Texas

That's the city of Dallas, Texas. Kinda looks small compared to NYC.

TEXAS! BIG, GREEN! (no way) and FLAT! Taken from 3,500 feet in a Piper Cherokee airplane flown by my cousin's husband Donald.

With my cousins: Tracy, me, Charlene at the restaurant "Jalapenos [something]" near the Oklahoma border.

I had to go to Texas to see for myself if the stereotypes were true. And you know that answer already: NO! Sure there are red-necks, there are plenty in NY, but most people were just regular folk. Sadly, George Bush tainted that state even though he was not a native. It was easy to dismiss the place as one that supported the fool, and maybe they still do, but I'm past that now.

I really went to Texas to see family. That was my only mission. Anything else was a bonus. It was especially nice to see my Aunt Charlene since the last time I saw her was in 1991! As soon as I got out of the SUV she says: "You look just like your mom!" Guess what! She looks just like her mom too! Think of it, last time she saw me I was fresh faced and barely out of my teens and my mom was in her 40's. It's odd that way, how we switch roles. Charlene and her husband Tom live on a farm in Winchester. They have about 70 big beefers who act a lot more like dogs than cows. We rode out to the field on the Kubota and the cows came running! One cow, Sweetpea, is clearly Charlene's favorite. She was all excited to see us because she knew she'd get a cow cookie. That's right, they make treats for cows! We continued on having a nice ride around the block as the sun was setting. I took several great pictures (from my point of view) and you'll see them below.

So, after our day in Winchester (which is about an hour from Austin) we drove back to Waxahachie. It's a three hour drive. And this is the part of Texas that everything is more close (as opposed to West Texas). Think on it, 3 hours for me and I can be in either Boston or NYC. Despite this, car rides never bother me. I like to see stuff and I have a great imagination that allows me to think of a hundred things while driving.

Back at Waxahachie it was the 4th of July and that means that folks get their own fireworks if they want because they are legal. We missed the city send off by a day. But Donald had better plans. We were able to fly in his plane and look at it all from above! I didn't take any pictures, but a night flight is fun. We saw the lights of Dallas (we couldn't fly in that airpace) and we saw two different grass fires where people weren't thinking and lit their lawns, nothing major fire wise, just the size of a burn barrel.

Is Texas different? Yes, apparently a lot of people are armed (legally) and can carry it. And they fly the Texas flag everywhere reminding us that once it was its own country. And religion, well let's just say if you are not Christian you'll be driving quite a distance to find a house of worship. Christianity is huge there. Football? Yep, it's "Friday Night Lights"! Especially as we flew over all these smaller cities we could see the size of both the schools and the stadiums. HUGE on both accounts. But I subscribe to the school of thought that says we are all different and unique, yet we have common needs. So there are some things about Texas that are different and unique and others that are similar.

See the school and the large football stadium?

I honestly don't get the hype over Florida. If I were to retire to a nice warm climate state, I'd pick Texas in a heartbeat. It feels like a real place unlike Florida and its have and have nots and gated communities. The weather when I was there was about 95 with 50% humidity. It's totally tolerable to be outside. We swam several times in the backyard pool, but never got a chance to walk abound the block. We did tour downtown Waxahachie and have lunch at this quaint cafe called Chantilly. No, it wasn't "BEEF, It's What's For Dinner"! No, we had a delicate chicken salad. We toured some antique shops that were clean and not musty and went to a clothing consignment shop where I got a skirt for work (blue and floral and knee length) for only $4. In fact, we ate very well! We even had salad and fish! LOL!

It was great to see family at their homes. I'd love to return!