this IS my first rodeo

 Now we have had the most amazing trip. Everything has been seamless. We have been able to see so many special people and go to some amazing places. But Dallas/Fort Worth was something I had been really looking forward to. I had looked up some things to do there and spoken to my friend Charlotte who has spent some time there and the top thing to do is to see the old western stock yards which sounded right up my street. First stop was Billy Bob's Honky Tonk (official name) essentially a huge bar where you can eat burgers -which we did, drink beer - which we did, and listen to country music. Honestly my first step in, I was already in a dreamworld. A line dancing class was happening on the dancefloor underneath the glittering western saddle which hung from the ceiling.

I was trying to take in the steps from the sidelines but also wanted to explore all this place had to offer. A gift shop, a bucking broco, a timeline of events and hand prints in concrete tiles of all the amazing country stars that had played here. Now I know you're thinking of all the greats, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Blake Shelton. Oh yeah they're there. Ringo Starr? Why of course!

Next it was time to explore the stockyards. We saw the cowboys lead the cattle drive down the street and walked around the market where I bought some souvenirs.

We got drinks and just took in all the live music before it was time for the main event.

RODEO.

 

 

 

I had no idea what to expect but it's much more of a sport and a skill than just a show. We saw wrangling, racing, lassoing, bucking the lot. I didn't have much idea what was going on but the girl behind me was explaining it to her friends so I picked up on some of it luckily. It was a good time and I'm glad we got to see it.

Day 2 started (you've guessed it) late again and Andrew found us a local mexican restaurant to try. I expected it to be empty as it was kind of early on a saturday but I could not have been more wrong. This place was popping and the food was amazing. Special mention to the authentic QUESO which I have not been able to have anywhere else and trust me I've tried.

After I wanted to go to a Cracker Barrel as I was so surprised it was also a shop last time that I didn't get the chance to actually buy anything.

We also went to the mall where I went to forever 21 and a few others which is always a good time. But what I really wanted to do was go back to stockyards, do some more shopping over there and take in the cowboys while I can!

So after I spent even more money we went back to the bar we were at yesterday and sat outside listening to live country music while drinking our beers.

Because we were at the rodeo the night before we didn't get to take in the nightlife at the honky tonk, so we went back over there for some more drinks and I just loved watching all the dancing. Men in cowboy hats twirling ladies in their best boots around the dancefloor to every song, fast or slow! There was more live music there and it was good to get the night vibe of this place. I felt like I had experienced all the western activities that I had set out to do and I just wanted to bring my mum and sister as I know they would love it here.

 

Our last day in America... wow. What a month! Our flight wasn't until 9:30pm so we had the whole day. We mainly wanted to chill and do everything we wanted to do before we had to leave. Obviously, this involved Mcgriddles for breakfast and a final target trip! We went to watch Bullet Train at the cinema as we had time to kill. By the time we got out it had started raining and neither of us wanted to walk back over to the target car park as we had to stay in these clothes until we landed in the UK so we decided to walk round the mall which was definitely a step down from the mall yesterday. We saw a gap in the rain so we ran back to target where I had one more last look and then we set off for the airport where we dropped the car off. We checked in for the flight and the nice lady waived the fee for overweight baggage for us luckily and got us seats together even though we were on separate bookings. I wanted pinkberrys froyo as I used to get that a lot at Ole Miss and Andrew got a whataburger sandwich. After this it was time for some luxury. Andrew has an American Express card which allows us access to the lounge a the airport. It was incredibly busy as bad weather meant about 90% of flights out of dallas had been cancelled but we managed to get a table and a couple more plates of free food. Andrew had a beer and I had prosecco for the first time in a long time! We hung out there until it was time to board our flight. Luckily ours was on schedule. Andrew being military was able to board in group 1 while I was group 8 haha but we eventually got on got settled in. All that's left to say is a massive thank you to everyone that was involved in this trip: Taylor, Drew, Bill, Kathy, Kaitlyn, Mike, Mikey, Baba, John, Hillary, BJ, Kelsey. It was so good to spend time with all y'all and I can't wait to come back and see you again! And thanks I guess to Andrew for taking us everywhere we wanted/needed to go and driving many many hours across the states! Love y'all!!

back to base

We arrived at Andrew's house after a 5 hour drive.

We inspected the damage and were not best impressed. We learnt we had a lot of work to do in the 4 days we would be staying here. First things first, food. Just down the road is a sonic, a classic drive in serving fast food and my favourite ever ice creams. We then made our way to his storage unit where all his belongings are kept that he didn't bring to the UK. We needed to pick up some cleaning supplies to fix the house and Andrew wanted to check up on his guns...

