2. TEXAS

AUSTIN (March 18^th – 20^th)

On arrival at Austin airport, we successfully picked up a large seven- seater Uber and within 20 mins we were checking into the ‘Boujee’ Aiden City Austin Hotel.
After navigating through a rather painfully slow check in we dumped our cases in our rooms and went straight to the adjacent Japanese bar and grill where we all had our fill of Hibachi steak and shrimp (with rice and soup) – very nice indeed. On the way back to our rooms we quickly checked out the pool and hot tub area which looked good.

After a hearty breakfast we set off for an hour’s walk along the famous South congress road into the city seeing bars, restaurants, live music and shops.
Austin is the live music capital of the world – 300 venues. We walked right into the city where apparently 99% of the skyscrapers had been built in the last 25 years so it was very shiny and new. However, the zebra crossings were very aggressive and gave you a very loud and abrupt ‘Wait’ when you pressed the button. It worked as we too scared to move!

The bus tour was full (so we booked for the next day) but Ang discovered there was a rodeo on in the evening so we decided that we would all go to that.

We got a Waymo driverless car back to the hotel, chilled by the pool and got ready for the rodeo.

Well almost, Ang and Den went off to do some laundry in the hotel which meant Keith and Ian had to grudgingly give up their underwear which they had been wearing since we arrived!

The Austin rodeo was an amazing show which included a fairground with various food stalls adjacent to the arena. It was at this point we discovered girls actually wear cowboy hats as well!
The show started at 7 pm and included bucking broncos & bulls, steer wrestling, roping (lasso) and barrel racing, we watched cowboys and cowgirls.
Den treated herself to a large bucket of popcorn which she said would last her a few days (yeh right) and Ang had a rather large pretzel.
After the show we were treated to a concert by a leading country star called Annie Wilson – very good.

The following day we were picked up by a Waymo, driverless car again and embarked on a city bus tour which was very informative.
We returned to the hotel for more chilling by the pool and hot tub before we went out for the evening. While waiting for our ride we had a game of table football and amazingly against all odds – the boys lost – I know, it’s very hard to believe.

After the hour- long celebration by the girls we caught an uber (another driverless car) and went to the Broken Spoke, a very famous Austin club renowned for good food, music and dancing. After ordering some drinks and food, our accents attracted some attention and we had a good chat with the singer on stage – who sang some Eagles (New Kid in Town) and Kenny Rogers (The Gambler) for us.

We were then warmly greeted by Mike the owner. He was a nice geezer and a Manc to boot, been in Austin for 20 years. He said he would get us a great table in the next room which he certainly did, the front row.

After some great food we moved next door to our table and Ang and Den joined the rest of the crowd being taught the Texas two- step. We also found out that apparently in Texas, single ladies are NOT allowed to refuse a man if he asks her to dance.

After a great time we ordered an Uber and you guessed it – a driverless car came to pick us up again.

The next morning after a hearty breakfast, we picked up our hire car, a Kia Carnival, from the airport and loaded up our luggage for the trip to Dallas.

DALLAS (March 21^st – 23^rd)

We set off for Dallas and stopped at a small town of Waco for a break where we had a lovely coffee overlooking the scenic car park.
It took another 3 hrs to reach our hotel in Dallas, but that was after navigating through the Dallas metropolis road system. It was like Spaghetti junction on steroids and each road seemed to have a minimum of 5 lanes. Very well done to Ang for driving through that, all those hours spent watching F1 was bound to come in useful at some point.
We checked into the Homewood Inn and Suites which was amazing and we were greeted with a nice large room each.

We decided to head out for food and Den (our newly appointed Food & Beveridge Director) found us a nice hot pot Asian restaurant where you cook the food yourself in a flavoured broth, very nice. Following that we had a short walk around the monster complex of shops and restaurants that was near to the hotel.

The next morning, a Sunday, after a 5- star breakfast (the best yet) we headed off to Dealey Plaza, where JFK was shot.
This was a fantastic experience and the museum was amazing. You could actually go to the 6th floor of the old book depository building and view the window where Lee Harvey Oswald ‘apparently’ shot JFK (yeah… right, he had no chance of getting three accurate shots off from that window).
On the ground you could walk all the important landmarks from that faithful day in 1963 including the grassy Knoll and picket fence.
After a coffee and a nice chat with a local guy Josh, who overheard our accents, and who proceeded to tell us he honeymooned in Spain, we headed out on the Dallas bus trolley for a tour of the city which was as usual very informative and interesting.

We decided to try some Tex-Mex in the evening, enjoying some Tacos in a local bar then headed back to the hotel where we ventured out to the shops to buy some additional supplies, including an extra suitcase for all Den & Ang’s shopping!!!

The next day we set off for South Fork Ranch (well we are in Dallas) to see where the Ewings lived in the famous TV series.
To be fair it was an enjoyable trip, although the guide at the house did try her absolute best to confuse us about what was actually filmed in the house and what was not (she succeeded).
We did get to see JR’s bed and ensuite though, very nice indeed …… Also, interesting fact, the swimming pool was much smaller than it appeared on the show, clever people these camera men and women.

We returned to the hotel for a bit more shopping and then in the evening we headed out to the Outback restaurant for a very nice steak dinner.