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[regnbuereisen]

Day 19: Waco

Last update, I think, since we’re going home tomorrow.

Started early from Dallas, and after a quick breakfast (last night’s leftovers), we decided on a small sightseeing.

Being interested in history, we drove (aaaaahhhhh!!!! No one in Dallas respects the speed limits, even more so than in Houston) to Dealey Plaza first, to see the place where JFK was shot. It was too hot to even think about the museum, though. Even walking from our car to the memorial site had us sweating buckets, and it was only a three-minute walk. (We had temperatures over 40C today).

After that, we took another short trip across Trinity River to get a closer look at Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. It was a pretty view with the bridge and the skyline.

Then it was time for Fort Worth. Just over thirty minutes to drive, but we really wanted to se the Stockyards. It was the most touristy place we’ve visited on this trip, even more so than Galveston, or even the Alamo in San Antonio, but not, I feel, as negatively touristy. Yes, there was a souvenir shop on every corner, but the feeling of the place was more laid back, not as hasty and out of breath. Maybe because we visited around noon on a Wednesday.

Had lunch at Cattlemen’s Steakhouse, which was located smack in the middle of the Stockyards. Pricey, mediocre food, but friendly staff, and we needed a break from the sun. As with most places we got bread before the meal, and though I think it tastes good, it’s really sweet. I have yet to come across bread here in the US that isn’t sweet. I long for a good slice of brown bread that doesn’t taste like dessert.

After lunch we took a stroll down the streets, wandering up to the petting zoo (which we did not enter), looking at the horses and longhorns and other tourists, before crawling back to the car. Not really crawling but it felt that way. Everything feels syrupy when it’s so hot.

It is a 1,5 hour drive to Waco from Fort Worth, and along the way we entertained ourselves with trying to find weird things. Like the American flags that are the size of our apartment back home – or maybe even bigger, houses being driven on the I-35, and churches. So many churches. Like wow. What even…

Our first stop in Waco (after taking a few wrong turns - because of the road work and inadequate detour signs, of course – not our own fault at all) was the Dr Pepper Museum. It was really interesting, and not just about Dr Pepper, more of a museum about the history of soda.

After redeeming our ticket for a free Dr Pepper (two for me, since Øyvind doesn’t like it – he thinks it tastes like apple cores), we walked (in this heat… when will we learn?) to the Magnolia silos (for those who have watched Fixer Upper, that’s Chip and Joanna’s place). Pretty place, I guess, but we’re not really in the target group, I think. Still, we had to see it, since we’re here.

It was now, what, 17.30, and we were getting really tired, so the hotel was next on our list. (Again, we parked too far away – we have to learn that there’s always parking near where you’re going to here, no need to stop at the first lot you see, but we got back to the car without any incidents.) It took a few tries to find the hotel, because there’s road work everywhere, and quite a few of the exits were closed. But eventually we found the detour road. The cold in the lobby was like heaven!!! And our room! It’s huge! Like almost as big as our apartment. I’m flabbergasted.

We’re not really up to doing anything special tonight. Packing and re-packing, planning tomorrow, and then we have to find a place to eat dinner.

***

Apparently, Øyvind has already found one: Torchy’s Tacos. Let’s see if it’s any good. 

***

And it was. A bit loud, and a bit spicy, but the flavours were nice. And now: relax. Maybe a dip in the pool if we can be bothered to go down there. I’m ready. Early start tomorrow.

[regnbuereisen]

Day 18: Still in Dallas

We’re getting tired now. Being on the road continuously for over two weeks is exhausting. But we’re not ready to go home just yet, even though we only have a few days left here.

Had chocolate mousse for breakfast today. And Øyvind had leftovers from last night’s dinner. It was a good start. And it was wonderful to just take it easy.

Eventually we braved the Dallas heat to visit Gas Monkey Garage. We’ve seen the Fast N’ Loud on TV, so it was fun to see the place. Of course, the merchandise around it all is a bit tasteless and blown out of proportions, but it was still fun. 

Visited the store first, got to see a few cars, and then we peered into the lot where apparently the show is filmed. Then we decided to have lunch at the Gas Monkey Bar N’ Grill. The food was surprisingly good (I had the spicy chicken tacos, Øyvind ate the 2 meat combo), and the staff was super friendly.

When we were good and full, we got back in our car and headed back to the apartment. We had tickets to The Art of the Brick at Perot museum of nature and science at three, and that’s only about six minutes to walk, so we parked the car (saved a few dollars there) and headed down. It was really hot, though. And not as humid as in Houston.

Had about half an hour to spare, so we explored the museum before entering the LEGO exhibit. It was fun. A bit crowded, maybe, and A LOT of kids. The volume was above what my comfort level caps at. But they had dinosaurs and animal exhibits, and an engineering exhibit, and gems... It was a lot to go through.

The LEGO exhibit was really interesting. It was amazing to see all the sculptures and art Nathan Sawaya has made out of that small brick.

Dinner today will be homemade nachos, in the kitchen in our apartment. Makes a nice change from going out to eat all the time. If we only can figure out how the oven works. *and we did. teamwork!*

[regnbuereisen]

Day 17: Dallas

Another transport day, a pretty uneventful day. The drive from Houston to Dallas takes a little over 4 hours (counting traffic and several accidents along the way), so after a delicious hotel breakfast and then collecting our clean clothes from the washateria (I can’t wait to wear clean shorts again tomorrow), we headed north.

But then we had read about a shopping centre, The Galleria, that apparently is the largest in Texas with over 400 shops.

I don’t know what else to say than OMG! It was huge! We spent ages walking from one end to the other, and we got lost a few times. But I found a pretty dress at Torrid - not use to have so much choice in clothes (no picture of me wearing it, because I’m horrible at posing),

and Øyvind got his phone fixed after the fall in Terlingua. I also found the best shop: Papyrus! All you could wish for of things made of paper. <3

Too many hours later, we were back in the car and on the highway. I know Houston 1 and Houston 2 said the traffic there was insane, but I only half believed them. Now, though, I know they spoke the truth. Do people in Houston even learn how to drive? Or care about the traffic rules? I doubt it. We even encountered a crazy Amazon Prime driver in a large truck going well over 100 miles an hour (160 km/h). If Øyvind wasn’t such a collected and experienced driver, we’d be minced meat by now. The picture doesn’t show how crazy it was.

Drove past Sam Houston as well:

We had a short stop at Buc-ees in Madisonville, refuelling both the car and us. It was really the largest gas station I’ve ever seen: we refuelled from pump number 50! And that wasn’t even the last one, they have 120 pumps in total!!! o.O And inside: wow! The shop was filled with people, food, and stuff. Last place I expected to find (and buy ;P) souvenirs, but hey: Buc-ees is kinda a legend with us. Anyway, the burrito we had for lunch was really good, even though Øyvind cut his lip on the aluminium foil.

After that, it was pretty much straight to Dallas. It was a long ride (by Norwegian standards, anyway), so we arrived at our Air bnb around 18.30. We had some trouble finding the parking garage, and there was some trouble with the permit, but the concierge helped us out.

Our apartment is wonderful! We’re on the 8thfloor, and the view is gorgeous. We took a break, watching a bit of Batman before going to dinner.

Today we reserved a table at a fancy restaurant, deciding to celebrate our 10 years wedding anniversary. Del Friscos is just a short walk from where we live, and they were wonderful. Such amazing service. We  even got prosecco on the house when they found out we were out celebrating. And the food, oh my gods, the food. As a starter we got lobster bisque, and the main course was steak, of course. The meat was so tender it just about melted in my mouth. When our server (Luis, he was a star) came over to ask us how things were, I couldn’t even answer, but he said he understood my gestures. Apparently he’s been waved to before.

