This Fall Break I traveled down to Texas with a friend and can now understand why Texans have such great state pride. On our first day in Texas we hit up the Texas State Fair. Let me tell you, it’s true when they say everything is bigger in Texas. There is food everywhere, ranging from best corn dogs ever, to funnel cakes, to every type of fried food you could imagine (cheesecake, Oreos, pickles, beer, and the list goes on!). This was my first time ever visiting a fair, so of course I had to go on some rides. I felt like a little kid riding the Love Bug and Crazy Mouse, and I could not leave without getting on the ferris wheel, of course!
On Monday we drove down to Austin to stay with my friend’s best friend at the University of Texas. The road trip itself was an adventure for me considering the farthest you could possibly have to drive back in Puerto Rico is around two hours from one coast of the island to the other. Our host in Austin planned out an entire day of excitement, which began with going to Hopdoddy’s Burger Bar, an amazing burger place. After that, we went up to Castle Hill, which is basically a hill with a bunch of walls that everyone is free to graffiti on.
Getting up said hill was a challenge though, seeing as my friend and I were definitely not wearing the right outfits for hiking. Nevertheless, we made it up and the view was pretty great, but definitely not as great as our next exclusive Austin destination, Mount Bonnell.
The view from up here was beautiful. After Mount Bonnell we were lucky enough to get an exclusive (as in we weren’t supposed to be in there), view of the women’s soccer team locker room.
On our way back to Dallas, we just had to stop at two outlet malls. Like I said, everything is bigger in Texas, and the malls are no exception. Not only did I find great deals at the outlets, but Northpark Center in Dallas is amazing. In the past, whenever my friend would describe how she gets this warm and fuzzy feeling walking through Northpark, I would think “Pfft, okay, I’m pretty sure it’s just like any other mall…” but boy, was I wrong. I definitely understand that feeling now. The mall itself is huge and the decorations on the inside or just beautiful. It has every store you could possibly imagine and then some. One area housed stores like Oscar de la Renta, Valentino, Tiffany’s, Kate Spade, Henry Bendel, Louis Vuitton, and Burberry. Safe to say I almost died.
The food down in Texas was delicious. From Hopdoddy’s to the numerous Mexican places we ate at, to Salt Lick, the best BBQ I’ve ever had, I’m pretty sure I gained like ten pounds the entire week. We also went to a Mavericks game, kayaked (this ended in us flipping over and my phone dying so I’d rather not relive it), and simply drove around and enjoyed our free time.
Okay, so my whole point with all of this is that Texas is a great place to visit and I can see why it’s a great place to live, hence the southern/ Texas pride. Everyone is really nice and friendly and it seems that in many places the importance of community was very prevalent. It never would have crossed my mind to have Texas on my list of places to visit, but after spending a week there I can definitely say that I’m glad I went and everyone should consider stopping by, even if it’s just for a few days.
Photos provided by author.