Our travels in Texas started with a mammoth 550 mile drive from Roswell, New Mexico to San Antonio, Texas. I would love to say how picturesque the drive was but the truth is the whole of west Texas was incredibly flat and there was nothing except the odd gas station or deserted town for mile upon mile. After many hours we got to San Antonio and got our heads down finally at a cheap Motel.
The next day we got a chance to take a look at the city and were pretty impressed with the major Mexican influences and had a great time making our way down the well known 'River Walk' where you almost forget you are in a city.
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| San Antonio River Walk |
San Antonio is also famous for German settlers who arrived at the turn of the century and made this place their home. This is evident in places such as the King William district where these people lived in very grand houses. We had our first meal in a German bar/cafe and the food was amazing and definitely very German. The crowds in this place showed how popular it was.
A trip to San Antonio would not be complete without seeing the Alamo which is famous for the siege which took place here. The downtown city area has been built around it so it looks slightly out of place, especially with a 'Ripleys, believe it or not' just across the road.
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| The Alamo |
We finished San Antonio with a visit to the Mexican Market area where all manner of different bits and pieces can be purchased. Definitely time for a Margarita after quite a bit of walking.
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| Petra sipping on intoxicating margarita in San Antonio's Mexican vibed market square |
Next stop a couple of hours north was Austin, supposedly the most culturally diverse cities in Texas (e.g. its a bit more democratic and full of hipsters). We stayed with one of petra's old friends just outside the city and that night he took us into town to sample the nightlife around 6th street. There are some seriously cool bars to check out including 'The Jackalope' and 'Handlebar'. Good drinks and good people to meet made for an awesome night out. Would definitely check this area out when you are in Austin. Next day sore heads were cured at a mexican restaurant called Trudy's. Stuffed avocados sound very weird but totally worth a try we can assure you.
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| Us on a life-size scale Jackalope in Austin (this is a real animal ;) |
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| Mexican Hangover cure. Tony holding one of the stuffed avocados |
On the road again we headed up to the next Texas destination of College Station, TX. As the name suggests it is home to the Texas A&M College and most of the population seems to be students. We stayed with another of Petras friends in some student accommodation that was a bit nicer than back home to say the least. For the night we did what students do best and went for some drinks round someones house before heading out into town. It was entertaining to see bars full of guys in shirts and cowboy boots but thats how they do it out here, no trainers please! Another recurring theme in the US was all bars closed at 2am despite this being a weekend, which sucks but no matter you just go back to someones house and carry on.
Not being able to handle another night in College station we made for Tyler and got our first good nights sleep in quite a few days. This is where we were also reunited with our passports from the chinese consulate in LA. Who would have thought it, the Chinese granted us our Visas! Nice to have that worry off of our shoulders and our passports back in our pockets.
Now we are in Tyler where Petra lived for a year almost 6 years ago. The weather has been 25 degrees Celsius every day which is amazing as its early December! Tyler is not exactly a tourist hotspot and we have mainly been eating in chain restaurants and reuniting with Petra's old friends. We are currently staying with Tricia and her new awesome husband Marty. Tricia was Petras host mother on her exchange year here. Last night we celebrated Marty's birthday firstly at a Louisiana restaurant where the food was very good and secondly at a local dive bar where we hit up the pool tables and Jukebox. As this is a dry county we had to sign up for membership at the bar before we could be served any alcohol, this we found quite funny.
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| The picture wall of locals in the dive bar in Tyler. They are not in fancy dress. |
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| Smoothie king. Petra's much missed hangout. |
Food links:
Famous German restaurant in San Antonio: http://schilos.com/
The stuffed avocado place in Austin: http://www.trudys.com/
The world's best smoothie bar: http://www.smoothieking.com/
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