Gas is a reasonable $1.78 throughout most of texas.
before we got into shelby's house, we stopped by a good country resturaunt for dinner. The place is called "cracker barrel". its a pretty mainstream joint, but it was good eatin. You have to walk through the cracker barrel store before you get into the resturaunt. the store is very old school, with old wind up toys, and old candies. bring back memories?
in the resturaunt, theres a lot of old fashioned decorations.
they even had one of thes "IQ tests" on the table. i do remember playing with these as a kid. this fireplace was right behind our table.
so we finally made it to shelby's house. its a cool house, just think "family lifestyle" and thats it. Heres a picture of the mess we can leave in 3 minutes.
being in the mainland is wierd, because you have to keep remembering to leave your shoes ON inside a house!! even if they have carpet and stuff.
it was good to see Vander, shelby has raised him very well.
the morning after we got there shelby took us to a breakfeast place called "ol' south". is good.
i think we were lucky enough to have THE actual "ol south" as our waitress, haha.
but damn.. look at these pancakes!!
after that, we figured we'd give Bella her own day of fun considering she's been cooped up in a car for 6-10 hours a day doing all the things her parents wanna do. So today was the kids day, we took them to the Putt-putt in texas.
bella got to ride her very own go-kart!! mom and dad were worried for her, not sure if she was gonna do it, or if she was gonna be scared. but she did great.
she gave Vander a sour look when he passed her. Mcdonalds car for the win!! me and bella got to do some mini-coaster to prepare for disneyland next week. birds of a feather
oh heck yeah!! bumper boats. Sam got soaked!!
then it was off to the big go-karts. Bronson did real well, he took his race seriously.
then the moms and kids got to take a turn and race. Shelby and Vander beat Sam and bella, sorry. cruisin' in the tea cups.
after putt-putt we went to the shopping mall. This picture is for anyone of you guys that worked at pacsun with me, and always wondered what the hell this "buckle" place was as our competition. 'Buckle' is pretty much a metrosexual pacsun, simple as that.
and the mall cops really do have those roller bikey things. paul blart mall cop pulls up his pants! the kids pass the time having a 'staring competition"
The next day Shelby took us to the famous "Ft. worth stockyards". it was an awesome place!! definetely a tourist destination.
here, "steven the bat" gets up-close and personal with a cowboy.
everythings bigger in texas.. my cup of water was about the size of a swimming pool. Bad thing was though, it tasted like a swimming pool too. a lot of the mainland water is chlorinated, and it tastes bad!
you get to see a cattle drive too! these "longhorns" walk right pass you! they are actually pretty scary up close.
texas trip wouldnt be complete without a Mechanical bull ride!!! here, bronson goes for the 8 seconds..
Cowgirl Samantha gives it a go!!
then it was my turn... this is actually much harder than i thought. i got thrown off twice. it was real fun though.
we got the kids dressed up to take some pictures on a 'mini-horse'. what can i say?.... when in texas... Vander is on the hunt!! too cute.
Bronson fit right in.
kill all the white man.
i had to really use the bathroom (drop a duece)... but there were no doors on the stahls.
i went for it anyway..
photo session with the kiddies!!
we hit up "billy bobs" which is usually a happening place.. its pretty famous from what i hear.
kids tore up the dance floor. bella showing vander how to do the Robot. check out this 'disco ball'... its a blinged out horse saddle! the bull riding arena... (nothing going on when we were there) we hung out a lot with this one cowboy on the street. His name was brandon, he was a cool dude. the only black cowboy we saw, here is sam talking to his horse. i think the horses name was T.J.
more photo opportunities!
the last day we were there, shelby and her family hooked us up with some country BBQ. it was awesome and a great way to spend our last day in texas.
i still think about these boneless Ribs... yummy!
backyard BBQ = backyard baseball.
ice cream truck even stopped by... what a great neighborhood.
soooo many good choices. i was "double fisting"
so far on the road trip, im accumilating quite a nice polaroid collection.. i'll show you guys these polaroids later... (still working on the complete project)
shelby had some Owls pay us a visit on our last night. these were awesome, and shelby said it was rare that her guests ever see them. one last souvenier photo from Texas... everybody ridin' that bull!! last day in texas also meant that Bella and Vander would have to part ways once more. here, they exchanged flowers, and said good byes.
on the way out of texas, i took some pictures of this truck who had an accident.. i dont think it was too serious, although there was an ambulance there.
on the road again!! next stop mississippi, then georgia to see dad.
we stopped by one last Casino on the way. "harrah's" is a pretty famous casino located in the "Louisiana Downs" .. (the place they also hold horse races.)
We drove over the mississippi river at night, so i couldnt get a picture (except of the bridge). but on the river you could see those old school river boats, with the steam engines and the huge paddle wheel on the back..
well thats a long post for now. I'm actually in georgia right now.. so hopefully i can update you guys with all our georgia festivities before we leave to our final destination.. Orlando and disney!!!
love you all! chat soon,
john