The dessert (Belgian chocolate mousse with salted caramel sauce and a cheesecake that was so rich it could give Scrooge McDuck  competition) was amazing as well, but by then we were so full, it was hard to eat anything. Got a box to go, and I’m looking forward to breakfast tomorrow.

Today’s wildlife:

Being in and between large cities doesn’t amount to much wildlife. We encountered a large crowd of grackles trying to drink the condensation from the cars’ air condition. Yeah, it was hot today. Other than that, one dead armadillo and a couple of turkey vultures. Yeah, that’s about it.

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Day 16: Still Houston

A cloudy Sunday. And a much needed rest day. We slept in (well, I did. Øyvind wakes up early every day no matter what), and after a light breakfast (lunch, really) consisting of fresh fruit and vanilla yoghurt, we collected our dirty clothes, called and Uber, and found ourselves a washateria not far from the hotel. They even wash our clothes for us, and we’re gonna pick them up tomorrow morning. I love it!

Once that was done, we continued on to Houston Museum of Natural Science. Oh man, what a museum! Three floors of things to discover and look at! We started off in the Cockrell Butterfly Center. It was really hot and humid, but the butterflies were so beautiful! They had other insects there as well, but the butterflies were the only ones who weren’t in boxes and exhibit cages. They even had a green iguana (who incidentally was adult and male, so he was orange in colour) called Charro. He was cute.

When we emerged from the butterflies, after checking for stowaways in the mirrors, it was time for lunch. The fruit was good, but to be honest, it doesn’t last long, so we were suspiciously quiet while looking at the butterflies.

Cheeseburger and cola, way too expensive, pretty dry, but it did the job, and the kids we shared a table with turned out to be quite entertaining (even though their mother continuously apologised to us for their “horrible” stories.)

Filled with new energy, we tackled the main exhibits. First: the Morial Hall of Paleontology. Equal parts creepy and awesome, the skeletons and reproductions really sparked our imagination! It was really impressive, and I got to see my childhood favourite, the Diplodocus. <3

A short elevator ride up later, we entered the Cabinet of Curiosities. Wow. What a weird and eclectic collection of items…

Through that, we found the rooms with Texas wildlife and the African wildlife hall. Pretty interesting too. I liked the way they’d made sort of natural habitats to display the animals in, and it was fun to try and find the ones we’ve seen on this trip.

By now we were starting to get tired again. We had already spent several hours at the museum, but we figured we had to visit the third floor too, to see the Egyptian hall and the hall of the Americas. It felt a bit unfinished, I don’t know. Especially the American exhibit. Maybe it was because we were ready to move on, but I felt it lacked… context and history…

Another Uber (we had a drive free day. Think Øyvind needed it.), and we arrived at Downtown Aquarium. We had the CityPass, of course, but our wait was long anyway, because the family in front of us was a mess. They cut in line, then bought the wrong tickets, had to exchange them, argue on the price, argue about the rides that was closed due to the weather… But eventually we got in too. The fish tanks were cool, though some of them struck me as a bit too small for the fish living in them. I felt a bit sorry for the larger species.

On the whole, I felt a bit underwhelmed by the aquarium. The main exhibition was small, it was packed with people, and some of the tanks were empty. But I liked the seahorses and the electric eel. Oh, and the moray eel. The frogs were cool too.

They even had a white Bengal tiger, but I felt so sorry for it, I could barely look at it. Apparently they’re building a new outside enclosure for it, and I really hope that will be more stimulating than the room it’s in now.

The aquarium is just a 20-minute walk from the hotel, so we walked back to have a short-turning-long nap before dinner.

We found a place called District 7 Grill. Cute, retro diner looking place. The food was good too. I almost managed to finish my mac and cheese, and Øyvind had the shrimp carbonara. I even splashed out on a crème brulee for dessert. After that we entered food coma, and has really been there since.

A short stop in the hotel bar later, we’re back in our room, relaxing and watching baseball on TV.

[regnbuereisen]

Day 15: Houston

First, I would like to say to all back home: we’re no longer in west Texas, and we are nowhere near El Paso. The massacre is tragic, and we follow the news with sadness. It’s a horrible reminder of the evil that is inside some people, and that this country is not as safe as we like to think.

Now, for our day: It was a long and restless night. On top of the issues described yesterday, our room was right next to the ice machine, so every time anyone got ice, I woke up. Incredible that a machine can make this much noise. Also, the bed was too hard for me, and the smell hade me feel a bit nauseous.

I did not shower this morning, because I saw bugs in the bath tub, but Øyvind braved them, and he lived to tell me that the water was hot, and the shower had decent pressure, but the shower curtain was green and black with mold. My first thought when we got in the car after checking out was “I can’t wait to take a shower in the new hotel this evening!” and the second thought followed up with “The hotel better be good, or else I will become a very unreasonable person.”

We had planned to eat breakfast at a place called The Gumbo Diner just down the road, but the place was packed, and the wait was 35+ minutes. That was too long for us, so we got back in the car and drove off, hoping to come across a place to eat along the way (not really a problem here…)

Decided (last minute – I’m pretty sure someone would frown upon the manoeuvre) to stop at Shrim ‘N Stuff a couple of streets down. It’s not exactly breakfast food, but they were open, they had tables, and they were clean.

Øyvind had the shrimp po’boy, which was delicious. The shrimps were succulent and perfectly fried. I had the chicken tender po’boy, and that too was very good. A bit dry bread, since it came without any sauce, but the fried chicken was amazing. Once again we had trouble finishing it all.

Then: Houston, and straight to Space Center Houston. Oh boy! That was AMAZING! We spent all day there, arriving a little past 11.30, and leaving just before they closed at 18. The main building had all these fun, little experiments we could try as well as exhibits and “rides” to show how it is in space.

We also wanted to visit Johnson Space Center, so we found the tram tour queue. And we waited. And waited… It took a little over an hour to get through the queue for the tiny, tiny tram ride (2,5 minutes) to Rocket Park, just to stand in a queue again for the next part of the tram tour to the astronaut training facilities. It was really interesting, I really recommend visiting – and braving the queue – just maybe avoid the weekend?

After the training facilities, we took a walk around Rocket Park, feeling very impressed (and very small) by the Saturn V rocket, 

before taking on another queue for the Orion Mission Control tour. That went much faster, I’m happy to say, and the 30 minute presentation in the White FliCR (white flight control room) was really interesting. And though it’s not used as a control room right now (other than backup should something happen, we got a live TV feed from the actual control room), it will be used as the control room for the Mars mission. I learnt so much! And as a nice surprise at the end: the current flight director for the ISS mission popped by to answer any questions we had. It was such an unplanned treat, and watching him being so happy and so enthusiastic about his work was amazing.

Back at Rocket Park, we had to stand in yet another queue to get on a tram to take us back to the main area (which we could see from the park – could probably have walked there in five minutes or so…). Didn’t time it, but it had to be at least 35 minutes there as well, so yeah… a lot of people at the space centre on Saturdays.

After a short trip through the gift shop, we were back in the car and headed to the hotel. Both tired, but happy, and filled with information and impressions – and very hungry. No lunch today, only the breakfast: it got a bit quiet in the car. Luckily we both managed to not yell at the obnoxious family behind us in the last queue, as we both recognised our own hunger and irritability.

The hotel wasn’t hard to find, and it’s a very nice business hotel. Our room is on the 11thfloor, and it’s big, light, and CLEAN! I had the most amazing shower of the trip (probably because I felt so crusty), and we were so tired that we ordered room service. A bit expensive, but the food was good, and I really did not want to move from then bed. Also: they had the most incredible key lime pie!

I know it’s Saturday, but I have a feeling we’re having a quiet evening in today, because we’re starting early tomorrow to get through the things we want to see: we’ve bought a CityPass, and the ticket booklet includes admission to the space centre, the aquarium, Houston Museum of Natural Science, the zoo, and Kemah Boardwalk. Don’t think we’ll get through them all, but I really want to visit the aquarium and the museum.

