Texas

Once again, I find myself apologizing for being late on posting.  Better late than never though, right?  Anyways, right down to business, let me bring you up to speed on my travels.  After Carlsbad, it was over to the Dallas area where I was looking forward to getting back into civilization a little bit.  What I didn't know though, is that Dallas/Fort Worth is one of the most confusing areas EVER to travelers.  Or at least this traveler.  Since I have my handy GPS phone, I got where I wanted to go perfectly fine, but it wasn't fun.  The highway system around the two city area is like they were trying to recreate some kind of epic plate of spaghetti.  It's absolutely insane.  And they love to build frontage roads that run alongside highways (in some areas for miles) and service both the on- and off-ramps.  Many times, they put the ramps so flippin' close together, it's just a 37 car pileup waiting to happen.  Also, if I'm allowed to say so (and I am), the drivers, IN GENERAL, in Texas are horrid.  I mean, blatant "I'm going to cut across multiple lanes of traffic, without signaling, without warning, while speeding 20 mph over AT LEAST"-style driving is not a rarity in Texas.  I found myself, on more than one occasion, chuckling at the semi-morbid humor playing out in my mind involving just a few minutes of that white fluffy stuff falling from the sky and natural selection.

While I'm on my little Texas rant (It wasn't all that bad, haha - I really enjoyed Austin, which I will get to), I suppose it's worth mentioning one other odd little tidbit-o'-fun (that's a technical term).  When you get to Texas and turn a TV on, one of the first things you notice is how about half of the commercials are specific to Texas.  It's quite hilarious really.  Everything is about how Dairy Queen is really good... blah blah blah, IN TEXAS!  And most of them are either fast food or car commercials.  Come to think, do they air ads about anything else in Texas?  Maybe they don't...

Ok ok, now that I've made Texas seem like one big fast food drivethrough, I will say it's got some cool things about it.  After Dallas, where I mostly entertained myself with random things, I headed on down to Austin (thanks to Dave and Allie for letting me crash with them!).  Austin has a very unique personality.  And for a city (if you know me, you know I'm not really into the whole city scene), I liked it a lot.  Over the last number of years, Austin has come to be known as a bit of a technology hub, with many tech companies maintaining significant presence there, including Facebook, who recently opened up an office there.  While I was there, I explored a lot of the downtown area, including the famous East 6th Street area, as well as some area outside of downtown.  I also got to see the original Whole Foods store, which is right there in the heart of Austin.  I love that store, despite it's prices, so that was cool for me.  It was massive and had a huge food court area.  I've got some cool photos from the Austin area, which I will post once I get a chance to upload them...

After Austin, it was over to the Houston area (just for a night) and then onto Baton Rouge, where I currently am.  I have started doing a little traveling through Couchsurfing.org, which is a GREAT site and a GREAT way to travel for those who are open to the idea and like getting a local taste of places and meeting new people.  I already like it a lot and highly recommend checking it out!

Pics and more to come!  Stay chill.