4 girls, 1 ford focus and the Texan roads

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There is much to say about our Texas road trip as we crammed a lot into such a short space of time (I'll try not to waffle too much). We organised a hire car as it become quickly apparent everything is far apart and would be cheaper than separate bus bills.

Houston
We pitched up early after a long night on a bus and a tedious border crossing. We checked into the nearest motel before exploring the downtown area. It was eerie quiet; no one else was walking around. We learnt later, just before leaving, that they were in an air-con underground walkway/restaurant area instead of walking in the incredible heat like we were.

After the first day, our adopted traveller Nim left us to spend the last of her trip with her uncle. Lucille moved to her friend's house for a few nights. Therefore Ellie and I after seeing an advert, decided to try shooting. Unfortunately we couldn't find the centre so compromised with laser tag. We were the oldest there without kids but enjoyed running around and shooting anyone in our way. Later in the evening Katy (friend from home) arrived at the airport and we were all excited to see each other again.

Kemah Boardwalk
The Kemah boardwalk is a large pier area full with restaurants, bars and fairground rides. We enjoyed listening to live music, seafood lunch and went on two rides (over two visits as the first time we arrived ten minutes before closing)

Space Center
The Houston space center is the training facility and has a public exhibit and tours. We were able to see the dummy space crafts and learn how they prepare for missions. There was a past shuttle which allowed us to see the magnitude of the crafts and actually how small the living quarters were within it.

After the educational areas we reverted to being 12 again and enjoyed playing games such as human fooseball, trampoling basketball and racing on a climbing wall. In the evening we were joined by Lucille and the following evening we spent a night with her friend and enjoyed a BBQ.

San Antonio
After Houston we moved onto San Antonio which has a beautiful riverside area with restaurants, shops and bars. We went to see the Alamo which was interesting to see and read about it's history.

In the evening we went to a duelling piano bar called, Howl at the moon. It was great fun as we enjoyed listening and dancing to their versions of the crowd's requests.

Six Flags
With the weather being constantly hot we pleased to find out the nearby theme park, Six Flags also had a water park. Once we found 2-4-1 tickets we knew it was meant to be so headed out for a day of fast roller coasters and splashing around in the water park.

Gruene (pronounced Green)
We moved onto a quaint town called Gruene, home to the oldest music hall in Texas. We booked into a small bed and breakfast where each room was separated in converted barn-like buildings. It was how I would image old Texas to be like and we were spoiled with a brilliant spread for breakfast.

Gruene Hall
In the evening we headed to the music hall which was having a rockabilly night. The band was amazing and kept the crowd entertained all night. Some of the locals impressed us with their swing dancing. Later we jumped and twisted around the dance floor ourselves, embracing the atmosphere.

Tubing
With the weather remaining hot it seemed silly not to make the most of the new Texan summer craze of tubing. We hired some tubes and jumped into the river and enjoyed drifting down for two hours going through 2 water chutes.

Austin
We drove on from Gruene and headed towards Austin. From here we dined at the Salt Lick, a renowned BBQ restaurant (it has appeared on TV programme, Man Vs Food and was highly recommended). The food was amazing, the meat was incredibly succulent; we all left with full bellies and a doggy bag.

Congress building
With Texas being the only state with a separate congress we decided to visit the building. It was grand and we were able to walk around, seeing the rooms where voting and activities take place.

Fort worth
As we were in Texas it didn't seem right to leave without seeing cowboys in action. We found our there was a Rodeo taking place just outside of Fort Worth in an area called Stockyard. We watched as they rode bulls, swung ropes and chased calves. At one point they encouraged kids to enter the ring, we were initially worried where they were going with it but luckily they only released a calf for them to try grab the handkerchief of it's tail.

Dallas
With our flight to Las Vegas being in the evening we had time to visit the JFK museum in Dallas. The museum is in the building where Osward was believed to have aimed his shot. It was a well presented museum and incredibly moving and eerie to be there.

From Dallas airport we dropped off the car and flew across to Las Vegas.

Sent from my iPod

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