catch-up

Backtracking a little...

Here's the story of Texas:
Once upon a time, two buddies wanted to take a little trip to big ol' Texas, land of the cowboys, to visit their buddy. They nabbed up some cheap tix and flew out, wide-eyed and bushy-tailed. They didn't know the tix were so cheap cuz US Airways is LAME. The first leg seemed ok, but in Charlotte, their connection was inexplicably cancelled. "Maintenance", they were told. ugh. They talked to the nice lady at the counter and she got them a hotel. The nicer ones were booked, and they were sent to the Days Inn. The Days Inn looked like a public swimming pool, bright blue paint on the lower part of the walls and white on the upper, with a faint smell of chlorine. The buddies took their meal vouchers to the hotel just to find out the airport lady was wrong and there was no restaurant. The surly-turned-sweet Sharon (name changed due to failed memories) gave us our room then gave them a different room when that one wouldn't open (even though they tried to body slam it) and gave them conditioner and lotion. An array of snacks was displayed on the table and dinner was served. Back to the airport for a morning flight to Dallas, where the buddies met their other buddy and went to the temple. Then all the buddies got their camping gear and headed to Dinosaur Valley State Park, home of dino footprints, deer, cardinals galore and a very noisy armadillo. Dino valley was way cool, and nobody had to use the life jugs. The buddies packed up and got lunch at a BBQ place. Wow, what a lot of meat! It was tasty meat. Pretty much, the buddies (at least the two visiting buddies) ate more meat during their 4 days in Texas than they had in the whole previous year. The waitress recommended the scenic drive, so the buddies headed that way. They were going to Dublin, home of Dr. Pepper, via a town with a name not quite known due to the waitresses accent. Hacko? haco? The buddies found they were headed to Hico, TX, home of the death place of Billy the Kid. In fact the next day was the annual Billy the Kid festival, and a nice old lady shop owner offered to let the buddies camp in the alley behind her shop so they could attend the festival the next day. It would have been awesome, but the buddies needed to move on. They asked a girl outside a candy store how to say the name of the town and it turned out to be HI-CO. The buddies got to Dublin just in time for the last tour of the day of the original Dr. Pepper factory. Dublinites are very proud of their Dr. Pepper because it is the only place that still uses cane sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup. They gave a little sample bottle to tour participants, and one buddy got a Dr. Pepper Frosty and another buddy got a Big Red Frosty after the tour. The third buddy got a Dr. Pepper cake mix and frosting mix. The buddies headed home after driving by the famous Stockyards and Billy Bobs in Fort Worth. The next day was the first day of the spring General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is a 2-hr morning session and a 2-hr afternoon session. The buddies watched these and learned how to crochet. Between the sessions they went to a park in Frisco, near the buddy's house. There was a neat big world fountain, a pond and a woodsy part with paths. They walked on the "Interpretive Trail" and interpreted. (One buddy says something and the other buddies strike an interpretive pose.) During the interpreting, a buddy turned to see a bright green snake in the brush at eye level, posing along with them! After a little visit, they left the little fellow alone and returned home. Sunday was similar-- conference sessions in the morning and afternoon. They went out for some TexMex for dinner and discovered that TexMex is pretty amazing in the place of origin and that Dallas folk don't know about Dublin Dr. Pepper, even though they are so close. The buddies made that Sunday their honorary Easter and dyed eggs. They hid them between the sessions and had a grand time finding them. In the evening they had a traditional ham Easter dinner and the Dr. Pepper cake for dessert. What a great time! The Texas buddy had to work on Monday so she dropped the two buddies off at the airport at 6:30am for their 1pm flight. The two buddies found neat chairs to relax on and found lots of neat art in the international terminal. They got so interested in the airport, they almost missed their flight!! Silly buddies. Lucky for them their flight was delayed (but it was just another demonstration of USAirway's incompetence.) This flight was delayed so they were put on a later one at the transfer airport. Fortunately they still got home at a decent time, and lived happily ever after.