Several days in a different part of the same country.

On a recent trip to small town TX (Wharton, population 9000ish near Houston), I noticed things you don't see back home in Colorado.  

The small things most people might not notice are those things I cultivate.  IF you are a writer, you know how that goes.  Here is a pictorial representation of things that speak of TX to me!  As weird as it sounds, one of my favorite things to do when I travel is to go to the local grocery store.  It is a place where the cultural and regional differences are displayed in a relatively small space and gives a tiny window into the things people in that area "take for granted" but seem a bit foreign to those outside! 

In TX the Mexican food is authentic and great, the BBQ is unmatched and great, the watermelons grow large and juicy and the cotton spreads out for miles in every direction.  The land is ironing board flat and the trees grow wildly. 

The accents are as thick as the humid air.  The people are very warm and friendly.  The frogs croak in a beautiful evening chorus and every so often a cooling breeze makes the evening charming.  

The buckle of the bible belt allows for free prayer (twice) at a graduation ceremony and NO ONE gets offended!  BIG POINTS FOR TX in this guy's opinion!

Humidity and heat out of this world in early June, cotton is high and that is why! Humidity and heat need one more ingredient to be awesome and that is OCEAN! 

I LOVE ZAPPS and have ordered them by
the case because they are not distributed in COLO.
In TX they are on the shelf.

     SO glad we don't need this in COLO!

 

Tortilla chips shaped like the LONE STAR STATE and a woman taking pictures of those chips...  Seems I'm not the only one who finds these local things interesting! ALL chips strips are shaped like Colorado!

Grits as common as any other regular hot cereal. One point for TX! Truth is they might be available at my local store... haven't checked lately.

 Monkey Brains????????????????????????????? Haven't had them, don't know what they are.

These coconut candies are good and so are the Mrs. Annie's Peanut Patches!

Fried Pork rinds in numerous kinds, great road trip grub, but it is negated by the lollipops that are layers of picante, salsa and other hot seasonings for nachos.  NOT how I want my suckers!

Weird candied fruit and cactus for your salad.  The tomatillo salsa at the restaurant we went to was OUTSTANDING!

Everything IS bigger in TX!  Check out that moth! 

Imagine hundreds, no thousands of those doing what miller moths do to your front porch light. 

My beautiful blond and our friends at the awesome local BBQ joint! One point for TX! TALLEY one for the friends and they are also from Colorado!

In the BBQ place, in a corner there is a turkey on a sewing machine base with a plastic fern and an American flag? Uh, WHAT?

My beauty playing an OLD pinball machine.

The merengue on these pies at the BBQ joint are as high as a Texas woman's hair.  

Strange greeter for a BBQ joint! The foods so good he's stuffed!

A guy wins the lottery and spends it to renovate the coolest motel in Wharton, TX. 

Some of the ladies trying the local CHICARONES (fried pork skin).

 An AWESOME young lady from up north gets her first shot at shooting a real life gun AND hits the target with most!

 So much fun!
 Old West style gun, kicks hard!

 That dude smoked the target!  Note our instructor, what a great guy to share his arsenal!

 My Clint Eastwood pose, gotta do it since we were shooting revolvers and saying... "Right now you're wondering did I shoot five bullets or six..."

 Michael poses for his Old West double barrel shot!

Spending time with good friends in TX makes it a great place to VISIT!  A howling coyote taking us to Colorado from TX and arriving in the evening with the cool air, humidity free Colorado!


Having friends for decades is the best part of the trip.  Michael, Donna, Stephanie, Heather and Smokey (you just go ahead and stay right there) WE love you and were so glad to be a part of your celebration as Stephanie graduated! 

Talley's it was awesome to get to know you better! So sorry Laurie has lost some of her senses, but you can overcome it!


Walter and Rae and Lira, always good to see you!