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Sunday, December 21, 2008

The Texas



It was time, we decided, for a road trip.

My friend had been wrestling with ongoing health challenges, and I'd been wrestling with that feeling I've been running on fumes. We knew what would make us both feel better.

We chose a theme: "Pie - Art - Pie"
We chose a form: Drive to Fort Worth to see at least two museums, and while on the road investigate at least one of the cafes noted here, and eat pie. Pie on the way up, art in the middle, pie on the way back.

It was a grand day!

We left at 7am, driving here through an uncharacteristic thick fog that made everything on the highway mysterious.

I had a poppy-seed kolache and coffee, and she had a sausage kolache and a blueberry cream-cheese kolache and coffee.

Since I've not had much in the way of sweets for some time, I felt the sugar rushing through my blood like fire.

(And yes, there was pivo for sale, and yes, they played this sort of music through their PA system.)

While not pie strictly speaking, the kolaches were yummy!

Miles flew by while we chatted. We discussed what art might be created on a planet where there was no community, only a monad life-form (and since found I should read "Monad Number Two" to learn more). We discussed family schtuff. We talked about school (she's gone back to school too). We talked about ASL, and whether a poem in ASL could be better served in translation to written word or to dance.

We landed in a place where certain Precolumbian terra cotta figures looked lively enough to undo their protective cases (after the guards left for the night, of course) and where I saw something so beautiful I found myself tearing up.

From there, we went here, and had some extra fun watching/hearing little bitty kiddos and their parents making echoes inside this.

An excessively delicious and leisurely lunch in the museum cafe, and then back on the road to Austin with much happy arguing over where to turn to find the freeway.

Miles later a stop here. Yes, I had a small burger (really good) but we were there for the pie. Pie -- I had buttermilk, she took a piece of chocolate cream to go, and I got a piece of the nutmeg-happy buttermilk for my hubbie. Yes, we did get a little lost on the way back, but I saw the old theater above as a result.

It was all Texas, and all good.

8 comments:

Dale said...

Hooray for Texas! Thanks for reminding me how wonderful it can be. Its most famous son has soured me on it a bit, which is not fair.

Dana S. Whitney said...

What a great way to spend the day! I have fog photos here: (don't know how to embed stuff... sorry)http(COLON)//flickr(DOT)com/photos/painterwoman/3123793719/
and there's another Buttermilk pie cafe worth looking for in GlenRose - Ranch House Bar-B-Que. DH and I stumbled on it when making our own day trip a while back. Turns out it's in several guide books... AND lacks the GWB connection. :-D

Granny J said...

So sad; so past, that theater! I hope nobody ever tears it down -- it is a grand monument to a time when going to a movie was An Occasion, not a multiple choice question.

am said...

When the snow melts, I want to go on a road trip, too!

When you mentioned ASL, I remembered this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFYMTQPK_uE&feature=related

I found it while looking for a solution to a Blogger problem. Tar is a student from the Michigan School for the Deaf. A wonderful introduction to an aspect of YouTube that hadn't occurred to me!

Lori Witzel said...

Hey, all y'all! It's so nice to be relaxed and have spent a great time with an old friend. :-)

Dale: Thanks for popping by! I agree with you on The Stigma of The Shrub...the GWB thang (and make no bones about it, he remains !@#$%^ incredibly popular in much of Texas) puts people off who otherwise would enjoy the odd humor, good food, and incredible friendliness of this state.

KPW: Ooh, thanks for alterna-pie! There was a TON of GWB paraphenalia all about at the coffee shop, and while they were as nice as could be, the Republican accessories gave this Yellow Dog Dem a little shudder. :-)

GrannyJ: Yes, I have mixed feelings about these old places. One wishes them to remain as a reminder (with some Ozymandian overtones) of beautiful things past; and yet I know the reason why they're still standing -- even in that condition -- is that there's not enough money to tear them down, and no other business to replace them.

am: You should take a road trip! Thanks for that link -- I've seen Tar's videos just last week. My friend is taking ASL for her language requirement -- to learn more I figured YouTube might be the medium to seek, and there he was!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like it was a fun day! And, in case you were wondering where all those closed circuit cameras came from, that you saw while in Big D. It's not Homeland Security.

Larry said...

Hi, Lori! Sounds like you had a thoroughly enjoyable road trip with your friend; I enjoyed reading it, and as a bonus I learned about kolaches, a food I've never heard of before.

It's bitterly cold up here in N. Missouri, and I need a road trip too!

Rethabile said...

Happy holidays. The best for 2009 (good health, happiness, dosh)