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Texas Trip (day 0)
Hello Everyone,
Tomorrow I will start my week long road trip through Texas! I will arrive in Dallas in the afternoon and then I will be joined by my 96 year old grandmother. The plan is to visit Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Marfa. We will be spending at least 24 hours in the car and there are too many famous pieces of architecture to count along the way. Please let me know if there are any architectural gems that I must see along the way (restaurant suggestions are also encouraged)
Be good,
Mark
13 Comments
Insane Grid City (guess what this is... hehe)
http://maps.google.com/?q=Kermit%2C%20TX
Marfa, TX
Intersection of the Military & Art
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Board=EarthPeople&Number=367472
Oh ya, click on "Satellite View" to see the "grids"
the "grids" are the service roads to the various oil pump units scattered across the Permian Basin.
assuming you end up in Marfa last (after dallas - and i assume you also mean ft worth - as that is where the kahn, p. johnson, ando and other museums are - austin, san antonio and houston) then you'll want to drive north via ft stockton and end up in Monahans (much better than kermit - certainly in terms of texas high school football). there you'll find the "million barrel tank" - a large, concrete surfaced basin built to carry 1,000,000 barrels of oil, back in the '50s. it leaked, so never held much oil, but then became an inland power-boat lake, stack car race track, and great surface for riding bikes, etc.
also just out of town, off the freeway, is the monahans sandhill state park, where acres and acres of sand dunes - a la sahara - are available for sand-surfing, etc.
from there you can take I-20 back to Dallas, passing through Midland (G. Bush hometown), Sweetwater, Abilene and on to Dallas.
also, in Monahans, the east-west streets are titled numerically (1st, 2nd, 3rd,...) while the north south street, starting from the street that runs from Ft Stockton to Kermit, are titled alphabetically - with the streets to the east being "boys" names and the streets to the west being "girls" names, ie; Adam, Bruce, Calvin, Dwight... or Alice, Betty, Cathy, Debbie, ... Pretty easy place to find your way around.
a few spots:
Austin (just moved from here):
To see:
City Hall
Bats
To eat:
Tex Mex
BBQ
Breakfast
San Antonio (just moved here):
To see:
Your grandmother may enjoy King Williams.
You have got to check out
Southtown near King Williams.
Central Library
To eat:
Mexican
I'm sure there are many more landmarks in these cities, but these are the ones I frequently enjoy.
Safe Travel
Chuys in Austin is horrible...make it to Fonda San Miguel (the best), Polvo's, El Azteca, Elsi's, El Sol y La Luna, or Manuel's for mexican food in Austin.
The Predock city hall is a good call on the architecture front.
in Houston, all in one nice walkable area and free admission, the Menil collection & Cy Twombly Gallery,(Renzo Piano) there's a gerat bookshop north of the building, Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum (François de Menil), Rothko Chapel, Houston Center for Photography. Architecure Center Houston downtown, Art Car Museum...
Eat at: Brasil Cafe, or Empire Cafe, both on westhiemer rd, Patrenella's on jackson hill & washington has great italian food and a bocci ball court.
in austin, green mesquite is good, south congress cafe, magnolia cafe, kirby lane, are all good places to eat. if you like botanicals zilker park & botanical gardens is a nice place for a stroll.
Make sure you try Blue Mesa Grill in Dallas. I will second Chuy's in Austin, and Rudy's for BBQ pretty much everywhere you're going.
make sure to go to 6th street. There are a couple of nice cafes there most of which play music. I have a feeling granny likes jazz.
Thanks for the help! We are heading to 6th St. tonight! Grammy is staying at home!
make sure you go to NINFAS down on 6th street for mexican food - then go to BOOK PEOPLE next door - also, say hi to LESLIE - the resident transvestite who ran for mayor in 2005.
PS you better live up to your promise, or the turtles get it.
Broken Spoke or Stubbs for BBQ, not Rudys...jesh, you would think no one has been to austin...or for the real deal, go to Llano and make it to Coopers...best BBQ in texas, hands down.
It is funny that visitors like Chuys as most native austinites despise the place.
Add the MFA to you Houston stay...it's near the other museums, Menil, Twombly, etc...addition by Piano, original addition by Mies.
And Kerbey Lane in austin is 'Kerbey', not 'Kirby'...you can tell who the houstonian posting is, heh.
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