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Dallas Skyline
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Couch Surfing again delivered in
Texas, so did preseason ticket prices for that matter. Jeremy had graciously
agreed to take us into his home for our few days in Dallas. He lives in one of
the best areas in the city. Pubs, restaurants, parks, shops, etc. are all
within walking distance, and add in the suburban friendly feel and we felt at
ease walking the streets no matter what time of day or night. Something we
haven’t had the pleasure of for most of the trip.
Knowing we were arriving on the
Monday I looked at the Mavericks (Dallas’ NBA team for those not in the know)
preseason schedule and we were on. 65c tickets later and we were well and truly
on. We did happen to be in the last row of seating possible but that didn’t
matter. All seats in these arenas provide perfect views of the court, and being
a preseason game, after half time you can practically pick and choose your seat
at will. We settled for seats about 20 or so rows back from courtside and
enjoyed the shootout between the Mavs and the Grizzlies. For a preseason game I
was impressed with the defence played with a couple of big blocks on Dirk, in a
row, possibly my highlight.
Nose bleeds to free upgrades…Don’t mind if I do
Again American sports delivered.
I would say the big difference between American sports and the rest of the
world is the whole entertainment experience they provide. It is often more than
just the game itself. The half time shows, the cheerleaders, the big screens,
everything they do is over the top and all about entertainment and enjoyment.
They even ‘mike up’ the rim so you get to hear the splash of a corner 3 like
never before, or a dunk that reverberates around the arena – Chandler did his
best to give us a few of those.
All of this for 65c each, plus
some taxes and I almost gave up my Australian passport!
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Dallas Mavericks vs. Memphis Grizzlies
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Tuesday we headed to the 6th
Floor Museum, dedicated to the life, legacy and assassination of JFK. I would
say it was good without being great. It left a lot of unanswered questions
surrounding all the conspiracies, but I suppose that was its point. Definitely
worth a visit but it will leave you wanting more.
6th Floor Museum
That evening Jeremy invited us to
yoga, something I have obviously heard a lot about but never got involved in. I
would say I am open to a lot of things, but I could be accused of being close
minded to even more, so I thought I would give it a go. Low and behold, I
really did enjoy it. You got out of it whatever you were willing to put into
it. Even got to stand on my head!
That night, Jeremy took us to
Truck Yard, a pub like no other I have been to. Supported by a number of food
trucks to satisfy your hunger, you can find yourself a seat in the back of a
Chevy Pick Up and wet your whistle with a few cold ones.
Truck Yard
We had a great night with some new found friends, Erin, Crystal, McKenzie, and Jess. The Americans enjoying our accents and we enjoying their company, but the star of the show had to be Piper, one of McKenzie’s 6 dogs, who was definitely a conversation starter for most guys trying their luck.
Jeremy is a photographer, and as
such runs his own schedule. With that, he decided to take most of Wednesday off
and take us around for the day. First stop was brunch at his favourite place in
town, Spiral. It’s the first, and therefore easily the best, vegan restaurant I
have eaten at. The nachos were as good as any I have had so far in the U.S. and
the soft tacos Nic and I split were again delicious. Jeremey even shared his
‘Death Star’ – a completely dairy free chocolate brownie covered in whipped
cream and ice-cream you could have sworn were the real deal. Pour an expresso
over the top of this mountain of goodness and you have one of the best desserts
I have tasted. Vegan or not!
That night we continued to
broaden our horizons, Jeremy included. We went along to a Hare Krshna drum circle
and discussion group. It was definitely an eye opener, with the guest speaker
very knowledgeable and he had a great way of bringing the discussions back to
modern day relevance. But like all good public speakers, he often was able to
divert the answer of the direct question asked to something more along the lines of his knowledge
and way of thinking. In other words, he never really answered the question
asked, but instead answered questions he brought up within his discussion of
the original question. It could be hard to have an argument with him! In
fairness he was thrown some curly ones, such as ‘is life just a journey on a
hiding to nothing?’, and ‘will teleported and cloned people have souls?’.
We followed the Hare Krshna
meeting with a buffet within the temple grounds. Again a completely vegetarian
meal, but again it all about what it tastes like for me, not what it contains.
And, as with most Indian curries, it was to my tastes, and as with all buffets,
I couldn’t contain myself and waddled away somewhat ashamed!
American Suburbia
Dallas was a place that opened my
eyes to a lot of new things. I didn’t expect to get that in one of the biggest
cities in Texas, but that’s what travelling is all about – unexpected things
are often those that have a lasting effect or live long in your memories…Good
or bad!
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