Dallas was OK. Amber and I stayed at a nice hotel (the Westin Galleria) a block north of the 635/tollway intersection, taking periodic trips downtown to various spots of note. The Sixth Floor Museum in Dealey Plaza. The Dallas Museum of Art. A stroll around downtown. Downtown Dallas, although essentially abandoned, was nice. The rest of Dallas was more or less a worse-case scenario for sprawl; a total failure of city planning.
On Friday, having seen nothing resembling our concept of Texas (with neither a cowboy hat to be seen nor a Texas accent to be heard), we decided to drive north along Preston until we found something other than sprawl. First we had to wade through Plano, a town with suburban horrors of which I dare not speak. Somewhat shell-shocked, we made for the Oklahoma border, getting off of the main road and taking some back roads. The sea of identical houses eventually gave way to gently rolling hills, cow pastures (complete with long-horned cattle), and pickup trucks, at least once we got north of McKinney. We went through towns named Melissa, Anna, Kelly, Tom Beane, and Howe, describing a lazy loop around northern Texas before turning back to Dallas a couple of hours later.
Saturday afternoon, we tried on hats and boots at a local store. A black Stetson was calling to me, but I knew there wasn’t any way it was fitting in my luggage, and if I wore in on the plane, I’d just be asking to get my ass kicked. I found a great pair of kangaroo-skin boots, too, that would be perfect for my bike…if only I didn’t already have a pair of boots for my bike.
We visited an Apple store, in Highland Park. I’d never been to one before. The 20″ Apple Cinema Display? It will be mine. Oh, yes, it will be mine.
Last night, we went to the Trail Dust Steak House. I had a 20 oz. Porterhouse. Damn. Best steak that I’ve ever eaten, bar none.
Anyhow, Dallas was OK. It’s definitely not my kind of city, downtown aside. I don’t really feel like I’ve seen Texas. I hope to visit the state again, but next time I think I’ll head west. Maybe up to Amarillo, or down to Big Bend. Or even over to El Paso. But I done did Dallas.