So today will be an evening in the company of CNN and MSNBC, watching the news. It’s fascinating to see how it is covered over here, compared to how things are covered back home. And also, how the different channels cover the shooting – we landed on Fox News for a few seconds, but had to change channels again for fear of punching the TV.

Today’s wildlife:

The space centre grounds holds a surprising number of deer, all laid back and used to people, so we got really close to them without them getting spooked at all. They also have a project called the Longhorn Project, so we got to see Texas Longhorn. Impressive, even though they’re not really wildlife.

Other than that, not much. Saw a few grackles, a few sea gulls, some sparrows. That’s about it.

[regnbuereisen]

Day 14: Galveston

Crappy wi-fi. Let’s see how far I get with this. Man, it was hard to get up today. I think we’re gonna need a new vacation when we get home from this.

Hm. Where to start? First: the shower did not work, but they had provided us with washcloths at least. Breakfast consisted of a waffle (freshly made by me) and a glass of orange juice. They offered various bread and cereal as well, but the waffle was more than enough.

Once again breakfast was spent trying to book a place for the night. We had already decided to go to Galveston, but since the beaches are super popular there, hotels and motels are expensive. In the end we landed on Travelodge by Wyndham. Not our finest decision, but it’s only one night.

After checking out from Shark Reef Resort, we set out northeast. It is a four+ hours drive, but this time we chose the scenic route, so it wouldn’t be so tedious. We even had to take a ferry. Granted, it was only a five-minute crossing (after waiting for quite a while as they loaded the ferry), and there were five or six ferries running continuously.

I was so happy when I saw a brown pelican. “Wow! There’s a pelican!” only to discover five seconds later… a whole flock of them. Suddenly the sight wasn’t so exotic anymore.

The road was pretty straight, and outside of Aransas Pass the trees lining the road was beautiful and twisted. Wish I had taken a photo, but we would’ve had to stop for that.

We passed countless fields of cotton and corn, and a feed grain called sorghum, that coloured the fields a beautiful rusty red.

We stopped in Blessing and ate lunch at a place called The Six One 6, and the food was delicious (especially the onion rings). It wasn’t planned, we just pulled off the road when we saw it, and it was so worth it. Wonderful service, and an interesting décor.

With full stomachs and a diet coke to go, we continued over the islands to Galveston, surprised to see the sky darkening the closer we came. Soon we could see lightning and hear the thunder, and as we turned into the parking lot, rain started falling. Big, fat drops of warm rain. Didn’t take long before we were wet. On the plus side, the temperature dropped to around 29C (84F), but with the humidity, it felt terribly stuffy.

Travelodge wasn’t too easy to find. There’s no sign (or, as we learned later, the sign is on the back of the building, not visible from the road), and the only reason we knew where to turn off the road was because of Google maps and the pictures we had seen on the booking site.

…one advice: don’t book here. The whole place looks dirty. Our room smells of mildew and mold, there’s black mold on the ceiling and the wall, there’s a hole punched in the headboard of the bed, and I don’t even want to tell you about the colour of our mattress. Suffice to say I won’t be sleeping well tonight. Checked for bedbugs, though, and it seems clean, but after I thought of it, every inch of me started itching. There’s not even a trash can in the room 😳

With the weather the way it is, I doubt we’ll go to the beach (and I really don’t feel like trying the pool, even though I haven’t seen it yet – I’m fairly certain it’s unsanitary), so I guess our plans for the evening consists of dinner somewhere, PBS news hour in the room, and washing clothes (there’s a laundry room here. Don’t know if it works yet.).

Tomorrow Houston awaits. Here’s to hoping it will be a better place than this.

Okay, so dinner is done, and it was surprisingly good. We went to Gaidos Seafood Reastaurant just behind the motel. They didn’t have a table for us in the dining room, but we got a seat at the bar. It was a bit weird looking into the big kitchen and seeing all the food being prepared (and not in a fancy restaurant way, more of a “you’re not supposed to be here” way), but our server, Jersey, made the whole experience fun.

It was a bit pricey, but we didn’t have the energy to search for something else. I ordered the fried catfish, which was delicious: mild and not too fishy tasting. Øyvind had the crab filled shrimp. They were good too.

After dinner we went next door to Nick’s to get a drink for dessert. There we met a very nice couple from Boston, who were so jealous of our travelling. They paid for our drinks (Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Boston) and recommended a hotel in Houston, since they’d just come from there. So we booked the next two nights at The Whitehall Houston. It can’t be worse than what we’re staying in right now, especially since Mrs. Boston talked about how clean it was. Cleanliness was important to her, that much was clear.

When it was time to go back to the motel, the sun had set and the rain had stopped. In fact it was pretty much clear outside. I could see stars and everything. But we really didn’t want to go back, so we took a stroll along the beach. The water was warm, and the breeze pleasant. I wondered what felt so squishy under my feet, so I turned on my phone’s flash and… shrimp. Washed ashore and just lying there, being gross.

We returned to the pavement after that, but not before stopping to admire the fireflies in glittering in the grass (🎶Jus’ follow the bouncing butt🎶) and continued our way towards the pier,

but suddenly we heard live music from a bar across the road (The Poop Deck), so we went there for a beer instead. It became increasingly more humid and hot as we sat there, so after a little while we finally realised we had to go back to the motel, as we’re both sweaty and too hot and ready for bed. If sleeping is a possibility tonight. Crossing my fingers for at least a couple of hours sleep. But there’s complimentary breakfast, so that’s something, I guess.

Todays wildlife:

Lots of roadkill today. Raccoons (still haven’t seen a live one), armadillos, squirrels, and a whole group of wild boar (or pigs looking suspiciously like wild boar). Birds galore, brown pelicans, cormorants, and lots of other birds I can’t identify. Crabs on the beach, of course, and dead shrimp. Oh, and the fireflies. They were so beautiful!

[regnbuereisen]

Day 13: Port Aransas

Check-out at Hotel Emma is 12, so we slept in today, and it was so needed. Then, after packing and checking out, we had breakfast (lunch, really) at Supper, one of the restaurants connected to the hotel. The receptionist recommended the crispy brussel sprouts with cauliflower and caramel popcorn, so we ordered one to split. It was delicious! We also ordered a chicken salad croissant and a breakfast burger thing, and those were both very good too. But the first dish was the best.

While we ate, we tried to find out where we were going next, since we kinda forgot/were too tired last night to make a decision. In the end we landed on Port Aransas on Mustang Island , and so we booked a room at Shark Reef Resort, a nice, little motel not far from the beach (not that anything is in Port Aransas).

It’s a three-hour drive on *b*o*r*i*n*g* roads (the I-37), going straight ahead and too fast.

But once we crossed the bridge to Padre Island the scenery changed. It was like driving into a vacation. Palm trees and beaches and water and souvenir shops…

We drove through Corpus Christi, or at least through the outskirts of the city, and I think I like Port Aransas better. It’s smaller, and it feels friendlier, though we didn’t stop in Corpus, so I don’t really know.

After a small rest in our room, we needed something to eat, so we found a restaurant called Seafood and Spaghetti Works, which serves… seafood and pasta. Shocker, I know. I ordered the Fettuccine Alfredo with shrimp, and Øyvind had the Seafood feast (six different styles of seafood).

The food was absolutely delicious (as most of the food we’ve eaten here). Got a small taste of the crab cake from Øyvind, and it was so light and fluffy. Yummy! And look: we finished our plates!

Haha! Got ya! No way we could manage to finish our food, so we got the rest in boxes to go. We were in total food comas by now, so we had to have another rest in the motel. That turned into an hour’s nap, but at least we were refreshed and ready to go when we woke up. (Man, I really want a king size bed back home. It’s amazing with all this space!)

