"Don't mess" with this Issue.
Greetings to one and all. My name is Aaron and I'm a cross-country traveler. Topics to be discussed this week: all of my amazing Texploits! On we go!
When I was working for EFY, I met a lot of kids from Texas. I'd say that Texas was probably the third-most represented state, other than California and Utah. I didn't know what it was about those kids, but they sure loved their state. It got to the point where I had to pull some of the youth participants aside and ask them, "What's so great about Texas??" I'd usually get a response along the lines of "It's Texas" or "It's awesome." Needless to say, that didn't resolve my concern. Having recently returned from a trip to the Lone Star State, I hoped that I would have an answer. What is so great about Texas, anyway? You know what? I've thought a lot about it and have come to two major conclusions: It's Texas... and it's awesome.
When I first arrived at my uncle's house in Frisco, TX (just outside Dallas), my cousin Matt came out and asked me how I liked the humidity. Honestly, at that point on Wednesday, I really hadn't noticed it. I'm no stranger to humidity, after all, considering the two years I spent in muggy North Carolina for my LDS mission, but the humidity hadn't been a factor for the first 24 hours in Texas. On Thursday morning, I went to Six Flags Over Texas and the weather was actually quite nice in the morning. Not too hot, but not cold, either, by any stretch of the imagination. That allowed for a very pleasant time in the park... until later that afternoon when the humidity set it. Toward the end of the day, my friend Julie and I were taking turns using the FlipCam to record each other standing underneath the "Chill Zone" outside the Mr. Freeze ride, where a heavy mist of cold water would rain down upon willing thrill-seekers. Friday was probably the worst, as far as humidity goes. At one point in the afternoon as my uncle Ryan and I sat in the Texas Rangers dugout, I thanked my lucky stars that we hadn't purchased tickets for a day game because it was HOT! In humid climates, for those of you unfamiliar with that type of weather, air conditioning is your best friend. Though it's not usually entirely unbearable, I try to seek out opportunities to go indoors, even if it's unnecessary. Walking in the shade or feeling one gust of cool air is an incredible feeling during the hot, humid summer months. I was amazed by the number of large fans located almost everywhere in attempt to keep Texan sweat at a minimum.
Thursday, as mentioned, was spent with Julie at Six Flags. Julie was, like, the best tour guide ever (and very deserving of the Shoutout of the Week, so let's get that out of the way now!). Not only is she super nice and a fantastic driver, but she used to work at Six Flags for six years, so she knew all the shortcuts and was able to provide little fun facts to me as we waited in the pleasingly-short lines. It really wasn't a very crowded day at the park and I think the longest we waited in line was about half an hour, maybe, at most. Thursday was a precursor for things to come in the next few days because this trip was just full of stuff that I love. I'm not sure how many of you know this, but I stinkin' LOVE roller coasters. I had YouTubed some videos of Six Flags Over Texas before I made the trip and, quite frankly, I very soon realized that these were "big boy" roller coasters... and just looking at some of those rides scared the heck out of me. Yes, it's true - and I tweeted it almost immediately after - I almost completely blacked out TWICE on the ride called "Titan." Oh gosh, it was so awesome. Another ride I really enjoyed was called "Texas Giant," which we were able to ride three times throughout the day. It was definitely one of the best roller coasters I've ever been on - and probably the smoothest, too! Anyhoo, it was a great day at the park and THANKS, JULIE!!! What a fun time.
