Rantings from the Corner: Texas

So a few weeks ago I went to Texas to visit Nic and Krista along with Dave and Smeeta.

We spent the first day with a trip to the Fort Worth Stockyards, a neat little tourist spot that brings you back to the days when cattle were the major trade item for the city. You can also see lots of locals walking around in real cowboy clothes. I had always thought it was just a stereotype for Texas, but people really do wear the hats, the boots, and huge belt buckles. I was astounded. And in the Stockyards, there are plenty of shops where you can get your own! I was really tempted to get some boots, but I restrained. They sure had a nice selection though.

We had lunch at a place called Joe T. Garcia's, a really good Mexican restaurant. The place is huge and all outdoors (actually, they have an indoor section, but why sit in there when the weather is so perfect?). I mean the courtyard is big! It looks like it may have been a private villa at one time. There are paths into gardens that go way back. It is beautiful. I guess it is really popular and on the weekends you typically have people lined up around the block to get in. I highly recommend it if you ever find yourself in the DFW area.

We also played poker with some of Nic and Krista's neighbors (Texas Hold'Em, of course), but I went out fast. The amusing part of the night was the long stand-off between Dave and one of the other guys (I forget his name already, sorry). Neither could get a decent hand worth playing, or when one did, it was just the chip leader paying off the other. The game wouldn't end!

The big event for the weekend, though, was the Dickies 500; the seventh race in the 10-race Chase for the Championship in the Nextel NASCAR racing series. Now, I love NASCAR. I think it is the best televised sport out there (something I may need to expound on one day). But even if you don't like NASCAR, a live race is a spectacle to see. The concourse is filled with all kinds of wonderful stadium food vendors, along with souvenirs. And of course the people-watching is very interesting.

We had seats in row 6, right at the exit to Pit Row and had a very good view of the entrance into Turn 1. They were pretty good seats except for the safety fence in the way. It was really quite a thrill to see the cars so close up as they zoomed by. And the sound of the cars...to say they are loud really doesn't do it justice. The roar of a car going by is just amazing. Hearing protection isn't just a nicity, it's a necessity.

It was actually a pretty clean race. Very few cautions were thrown, which made it go by a lot faster than I expected. There were plenty of interesting moments though and the ending, with Mark Martin battling with Carl Edweards to retake the lead was very exciting (Edwards managed to stay ahead of Martin in the end, though). It was also fun to watch the likes of Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson on the track being they were so close in the standing at that point (as you may know, Stewart went on to take Championship for the season 2 weeks later). All in all, it was a great experience and I am definitely going to a race again.

Having said all that, I'm just going to post a few more pictures. I will note that just about all the pictures of the cars here were taken during pace laps since it was impossible to capture them at race speed (it was difficult at pace speed!).