Extended Stay

Tuesday Rae and I drove up to Dallas, the half way mark from San Antonio to Tahlequah. We left SA a little later than expected but we did manage to make it to Arlington to Cowboys Stadium in time for the very last tour. We splurged for the V.I.P tour of the stadium which included a tour guide and access to the almost most exclusive parts of the facility. We sat in the club seats, visited a club house, walked through the Miller Lite Club onto the field (the same route the cowboys take to enter the field), and we saw the players' and cheerleaders' locker rooms. This facility is massive.They say everything is bigger in Texas, and they were right. So many "World's Largests" was put into that. I didn't realize that the Cotton Bowl was there and OSU played at that stadium. That's a big deal. Nobody told me this. I even watched that game on tv. Rae can tell you a lot more about the facility since she did her Facilities Operations term project on it, (raerosen.blogspot.com). 

After we saw the stadium, we ate dinner at Chipotle and went to meet a dear friend of mine, Danell. Danell took care of me when I was a kid. Her family is like my second family. They moved away from my neighborhood right before I started high school and moved to Texas. They are now living in the Dallas area and Rae and I were fortunate enough to stay with them. I am so glad Rae got to meet Danell, they are a lot alike in a few ways I think.

After sending Rae off on the airplane back to SA, I went and spent the day with Danell and the girls that she nannys for. They are so precious and so fun. This is the best job Danell could ever ask for. She also took me to go see the Gaylord Texan, a big hotel and convention center, because I told her I was into stuff like that. After that we went to downtown Grapevine and had a picnic and shopped around before picking up the other little girl from school. After school they always go to the playground near the school and all of her friends are there too. There were a bunch of 9 and 10 year olds running around with cell phones and I thought it was ridiculous until I remembered that I got mine shortly after that age too. It's so funny how when you are 10 you feel SO old...at least I did. Now when I see a 10 year old, they are definitely still children. After the girls were fed, we met their dad at the soccer field and that's where we left them. Danell and I went and got some mexican for dinner and then she took me to a nature preserve, we hiked off our meal for a bit then headed back to her house.  I helped her husband set up a Netflix account that streams through their DVD player...I may have created a monster with that. But he seems pretty excited about it. We watched Air Force One last night. Good movie. Intense. I like Harrison Ford. I apologize if the verb tenses are off on this post, it has taken me two days to finish it.

Lone Star Adventures

The last few days spent in Texas have been fantastic. I've gotten to live vicariously through Stevvi in College Station to fulfill my want for a classic college experience complete with v-necks and Nike running shorts. I have also fulfilled my dream of living in the peak of white suburbia in San Antonio with Rae and her family. It's been so fun to meet everyone in her life in person. It's so crazy how iChatting can make meeting people on a computer screen so real. I feel like I've know Stevvi, Danielle, and Robin forever.

I love froyo. There are so many froyo shops here, I'm so sad that we don't at home. Spoons in College Station is the first self serve froyo place I had ever been too. I got to get however much yogurt I wanted and whatever flavor along with however many toppings I wanted and then I pay per ounce. Definitely something that I couldn't have all the time, that would not be very friendly on my debit card. Orange Cup in SA was really cool too. They had some interesting flavors and a really cute store at the LaCantera Mall. Oh the LaCantera Mall...beautiful and every store I would ever want. I didn't buy anything though...aren't you proud?  Last night Rae, Stevvi, and Danielle took me to the famous Riverwalk in Downtown San Antonio. I have mixed feelings about doing touristy things with locals, I'm not sure if I didn't think it was such a big deal just because it's not a         very big deal or if it would have been a big deal if I went with non-locals.

Well my bags are all packed and I am ready to head out and go back up to Oklahoma. Back to reality. We are making a pit stop in Dallas to see my lovely Danell and take a tour of the Cowboys Stadium. Rae and I are parting ways tomorrow, she is going to fly from Dallas back to SA and I will be driving home. This is gonna be kinda weird, we haven't spent much time apart in several months. It's a blessing from God that we aren't sick of each other yet. Much love, enjoy the warm weather, I'm still adjusting.

When in Texas...

This morning we left Mississippi and hit I-10 West all the way to Texas. The further west we drove, the less scenic it got outside the car window. We started off the morning right in front of the gulf and the coastline for a good 20 miles or so. The closer we got to the Texas gulf coast, the more oil refineries and flat land and highway there was. Also, soon after we passed the Texas border, the trooper was on it. Rae got pulled over for going 78 in a 70. Interesting since we managed to drive through 13 other states on this trip with the occasional speeding because of how sensitive my gas pedal is. Luckily we got off with a written warning, phew. We met with Rae's cousin Shannon and spent some time with her family in Houston before heading to College Station to see Stevvi! 

When we got to Stevvi's place, we hung out for a bit then went to Rudy's for dinner. Rudy's in as Texas as it gets. It's a BBQ restaurant where you buy the smoked meat and sides by the pound, BBQ sauce by the gallon, as much sweet tea you can drink, however many slices of bread to go with all of that meat you just got, and you eat on wax paper not plates. It was delicious. After dinner we headed back and started the long process of getting ready for a night out. Of course, I am the first to be ready. I have this awesome ability to get ready in 40 minutes max time including a shower, hair, make-up, and picking out an outfit. In that time I also blow dried and curled Rae's hair with time to spare. Since we were only gonna be in town for a short time, Stevvi wanted to show us what she does here in College Station and a good time. For the first time, I put on a sun dress with cowboy boots. Not gonna lie, I looked pretty cute. Disregarding the fact that chinese girl is wearing western wear. We went out two-steppin'. We left her apartment at around 11pm and poor College Station is dead when classes are not in session. 

Stevvi took us to this place called Daisy Duke's, a country dance hall. When we first got there, it was practically empty. After some wandering we wound up going back and the place finally started to fill up. It was unusual tonight because it was part country two-steppin' and another part night club. Somehow Rae and I had managed to bring the nightlife in Providence all the way down to College Station. Most girls were in their club ultra outfits, not in their cowboy boots., There also seemed to be a random bachelorette  party or wedding reception, I'm not really sure, I just knew people were unusually dressed up for this place. I learned to two-step. The first few dances were really rough since I was just kinda thrown out there was no lesson prior to, but I did manage to pick it up pretty quickly. I danced with a wide array of guys, some were nice southern gentlemen, others were drunk messes, and others were just a mess. We went to Stevvi's friends house for a "red cup party" afterwards and got to watch all the drunk people while we were sober, the best way to go. While we were there, they taught me a few more country dance steps. Good night/morning. I have had an extremely long day, I have been awake for way to long. That is all for now. Check out raerosen.blogspot.com for her perspective on our adventures.