We didn’t really know what to do this evening. We could jump in the pool, of course, but there’s so many people here, and we’re not too fond of crowds, so instead we drove out to Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center. The area was hit pretty hard during Hurricane Harvey, but they’ve rebuilt a lot of it.

Beautiful place. Lots of wildlife. Only bad thing… it’s right next to a sewage plant, so the smell is a bit… rank at times. And… another highlight of our trip: We saw an alligator!!! And not just one. We saw TWO! The first one is called Boots, and he was huge (14 feet in 2018, according to the newspaper)! The second one was much smaller, and first we spotted it out in the water, but it soon turned and joined Boots under the observation deck. There’s supposed to be two more alligators, but we didn’t see them.

We stayed to watch the sunset, and then drove to the beach to wade in the warm water of the Mexico Gulf and take a stroll on the pier. Lots of people were fishing there, and even more arrived as we left.

At first when we arrived, we were a bit perplexed by the people running back and forth, shining light on the sand, but it turned out there were lots of tiny crabs darting from hole to hole. I tried to get a picture, but they were so quick it was almost impossible.

We also noticed a lot of people driving on the beach (what?), but we have a two ton car with rear wheel drive. That’s a big nope from us. It was scary enough exiting the parking lot.

Today’s wildlife account:

Crabs on the beach, lots of grackles and swifts, egrets (at least one great egret), and quite a few little blue herons, white ibises, black-necked stilts, common moorhens with chicks (they were soooo cute!), black skimmers fishing, and a lot of other birds I couldn’t identify. I also thought I saw a pelican while we were driving, but I’m not 100% sure. Oh, and the alligators, of course

[regnbuereisen]

Day 12: Still San Antonio

Leaving one area of the city for another. It’s not far, but we’ve moved ourselves and our stuff to the Pearl area and booked a night at the fashionable Hotel Emma. It really is the fanciest place we’ve stayed so far, and our room is on the top floor with a balcony and everything.

After a mediocre breakfast at Hotel Gibbs, we packed our bags and walked the few blocks to the car park, braved the spaghetti highway, and made our way to the north end of downtown. It didn’t take many minutes to drive, and we were there before even most of the shops opened.

Even early in the morning it’s hot here, so we went to buy ice creams at Lick, but they don’t open until 11.30, so instead we found a café and ordered a second breakfast (not really, it was just coffee and hot chocolate), and people-watched for a while. I’ve never had a hot chocolate with foam art before, so I was impressed just from that. It tasted really good as well.

The area is expensive. That we knew beforehand, and it looks really nice here, but it feels kinda fake, if that makes sense. The area is well gentrified, and I imagine the rent is pretty high here.

Øyvind noticed a sweet book shop (Twig) right next to the café, so once we finished our drinks we crossed the square and went inside. Such a quaint shop. I really liked it! Filled with books, both old and new, gifts, souvenirs, other book-related stuff. I could probably have spent a couple of hours in there just looking. But I didn’t leave empty-handed. I found a notebook for myself (you can never have enough notebooks), and a gift, that I won’t talk about here, because, you know….

We spent then next few hours just wandering the streets, keeping to the shadow, and watching the people and the architecture. As far as we can tell, the whole area (or at least a good part of it) used to be a brewery. Every building is connected, and there are remnants of the old everywhere. But now it’s filled with restaurants and high-end shops. It’s not as touristy as it is further downtown. We found a shop called Ten Thousand Villages, a non-profit, fair trade shop that sells handcrafted jewellery and other items made by women in other parts of the world. They had a lot of nice things, but unfortunately not my style.

We had lunch at Southerleigh today because it had some really good reviews.. The restaurant (and brewery) is located inside the old brewery building, and they had really good food. Øyvind had the special of the day, which was beef soup first, and then a shrimp po’boy. Man! Those shrimps were succulent and tasty! I had the house burger, which was good, but a little bit dry.

We had to try the macarons at Bakery Lorraine too, simply because, well… it’s macarons. And the bakery is famous for them. We even had bubbles to go with them. Pretend like we’re rich, right? I’ve never been served bubbles in a milk glass before :D Sublime macarons, by the way. I really didn’t want to share with Øyvind. XP

Not sure what we wanted to do when we had finished eating (we were starting to get tired and very, very hot and sweaty), we found a place called The Grotto on google. It said it was pretty and shaded, so we decided to give it a try. It was pretty, sure, but was it worth the walk? I don’t know.

After this, we decided to stop by the hotel to see if our room was ready (check-in was, as always at 3, but it’s worth a try). Unfortunately it wasn’t, so to console ourselves we dried our sweaty, sunburnt faces and sat down in one of the hotel’s bars for some cocktails.

The room is really luxurious and big. And as I said, we even have a balcony. It was too hot to sit out there, but it’s still nice to have the opportunity.

Had to take a small siesta today, too. We’re really not built for these temperatures. But we made sure to make a dinner reservation at Cured, so we wouldn’t have to walk around looking for a place to eat, because apparently it’s really busy in the evenings here.

Oh, I forgot: there’s a library in the hotel <3

Lucky we did, because when we finally emerged from the hotel, the area was teeming with people. There’s some event in the square with a DJ and street vendors. We watched for a few moments, but the music wasn’t for us.

Dinner, however, was absolutely delicious. We split a small plate of pig cheek poutine with cheese curds. Weird with meat and sauce on top of French fries (we’ve never had poutine before, can you tell?), but the meat just melted in our mouths. It was really good. For the main course I ordered lamb with bitter melon and pureed something (I don’t remember what it was). Øyvind had the grilled flat iron. It was SO good! (And SO expensive, but we’ll find cheaper places to eat for the rest of the trip). It was even more expensive than the trash can in our hotel restroom – and yes, we got a price list. If you’re curious, the trash can is $80. ���� Every piece of furniture is possible to buy.

Unfortunately a couple doing yoga right outside the restaurant window put a damper on our meal. Not the yoga part so much, but the fact that the man didn’t wear a shirt. That s*** should be illegal. So we didn’t stay for dessert.

That we (well, I did… Øyvind won’t eat ice cream abroad) had at Lick – honest ice cream. Two scoops, one with salted caramel and one with blueberry. OMG! It was so delicious. It tasted fresh and natural, and they make the waffle cones in the shop daily.

I had to eat it fast, though, because it started melting the moment we stepped outside the shop again. So I practically inhaled the thing :D

Back at the hotel, we sat down on the balcony to watch the sunset and listen to the birds settling down for the night. Suddenly I noticed a woman in our room, and I yanked the door open. Turned out it was an employee who delivered complimentary macarons (from Bakery Lorraine) and made the bed ready for the night (she had knocked, but we didn’t hear her, since we had the balcony door closed). Being in an expensive hotel comes with weird stuff, let me tell you. But the macarons makes up for the scare.

It soon became too hot to sit outside anymore, even with the sun setting, so we moved inside again to lounge on the king size bed instead. Øyvind found a channel called Motor Trend, so that’s him settled for the evening. I’m going to write a review of the ranch we stayed on, because they deserve all the praise they can get.

And later we have to find out where we want to go tomorrow. We still haven’t decided yet, and we have to book a hotel room. Or maybe we’ll just stop at a motel. Who knows. All we know is that the coast beckons, and we’re either spending the night in Corpus Christi, Port Aransas, Rockport, or Galveston.

[regnbuereisen]

Day 11: San Antonio

Today we said goodbye to the west and returned to civilisation. It is just a short drive from Bandera to San Antonio, but after so many days in the more (relatively) rural areas of Texas, trying to traverse the spaghetti highway coming into the city was a stressful exercise.

But eventually we found a way to Downtown San Antonio, and we even found a parking space. The first thing we did after parking the car was to head for a barber so Øyvind could get a hair cut. The barber, Isabelle, was really skilled! And we got complimentary beer. That’s a first!

