Weekend Misadventures

Whew! This past weekend was ca-ra-zyy. Let's see if I can recap it all for you.

Friday was awesome. I talked about it in my last post.

Richard, you would be proud. The PERFECT Stout Pour :)

Saturday, Jason and I got up around 7:00am; we met Colin at his place at 7:45. From there, we went to Rachel's(Colin's g/f) apartment, where Rachel, Eric and Jenn where waiting for us. We all proceeded to pile up into Eric's Grand Cherokee. My advice: never try going on a trip with 6 people in a car intended for 5, haha.

We arrived in Dallas around noon, where we went directly to the Texas State fair.

Evvverything is bigger in Texas...

We began walking around, and Eric and I noticed something as soon as we hit the main area. At that moment in time, it was probably the only place on earth where rap, rock& roll, and folk songs performed on bag pipes were all being played at the same time. I wanted to take pics of the bagpipers of the folk music, but I never got around to it. They were awesome.

Next, we saw a sign that said "Dog Show," so I obviously had to see that. It was just like the Great Outdoor Games, except it was inside(haha) and not on tv. Even so, these dogs were awesome. I am definitely getting an Australian Shephard at some point in my life; they can do tricks like they are going outta style...

Dog jumping into water(I didn't crop, so you could see how this place looked)

Steady.....stea-dy......steaaaa-dy.

Next came our first "meal" of the fair. I craved a funnel cake, and after a long search, I had discovered their hiding place. It was being guarded by Big Tex:

I had to be crafty to get by Big Tex.

The funnel cake was divine...

After meal#1, we encountered these strange women on flex-feet thingies. They were kind of scary. Eric told me not to look directly in their eyes, else I would turn to stone...

Yeh...kinda creepy. They even made weird sounds.

We moved on to the car show. I somehow thought that there would be some exotic automobiles at this thing, but I was wrong. The most exotic they got was a Mazda Rx-8....eh....I see those all the time now. I really wanted a pic of me in a bitchin' car. Oh well. After the first part of the car show, we moved into this transition area where vendors were set up everywhere. I quickly spotted the TimeWarnerCable booth, and as luck would have it, they indeed had a tv(high-def no less) broadcasting the Sox/Yanks game. Eric wanted to move on to the second half of the car show, but Colin and I knew better. We plopped down in front of the tv while the rest of the gang finished the car show. Unfortunately, Colin and I didn't see anything we liked. The Sox lost the battle that day...

We rendezvoused with the crew after a few innings, and we were off to meal#2 for the fair. We found the main eating area. Jenn and I were craving a turkey leg, so we went straight for that. Others got chili, while Jason got a footlong. The turkey leg was SO good; I just had to wash it down with a nice ice cream cone :)

After the meal, we continued walking around. We found this ice sculptor on our journey. He was carving a Texas symbol or something. I didn't figure it out...

I find it amusing that this guy also had a water bottle on this platform. That really necessary??

We walked around for an hour or so more. Eric discovered a wine-tasting session, but the selection was rather weak, so we avoided that. I tried winning a HUGE Stewie doll(from the tv show Family Guy) in a game of skee ball; 180 points would give me victory. I tried 6 times, but to no avail :(. Near the end, I was hot, so I picked up a homemade lemonade...DELICIOUS. As we were leaving the fair for the day, we noticed that one of the bag-pipers had defected to the rock and roll stage; I couldn't miss this oppurtunity.

Trust me, these guys were rockin'.

From the fair, we went to Ryan's house; Ryan was Eric's roomate in college. He went to the University of Michigan and studied architecture, so we definitely didn't have any problems finding something to talk about(Richard lived in Detroit, and my bro also studied architecture, for those of you out of the loop). Anyway, after we unloaded at Ryan's, Ryan and his girlfriend followed us to the traditional pre-game meal: wings at Hooters.

An eerie moment of reflecction: the Depository from which Lee Harvey Oswald shot President John F. Kennedy.

The restaurant was only a few blocks from American Airlines Arena, so it was perfect. The drinks and wings were excellent, as well as the multitude of tv screens, but as the time passed, I realized that we would not escape Hooters in time for the face-off.

I had to make a bold decision. I got my ticket from Eric, and I told the crew that I'd meet them at the game. I quickly evacuated the premises, and I headed to the AAA. I got there at the perfect time; I got to my seat just as the Star-Spangled Banner was about to begin. I was able to take pics of the teams warming up. I took a picture of warmups, but it turned out fuzzy due to the crazy lights they had going.

Big moment. My first face-off the 2005 NHL Season :)

The game was AWESOME. The new rules are well executed in the game, and it flows much faster as a result. Scoring is up this year, and this game was no different. The Avs pulled it out though, winning 4-3. Aebischer looks to be solid this season, Jedi Joe Sakic is smooth as always, and the tandem of Tanguay and Hejduk will still be a menace when everyone is healthy. Hockey HAS RETURNED!!

After the game, we proceeded even farther into downtown Dallas. Eric knew of this quaint bar called Elbow Room.

It says "Elbow Room," I promoise.

The place was pretty sweet. They had this game that was kin to shuffle board, but we never got a chance to play because this one couple would not.....let........go of the damn thing. They also had those interactive tv screens on the bar, so Colin and I engaged in a battle of wits on the machine. We played a rousing game of trivia, and yours truly came on top in a landslide :) I also owned in some basketball and photo night. A barrage of Eric's old friends were at the bar, but I couldn't even begin to remember all their names, so I wont try. We stayed at the bar until about 12:30, and we returned to Ryan's to crash.

We left early the next morning. We returned home around 12:30, JUST in time for the finale of the Sox/Yanks series. Colin and I came back to his place, and we plopped on the couch just in time for the first pitch. Around the 3rd inning, we had a conondrum: Colin and I were hungry, but we didn't want to miss the game. LO AND BEHOLD the power of digital tv and DVR! Colin showed me how he can record LIVE tv and play it back whenever you want. After the brilliant demonstration of this power, we headed out to Freebird's, burrito capital of the world. I ordered the Monster(or Monstah, cuz I was in Red Sox mode) burrito, and it indeed lived up to its name. Here are some reference shots...

This bad boy weighed 1.5 pounds, and here I use a AAA battery as a reference.

This shows how high the Monstah was.

The Sox won the game in a landslide, 10-1. Tomorrow we play the Chi Sox. I'll try to provide my 2005 Playoff insight next post. Needless to say, I am PSYCHED that the Bo Sox are in a position to defend their title. COWBOY UP!!!

-H