We went through Texas and drove up to Austin, Texas, where we hung out and visited a Lomography store, a cool cafe owned by Sandra Bullock, and a great Mexican restaurant bar with a really good happy hour and a cool bartender. I discovered that I liked beers from the Texas brewery Shiner, particularly their Shiner Bock.
After Austin, we drove all the way down to the border to Amistad Recreational Area, which is a recreational lake that sits on both sides of the border. (Amistad is Spanish for friendship, for those interested). It was while camping at this site that we experienced one of our weirder, creepier nights. Out in the darkness and in the middle of nowhere like we were, I was a little unnerved when we heard a cat meowing pathetically outside of our tents. After hearing it go on for a little bit, I heard Ashley venture out of their tent and look for it with a flashlight. She didn't see it, and I hunkered down praying that there were no crazy masked murderers out in the brush. She repeated her search a couple times, because each time she went back in her tent, the cat started meowing again. Finally she opened a can of tuna and left it out on a picnic table. Soon we heard the animal eating, but when Ashley looked out with the flashlight it ran and she only got a glimpse of its striped tail. Again she turned off the light and kept quiet. I was trying to go to sleep. But probably five minutes better the thing was back and knocking over a trashcan. I hear the tent flap open and the click of a flashlight and -"It's a huge raccoon!" I was a little shocked, and impressed. "Smart raccoon!" Smart raccoon that had figured out that cat noises could make humans give it food, haha.
The next day we drove though Marfa, Texas, an artsy little town that had been used as a set for the movie Giant, which was James Dean's last film, and for No Country for Old Men. The town became famous due to the presence of artist Donald Judd and his creation of the Chinati Foundation. It is an artist residence meant for large-scale projects, and showcases some of his works, which were originally founded with the help of the Dia Foundation. (This was interesting to me because just south of my hometown is the Dia headquarters).
The rest of our trip is mostly filled with bragging material. The southwest has a large number of National Parks and Forests, and it was our goal to see as many as possible. With that, I'll just say that we go to camp in the Guadalupe Mountains, descend into Carlsbad Caverns, walk the White Sands National Monument, and spend our last night surrounded by giant saguaro cacti at Saguaro National Forest. The thrill of our last week of site-seeing was accentuated by coyotes, hawks, and people with interesting stories to tell.
I forgot to mention Lafayette, Louisiana, didn't I? I forgot about much of Lousiana. Every state that we visited has its own character and many of its own stories. On our way to Lafayette we visited an old Creole plantation. The tour guide there told us about their way of life, about the importance of the Spanish moss and cypress trees for the colonists and later the Americans living there. We also watched a film on the family history of the place, which we found a little over dramatic and annoying as it tried to make us sympathize with the rich owners who lost everything in the Civil War. For us the most interesting history lesson was about the Acadians. Remember Acadia National Park? Well the Acadians were the French who got kicked out of Nova Scotia by the British. Most of them were farmers who got along with the native Americans there. They were forced into boats and a lot of them settled in Louisiana, where they were seen as a lower class in comparison with the Creoles, who were, ironically I think, also originally French colonists. The word Cajun comes from Acadian. So it was cool for David, Ashley, and I, to have followed their path a little bit.
In Lafayette we happily stumbled upon an Art Walk and strolled through the galleries of this pretty, relaxed town. As we were walking we watched a literal "Party Bus" go by, filled with partying college students. Quite amusing. We also went into an artists' market, where local craftsmen and women, most of them close to us in age, were selling handmade jewelry, shirts, books, glassware, etc. It was really fun.
At the end of this, Ashley felt sick so she went to lie down in the car, but I decided to explore a little more...
It was probably homesickness. At the end of Texas, we high-tailed it to Chula Vista...
(Sorry, apparently I never finished this post!)
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