Dallas, Texas

Following the football we had a lovely few days with Gail & Joe.  Visiting, the Museum of Art, the Nasher Sculpture Centre, Klyde Warren park and the Arboretum.  Also, fine dining at a beautiful restaurant attending the theatre and "Hooters".

No! Robert wasn't dressed in orange to camouflage with the Halloween pumpkins.  Our visit to the Arboretum, was the day after the football game and he was wearing his Auburn college colours in case he met any Auburn supporters.  We only saw one and he didn't even acknowledge us.  He probably thought Robert was a pumpkin too!  The gardens had a massive display of various pumpkins in all sorts of sculptures.  It was amazing.

There were several of these cute little guys scurrying around, collecting the fallen acorns, darting to a good spot, burying it. Checking to see if any other squirrel was watching then racing off to find more and repeat the exercise in a different spot. We found them cute however the locals call them vermin.  I guess it's the same with possums in Australia.

The gardens were beautiful and colour displays dazzling, even though it was Fall.

This part of the gardens was a haunt for lovers, weddings and photographers.  The big empty photo frame was begging for use.

You can see why. It had views over the lake and the city, to the right adding to the beauty of the spot.

The Dallas Museum of Art had a wonderful collection that we spent several hours admiring.  This piece in the front window, was made of large pieces of coloured glass.  Most were about a metre across.  Last year the same artist had pieces throughout the Botanic gardens, which Gail said was beautiful. 

The art gazing made us really hungry so we went outside, over the road to the Klyde Warren park. A clever urban space built over the freeway.  Food trucks are allowed to park along side for a few hours each day, so we had a slider in one, then an ice cream from a different one, while enjoying the sunshine.

     This area was a stage space and concerts are held here during the summer.

Fine dining at Three Forks was a highlight.  Sorry about the darkish photos but the decor was so over the top and gorgeous.  The antler light fittings were fabulous.  The food was also first rate. Joe & Mat, (son) shared a T-bone-the size of which made my eyes water. In the foyer were photo of famous guests, Harrison Ford was one who thoroughly enjoyed the experience, as did we.

     This was in the bar area.

We spent a very pleasant few hours perusing the Nasher Sculpture Center, It was started by Raymond & Patsy Nasher, who made their fortune developing shopping centres. This was originally their private collection and held some truly beautiful pieces by, Picasso, Giacometti, Henry Moore, Joan Miro and more. The best collection I've seen. Enjoy a small sample.

    Joan Miro

        Giacometti.  His brothers.

    Picasso

We were allowed to photograph only a few inside but there was no limit in the gardens outside. A truly amazing collection.

That last one, called the "Tornado", sums up our trip. Now we're nearing the end we feel like we've swept into places, rushed to see things and rushed away to see more.  It's all been wonderful though.  Before leaving Dallas we saw a play at the Tower Theatre, of which Gail is a member.  It was the life story of Hank Williams. Apart from being very good, it was also very topical in light of the fact we were heading to Nashville.

Prior to the play Joe took us to the local Hooters, a restaurant chain where the waitresses wear orange shorts and all seem to be in their early twenties. I'm not sure that the concept would pass equal opportunity requirements in Australia, however the Buffalo Wings were very tasty. I realise now that Joe likes the place because the orange shorts match Auburn's football team colours!

Thank you for your hospitality, Gail & Joe, we had a wonderful time.  Thanks also to Mat who fed us well.  Gail broke her wrist a few days before we were due.  She was playing 'Pickle ball'. We don't know the game either. Something like badminton, but played with a small wooden bat. I don't think it's usually a dangerous game!

Cheers, 'till next time. 

Robyn & Robert,

The Tourin'Travellers 

WAR EAGLE!

,

Friends, Joe and Gail Barth took us to an unforgettable event.  A college football game in College Station, about 3hrs south of Dallas.  The home team, Texas A+M university, played Joe's former college, Auburn University (Alabama based).  We tailgated with the Dean of Engineering, Auburn, plus other staff and alumni and had a wonderful time witnessing a very American spectacle.  Add to this, 'We' (Auburn) went into the game as 12 point underdogs and won the game in a nail biter.  Auburn are called the Auburn Tigers.  Their mascot is a tiger.  But for some reason their game cry whenever you see a fellow Auburnian, or they score, is "WAR EAGLE!"  

Navy & Orange are our colours, but being an away game we had to play in white with colour flashes.

Tailgating!  Tents on the lawn.  Some groups did it from the boot of their cars.  Some even had smokers for the meat. Every tent had flat screen TV's and ample supplies of food and beverages. It is not possible to acquire alcoholic drinks within the stadium.  Hence the need to build up your stamina before the game. We got there around 11am, the game started at 2pm and finished at 6. 

         Revellers!

 Photos with random people dressed in colours for the game. The younger two in Auburn colours were indeed ambassadors for the Auburn team.

     Fly over.  College alumni all flying the planes.

     

     Singing the A+M theme song, to start the match.

     Kick off!