It’s weird being back in the city… the concrete-heat is almost unbearable, and then there’s the obligatory city smell: every corner smells of urine, and because of the temperature it’s a really strong, sharp smell that just about makes your eyes water.

We’re staying at Hotel Gibbs (which Øyvind says reminds him of The Bee Gees, but I’m thinking more in the lines of NCIS), right next to the Alamo. It’s a nice area, though it’s very, VERY touristy. Lots of souvenir shops, street vendors, even horse-drawn carriages (complete with Cinderella-type lights). *insert twitchy eye gif*

The hotel is old, and a lot of the interior is original. They’ve kept the old elevator doors, but the real elevators are hidden behind a false wall. Pretty cool.

Check-in at the hotel wasn’t before three, but we decided to try anyway, and lucky us, they had a room ready for us. It was only 12.30, but the heat is even worse in the city, because of the buildings and the humidity. Oh the humidity! *shudder* We needed a rest, even before bringing our luggage with us. (“I’m not crying, my eyes are sweating!”)

A little later (well, a lot later – we kinda fell asleep), we had lunch at a nice pizzeria called Playland Pizza. I had the Not Pizza, which had pureed figs, goat cheese, and prosciutto, and Øyvind had the regular Pizza Pie. I know what I liked best, but Øyvind didn’t like my pizza at all. I guess it was a pretty special flavour. But I thought it was delicious.

With a little food in our bellies, our moods drastically improved, and we went back to a shopping centre we passed on our way to the restaurant. I’m running out of clothes, and we haven’t come across a laundromat yet. Luckily I found a couple of shirts. We decided to try a walk along the River Walk, but we happened upon a sightseeing boat instead. Beats walking in these temperatures, that’s for sure. Our guide, Alan, was really funny, and he had a lot knowledge, so we learned a lot.

After a drink back in the hotel bar (1909 Taproom, I think it’s called), we headed back out to visit the Briscoe Western Art Museum. Every Tuesday between 18 and 21 admission is free. It was a really interesting experience, but I’m not sure in the way the museum intended. The art is very white-oriented, and pretty stereotyping, which I can understand from older pieces, but some of the paintings and sculptures was made between 2010 to 2019. They were beautiful, but I’m fairly sure they’re not historically accurate. The most interesting parts of the museum were the historical artefacts. They tell a story of their own, and though I don’t know much about this part of history, they sparked an interest.

We spent about one and a half hours working our way through the three floors and the special exhibition, and by then we were pretty hungry. We’ve heard so much about Whataburger, and we passed one on our way to the museum, so that’s what we landed on for dinner today. Pretty underwhelming. Maybe it would have been better if we were shitfaced drunk.

Walking back in the heat and the stench we just wanted to get to our hotel room and relax. But on our way, we walked by the Alamo, so we stopped for a selfie and a bit of touristing. After that it was necessary with another beer in the hotel bar before calling it a night.

Now we’re watching the presidential debate on CNN and marvelling over how different Norway and USA really is.

Today’s wildlife:

Returning to the city means leaving the animals behind, but we saw a deer before we left the ranch. Other than that: grackles, sparrows, and swallows. And pigeons of course. And a taxidermy jackrabbit, two taxidermy armadillos, and one taxidermy rattlesnake.

[regnbuereisen]

Day 10: Still in Bandera

Just gotta start by saying that yesterday night was so beautiful, with the starry sky and the cicadas screaming. There’s no big streetlamps on the ranch, only tiny, solar cell garden torches to mark the path between the cottages, so it’s really dark. We can see so many stars, and even a bit of the milkyway.

Woke up early today. The mattress was harder than I’m used to (Øyvind like it), so I was pretty tired. But breakfast was served at 8.30, so we had to be up. The breakfast was delicious, by the way. A nice, homemade meal with pancakes, French toast, bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages, biscuits, fresh fruit, cereal… so much to choose from, and I probably ate too much. It was so good. Had a nice chat with Eileen, who manages the ranch when the owner is on vacation. A very friendly lady, and she told us the dog yesterday was hers, and it’s called Jojo. Such a sweet dog!

After a short rest, we played some billiards again. I won 2 out of 3 matches (but who’s counting).

Around noon we drove into Bandera again, just to look, and to buy ingredients for dinner (there’s possibilities to barbecue here). There’s so many small shops with every kind of knick-knacks and souvenirs and weird stuff, and they were all filled to the brim. Almost got a sensory overload from it all.

We walked past Busbee’s Bar-B-Que on our way to another shop. The sign outside said As seen on History Channel, which made us sceptical in the first place, but it smelled so good we just had to go inside.

Hands down the best burger I’ve ever eaten. I literally teared up because it was so good. Øyvind’s brisket was good too, but my god! The cheeseburger was perfect!

After lunch we wandered a bit more, still fascinated by the shops littering Main Street, before stopping by Lowe’s Market for dinner shopping. Now. It’s no secret that I love Dr Pepper, and I found a bottle of Dr Pepper Cherry dessert topper that I will be bringing home with me. I bet it’s good on vanilla ice cream! <3

Back at the ranch again, we had to take a small siesta, because of the heat, and just because we can, and then… we jumped in the pool. The water was at least  20C, it was amazing. Floating in the pool, watching the birds and dragonflies and red paper wasps (they were constantly landing on the water to drink). What could be better? Even got to see some vultures on the hunt. Awesome!

Super cool having the pool to ourselves.

Dinner happened around sunset. Unfortunately the table we picked was crawling with ants, but stubborn us insisted on eating outside anyway. My feet itches extra now. But the food was really good. Again: Øyvind is a master when it comes to barbecuing (even when the barbecue won’t cooperate). My salad was uninspired, but it didn’t matter, because the meat was sooo good. The wine was good too. Not as good as the one I tasted at Four Point O, but very drinkable.

Hope I’ll sleep a bit better tonight, though. Just gonna read a little bit first. I may have to take the other bed in the room though – I need a blanket of my own. Don’t understand the whole sharing thing when it comes to that.

Today’s wildlife:

We saw a deer with a small one, with white spots on its back. It was so cute, a small lizard that run and hid under the porch, lots of birds, a bright yellow butterfly with a black spot on its wings, an orange butterfly, 

tons of bugs, red paper wasps, dragonflies the size of small birds… A nest with small birds (I think they’re swifts – only got a brief look at the parent). 

Oh, and a rabbit that I only saw once it hopped away.

[regnbuereisen]

Day 9: Bandera

Was a slow start today. We were in a middle-holiday dip, I think, but with two days waiting in Bandera, we’ll be back on track soon. 

The night in the Hancock house was pleasant – once I fell asleep. The AC was a bit cold after a warm evening in the sun, but tugging the blanket over my ears helped (also when the neighbours finished their party XP).

Our breakfast for the day was leftover cold pizza from yesterday. It was surprisingly good.

After a quick goodbye to our host, we were in the car, heading east again. And today was a transport day. The road we drove along was the kind that disappears into the horizon, with endless plains on each side. It was beautiful. 

Nothing much happened either way, other than the road being a bit uninspiring to drive according to Øyvind. It’s 563 km from Alpine to Bandera, and it takes around 5 hours to drive.

But it’s true what they say: if you go to Texas, prepare to drive fast. The highway between Alpine and Bandera sports a speed limit of 80 mi/h, which is the equivalent of 132 km/h. Needless to say we went a bit speed blind once we had to turn off the highway.

We stopped for lunch in Fort Stockton, about an hour from Alpine. It’s a pretty small town, and from what we saw, there’s a lot of abandoned buildings (as is with all the small towns we’ve been through), but at least we got to see Paisano Pete.

We ate at a place called Dickeys Barbecue Pit. The food was good, but my pulled pork was a little bit dry. The barbecue beans I got were sublime. Øyvind’s two meat plate with beef brisket and pork ribs was succulent and tasty! As always the portions were too big, and we couldn’t finish it all.

