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!!