On Thursday night, we left the park as it closed at 6:00 and headed to a local burger place called "Twisted Root Burger Company." I had a couple laugh-out-loud moments at the restaurant. Normal restaurants will ask for your name so the can call out, "Aaron, your order is ready. Aaron?" This joint gave customers little slips of paper with names of famous people (historically or fictionally) and would call out those names when the orders were ready. Our slip of paper said "Rollergirl," who was apparently a character in an old-ish movie. Other names were also called out while we were there. For instance, "Richard Nixon, your hamburger is ready..." "Apollo Creed?" "Mohatma Ghandi, come get your order." "Apollo Creed, I have your milkshake... Apollo Creed?" Other names that I saw in the basket included characters such as "The Dark Knight." At one point, they called for "Karl Malone" and I pounded my chest and pointed to the heavens. Long live Karl. "Apollo Creed, I have your milkshake and it looks delicious..." Funny guys. Their signature menu item is their "Twisted Root Beer," which sounded kind of weird to me at first, but I figured that, since I was there, I might as well try the Black Cherry Root Beer. It was actually pretty delicious, as was my Western Burger, which had jalapenos and fried onions heaped on top of pepper jack cheese. Delicious. After a good meal, though, I thought I'd make a quick stop to use the facilities. Whilst doing so, I got a good laugh out of the Chuck Norris jokes written on the walls, which were made half-way out of chalkboards. There was also a large mirror parallel to the toilet, which made taking care of business quite… interesting, shall we say?
On Friday, Ryan and I started off the day by touring the world-renown Cowboys Stadium, home of the hated Dallas Cowboys. And, you know, I've been taking a lot of crap for even stepping foot in that stadium, but I don't care what you dummies think. You're all just jealous because while you were busy sitting in class during the first week of school I was busy making snow angels in the endzone. So whatever. If you don't like my pictures, unfriend me. Ahem. So, let's just say that I found room in my heart to set aside my life-long disdain for the Cowboys and enjoy the experience like any true fan of sports would do. The new Cowboys Stadium is INCREDIBLE! It's absolutely monstrous, which you can get a little sense of while watching a game on TV, but once you're inside it, you truly realize how gigantic everything is there. I'll tell you what - I've got to get me one of those TVs for my room or something. Of course, I'm referring to the huge scoreboard that hangs high above the football field. It's so big that they don't call it a "TV" or a "monitor" or a "scoreboard" - the tour guide referred to it as a "video complex." It's HUGE. And the quality of the image on the screen is pristine. I love it. So much. With the tour, we got to see a lot of the typical things you'd expect to see on a tour of that nature - the suites, the concessions area (which is pretty nice on the lower levels... the floor tiles cost $35/square foot), we spent a little bit of time in owner Jerry Jones' private booth, but things got interesting when they wouldn't let us in the either of the football locker rooms. (Oh, believe me, we got to tour the cheerleaders' locker room, but they wouldn't let us in the players' locker rooms...) The reasoning for that would be that there was, unbeknownst to us, a pre-season game on Saturday night... Interesting... We ended the tour out on the football field, which was awesome. We wished we would have brought a football to play a little catch, but... next time, right? Next time. On our way out, Ryan mentioned in passing that we should stop by the box office to see if we could get tickets to the pre-season game on Saturday night. Well, they weren't cheap, but we got 'em. How could we pass up that opportunity? By the end of the weekend, we would both have been to our very first NFL game.
When I was working for EFY, I met a lot of kids from Texas. I'd say that Texas was probably the third-most represented state, other than California and Utah. I didn't know what it was about those kids, but they sure loved their state. It got to the point where I had to pull some of the youth participants aside and ask them, "What's so great about Texas??" I'd usually get a response along the lines of "It's Texas" or "It's awesome." Needless to say, that didn't resolve my concern. Having recently returned from a trip to the Lone Star State, I hoped that I would have an answer. What is so great about Texas, anyway? You know what? I've thought a lot about it and have come to two major conclusions: It's Texas... and it's awesome.