There aren't enough people here!  Why is there seating?  Everyone stands for the game.  Notice the lack of orange in the crowd! Crowd numbers were in excess of 85,000. The 12th man refers to the positive impact that such a partisan crowd brings to the playing 11 (effectively another man in the team). And BTHO Auburn in the stand below? Beat the hell out of Auburn (not very charitable). There were also full time cheerleaders (men) running around the edge of the field of play taking the A&M supporters through ritual chants and choreographed moves.

 Half time.  The A+M marching band; we had never seen so many tubas in one place. This in itself was a highlight, the massed band performs intricate marching manoeuvres while playing complex tunes, often written for the event.

 

The winners as the scoreboard tells you (45-41).  Notice the attire. By the end of the afternoon (the 60 minute playing time game took 3 & 1/2 hours) it was quite cool.

Celebrating in bottle top alley.  The footpath is lined with bear bottle tops.  The pub to the right, the "Dixie Chicken" is a haunt after the game.  

     Dinner at Betty's Diner, just to round off the experience.

A must on the way home was to stop at this small roadside place to buy breakfast kolaches at the Czech bakery. 

Kolaches are pastries with any number of fillings, ranging from sausage to apricot & custard. Amazing!

 

So ends a memorable American experience, thank you Joe & Gail.  It will be a memory long  and fondly held.

War Eagle!

Cheers for now,

Robyn & Robert,

The Tourin'Travellers

Austin

.She's the centre piece at the Austin City Limits Festival.  She sits atop this square column about 15m high and spends the day just going round and round! Later on you will note a resemblance to the Capitol Building.

          Standing at the gate ready to have a musical experience.  The billboard says it all!

 Listening to a local Texan band called "Asleep at the Wheel".  They often team with Willie Nelson.  They were immensely popular & and played "Texas Swing".

 This guy had a great time!

   For all those with kids this is what you do.

Valerie June - could be the next big thing. Great music. Fabulous boots and hair. 

      The whole band.

The crowd on Saturday was huge. Wilco was playing later in the evening.  Those storm clouds over the city look threatening.  

    

    Wilco was great.  This is as close we could get!

Remember the rain clouds.  Well the heavens opened overnight.  Enough to cancel Sunday's music. Sad for us but it forced us onto the streets to locate local music, and see the sights.

The State Capitol. The building is constructed from locally sourced pink granite. George W. Bush was governor. Pretty easy gig, the lower house and senate only meet on alternate years. Yes it takes 2 years to pass legislation.

Beautiful architecture and attention to detail as these hinges show.

The Senate House.  They are elected for a two year term.  Sit for half of it.  What is the rest of the time spent doing? Answer - campaigning.

With no music to see, we decided to check out Pedernales Falls State Park, about an hour out of the city.  Due to the rain, there was a lot of water.  We wanted to see Hamilton Pool Preserve as well, but due to the rain the area was closed.

  

We were supposed to be able to swim in this area, however due to the speed of the water and the colour, decided it was best just to look.  The roots of these trees go for metres.

    Very "Wild Wood"

   The river was pretty, especially with the Autumn tones starting to appear.

We knew we had to have ribs while in Texas and chose this diner as the venue.  It was supposed to have cooked their ribs using the mesquite wood that gives the ribs a very distinctive flavour.  Well we didn't like the ribs here much but the venue was fabulous.

Decided to checkout the music night life.  This club, One-2-One was fairly new and supposed to showcase emerging artists.  Not sure if these guys fit the bill!  They are Jimmy & The Mustangs who it turns out were very big in the late 70's, emerging from the punk seen. Now they are very much Rockabilly. They played at Robert Plant's wedding and Bruce Springsteen has played with them too.

South Congress St. and "The Continental" were another draw card.  Saw this group back in Aus., at Brunswick Music Festival, 'The Hot Club of Cowtown'. They drew a dance crowd here.   Saw a great country rock band called 'Whiskey Sisters" too.

Wandering South Congress St. was fun and yielded many great sights. Austin is famous for its food vans.

This little shop across the road from our digs, was deceptive.  It looked rundown.  Was full of old bags, supposedly for sale, but made the best sandwiches.

Wandered the streets to checkout the Hyde Park area.  Here are a few of the homes. Not dissimilar to Surrey Hills.

Robert had to checkout the veggie bins at these two.  Next time you visit Surrey Hills, you may see something similar.  "Great use of Coreten!"

Lauren, you may like this one.  Food vans like this are all through this area.  Each one has a food style of their own.  Many are in these old style campers.  Cute.

As mentioned Halloween was looming. Stores, homes & people were preparing.  This supermarket was well stocked.  The variety of pumpkins was staggering.

I'm not sure about you, but this is not a good place to park your car!  The tow truck driver didn't think so either.  He was having trouble extricating it safely!

This was a scene viewed early in our stay in Austin, but sky and church spire are very Texas.

So our Austin tour is over, onto Dallas and College Football!   WAR EAGLE! 

(I'll explain that war cry in the next blog).

Cheers,

Robyn & Robert, 

The Tourin'Travellers