Waiter I ordered beer not water

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Yes yes I still owe you four travel logs from Europe and Tokyo and here is another one from a different continent…

This time it’s not purely for fun in fact it’s mainly for business. I’m over in the states to meet up with many people which work on my project. Saying that I still managed to squeeze in some sightseeing in the heartland of the States (which voted for Bush) and later up in Denver. Dallas is the first stop and as you know me, the weird and wonderful is my thing so I am in the right place. Dallas is also known as the big D, which is at least correct when it comes to the size of the city. The city stretches forever. They really have space here and it shows outside of the city centre. There is always as much space left and right to each building as the width of the building. It looks like a park with a couple of buildings (reminds me of Canberra…). If you ever come here get a car as the distances are enormous. I drove in two days over 200km without doing much and not leaving the city.

Back to the beginning. As this is a company sponsored holiday (I mean work trip) I flew business class. I’ve never been in business class before but it will be hard to go back to economy. Quantas has those skybeds and they are great. They unfold to a completely flat bed and are great things to play with as they have a remote control and an integrated massage thingy. Not to mention the 15 movies on demand, unlimited free booze and proper napkins. Didn’t want to get out of the plane when we arrived.

I got a first taste of America when I went through the immigration where I was fingerprinted and photographed like a criminal. At least I can have the good feeling that I will be on record for the next 40 years. Did anyone mention that most so called terrorist which “attacked” America were a long time in the states and mostly Americans … Anyway might get arrested if I bitch more 😉

So back to Dallas. The obvious “attraction” of Dallas is to checkout the spot where JFK got shot. They even marked the exact spot with an X on the street. You can also checkout the “fact” that Oswald shot him in the sixth floor museum. The museum occupies the space from where Oswald shot him or you can go to the conspiracy museum next to the JFK monument and get convinced that it wasn’t him (at least not alone).
That’s about it to see in downtown Dallas. There is one attractive building which houses the information centre (yes I went in there) and then there are streets full of deserted (it was Saturday) office buildings. I walked around for a while and took a free tram to some other part of the city but that contained only luxury goods shops. After that, I checked out the pioneer plaza with bronze statues of 50 cattle and some cowboys. Dallas and Forth Worth which form one big city these days were in the 1870’s the last stop on the cattle drive from Kansas. Forth worth is (if you believe the tourist propaganda) the only place where you still see two (touristy) cattle drives per day.
During the night it also features “Billy Bob’s Texas” the “larges Honk Tonk in the world”. It is a huge country and western club, which I visited Saturday night. There I realized that baseball caps and cowboy hats are acceptable attire to wear on a Saturday nigh out and that selling water in beer bottles is legal (ok ok it had faint taste of real beer but back home you would get beaten up for that stuff). Later I realized my mistake. Apparently light beer here is light in taste and not in alcohol like in Australia. Explains a lot. The club was an experience in itself but unfortunately I missed the bull riding competition which Billy Bobs has on twice a night in the bullring attached(!) to the club.

Got up late on Sunday as the weather was crap. Not much to do her anyway but if the weather isn’t good then I can’t drive around with the roof down on my Ford Mustang convertible. Before my boss gets a heart attack when he reads this let me explain that they run out of standard cars and upgraded me. It is a beast of a machine and I have no idea how big the engine is but judging by the sound, the acceleration and the fuel consumption it is big. Not as big as the Hummer stretch limo I saw.

Anyway I went to the Dallas World Aquarium which is a wild mix of an aquarium, zoo and theme park. Good enough to waste a couple of hours though. While there, I discovered a flyer for the Dallas Gun Range. Needless to say where my next stop was. After a short 20 minute introduction (don’t point the gun at me our you) I was sent into the shooting range without supervision and 50 bullets. Don’t get me wrong I think it’s stupid to let everyone have a gun and let them carry it around concealed after a six hour training session but firing one of them is an opportunity too good to be missed 😊

Because I felt slightly manly after such an experience, I decided to check out a Hooters restaurant (www.hooters.com). If you haven’t heard of them before a Hooters restaurant is a chain (what a surprise in America) which features lots of TVs (sport), beer and very pretty and very skimpy dressed waitresses. What a way to end a day (yes yes kind of sad but hey 😉

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Photos

Don't mess with Texas
This slogan was originally developed by the Anti-highway litter campaign organized by the Texas Department of Transportation. Guess the true meaning got lost sometime down the track..

JFK
See the X on the street? That the exact spot where JFK got shot.

Cattle made this a rich state in the beginning
And the came JR Ewing

Sign at the entrance of the office in Dallas
You really need a sign to make that clear?...