Texas you have my heart

Recently I took a little vacation time to attend my cousins wedding in North Carolina.  While the mountains of NC are enticing.....they have nothing on the red dirt of Texas.  My sister and I thought it made nothing but perfect sense to make a quick trip to Texas on our way to NC.  For many this did not make sense in the least to go all the way south to go all the way east but if you have ever been to Texas you understand that it really can never be out of the way.

We decided to detour to Texas first to attend the Mule Barn trunk show with Anderson Bean and Rios of Mercedes.  First if none of you have been to the Mule Barn it is a must the next time you are in Texas!  The owner Nancy is pretty much the most amazing business woman ever!!!!  They have some of the most unique boots around!  Anyway the trunk show is pretty much the greatest thing ever!  You actually get to design and create your very own personalized cowboy boots!!!  For me (a boot addict) this is pretty much the closest thing to heaven and I find Anderson Bean and Rios of Mercedes boots the most comfortable boots hands down!  While this may have been the biggest reason for the trip south there were many other events of the trip to share so here you go!!

Here are the events of the great trip:

 We first headed up into Oklahoma to visit some of the great boutiques that we can only shop at online because we are clearly too far up in the Midwest to get to personally shop these great stores.  The first stop was at Unbridled in Ada, OK.  Not only amazing clothes but amazing home decor!  Be sure to ask for Dawn, she will take care of you!  However after coming out of the store we saw we had a flat tire.....not how we wanted to start the trip.  We limped into a tire repair shop and for $15 we got a great patch.....cheapest repair ever!!!

Next was the Pink Pistol which is owned by the Famous Miranda Lambert.  It is more of a trinket shop instead of clothing but also has a soda bar!!  Definitely a must stop if you are close!!

Rob Baird

 As we headed back to Texas we went to a concert in the evening....obviously.  Texas has the best music hands down!  Texas country/red dirt is the greatest thing to come out of the south since BBQ!!!  We got to listen to Rob Baird and Reckless Kelly that night!  Two solid bands that all of you need to check out!!

Reckless Kelly



One of the highlights of the evening was sitting next to the cutest couple ever.  They were in their late 60's and had a passion for music as deep as myself!  While talking to the husband he shared that his wife has Alzheimer's and has had it for 6 years.  Surprisingly she was quite aware of her surroundings.  He told me that he brings her to listen to music because it keeps her engaged instead of sitting her in front of a television.  They go listen to live music every week!  I thought that was a very interesting little tid bit to share!  He also had Rob sign a CD for me and I convinced him we came all the way to Texas just to listen to him in concert.........

 

 The next day we went to the Stockyards and found some great little treasures and if you know me at all you know I love bacon!!



While in the stockyards we ate at H3 Ranch.....holy amazing steak!  This place is legit.  Also if you are in the Ft Worth area you have to eat at Railhead Smokehouse.  Best BBQ in Texas in my opinion!!

One of my favorite parts of the trip was while we were sitting in a traffic jam.  If any of you are from the Midwest you know that any freeway is fenced off on the outside so people can't just come on and off through the ditch i suppose?  Well not in Texas......we were sitting in stopped traffic and kept seeing these trucks jump this ditch to get on the side road.  We opted out because we didn't feel the little car we rented would make it but it was quite comical to watch.

 

After our short stint in Texas we made it to NC for a fabulous wedding in the mountains!

 Also a little side note if you are sitting up in the mountains and there is a breeze you should probably realize there is a chance of sunburn even though you do not feel the sun beating down because the breeze is blowing......epic fail

 And that folks is a quick synopsis of our trip and a little travel guide to Texas!  Nothing gets much better than the south!