adventures of a kraftsingle: Roadtrip Update #2

On Monday I made the almost 12 hour drive from Albuquerque to Dallas. The drive went much better than I'd anticipated as I popped in a book on tape that kept me occupied for at least half the day! I enjoyed watching the scenery change and as I drove through Amarillo I was a total dork and cued the Ipod to Jason Aldean's "Amarillo Sky". After driving through the plains of Texas it's easy to understand why it's called big sky country. It felt "at home" the minute I crossed the border as I was back in the South, land of conservative political views, and where there are equal radio stations playing Country and Christian music. After a stop at Sonic for a cherry limeade...and a blizzard from Dairy Queen (2 staples of the south) I finally made it to the Dirty D around 9pm.

My first night in town I stayed with Holly, and old roomie from my Raleigh days. Shortly before I had moved out of our house she had brought home a little rescue dog, Addie. This little beagle fell in LOVE with me. Poor thing, she used to sit outside my bedroom door and howl her love to me. She even learned how to moan at me without setting off her bark collar. Holly and I have a running joke that I'm Addie's favorite person, and it's an understatement to say that she was excited to see me. Poor thing, she couldn't stop howling or jumping all over me. When it came time for bed she got up several times to check that I was still there. Holly had just recently moved to Dallas and I was so excited to see her new home. She did such a great job decorating and mixing fabric prints, and I'm sad that I didn't take any pictures. The next day Holly, who works for CRU (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ), showed me around the SMU campus and then went a few blocks over for a lunch date. Holly is one of my favorite roomies and I'm so thankful for the investments she's made in my life.

I spent Tuesday night with my friend Casey who I used to work with at Duke. She moved to Dallas as a travel nurse, met a great Texas boy, got a sweet staff job, and is now engaged and busy planning her wedding. We had some great girl time just chatting about our Duke days and where life has taken us. I had heard a lot about Perry, her fiance, from my friend Jess while in San Fran and was quite anxious to meet him. He lived up to all the kind things Jess said about him and was such a great match for Casey. I really love when my friends marry good men. I also love when they indulge us women in eating at Maggiano's (one of Casey and I's favorite restaurants).

On Wednesday I ran a few errands then drove over to Fort Worth to stay with my friends Candace & Josh. While Dallas was big and showy, Forth Worth was more country and homey. C&J are friends from my days in the Providence singles class back in Raleigh. They moved out of the class because they got married...and I...moved! I was so excited to see them and we had a wonderful time together. They took me to the most authentic Texas BBQ place ever, Coopers. Candace had warned me, but it wasn't until I saw it happen that I too was slightly taken aback. As soon as you walk in you're assaulted by the amazing smells coming from the pit, and then you have to overcome the hard job of choosing which meat (pork, ribs, chicken, brisket, sausage, etc.). Once you've picked your meat they slice it and throw it on a red lunch tray and pass it off to you to go get it weighed! It's just so wrong! Why not throw it on a paper plate? Or butcher paper? We headed to find a spot at one of the long picnic tables and started to assemble our sandwiches. Each table is equipped with "fixings", bread, and rolls of paper towels. In spite of the messiness, it was hands down some of the best BBQ I've ever had! We spent our evening on a driving tour and chatting about life.

The next day Candace and I met Josh for lunch at McKinley's, they have excellent food and desserts---especially their lemon-blueberry cheesecake! Afterwards Candace and I swung by this antique store that seemed to have gone on and on and on for forever! It was so fun to look around. You just never know what you're gonna find...like a piece of pottery with a swastika on it, EEEK!

Thursday evening I headed 3 hours southeast to Austin to visit Sarah, a former college roomie turned travel nurse as well. We had some excellent Mexican food at Chuy's then headed downtown to 6th street (where all the hub bub is) for Amy's ice cream. It had a pretty funky decor, was run by some very eclectic people, and had some very interesting flavors. We went back to her apartment to just chill as she'd worked all day and I had another full day of driving ahead of me the next day.

Forest fires outside of Austin, it smelled like a really great campfire.

Friday I drove to NOLA!!! (New Orleans, Louisiana) When on my first assignment at Stanford I made friends with 2 girls Julie (who I stayed with in San Diego) and Lisette who took a travel job back home. I was really excited to see the French Quarter with a local. Lisette took me to Parkway Po'boys to get the most authentic shrimp po'boy...it was heaven! She then gave me a great driving tour of all the various districts and history, and she even braved crazy Bourbon Street for me! We were still so full from dinner that there was no room for beignets which means I'll just have to go back again! I loved the architecture of the double porches, painted brick, iron work, and the fleur de lis accents. It was also really neat to hear how she and her family were affected by Katrina since she lived near the section of the levy that broke, and for her to explain how life went on and things were rebuilt. Can't wait to go again!