We finally got to Bandera (The Cowboy Capital of the World) around dinner time, and decided to stop at O.S.T (Old Spanish Trail restaurant) to eat, since the ranch we’re staying at doesn’t have anywhere to eat or cook, and we really didn’t want to head out again once we were in place. Think we’re gonna explore a bit tomorrow, maybe.

The food was so good. I finally got to try the chicken fried steak (it’s so up my alley, foodwise), and Øyvind ordered a chicken fried chicken, which was also very good. At first I thought about ordering a peach cobbler for dessert, but I soon realised that I wouldn’t be able to eat anything after dinner. There was a lot of food left on our plates when we left, and we both waddled out, barely able to talk because we were so full.

The road then took us to the middle of nowhere, about ten miles into the “wilderness” (not really), to the place we’re staying for the next two days.

There’s no reception here, and there’s only wi-fi in the main building, not in the cabin we’re staying in, so we will be offline most of the time.

We’re the only ones here at the moment, and it’s kinda neat having the whole place to ourselves. There’s a pool, and in the main building (The Lodge) there’s TV and games and books and a billiards table. Of course we had to play a few games (even though none of us really knows how. At least we’re equally bad at it). No one’s keeping scores, of course, but I won four out of seven games (pure luck).

After that we went outside to sit on the porch and watch the sunset. It’s not as hot as earlier (we’ve been experiencing 39-40C some days), but we’re still around 36-37C. But the temperature drops quickly once the sun sets. And it’s so beautiful, the area we’re in is quiet and calm. 

Also, we’re back in cicada country (didn’t hear much of them out in the desert), and we’ve seen a few pretty birds. The owner’s dog came to say hello too, so that’s a plus.

Now it’s completely dark outside (it’s currently 21.30), and we’re relaxing in The Lodge. Øyvind is lounging in front of the TV and I’m perched in a corner trying to both write and charge my laptop.

Today’s wildlife:

Deer, both live ones and run over ones, one dead skunk, a few grackles, a few cardinals, and a tiny brownish-grey bird with a bright yellow breast. Tried to get a good photo, but they were skittish.

We drove past a farm with what looked suspiciously like oryxes, but that can’t be, can it?

Oh, and I forgot to say we saw Pronghorns out in the desert a couple of days ago.

I still haven’t seen any snakes, live armadillos, or raccoons though, and quite frankly, I’m disappointed. America: step up your game.

[regnbuereisen]

Day 8: Back to Alpine

Okay. We’re officially dubbing this the Bad Luck Tour. First the deer, then my numerous mosquito bites, today Øyvind discovered he had forgotten his earbuds at Terlingua, and I managed to get stung by something that hurt like a motherfudger.

We slept in today, both tired after yesterday, and probably a bit affected by the heat. (The hotel room was wonderful, cool, and relaxing.) Regarding Marfa: make sure you have breakfast included at your hotel, because there’s not much to choose from. Or, you know, go for breakfast before you’re ready to kill the next person breathing too loud.

Using Google Maps as a guide (screenshotting the map, since Marfa has zero reception), we decided to try a café called Do Your Thing, and it looked promising, but unfortunately a gaggle of festival goers had the same idea, and pooled through the door right in front of us. Poor barista. He was alone at work, and the place was tiny, packed with way too many customers. After waiting for almost fifteen minutes, without any movement in the queue, we had to find someplace else before we added murder to our Bad Luck Tour.

After some walking, we found Marfa Burritos, a tiny burrito place in what looked like a fenced in yard. The queue was a lot smaller, but long enough for us to notice all the photos of celebrities that had visited. I recognised Mark Ruffalo, Matthew Mcconaughey, and Anthony Bourdain. Pretty cool.

Øyvind ordered the chorizo burrito, and I ordered the beans and cheese. I think we got the wrong order, but we didn’t care, because we were so hungry.

The tables were outside, and they were swarming with wasps, but we didn’t think anything of it at first: 100% concentrated on eating. But then my arm felt like it was set on fire, and I jumped, brushing the area with my hand. Man, it hurt so bad! And the stinger of whatever stung me was left in my arm too. It wasn’t a wasp, at least, but there were lots of other insects too. It took a few moments before my mind was clear enough to remove the stinger. At first, it was just a small, red pin prick, but it soon spread, and now I’ve got a red, burning mark about 10 cm in diameter. Luckily I’ve got a cooling gel, but it hurts every time I touch it. No other reaction, though. (I didn’t even get a photo, because our retreat was so hasty.)

The breakfast was cut short on the account of too many wasps being interested in my Fanta, and me being a little bit panicked after the sting, so we walked quickly back to the hotel to use the wi-fi (still no cell reception) to figure out what to do next (we had a lot of hours to kill).

Once we got back, Basecamp Terlingua had answered my e-mail about Øyvind’s earbuds. They offered to send it to us, but since we’re moving so fast, they weren’t sure it would reach us properly, so we decided we had to drive down there to pick them up – a 3 hour roundtrip. It is a beautiful trip, but we had other things we wanted to do, too.

But before we drove south again, we wanted to experience a little bit of the art Marfa has to offer. First we drove to the Chinati Foundation, a minimalist art area founded by Donald Judd. No photographs allowed inside, and I had to lock my purse in the car.

To be honest, that kind of art does nothing for me, and I don’t really understand it, but some of the lights were pretty. And we almost stumbled over a rabbit. It was so cute. And there was a sign saying Look out for snakes, but we didn’t see any. Bummer.

After we’d had our fill of minimalist aluminium sculpture boxes and green and red neon lights, we chugged some bottles of water – it was so warm: 37C, and the grounds had minimal shadows. Then we got in the car and plotted Prada Marfa into the map (finally got some spotty cell reception), a 60 km drive in the wrong direction, into the middle nowhere, past Valentine. The Prada Store art installation is so weird, but it was kinda cool too. And we saw some of the longest trains we’ve ever seen.

By then it was time to think about Terlingua again, so we backtracked through Marfa and to Alpine (cell reception again! Woopwoop!!!), where we’re staying for the night, in an air bnb called The Historical Hancock house. We checked in before heading out again. It’s old, and really pretty. And the owners are very nice.

I think they felt a bit bad for us that we had to make the journey again.

The earbuds were exactly where they said they’d leave them, so it was a quick in and out again. Well, as quick as a 3 hour drive can be. But at least we got them back. It was a long shot. Also: we were stopped by the US Border Patrol on our way back north. Pretty painless. One of the guys asked my whole name, and when I answered, all he said was “Wow. That’s a mouthful.” A couple of questions later, we were off, blasting our playlist (everything from Kansas to Willie Nelson to AC/DC) and singing at full volume. Perks of being white, I guess.

Back in Alpine, we didn’t have much time to rest before we went out again, wanting to experience the rest of Viva Big Bend. Our host recommended the food at The Richey Wine Saloon and Beer Garden, which incidentally was one of the venues hosting the festival. Unfortunately they were out of food, but we stayed for the music anyway. Blan Scott Band (country and folk music) was really good.

After he was done, we wandered over to Railroad Blues for more music. Turned out the guy who played there was someone Øyvind had seen on Youtube earlier – pure coincidence, but he was really good. His name was Henri Herbert, and he played boogie woogie blues piano. It was awesome!

After his concert we were getting so hungry, we had to leave, even though there were two more playing later. Almost every restaurant was closed, but Little Caesars was open. Maybe it was because I was so hungry, but the pizza was really good, and though the buffalo wings were so spicy my lips felt numb, I still enjoyed them.

Now we’re sitting in our room, watching tv and relaxing, thinking about going to bed, so we can get an early start tomorrow.

