Texas 2012: Days 1-2

I'm finally here. It's hot as hell. But so far so good.

I had a bit of a nightmare to start everything off. I was waiting ages for my luggage at DFW airport, and then one of the airport guys comes over and starts asking me about my bag, because there are no bags left. Turns out it was never put on the plane to Dallas from my changeover at Chicago. Because of this I had to change things up a bit. I was forced to cancel my trip out West to Odessa, because I needed to remain at one address while they sent my bag out. Thankfully it arrived first thing this morning so I was able to change out of my sweaty, sweaty clothes. A full day of travel is HARD, by the way, and I was completely wrecked by the time I got to the hotel late last night.

Anyway, today I got things up and running by heading down the road to Rangers Ballpark and then on to Cowboys Stadium. They're literally right across the road from each other, which is pretty crazy. I decided to walk down, because the hotel is only a mile and a bit away. Big mistake. Arlington is the most vast 'city' I've ever been to. There's nothing around, except roads and the two stadia, pretty much. The walk turned out to be much longer than I thought, but it was worth it.

It's a wonderful feeling seeing the place where your team plays in real life, especially ones as enormous as Cowboys Stadium. 

Not to mention Rangers Ballpark which is slightly more old-school looking with the red brickwork.

This is the statue which was erected last year in honour of the guy that fell over one of the railings in the stadium and died.

After I walked about the outside of the ballpark (which took AGES, the perimeter must be about 10 miles at least), I went in for one of the tours, which was awesome. Got to sit in the dugout (where the players sit while they wait to bat), which offers an awesome perspective.

And then we went up to the commentary and press box, which has the best view possible really.

I'll be going back for a couple of actual games next week, so it should be pretty cool experiencing it on a game-day.

So after the tour of the ballpark I headed across the road to Cowboys Stadium. It's massive, and has a hundred car parks that I had to cross, which eventually lead to this pile of awesome.

It's actually too big to get any decent photos of up close, but it was sufficiently class. Didn't take a tour because there was no field access today. Should be doing that during the week. Apparently you can just run about the field throwing footballs and all. 'Citing.

By the time I got back to the hotel I was absolutely choking with thirst and drenched in sweat (think it was 92 degrees here or something), so I took a breather before heading out for my first proper meal. I already forget what it was called, but it was some chain-looking BBQ place. Took me ages to find because the roads here are crazy and it was rush hour, but I got there eventually. Got myself a plate of brisket and hot links with sides of beans and mac & cheese, and some real lemonade. Amazing.

The hot links were totally the best part. So succulent and spicy and just delicious. Everything else was great, but damn, those hot links. My first barbeque was a success to say the least.

And that's that. I got back to the hotel after stopping off for some giant 40oz Dr. Pepper for $1, and I've been here ever since. Now I'm watching baseball live on television, not even streaming online or anything. Pretty great.

Not sure what the plan is for tomorrow, maybe a trip into the actual downtown of Dallas, and more food of course. It's been a good second day anyway.

Stay tuned for more updates in the next couple of days hopefully.