When I first arrived at my uncle's house in Frisco, TX (just outside Dallas), my cousin Matt came out and asked me how I liked the humidity. Honestly, at that point on Wednesday, I really hadn't noticed it. I'm no stranger to humidity, after all, considering the two years I spent in muggy North Carolina for my LDS mission, but the humidity hadn't been a factor for the first 24 hours in Texas. On Thursday morning, I went to Six Flags Over Texas and the weather was actually quite nice in the morning. Not too hot, but not cold, either, by any stretch of the imagination. That allowed for a very pleasant time in the park... until later that afternoon when the humidity set it. Toward the end of the day, my friend Julie and I were taking turns using the FlipCam to record each other standing underneath the "Chill Zone" outside the Mr. Freeze ride, where a heavy mist of cold water would rain down upon willing thrill-seekers. Friday was probably the worst, as far as humidity goes. At one point in the afternoon as my uncle Ryan and I sat in the Texas Rangers dugout, I thanked my lucky stars that we hadn't purchased tickets for a day game because it was HOT! In humid climates, for those of you unfamiliar with that type of weather, air conditioning is your best friend. Though it's not usually entirely unbearable, I try to seek out opportunities to go indoors, even if it's unnecessary. Walking in the shade or feeling one gust of cool air is an incredible feeling during the hot, humid summer months. I was amazed by the number of large fans located almost everywhere in attempt to keep Texan sweat at a minimum.
Thursday, as mentioned, was spent with Julie at Six Flags. Julie was, like, the best tour guide ever (and very deserving of the Shoutout of the Week, so let's get that out of the way now!). Not only is she super nice and a fantastic driver, but she used to work at Six Flags for six years, so she knew all the shortcuts and was able to provide little fun facts to me as we waited in the pleasingly-short lines. It really wasn't a very crowded day at the park and I think the longest we waited in line was about half an hour, maybe, at most. Thursday was a precursor for things to come in the next few days because this trip was just full of stuff that I love. I'm not sure how many of you know this, but I stinkin' LOVE roller coasters. I had YouTubed some videos of Six Flags Over Texas before I made the trip and, quite frankly, I very soon realized that these were "big boy" roller coasters... and just looking at some of those rides scared the heck out of me. Yes, it's true - and I tweeted it almost immediately after - I almost completely blacked out TWICE on the ride called "Titan." Oh gosh, it was so awesome. Another ride I really enjoyed was called "Texas Giant," which we were able to ride three times throughout the day. It was definitely one of the best roller coasters I've ever been on - and probably the smoothest, too! Anyhoo, it was a great day at the park and THANKS, JULIE!!! What a fun time.
Daaang, it's Julie!
On Friday, Ryan and I started off the day by touring the world-renown Cowboys Stadium, home of the hated Dallas Cowboys. And, you know, I've been taking a lot of crap for even stepping foot in that stadium, but I don't care what you dummies think. You're all just jealous because while you were busy sitting in class during the first week of school I was busy making snow angels in the endzone. So whatever. If you don't like my pictures, unfriend me. Ahem. So, let's just say that I found room in my heart to set aside my life-long disdain for the Cowboys and enjoy the experience like any true fan of sports would do. The new Cowboys Stadium is INCREDIBLE! It's absolutely monstrous, which you can get a little sense of while watching a game on TV, but once you're inside it, you truly realize how gigantic everything is there. I'll tell you what - I've got to get me one of those TVs for my room or something. Of course, I'm referring to the huge scoreboard that hangs high above the football field. It's so big that they don't call it a "TV" or a "monitor" or a "scoreboard" - the tour guide referred to it as a "video complex." It's HUGE. And the quality of the image on the screen is pristine. I love it. So much. With the tour, we got to see a lot of the typical things you'd expect to see on a tour of that nature - the suites, the concessions area (which is pretty nice on the lower levels... the floor tiles cost $35/square foot), we spent a little bit of time in owner Jerry Jones' private booth, but things got interesting when they wouldn't let us in the either of the football locker rooms. (Oh, believe me, we got to tour the cheerleaders' locker room, but they wouldn't let us in the players' locker rooms...) The reasoning for that would be that there was, unbeknownst to us, a pre-season game on Saturday night... Interesting... We ended the tour out on the football field, which was awesome. We wished we would have brought a football to play a little catch, but... next time, right? Next time. On our way out, Ryan mentioned in passing that we should stop by the box office to see if we could get tickets to the pre-season game on Saturday night. Well, they weren't cheap, but we got 'em. How could we pass up that opportunity? By the end of the weekend, we would both have been to our very first NFL game.