Today’s wildlife:

Lots of vultures, including one that flew so low over our car I could see the glint in its eye, a pair of road runners, a rabbit, and so many pretty butterflies. Also too many wasps and flies for me to be comfortable.

[regnbuereisen]

Day 7: Marfa

Started the day early, as you can see from our previous post. The sunrise was beautiful.

We didn’t even have that many bugs in the tipi when we woke up. No beetles crawling on the duvet or anything. I call that a win. But seriously: don’t go there if you can’t deal with bugs.

After making breakfast and lunch for the road, and cleaning the tipi as best we could, we drove down the dusty, up-and-down road from Basecamp, and found our way south towards Big Bend National Park. The whole area lacks cell reception, as we’ve said before, so we had to drive using a paper map today. It wasn’t too hard, though. The roads are clearly marked and relatively easy to see.

There’s so much to see in the national park, but there were two places we definitely wanted to visit.

First: Chisos basin and The Window. The nature is truly awe-inspiring, and I think our conversation mostly consisted of “Wow!” and “Look!” At first, we took a slight wrong turn and ended up at Chisos campgrounds, but a nice park ranger pointed us in the right direction. 

Turns out we only missed our target by about 50 metres, but it was all for the best. If we hadn’t taken the detour, we would have missed the BEARS! Yes, that’s right! Not one, not two, but FOUR black bears just off the trail. The highlight of the trip, right there.

We walked around the bend to see the Window, and a gentleman with a camera shushed us and waved us over, mouthing “bears, bears”. I thought I heard wrong, but over on the ridge we clearly saw a mama bear and her three cubs.  She was just wandering around in the shrubs and bushes, occasionally digging in the ground, probably for ants or something.

It took a long time before we could say anything, or even move along, but eventually it became too hot and we walked back to the car park - I almost stumbled over a road runner, but unfortunately I didn’t have my camera ready (but not before stopping in the shop to buy something cold to drink, and I finally got my sun hat! :)).

Taking the spiralling road back down the mountain, we continued south on Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive to the Santa Elena Canyon Overlook. We had our lunch on a bench, watching that spectacular view and feeling very small indeed.

Finally got ID on the vultures we’ve been seeing. It’s Turkey vultures, if my knowledge and Google does not fail me. This one kept us company while we stood looking over the edge into the canyon.

After this,  it was time to make our way to Marfa, backtracking up the Scenic drive, back to Terlingua and through to Lajitas and Big Bend State Park Ranch, following  FM170 (The River Road) to Presidio, before turning north to Marfa. Let me tell you: part of the road between Lajitas and Redford would never have been approved in Norway. Deep dips and blind hilltops ending in blind turns, and it was equal parts exhilarating and terrifying.

But it was fun driving along Rio Grande and the Mexican border. Some places we could even see into Mexico as well.

The road from Redford to Marfa was pretty much uneventful, except for a small return of cell reception in Presidio, which quickly disappeared once we left the city limits again, but that meant we could use our digital map again. So helpful!

Tonight we’re staying in Hotel Saint George, the poshest hotel on this trip. It’s really luxurious after our trip through the desert, so I say we deserve it!

Marfa is one of the towns hosting Viva Big Bend (along with Alpine and Marathon), so after a mediocre dinner at Jett’s Grill (bacon penne with a red, creamy, tequila sauce for me, and a burger for Øyvind), we walked the few blocks to Planet Marfa to see some concerts. There were several venues with concerts, of course, but  we started talking to a couple from Midlands, Melinda and David, if my memory serves me right, and we had a really pleasant evening. We totally forgot to go to the Lost Horse for the last concert we kinda wanted to see. 

I really liked Planet Marfa. Wonderful ambiance, nice people, and good music!

After the last concert, we headed back to the hotel for some well-earned rest (loved the guy dancing dressed in a t-shirt, what looked like pyjama shorts, cowboy boots, a cowboy hat, and with a sigar hanging from the corner of his mouth. He looked like he was having the time of his life :)). And some cooling insect gel. I haven’t had this many mosquitos try to eat me before on this trip – clearly they all live in Marfa.

Today’s wildlife:

Plenty of road runners (meep-meep) - I almost managed to photograph a few of them, but the moment I got close enough, they took off into the bushes, vultures and other birds of prey, I saw a bunny, and something that looked like a squirrel, but did not move like one (I only saw its hind legs and tail), a dead kangaroo rat, a couple of beautiful, bright blue lizards with red-ish tails, and of course: the black bears. I still cannot believe we saw bears!!!

[regnbuereisen]

Day 7: still in Terlingua

Look at this gorgeous sunrise!

[regnbuereisen]

Day 6: Terlingua

Updated with pictures :D

The day started relatively early after a restless night of bad dreams and outside noises. Guess yesterday struck a bit deeper than we expected.

But we get through it, as always, and after a nice, cold shower in the tiny bathroom, we checked out and went in search of breakfast. (Actually, Øyvind spent time on Google while I was in the shower – so that we wouldn’t fall out over where to go in our hunger.)

We had breakfast at a very nice bakery called Taste and See. A nice, relaxed atmosphere, almost an European vibe about the place. This time I tried the French toast, which really tasted of Christmas, or of those nice toasted slices of bread with butter and sugar I sometimes got when I was younger. Øyvind had the frittata, which he said was the best breakfast he has eaten so far. I got to taste it too, and it really was good! We even got a bit of fresh fruit on the side, and with a cup of coffee and a bottle of orange juice, we were good to go.

We were in no rush today, so we went for a walk to look at some of the many murals in Alpine. It really is a beautiful town. It’s quiet and slow-paced, which did us good, I think.

At twelve the Viva Big Bend box office opened at Holland Hotel, and we headed over to get our festival passes before turning south and through the Chihuahuan Desert to Terlingua. (And I got a free lemonade in the bar - don’t know why, but the bartender didn’t want me to pay for it.)

There is no cell reception between Alpine and Terlingua (really, it’s dead! Bring a map!), but it’s not too hard to find it, the road is pretty much 1,5 hours straight forward along the 118. A few turns here and there, but basically no intersections or junctions until you get to Terlingua.

We saw a road runner too! For real this time, I can confirm, and it was every bit as spectacular as I imagined it. Just wish I could’ve gotten a picture.

As I said, we had lots of time to spare today, since check-in is after 3pm, so first we stopped for lunch at the Big Bend Motor Inn. Burgers with French fries, and it was THE best meal I’ve ever been served at a service station/gas station. The ingredients were fresh, and the fries were absolutely out of this world. I even got mayonnaise for my fries <3

With our tummies full (once again it was impossible to eat it all) we turned onto the FM170 to see if we could find our tent. It wasn’t hard to find with the map we got from the tourist information in Alpine, but we still had some time to kill, so we continued for a mile or so, to the Ghost Town. It was so eerie, and the ruins were so pretty, and the heat was pretty much unbearable, so we walked back to the car and the shop we parked it in front of, and went souvenir shopping instead. I tried to find a sun hat that looks good, but the cowboy hat type doesn’t quite fit me.

After that, we decided to brave the sandy road to the place we’re staying at: Terlingua Basecamp, which has to be one of the weirdest places we’ve stayed. It’s a tipi, and it’s glamping, and I love it! It’s too hot to sit outside yet, but once the sun is going down, we’ll light the fire pit and make some dinner (found a general store about 7 miles down the road. They had EVERYTHING!!!).

As I said: glamping: running water, electricity, and a king size bed. All that’s missing is a bathroom, but there’s a cluster of bathhouses a couple of metres up the road, that we share with the other tipis. No biggie.

Dinner will consist of barbecued steak and green salad, and I’m pretty sure it will be amazing! Just gotta wait for it to be bearable outside.

Sunset: and time to light the fire pit. Dinner was delicious. Øyvind really is a master with the barbecue. I don’t know how he does it.

