Sunday, September 9, 2012

My Texas Trip

Well, I've been back less than a week from Texas and am already knee deep in reality.  Yup - laundry, chores, errands, schooling, and more are keeping me busy!!  This is my first chance to sit down and share some of the highlights of my special trip with y'all.  That's right, spend a week in Texas and you have to say "y'all".  (Actually it has always popped up in my vocabulary now and then - but it's even better to use now!)  Anyhow...my friend, Amy and I, had a great time, despite the extreme heat which I was not expecting.  Right up till our departure the reports were telling us the temps would be in the low 90's (and even that is too hot) but what we got was 105 each day!!  And humid!!  I have never been that hot in my life.  It definitely slowed us down a little, but we accommodated and still had lots of fun and managed to bring back all sorts of happy goodies.  The hardest part was all that we had to pass up - you just can't bring the big stuff home!  We filled our suitcases to the brim though and have no regrets about what was left behind.  And let me just say - this place is HUGE!!  We spent half a day there Thursday, all day Friday and a good chunk of Saturday and probably only saw about 1% of what was there.  But what we saw was great and fit the bill for what we were looking for and there was plenty we weren't expecting to see that was fun (or funny) too.  Here are some photos for you.

 READY TO GO!!




We were told to go to the Civic Center area to find the best vintage bootie.  This was where we went each of the three days we went poking.


Fortunately,  this building was air conditioned so we came back here often to cool off and rejuvenate.


We spent almost 2 hours at this one booth!!  The woman who runs it had a huge space with these enormous industrial laundry carts chock full of vintage linens of every sort imaginable.  I bought a bunch of aprons, handkerchieves, bark cloth, crocheted pot holders and Amy and I shared in the purchase of an awesome cream and green chenille spread for making into pillows and such.


I could have easily spent 2 more hours digging.


This was probably one of our favorite booths.  Vintage typewriter key jewelry.  Loved her display and the jewelry was fantastic!!  We visited with her for over an hour.  The people in Texas are very friendly.



One of the nice things about her display was that it incorporated so many vintage office and typewriter props.  Very inviting to the eye for the vintage lover!



Most bracelets were $50 and well worth it.  We were fortunate enough to find these two matching bracelets in her overstock bin at 2 for $50.  And the little rings were a happy little bonus.


This is  second bracelet I purchased.  This one was made by a different artist using vintage watches.  I love how unique it is!



The outdoor area spread out all over the place and had SO much to dig through!


Someone else had done the digging on this one - yup that's a 200 year old coffin.  Don't know why you'd want to dig it up or sell it for that matter, but there were all sorts of out of the ordinary things here.    So of course we had to take our picture with it!!  And yes, that is a gun holster on Amy's hip - a gift for her husband, but it seemed fitting to wear in the photo of a coffin in Texas.


This guy was so nice.  We probably spent an hour at his booth as well, talking and sorting through all his fun license plate items.  The highlight was that he cuts up the old plates and you can buy the letters and numbers individually to make into signs and such.  Amy made her son's name.  I purchased letters to make my own sign another time and this cool Texas state cutout from vintage trailer plates.  I will be putting it on my vintage trailer here as decoration and a reminder of this great trip.


Like I said - there were some oddities here.  You want a fake cowboy for your front porch - you can get one of those here.  Dream of a dear in camouflage on your porch??  Well - that's here too!


Lots of little things to dig through too.


Would have liked to be able to bring this home with me.


Here is the bootie!  Lots of good stuff!!


Just gonna leave it to you to scrutinize the photos as best you can to see what we all got.  Way too much to list.  I'll try to post some individual photos in the coming week as I clean stuff up.







We ate yummy, but not so good for you food while we were in Texas.  Here, I was introduced to a fair favorite - a baked potato topped with butter, sour cream, cheese and brisket.  Man, was it good.  And there was plenty of sweet tea to drink.


And let me tell you, everything is bigger in Texas.  Just look at the size of this piece of cake.  Three of us shared it and still one took some home!!


And now for a couple scenery photos.  This one just because it made me laugh.  The sign says "General Store"  but then you see it's generally all about guns.  Guess that's a "general" store out there.


And then a few side of the road photos of things that caught my eye.





We stayed with some of Amy's family for part of our time there and did some good visiting.  Her uncle documented our stay by his Texas sign after church on Sunday morning.


And then Monday, it was back on the plane headed home.  Great trip, great people, great finds, great flights - all in all, a great time with a great friend!!  

Thanks for stopping by.