What I learned in Texas

I know that most people (that being the 8 people who read this with any regularity) are probably tired of reading about our Texas trip, but I wanted to tidy it up with a final memoir of our trip – which is ironically the first entry I started when I was on the plane coming home.

This trip represented a lot of things for Shari and me – our first solo vacation (i.e. no quarreling relatives) since the start of Iraq War 2: Electric Bugaboo, a chance to do some birding and see a lot of new things, a trip that I’ve been wanting to take for a while and a much needed vacation getting outdoors and enjoying each other’s company. We succeeded on all counts.

I got to enjoy some serious one-on-one time with my wife, remembering all of the reasons I love her (not that I forgot). I know that I can be tough to live with at times, particularly when the ADD is running rampant, but she’s be a saint. And while it’s been tough to watch her go through being sick for almost 2 years, she’s finally feeling better and getting back to her old self. There have been some tough times in the interim, but I’m happy to say that we were determined to make it through them – and we did. Having a set of shared passions (photography and birding, among them) was an obvious boon, but I also think it was in part due to sheer force of will and our deep love for each other.

On this trip, we got to enjoy all of those things that made us happy with each other; additionally, it taught me a few lessions that I hadn’t expected. So, without further ado:

Ten Things I Learned Birding in Texas

  1. It’s possible to make it 26 miles on mostly dirt roads, unload and return the rental car, check in at the ticket desk, check your luggage, make it through security AND board your plane in less than 75 minutes.
  2. Texas mosquitoes are the size of small birds and will literally try to gnaw through the weather-stripping on your car windows to get at you.
  3. Texas high school sports are second in popularity only to God – and it’s a close second.
  4. The addition of a McDonald’s to Los Fresnos would represent a culinary step up for the town.
  5. My wife can accidentally fart and laugh about it – but only in the rarest of occasions.
  6. Rattlesnakes are just as cool as I had always thought they’d be.
  7. Texans may be some of the nicest people in the country as a whole.
  8. It takes a long time to transfer 36GB of photographs from a laptop to a desktop computer.
  9. Texans generally consider anything under 20 miles to be “down the street”.
  10. My wife is considerably stronger than she looks – she hauled around an extra 15 pounds of camera equipment for 5 days.
  11. Update: That chigger bites can still itch a month after you got them – and they really itch badly.
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4 Responses to “What I learned in Texas

  • Number 9 is very true, when we lived in Austin you could drive 5 miles in any direction and still be in Texas.

    The Austin airport spoiled me too, incredibly fast, easy parking, and really good live music in the concourse on certain days too.

  • #2 is all too true, I had forgotten about those mosquitoes. Actually, it’s true what they say, that “everything’s bigger in Texas.” It’s true of grocery and retail stores, the sky, the personalities of the people who live there, the heat, and — certainly — the insects.

  • Van … did you mean 500 miles? But yeah, we could have slipped into Mexico except that someone (not me) didn’t have their passport.

    Michael … those skeeters were bad. The chiggers were worse. Damn … I meant to put that in the list, too. Update coming!!!

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  • Fairweather Zealot » Blog Archive » 2007 Scorecard :

    […] etc. This one should be just us. ยป B Woo-hoo, something I actually managed to do (mostly). Our trip to Texas was great, and we even had a good time in Cape May even though she was sick for part of it. The […]

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