  

The next day we got up kind of late and stopped at one of Andrew's friends house to catch up. He was no where to be seen but we talked to his wife a lot and played with their dogs. Just as we were about to head out, Andrew realised his friend BJ was sleeping the whole time so he went in to wake him up and we continued to share stories and hang out. Eventually we realised we should get going to pick up more cleaning supplies for the house. I knew this was going to be a long shopping trip so I opted for a trip to the nail salon and then to Starbucks while Andrew got everything he wanted. 

After we went to eat at Walk Ons sports bar and then he wanted to show me a Bass Pro sporting goods store. Honestly, you could have fooled me that this was more of a museum. Even the gators in the pen out the front really set the vibe.

Afterwards, we drove to the outside of the air force base where Andrew worked before he came out to England. There is a Global Power museum you can see from the road which is a collection of vintage aircraft. Following a final stop at Walmart and Kroger where we picked up some drinks and snacks, we made it back to the house. We'd pretty much been out for the whole day so we decided the best move would be to get some sleep and then get up early and get cracking.

The next day I got up and cleaned the kitchen while Andrew went to pick up the lawnmower from BJ. I set to work cleaning the cupboards, drawers, fridge, oven let's just say it was not left in the condition it was found. The food and rubbish left behind in the cupboards and fridge confirmed this. I mean there was rubbish left everywhere. Some personal highlights included: a GI Joe on the roof, broken windows (in an attempt to get the toys on the roof?!), 15ft trampoline, pee stained mattress, countless broken toys inside and outside and, finally, breastmilk frozen into the bottom of the freezer. I moved on to cleaning all the carpets while Andrew worked on the outside. Later on, the new tenant called in to see the house. This put Andrew a bit more at ease and she seemed really nice and laidback and he was pleased to be able to meet her and talk to her about the house. Soon after she left, we had been invited to BJ and Kelsey's for dinner where she made black bean burgers which were so good! I played with the kids a lot and then we sat and hung out all night which was so nice! There was also some good news that their parrot Mochi had been found and returned home after flying away the day before.

 

The next day, after a bit more work cleaning the house, we went out into town. Andrew took me to a western clothing store where I tried on some cowboy boots!

 

We stopped at Canes for food which is chicken place so I called into Taco Bell after and then we had to get back to work. I continued working inside (thankful for air conditioning) and Andrew worked outside cleaning the gutters and cutting down branches from the big oak tree. By this time it was getting late and we also had to do some laundry so we went out to a laundromat which was more exciting than it sounds. The washers were huge!! And we got free tumble drying as a bonus. Even met some interesting people. And by that I mean "interesting".

 

We woke up on our final day in Louisiana and needed to pack everything up to get the house as clear as possible to do the final floor and bathroom clean. We had to take all of the supplies we bought back to the storage unit so we have them ready for next time we will be back including the air mattress and bedding which Andrew's grandmother got for us. Just before we left to do this, Andrew got a call saying that both of the guns he had ordered had arrived to the gun shop so we was excited to pick them up. I was more interested in playing with the gun shop dog.

We got some food from Wendy's on the way back and I packed up the car while Andrew mopped the floors. On our way out, we let the new tenant know that the house was ready for her and we called in to BJ's house again to say bye. He was out picking the kids up from school so we hung out there talking to Kelsey and her sister. BJ and the kids got back so we made sure to spend some time with them and then we had to get going. We went onto the air force base and Andrew showed me all around, where he used to live, where he worked, etc. We went shopping at the bx and drove past the vintage aircraft again to get a closer look.

Andrew then took me to hobby lobby which I hadn't been to yet. I picked up some more scrapbooking materials and then we knew we had to get on the road to Texas. I vowed to stay awake as I knew we were driving late but honestly I think I saw about 25 minutes of the 4 hour journey, woops. Anyway we made it pretty easy and were ready for bed by then! Keep an eye out for what we get up to in Texas!

you can take the girls out of ole miss

Ok, Andrew gets the award for driving 10 hours with only 1 stop for gas with only a medium amount of road rage. And I get the award for not needing a bathroom break every hour like I usually do. Anyway we made it to new orleans. It was dark and the madness has begun. We started our wild weekend by eating dominos pizza in bed and going straight to sleep. The next morning i woke up way tooooo excited. If you are lucky enough to remember the original em in the states circa 2014 you will know I studied abroad at Ole Miss (read all about it here) and during a Brit Lit class another girl asked me if I had a one direction phone case as she was really into them. And thus began the unstoppable friendship of Em and Hillary. 