Haters gonna hate.
Go Rangers!!
Yesterday, I saw a link on Facebook posted by the MLB fan page that was advertising a subscription to MLB.TV for the rest of the season for just $10. I hopped on that as quick as you can say "Bob's your uncle" and you can bet your sweet bippy that I am watching the Rangers-Rays game on my iPad right now.
Saturday was full of sight-seeing. We visited Frisco Central Park, where I got a bunch of cool pictures of some bronze statues depicting the settlement of Texas and cattle driving. It was a cool little park and contained a lot of history, etched into its rock steps and murals.
Saturday was full of sight-seeing. We visited Frisco Central Park, where I got a bunch of cool pictures of some bronze statues depicting the settlement of Texas and cattle driving. It was a cool little park and contained a lot of history, etched into its rock steps and murals.
Moooooooooooooo!!
Later, I visited the site where John F. Kennedy was assassinated, so that was interesting. I honestly don't know too much about that story or the conspiracy theories associated with it, but now I'm interested in doing some research! We showed up two hours early to the Cowboys/Rams pre-season game and those crazed Cowboys fans were already out tailgating, which I found particularly interesting, considering that THIS GAME DIDN'T EVEN COUNT!! No matter how ill-advised their rooting interest may be, one thing is certain - those people love their professional football team. Ryan and I got there early enough to party with the self-proclaimed "official DJ of the Dallas Cowboys," so that was sort of goofy. I whipped out the FlipCam and shot a video of some little Black kid dancing, which was cool. We were in our seats 90 minutes before kickoff, which was fine with us, as we were able to take our time without being in any rush. After touring the stadium on Friday morning, we practically felt like we were kings of that castle. After all, how many people can seriously say that they have both laid down at midfield AND sat on the very top row? And when I say "the very top row," I mean THE VERY TOP ROW! Sixty-one steps up after you've already gone up three flights of escalators. The first trip up didn't wear me out, but the second and third ones did. Gracious! The game was fun - and I'm by no means a Cowboys fan - but, as I said, I was able to set my differences aside and, gosh dang it, I CHEERED FOR THE DALLAS COWBOYS. Things might have been different if they had been playing a team that I even cared remotely for, but St. Louis? The Rams? I know their quarterback, their running back, maybe a wide receiver or two, and their coach, but other than that, I have no idea. Was I going to march into Cowboys Stadium and cheer AGAINST THE COWBOYS and for a team that I don't care about whatsoever, one way or the other? No, Austin, I'm not! I can't stand the Dallas QB, Tony Romo, but he came out and put on a show for 15:00 before they benched him for the second-, third-, and fourth-string quarterbacks, so that was fun. He had some good passes and they scored 17 points in the first quarter. The Rams ended up making a little bit of a game out of it, but the Cowboys still took home the "W" in a 20-19 victory. You really had to be there for a lot of this stuff and trying to blog about it doesn't convey the sheer awesomeness of this weekend, from a sports fan's perspective, but I'm telling you - this was an unbelievable sports weekend and, like my uncle commented on the mile-and-a-half walk back to the car, no matter what anyone says, despite their sarcastic quips or condescending commentary, nobody - NOBODY - can take that weekend from us. And yes, I stand by my remark on Facebook where I implied that nobody could possibly beat the greatness of that sports weekend, either. Really, if you think you can beat two stadium tours (including one that's better than Cowboys Stadium), watching somebody hit for the cycle, and catching an NFL game, let me know. I'd love to hear your argument. Plus, when you add in a day of roller coasters, seriously, can you get much better than that? EVER?
Photo bombed at Cowboys Stadium!!
I just picked up the newest edition of "Madden NFL" for PS3. Pat yourself on the back if you know which stadium I'll be playing my first game in.
