Cowboys and horses and cows, oh my!

Last week, Jeff and I got together for the first time in two weeks. We both were incredibly busy the week before but made time on Friday to catch up. Jeff told me that he was going to the Stockyards for the first time later that day, and I became awkwardly animated when he told me this. I love the Stockyards! I'm assuming it is because I am Texas born and bred. Anything Texas-related makes me smile and feel insanely proud of my heritage, and it's awesome when visitors and students not native to Texas get to experience that feeling, too. 

The Fort Worth Stockyards are great for many reasons. There is the Tarantula train, which goes from Grapevine (my hometown) right to the heart of the Stockyards, the giant wooden maze, the rodeo, museums, cowboys and horses galore, and, of course, Billy Bob's. I told Jeff that I have only been to Billy Bob's once but that it was so much fun learning how to two-step. I plan to attend plenty of dances and concerts there this fall. Jeff seemed skeptical about the two-stepping, but I assured him it was worth trying! He would at least have a good story to take back home to Taiwan!

Just out of curiosity, I asked Jeff if he had ever been to Dallas, and he said he had not. Fort Worth is a lot different from Dallas. The Fort has that Cowboy culture with the cows and the ten-gallon hats and the old time candy shops; Dallas is an urban city with confusing roads that have the same names but lead in different directions and make you lost even if you've been there fifteen times before (do I sound bitter?). Dallas has it's own type of fun, though. It just seems to be a lot more expensive than Fort Worth!

The great thing about Texas is that all the residents here share the same love of the Lone Star State. Jeff agreed with me when I told him that, and he definitely likes Texas better than California (fun place to visit, though). Texas is so great in so many ways! I could go on and on, but here's the gist of the Texan attitude: we are uniquely and primarily Texan and then also American... but still mostly Texan.

I hope Jeff gets a good taste of that Cowboy spirit of the Old West today and that he enjoys every second of it. Yeehaw!!!