To be able to reunite 7 years later (6 years since we last met up) was both unbelievable and incredible. Hillary drove down to New Orleans on Saturday morning giving me regular updates and I also found out she would be staying 2 rooms down from us in the hotel. I peeked out of our hallway view window (classy) and she was arriving at her door. With one shoe on, I ran and hugged her!!! We walked around the area a little bit that morning catching up and sharing stories and then went back to meet Andrew. He has a friend he works with in England who was also visiting family in New Orleans the same time and he invited us all over to come hang out at his parents house. On the way we stopped at a 2 story target to pick up some snacks and drinks to bring with us. We stayed there a few hours and got talking to his wife, parents and kids. It also gave me and Hillary an opportunity to chill and catch up more which was perfect! 

His mum even cooked ribs, jambalaya, potato salad and beans - a classic southern meal. After we left we went back to the hotel and changed ready to hit the town!!! We made it about 200ft down the world famous Bourbon Street and ducked right inside Hard Rock Cafe at the soonest opportunity. We each had burgers and seltzers while Andrew treated himself to a cocktail. Hillary started feeling a little sick so I suggested we go back across to the hotel to get her some medicine then head back out. By the time we got back to the hotel we all decided we would just stay in!

The next morning we explored the French quarter. We had beignets for breakfast from Cafe du Monde.  

We wandered through the french market where I bought a few souvenirs. And we walked all along the streets exploring more shops. We also found the horse and carts so we had to recreate the world famous drunk selfie we took with the police horses all those years ago.

We decided to take a streetcar ride too so we rode it to the end of the line and waited for it to go back again to where we came from. We had so much fun just chatting, laughing and being ridiculous the whole time. There was no plan it was just go with the flow which was perfect. 

Andrew and I had a 5 hour drive ahead of us so we decided we should get going. I promised Hillary it wouldn’t be so long before we could see eachother again. There’s a theme to this trip… Seems like we’ll be back soon I hope! We set off, stopped about 30 minutes in to fill up the car and drove the whole rest of the way. He was showing me the sights of Louisiana and we went through this one tiny farm village which had no nothing for about 30 miles! But when we reached the town they did have a dry cleaners so they were set! When we reached Andrews house we had a quick check round and then went to eat at Sonic. 

  

More adventures to follow while we’re out here. 

tampa bay days

 The rest of our time in Tampa was spent making the most of “local” food and shops i’m not gonna lie. I always said I wouldn’t necessarily want to live in a city but the pure convenience of being able to drive less than 5 minutes and be able to find almost anything you want/need is a luxury I could learn to live with!

We decided we wanted to use our Busch Gardens passes a few more times before we had to leave so we made the executive decision to arrive past opening time on a sunday before all the Tampa schools were due to start back from the summer. The cars backed all the way up and we decided that actually we didn’t want to spend the day there and it be so crowded so we went to Tampa outlets. I may have made an exciting purchase- a kate spade handbag which due to back to school deals and no sales tax that weekend ended up costing around £200 less than it should have done!

Monday we ventured back to Busch gardens which was a lot less busy. We rode all the rollercoasters again and spent a whole looking at the animals in the africa section I liked watching the hippo swim I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that before! The weather held out for most of the day too which meant they didn’t shut the rides until only a couple of hours before closing. We also watched the ice skating show and the acrobatic show which were pretty good as well as just being a relief from the heat outside!Tuesday we didn’t make plans til last minute to visit tarpon springs and the sponge docks. As soon as we left to get food the heavens opened and it poured down for pretty much the rest of the day so we didn’t fancy it and instead explored the dollar tree for more things for my classroom and then we spent too much time and money in target again! Later that night we took Baba to Twistee treats for some of the best soft serve ice cream!

The final couple of days we spend at Busch Gardens waterpark called Adventure Island which was on the smaller side compared to the Orlando ones but we still had fun. I even braved the drop slide!! We also went back over to Busch Gardens but this time we took Andrews brother John so we rode all the rollercoasters again with him. We also went into some more animal enclosures like the kangaroos and aviaries and finished the trip with train ride which took us to see the rhinos, zebras and giraffes. 

On the final morning we all went back out for a nice breakfast together. Baba and I got the strawberry french toast and she loved it! We finished packing up our things, said our goodbyes and promised it wouldn’t be so long before we came back next time. 

Now just for the 10 hour drive to our next stop: New Orleans!