I'm happy to announce that I hit a weekly high for total Foursquare check-in points with 201 last week! Woo! I suppose traveling through six different airports in five different states will do that for you. I tried to check-in to most of the locations I visited to keep track of all the places I was going, but also to see how high I could run up that score. Looks like I did a pretty good job. On a somewhat related note, I still think that having tons of "friends" on Foursquare is pretty strange. If people really want to know where I am, they should probably just call me and ask where I am or ask me if they can come hang out with me or something. But the one thing I really don't understand about Foursquare is why on Earth somebody would check in to their home. It's great that you want to become the "mayor" of your house, but do you realize that you are showing everyone exactly where you live? That's a little creepy and potentially dangerous, if you ask me. But whatever. Good job, people.
I'm happy to announce that I hit a weekly high for total Foursquare check-in points with 201 last week! Woo! I suppose traveling through six different airports in five different states will do that for you. I tried to check-in to most of the locations I visited to keep track of all the places I was going, but also to see how high I could run up that score. Looks like I did a pretty good job. On a somewhat related note, I still think that having tons of "friends" on Foursquare is pretty strange. If people really want to know where I am, they should probably just call me and ask where I am or ask me if they can come hang out with me or something. But the one thing I really don't understand about Foursquare is why on Earth somebody would check in to their home. It's great that you want to become the "mayor" of your house, but do you realize that you are showing everyone exactly where you live? That's a little creepy and potentially dangerous, if you ask me. But whatever. Good job, people.
I went to the family ward on Sunday because the local singles ward didn't start until 2:30 and my flight left at 4:15. It was nice to see an ever-familiar LDS meetinghouse. It made me feel at home. I sat in on Ryan's Sunday School class, which was fun. It was a pretty tough crowd in class that day, not unlike my own Elders Quorum in Sandy, so that made me feel even more at home. After we left the church and I finished packing, we headed for the airport, but not without a quick detour down a couple of the "rich" streets in Dallas. Good heavens, if I thought those houses up behind the Draper Temple were big, these things must have had their own zip codes. I was impressed. And then I went to the airport and flew home.
Adios, amigos.
It is of note that people at the airport are not nearly as outgoing and friendly as I gave them credit for. Most of the people on my flight from Utah to Texas either had headphones or earplugs or were reading about how to obtain true freedom. Nobody attempted to talk to me on the flight home, either, so I figured, since I told you I wanted to make new friends on my journey, I should meet somebody during the final flight. During a small layover between Phoenix and Salt Lake City, I met a guy that was about my same age named Ty. He had also been in Dallas, visiting his fiancee's family. He had never been to Texas before, either, and was then returning back to Provo, where he is attending BYU. We had a nice little chat about (you guessed it) sports and, after about 15 minutes of chatting, I figured I'd leave him alone. So there you have it. I made a friend.
So, all in all, I thought it was an incredible trip. Obviously, this is the abridged version of the story, but I don't dare bore you with any more details. I eventually ran out of room on my camera's memory card on the flight home and I've got about an hour of footage to edit through for the next A-Town Webisode, so that will be fun for the three of you who watch my videos. I'd say this was easily one of my best vacations of all time - right up there with last April's Disneyland trip with my mom and Amy. This vacation was unparalleled by any other that I have taken in a number of different ways. I want to give another quick Shoutout of the Week to Ryan, Shandee, Matt, and Megan, who were the best hosts I could have asked for. It was incredibly hard for me to leave because I was having so much fun. I'd love to go back and visit... or... something... in the very near future, so... I'm going to weigh my options and figure some stuff out. Aaaaaaaaand I just got a phone call. Holy heck. What was I talking about? Oh yeah. THANK YOU, Gouldings!!! and "may the odds be ever in your favor."
Mmmm, ice cream... :-)
That's about it for this week, kiddos. I'm not sure how well all of this went. I had a ton of crazy experiences and a lot of thoughts bouncing around in my noggin. Maybe I came off a little scatter-brained, but hmm... whatever. Best two post-mission weeks ever? I think so! Oh man. It's a crazy, crazy life. Happy Tuesday to all of you. I'll catch you cool cats next week.
Until next Time,
Move It! Sell It! And Leave the Door Open!
Aaron
1 comment:
Glad you had so much fun :)
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