dallas weekend
I went to Dallas for the weekend, and I'm here to tell you: the highways there suck! To be fair, they're in better condition than some of ours, but ye gods: the exits are confusing, the highway splits and spaghetti-bowls at a moment's notice, and the signs do not clearly indicate the exits. We got lost quite a few times, despite having a compass and good directions, just because the highways didn't make sense.
quantum_dancer worked some magic on priceline.com and got us a spendy hotel on the cheap, so I got to sleep in a fancy feather bed. Truthfully, the most luxurious part of the hotel stay was getting to run their lovely central air as cold as we wanted. That and a big shower with extra hot water. Ahhh. I love my little house, and I feel a stubborn pride that we survive without central air or heat, but I enjoyed the chance to set the climate exactly how I wanted it.
We'd gone to Dallas to see a Mariah Carey concert. The concert was a gift to QD, who is a fan of hers. I felt a bit dubious about it, not being a fan, but I never mind new experiences. Turns out, she's an excellent performer. During the beginning of her career she had a much more pop direction (most likely influenced by her label), and a number of radio hits so overplayed that hearing them is like an icepick to the skull. But once she started moving in a direction of her choosing, she went more toward R&B. While the concert had some of her overplayed pop songs, it also had a lot of stuff I hadn't heard that I found very tuneful. She's got a great voice, and she uses those five (!) octaves well. Plus, this concert put on a spectacle! Dancers, lights, videos, effects...most impressive. Overall, I enjoyed it.
The next day we went to the Fort Worth Botannical Gardens for my "happy" during the trip. I will admit to some garden envy, as the Fort Worth garden is bigger and better funded than the Zilker Botannical Gardens. On the other hand, our Japanese garden was designed by the Emporer's own gardener, Taniguchi-san. Fort Worth charges for their Japanese garden, so I didn't get to see it. We could only afford the dollar for the tropical conservatory. In there, we saw bananas, coffee and chocolate growing, as well as neat ferns, strange poisinous plants, funky flowers and a mystery plant that remains unidentified. That garden is worth more than we paid.
While we wandered through the rose gardens, smelling the many flowers that still bloomed, it began to rain. We'd enjoyed the cool, overcast temperatures, and the rain did not surprise us. Once I had my umbrella, I didn't mind walking around in the rain (QD is such a water baby; he had fun getting soaked). The ponds looked beautiful rippled with droplets, the rain-drenched stones slick and lovely.
The rain was not so great on the way home, however. My sweetie is a real trooper: he drove, white-knuckled, for an hour in the pouring rain. He drove, I prayed, and we got through it safely. That tail of hurricaine storms continued all night. We stopped in Georgetown to visit my parents and to Get Out of the Car. Mama insisted on feeding us dinner, and I got some MomAdvice I hadn't even realized I needed. We headed home around 10. Arrival meant exuberant doggy greetings, of course, and then puppy snuggles when we slept. It was a good trip, and even better to be home.