#annietakestexas: the recap

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 y'all!

so if you follow me on twitter or instagram you know i went to texas two weeks ago to visit chelsea. she wrote her own recap here (i just realized she chose the same title for her post that i chose for this one. i'm not changing mine.)

here are some random facts about my trip to texas:
+ it was my first time flying completely by myself. i've taken multiple trips, domestically but mostly internationally, without my parents before, but this was my first time traveling without anyone at all.
+ it was my first time flying to a domestic destination. i've flown within the US, but only as part of an international trip. anytime i've visited places within the US, it's been by highway.
+ it was my first time visiting the south. the furthest south i'd been before this was northern VA/southern OH.
+ it was my first time west of the mississippi. the furthest west i'd been before this was chicago.

we visited four cities while i was in texas: fort worth, dallas, austin, & san antonio. let me just tell y'all: i LOVE texas. i want to move there yesterday. so i will surely be visiting again! (especially since i missed out on meeting my houston and other tx friends!)

i decided first of all to pack in a carry-on because i was only going for five days and the possibility of losing luggage (and therefore spending those five days trying to find it &/or buying clothes) was not one i was willing to deal with, even in theory. (i'll note that i have flown many times and only once ever lost luggage. it was on the way home from venezuela, we nearly missed our plane from atlanta because our previous flight was delayed, and mine was the only piece of 20 altogether that was lost. so i know the airlines are pretty good at getting suitcases where they need to be.)

i am a notorious underpacker. however, that's a skill i combine with packing for every contingency i can imagine, and therefore, i wasn't really sure i would be able to manage packing in a carry-on.

but i did!

i flew me and my carry-on to fort worth, where chelsea picked us up and drove us to sonic for post-flight munchies.

it was my first time at a sonic. ever.

apparently there is sonic in michigan but i have never seen one there before although i've seen approximately ninety hundred forty-six million thousand of their commercials. i'm not in the habit of driving twenty minutes for my fast food but that may well be changing. (after all, i did drive twenty minutes for a drive-thru starbucks the other day because i was that determined not to have to get out of my car until i got home.)

we spent that night watching episodes of parenthood and revenge because we are all about our tv. and also about the easy living.

y'all, the sky is totally bigger in texas.

the next day we spent all in fort worth. we made one of many morning trips to starbucks. then we went to the fort worth museum of science & history, where they had an exhibit on the titanic in commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of its sinking.

they had a full-scale replica of the ship, which is haunted by the ghost of captain edward smith.

just kidding. they didn't have a full-scale replica of the ship. they did have a green screen.

then chelsea walked me around the seminary she attends and we visited the food park she works at:

we split pasta and a cupcake. YUM.

that night we went to dinner with a friend of chelsea's. the restaurant we went to, uncle julio's, came highly recommended by jen. it was so good! if you're in fort worth, you must go.

the next day was sunday, which we spent mostly in dallas and with people. we saw the wiegands & one of my friends from high school (whom i actually hadn't seen since the day we graduated, almost four years ago!). it was so good to catch up with casey and meet her kids & then hang out with crystal.

monday we started our roadtrip down I-35! we stopped at a chick-fil-a on the way to meet elizabeth. elizabeth is one of my oldest blog friends and it was so good to finally meet her in person!

also, it was my first time eating chick-fil-a.

y'all, i would relocate to texas for chick-fil-a alone. it was that good.

after arriving in austin, we visited the state capitol building.

the building was designed by an architect from detroit. yay for mitteneers in texas!

after we toured the capitol, we walked around UT. y'all, i clearly missed my calling as a longhorn.

the clock tower

the football stadium

i could not get over UT's football stadium. in fact, i still can't. my university's football stadium was a joke of one. (they always told us the reason they won't go d1 is because they don't want to charge students for sporting events. i fully maintain the real reason they won't is because they don't want to have to build a real football stadium.) my high school football stadium is bigger than my alma mater's, but in comparison to UT's looks like a tiny toy. as if i didn't already know texans were serious about their football, i really know now.

after we walked around UT we went to meet ruthie (& baby hart!) at threadgill's. we ate and talked and talked and talked and ate. the food was delicious and ruthie is one of the sweetest people i have had the honor to meet. if you haven't run across her blog before, i'm telling you to go now!

after dinner, chelsea and i went to scare up some dessert. we got some red velvet cheesecake and considered it my belated birthday cake.

the next day we went to the state history museum. i thought i knew a fair bit about texas history before; now i have a veritable ph.d.

they were filming promo videos for so you think you can dance out in front of the museum.

chelsea's boyfriend treated us to lunch at texas land & cattle. and i may have been in texas, but no meal is more irish than good old meat & potatoes, whatever form that may take.

y'all, if i weren't already moving to texas for chick-fil-a alone, i'd move to texas for the sirloin alone. that and those garlic mashed potatoes; oh my gosh, yum. i'm swooning now just thinking about them.

after that we made the short trip to san antonio!

we went first to the alamo, through the museum (which is formally referred to as a shrine, which only goes to show you that texans are more serious about their sacrifices than their football), and then walked around the grounds.

the alamo, in my opinion, is like the mona lisa. it looks huge in pictures and then you walk up to it and you're like, "that's it? it's so tiny!"

we also walked up and down the river on the famous river walk. one of its branches starts at the river center mall, where we did a little shopping and found this gem:

it's for your car grille. i took the picture to text to my brother, who wanted desperately for me to buy it. (for those of you who are familiar with the quip i make on my about page, this is where the act of classy overrules the act of gangster.) i like to keep my car aesthetically pleasing to the eye and therefore free of stuff like this.

also i didn't have $20.

also my car doesn't have a grille on which this would fit properly, although i didn't realize that until just now.

anyway, that night we took a boat tour on the river walk, which is absolutely gorgeous.

before heading back north to austin, we also visited the tower of the americas. we looked out onto the skyline of san antonio at night and saw a short video about texas in 4d.

on our way back to austin from san antonio we stopped at whataburger.

& y'all? if i weren't already moving to texas for chick-fil-a alone or sirloin alone, i'd move to whataburger alone. seriously.

the next day we wandered around a few quirky stores on south congress st. in austin after eating breakfast at walton's, a cafe owned by sandra bullock.

i haven't had a chocolate croissant since i was in france eight years ago. also, i feel like everyone should be able to say they had a cupcake for breakfast at least once in their lives.

then i proceeded to leave my mark on the city.

& then we proceeded to drive back to dfw. where i spent precious moments more in 70 degree weather before flying home to temperatures in the teens and proceeded to drop my suitcase in the slush outside the airport.

you may take the girl out of the mitten, but probably when you send her back you ought to give her a pair for her hands.

texas has gotten under my skin in a bad way, y'all. and i will surely be back to take it on again!