My Texas

Tomorrow’s a special day… Not for you… For me… Well, I guess if you love me it means it’s special for you, too… It’s a special day for you… It’s two anniversaries… It’s the end of my seventh year living in Texas and the end of my first year living in real Texas.

August 22, 2006 I arrived in Austin, Texas… August 22, 2012 I arrived in Bryan-College Station, Texas… Both were landmark occasions… For those places.

With seven years in the books, Texas finally passed New Jersey as my second home… Both trail the 20 years I spent in beloved Ohio.

In the seven years here I’ve tried to see as much of the Lone Star State as possible… And I think I’ve embraced the Texas Ranger spirit better than most alleged Texicans... I’ve seen a lot, but I know I have a lot left to see… I need to see one of those famed (but probably overrated) Texas High School football games (hopefully Mox is starting)... I need to get to Gruene Hall and Luckenbach, Texas... I need to take a drive down Skyline Drive at Davis Mountains State Park... Future trips need to be booked to Big Bend National Park and Port Aransas... And I need to get out to the George W Bush Presidential Library and Museum... And I'd like to see the Streets of Laredo... And I haven't spent much time milling around Fort Worth.

When I finally leave Texas someday, there are going to be places I miss... And places I’ll want to return to someday...

Here’s my Texas Top 6

1. State Fair of Texas – Even if you don’t have tickets to the Texas-OU game (once called the Red River Shootout, but both parties involved are spineless so it’s now the Red River Rivalry) it’s a glorious events... I love all state fairs and Texas is the fairest of them all... Deep-fried morsels of goodness, pig races, dogs doing tricks, blue-ribbon farm animals, 1990s musical stars... What else can you ask for?... If you can get to the football game, it’s worth going to... Despite the fact that Mack Brown’s ineptness has made the game a blowout in recent years (raises for everybody!), the pageantry is all still there with the Cotton Bowl filled with half Burnt Orange and half Crimson... If I ever won the lottery, I would be here for a week every October.

We Landed On The Moon! Pie!

Don't look at the fat-ass losers or freaks! You look at me.

No, you're never gonna get it / (Ow) / Never ever gonna get it / (No, not this time)

Fletcher's Corny Dog!

Half Burnt Orange... Half Crimson... All Cretin

2. Royer’s Round Top Café – You’ve heard me talk about this place over and over and over and over again... It’s a quaint little café in a quaint little town of 90 people... They make fantastic food and dynamite pie… The pies are among the best in Texas, if not the world... And on Sunday, and Sunday only, they make fried chicken... Among the best fried chicken in the land... If I ever won the lottery, I would be here every Sunday for fried chicken and pie.

Royers White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Pie... With Amy's Ice Cream

I hope this is enough chicken for three!

Always ready to go to Royer's

It's a magical place

3. Lockhart, Texas – The BBQ Capital of Texas, if not the world… Black’s BBQ is dynamite... Kreuz’s is almost as good... Smitty’s is almost as good as Kreuz’s... Chisholm Trail is supposed to be grand, but I’ve never been there… Someday... Top it all off with the fact that many of the exterior scenes in "Waiting For Guffman" were shot here and it is well worth the drive every time... If I ever won the lottery, I’d come here once a week and eat at one, two, three or four of the landmark BBQ spots.

Every where you turn in Lockhart, there's meat! (Black's)

Smitty's Meat Market would even make Chester Arthur drool... But it wouldn't go in his beard!

Blaine (Mo.) City Hall! I can't wait to see "Red, White and Blaine"

4. Snow’s BBQ – You’ve heard me talk about this place over and over and over and over again... It’s a quaint little bbq joint in a quaint little town of 1,282... They make fantastic brisket and pork loin and sausage... It’s all among the best in Texas, if not the world… They’re only open Saturday... From 8 am until they run out of meat... Which is usually by noon… And the Lexington Livestock Commission is right down the street, so you can hear the cows you're going to eat in the future "moo"... If I ever won the lottery, I would spend every Saturday morning here posted up on multiple pounds of multiple meats.

The simple building that is Snow's.

Ready to hom down on some meat.

The meat is always perfect.

5. Wurst Fest – A 10-day salute to sausage... This event is glorious... I love it... It’s hard to believe that if I loved beer I’d love it even more, because the beer here flows like the salmon of Capistrano... The sausage is glorious enough... I could eat it all day and all night... And once or twice I have… Add to the sausage the wonderful polka and German oom-pah music and you have fun for the whole family... Bring your lederhosen... If I ever won the lottery, I would spend 10 days here every year saluting sausage... with a pants tent.

Sirloin on a stick! The rare time at WurstFest that I'll venture away from sauseege!

The Magic Stick! Five different sauseeges!

Old people! Munching on sauseege!

6. Lady Bird Lake Jogging Trail – It’s where I got my start… Started with a short run… It was probably just a half mile on that first run… Soon it was a mile… Before I knew it, I was flying five or six miles at a time… It’s a great path with great scenery…  The scenery includes Lady Bird Lake and the Austin skyline and the frisky co-eds... Ohh the frisky co-eds… And if you're lucky, you get to see one of the "regulars"... Like Unicycle Guy and Intense World Record Speed Walker Guy... Did I mention the frisky co-eds?... If I ever win the lottery, I would go for a two-hour walk here every morning and a one-hour jog here every evening.

The view at Lady Bird Lake... Not as much of the "scenery" in this photo.

Lady Bird Lake is where I cut my teeth in the running world.

So... If you ever want to see Texas through my eyes... Go see and do all those things... You might see me there... Especially if I win the lottery.