the lonestar state.

texas is HUGE. we have been driving in texas for two days, and we still haven't reached mcallen. to be fair, we have been taking it pretty easy: sleeping in a bit, taking long breaks and SHOPPING! we entered texas in texarkana, slept in sulphur springs (at the best best western we have found!), passed by dallas (it is huge and we would need more than a few hours to explore) and went on to austin.

since austin is known as the 'live music capital of the world', i think i expected to be bowled over more by a music vibe. the city is big, and fairly spread out, and there was no one around! we were there on a sunday, so maybe everyone was at church; or maybe everyone was still hung over from the night before? we went straight to sixth street, which has a reputation for quite a tourist scene. after stopping in for a quick visit to the tourist office, they suggested that we walk across the water and down to a funky area called south congress (or 'soco'). and i am SO glad that we took their suggestion. we found music, colour, funk, and the best retro shopping in the world. one store, called uncommon objects, was literally bursting at the seams with old school junk and kitsch. it was like a museum of objects from lives gone by. tons of vintage clothing stores, boutiques, cafes and (apparently) star sightings. really captured the austin-hippie-music-vibe that i had heard so much about.

we were both getting a bit worn out from the pace of our trip thus far, so after a few beers at a bar on sixth street, we decided to leave austin a bit early to have a relaxing evening at..... SUPER EIGHT MOTEL. we have refused to pay more than 80 bucks for a hotel, so we were stuck with the 'class' (and cloudy swimming pool) at super eight. we played scrabble, watched some tv and generally did nothing. our plan had been to spend the day in san antonio, but since we will have many opportunities to come back to visit, we bypassed it for a full day of san marcos outlet shopping. we slept in -- did you know that housekeeping in texas just comes in in the morning without checking to see if you have checked out? then we proceeded to have an EPIC breakfast at the infamous IHOP (international house of pancakes) which dean had been wanting to check out. your breakfast comes with a 'side' of three buttermilk pancakes. WHAT? what human could eat that much food? we tried. i failed. i discovered bath and body works and the uber-cheap target and then we discovered every shopaholic's (and rich mexican's) dream: outlet shopping heaven. kenneth cole, banana republic, puma, aldo.... everything under the sun! dean and i have proved that we did have room in the car for more stuff, you wouldn't believe me if you had seen how full our car was when we left the cottage. i purchased hot kenneth cole shoes for 29 bucks and a ralph lauren down pillow for the same! great success.

we shared mussels and a margarita at the olive garden (mmmm breadsticks) in celebration of our shopping successes and then drove on to find a place to sleep on the way to mcallen. given our trip so far, we never imagined this would prove to be a problem. however, the map (and our friends) failed to tell us that after san antonio there is literally.... a WASTE land. absolutely NOTHING! no hotels for miles and miles (save the 'kuntry motel'). an hour later then expected we FINALLY found a vacancy at the dodgy days inn in alice, texas. construction, dust, dirty windows... but beds to sleep in!

so. that leads me to today. it is tuesday, and we are less than two hours away from mcallen, and less than five from monterrey. this afternoon we will be meeting up with the others who drove down before getting up early tomorrow morning to cross the border... and into my new life.