Thursday, May 10, 2007

The road goes on forever and the kitsch never ends


I just got back from my fab little get-away to Texas. The spaces are vast, and the inhabitants are strangely compelled to fill them with all kinds of larger-than-life structures. We saw a giant roadside pig (former drive-in), armadillo (in the parking lot of a flea market along the interstate), chicken (on the roof of a statuary emporium along a state highway), and a cow (on another highway, advertising a real estate agent), and the veladora (above). We never made it to the giant cowboy boots or the world's largest wooden nickle. I'm uploading the photographic evidence of my adventures (in dribs and drabs) to my Flickr page.

I learned an important travel lesson on this trip. It's not a good idea to have the following items in your carry-on simultaneously: (1) your mp3 player, (2) lots of batteries, say 8 AAs in your camera and camera case, and (3) a candle in glass. Who knew that these items would resemble the makings of a bomb when the bag went through the x-ray machine? I think that the woman who hand inspected my bag got a bit of a chuckle when she pulled out my Lady of Guadalupe lucky candle. Fortunately, I got to keep the candle ($.98 at H-E-B) and was sent on my way.

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Off to Texas

I'm heading down to Texas to visit Molly for a couple of days. We are planning to have many excellent adventures, starting with a visit to Bussey's Flea Market to look for treasures and to see the giant armadillo that they've got in the parking lot. We're also planning a road trip to Gruene. I've made a spreadsheet to plan the trip, and filled it with various photo ops I'll be seeking. Tales of tacky tourism to follow. Watch the Flickr page for the pix.