once i woke up we went to see the other guys (the new will farrel film) which was HILARIOUS. it was also the first film i'd seen in a theater since december.

later on we went to cedar creek, a great bar with lots of outdoor seating. fun times!

SUNDAY

where we went tubing!

marc and the giant ladle.

sunday was the day of tubing on the guadalupe river! we left late morning and ended up stopping at buc-ees, this crazy rest/truck stop that has lots of ridiculous things. like a giant ladle.

armed with a cooler full of beer and tubes, we set out for 4 hours of floating down a lazy river. it was fabulous. i didn't even get sunburnt. wahoo!

needless to say, i was pooped by the end of that adventure and fell asleep before 10pm. whoops...

MONDAY

mural in austin.

i ended my houston adventure with carry out breakfast of kolaches and lunch at sweet tomatoes. yum yum yum. i hit the road just as the remnants of a tropical storm hit houston. yay? this meant driving through torrential rain on an 8 lane highway. not ideal driving conditions, but i guess it could have been worse. i made it into austin in the evening to hang out with danielle for the rest of the day. miraculously, it wasn't raining at all when i got there.

me at ut-austin.

austin is SUCH a cool city. very walkable, bikeable, public transportation-able. we walked arount UT-austin and then took the bus into downtown to check out the 6th street district. we ate at the iron cactus, an upscale mexican place in town. i ordered spinach, artichoke and portabello enchiladas. DELICIOUS.

after stuffing ourselves more than we should've, we walked around town checking out a few of the local bars. literally every bar on 6th street had a live band...it was amazing! we stopped into friends and the chuggin' monkey to see some great local blues bands before catching a cab back to danielle's place. oh man, our cab driver was hilarious, too...best cab experience i've had.

TUESDAY

rain. rain. rain.

some cool terrain in texas.

i woke up early to a downpour outside. overnight the tropical storm i drove through leaving houston made its way out to austin...and was there for quite a while. my drive up to amarillo (where i had a room reserved at a cheap motel), was peppered with random outbursts of crazy thunderstorms. i made a few stops for gas and food, but made it to amarillo in the early evening. after checking into my hotel, i picked up a few groceries at this great local market and spent the evening relaxing and writing postcards in my room. not too shabby.

WEDNESDAY
i'm about ready to head off to colorado springs! just need to make a pb&j for lunch, pack up my things and set the GPS to the mountains.

ROAD TRIP STATS (including trip from MA)
cities visited: 12 - rochester, buffalo, niagara falls, ypsilanti, grand rapids, chicago (+suburbs), st. louis, lawrence (KS), tulsa, houston, austin, amarillo
miles traveled: 3,474
tanks of gas: 9