Dallas: Texas/OU Day 2

Isabel, Ellen, and Carol slept in, so I joined up with Melissa, Ashlyn, and some other friends to go to the fair. I love the State Fair of Texas. Usually I’m only there for an hour or so with 100,000 other people right before the start of the game. This year, I didn’t worrying about game tickets while I was traveling Europe, so I skipped the game, and just went to the fair.

Since we had more time than usual this year, we really dug on. One advantage of a group of six is that you really get to try all the special foods without the burden of dealing with a whole bunch of fried junk. I was able to sample some or all of the following: buffalo pancake chicken, fried queso, fried salsa, fried beer (worst), fried poptart (best), and funnel cake fries.

We watched part of the game on the big TVs at the fair. When we were losing by 40 points or so, we continued to drown our sorrows in fried food. There was a mechanical bull, some shops, and rides involved for a while. We detoured to the livestock area. I haven’t gone a year without a rodeo since I was two years old, so there is no shortage of interactions with steer in my life, but the exotics petting zoo was cool.

Melissa dropped me off to meet Liz at Time Out Tavern on Inwood. It looks kind of sketch from the outside (at first Melissa thought that it was a prank) but it was pretty cool on the inside. Liz took custody of me, and we watched the LSU game there.

After ToT, Anna invited us over to her home to catch up for a while. Anna and her husband Luke found themselves running a hostel for the weekend. Liz and I eventually grabbed dinner at Fireside Pies.

Liz dropped me off at Carol’s place, where I reunited with Ellen and Isabel. We got changed and went to Chipotle so that they could grab some dinner. (Clearly, the fair food inspired health for all.) After they had dinner, we went to Vino 100, which might be my new favorite place ever. 100 wines for under $25 each. I wish it would move into my building in Austin.

We drank wine and caught up with Ellen. To top off the night, we went to the Ritz Carlton to meet up with Liz and her friends from Dallas. It was like every Dallas stereotype in one place. We retired to Carol’s apartment in preparation for the next day.