As we sat watching the sunset and the rising stars, it became clear that I really, really should have had a better camera with me. We can se the Milky Way! It’s so clear, and I’m a bit awestruck. Just google the milky way and Terlingua to see what we saw.

Todays wildlife:

A road runner! Plenty of other small birds. A couple of vultures. A small bunny hopping around the ruins at the ghost town. And so so so many bugs. Especially now, with the night and lights on in the tipi.

[regnbuereisen]

Day 5: Alpine

-Because of sketchy internet, I’m having trouble uploading pictures, but I’m working on it.-

Today was a taxing day, but it started innocently enough. We got up relatively early to pack and prepare for the long drive.

Saying goodbye to the hot tub and the yappy-type dog across the road, we headed out around 10.30. We’d read about a nice drive not far away called Willow City Loop, so we decided on a little bit of sightseeing before travelling west. And boy! We were in for a treat. It was beautiful! 

The round trip took about an hour, and then we set out towards the west and Alpine, scheduling a stop in Sanderson, to ensure we got to drive the US90 instead of I10. Some might say that was a mistake. You see, most of the road was beautiful. Full of nature and wildlife, and almost no cars at all.

So many birds of prey, and so many places to stop along the way, and so much to see!

We stopped at a view point to get a good look. Wow!

But then, about two hours east of Sanderson... Out of nowhere, and at full speed: a deer. Guess what happened. Yeah: we hit it. Or... it hit us, and now there’s a huge dent in the car just in front of the driver side door. We know there was nothing we could have done; it leapt out from the trees, and well... We feel bad (I think it’s gonna haunt us for a long time), but really... again, nothing we could have done differently. 

To our small comfort, we know we’re not the only ones. The roadside is littered with dead deer: I counted at least 15 between us and Alpine. And we mentioned our incident to the man running the shop we visited here in Alpine, and he told us “That’s just how it is out here. You either get hit from below or from above.” So yeah. That’s life, I guess. Also: not looking forward to the paper work and cost.

So we stopped the car, documented the damages, recorded the time and the place, and finally moved the deer out of the road. The incident put a damper on the rest of our drive, let me tell you. Before it was singing off key to The Beatles and telling jokes, after: silence. It took a while for the adrenaline to dissipate, and we had to stop in Sanderson to refuel both the car and us. Chocolate and Slim Jims from the gas station, shaky smiles, and a hug, and then off again.

The final hour from Sanderson to Alpine went a little better. The worst shock had let go, and we even tried a few songs to the radio, with various results.

Tonight we’re staying at The Maverick Inn here in Alpine. It’s a nice motel. The room is... brown... but it’s clean, and the AC is working, though, it’s only about 28-29C today. We’re higher up now. Alpine is about the altitude of Finse. We’re actually so high up that we’ve got duvets instead of blankets. 

Dinner was served at La Casita. It’s a tiny Mexican restaurant, but the food was really good. I had the chicken quesadilla - so yummy, and Øyvind ordered the chicken fried steak. That was a bit weird for our Norwegian palates, but it was good. Especially the toast that came with it, smothered in a white sauce and the grease from the chicken. 

We’re really not in the mood to explore tonight, but luckily we’re coming back to Alpine in a few days after visiting Terlingua and Marfa.

Today’s wildlife:

Started with an overrun armadillo, the first one we’ve seen here. And then of course a lot of small birds, and so so so many birds of prey. Øyvind thinks he saw a road runner, but I only caught the tip of its tail as it disappeared into the bushes. Other than the deer we hit (I feel so bad about it), we saw a lot of roadkill like rabbits and some bigger birds, and of course a lot of deer. We saw live deer as well, and a small one with spots on its back still. And one animal that looked like a coyote, but we’re not a 100% sure. Oh, and a whole lot of butterflies and other insects. A grasshopper or cricket landed right in front of me on one of our stops too.

[regnbuereisen]

Day 4: Fredericksburg

We slept in today, because going on holiday is an exhausting affair :D Øyvind woke up before me (as usual), and by the time I was up and ready, we were both so hungry it was too late to go to the grocery store to buy ingredients for breakfast, so we ate at a cute, little place called City Café.

I finally got my pancakes! With eggs and bacon and corn syrup. Weird combo, but it was really good. The pancakes were big, though. Couldn’t finish them. X)

Øyvind got an omelette with vegetables - and we can safely say that the American obsession with cheese hasn’t lessened since we were here last. 

We meant to book a wine tour before we left Norway, but we both kinda forgot, so it was done in the last minute, after breakfast, and on the phone. Try spelling our names over the phone to an American. Yeah. We decided that when we’re here, Øyvind goes under Evan. It’s close enough.

So. Wine tour. Fredericksburg has a lot of wineries. And there’s a lot of companies that offers tours, but we went with Majesty Tour because they had available spots, and also they could pick us up so Øyvind didn’t have to drive. Our driver and guide, Logan, picked us up at 1.30pm, and off we went. Along with us, there were two more couples, so a total of six guests.

I firmly believe that Logan must be one of the most patient people on the planet. In fact, he needs to get an award! 

We had three wineries to visit, each serving 5-6 (small) glasses of wine, and it was amazing. The wine was good, the company was awkward at first, but after the first place we got to talking. Turns out Norway is as exotic to Americans as USA is to Norwegians. 

First stop was Four Point O Cellars, which is three wineries that has gone together to open a tasting room. The sherry was sublime - we bought a bottle to save for Christmas, and I bought a bottle of a white wine called Lily, that smelled of peaches, and I will happily drink it on the ranch in Bandera later.

Second stop was Texas Heritage Vineyards. The woman serving us was super cute, and had a lot of knowledge. It was so interesting talking to her! And they had the most amazing view from their patio. Bought a bottle of wine called The Troubadour’s Edge. It tasted of butterscotch fudge and was delicious.

Third stop was Bingham Family Vineyards, and the server, Hayley, made our experience. She had so many stories to tell, and I’m really exited to see her novel ready soon. I won the discussion here, as to which wine we were buying, so we ended up with a very nice, sweet Malvasia Bianca. I think it will be perfect with some fresh fruit. Or maybe chocolate.

I also liked the branding iron chandelier. Apparently they sold them in the next door shop, which I think was called Yee Haw Outfitters.

By now, most of us were getting a bit tipsy, except the couple from Houston, who started the day early, and were already tipsy when Logan picked them up at 1.30. 

After the tasting was done, we got a light snack, which was promptly compared to Lunchables. As a Norwegian, the concept is foreign, but it’s basically cheese and meat and crackers. It was good. Maybe because we were getting hugry after four+ hours of wine tasting, but we pretty much cleaned it out. 

Once we were done, Logan drove us back, and dropped us off at our respective places, with one stop along the way so Houston 1 and 2 could empty their stomachs in a nearby bush. Gotta make sure the local plant life gets enough nutrition. 

We named this photo “While the others are puking...” And felt very proud of our Viking genes. Poor Logan. He got a real job of cleaning his van afterwards, as both of the other couples had done their worst on the floor (and the seats).

Back at the mini house, we decided to make use of the hot tub outside on our patio. Today hasn’t been too warm (only around 30C), but still... The water was warm, but it’s something else being able to sit outside and just relax! I need one at home!

This morning we went to HEB and bought dinner and breakfast ingredients, because we’re smart and knew we weren’t able to drive to a restaurant after the wine tasting. So today dinner was sushi (delicious, and I forgot to take a photo, because we just about inhaled it), and a microwave dinner that I wasn’t too impressed by, but Øyvind seemed to like it.

So now we feel like real Americans: a microwave dinner in front of the TV.

Turning in early today too, because we’re heading further west tomorrow, to Alpine.

Today’s wildlife: grackles, a dead cicada (woopwoop), a lot of eagle type birds soaring over the fields, and a HUMMINGBIRD in the tree above our hot tub!!! I tried to photograph it, but it moved too fast.