USA - Dallas, Texas

After spending the last few weeks camping it was a welcome relief to stay with some family friends in Dallas, Texas. A massive thank you to Celia and Anthony who made us feel like we were at home in their beautiful house. We spent 4th of July at a BBQ with friends of theirs, where we had rooftop views of the downtown fireworks celebration!

We were expecting Texas to be dry, but the climate was very humid. We made our way into downtown along a great shady bike path called the Katy Trail. The 6th floor museum covered all the details of the shooting of President John F. Kennedy, which happened in Dallas in 1963, supposedly from the level where the museum is now housed. It was a great insight into 1960's America at the time of the assassination and an interesting spot to visit. Downtown was pretty quiet on the weekend, although there are a few neighborhoods dotted around outside of downtown with artisan cafes and shopping strips. We enjoyed the Dallas Heritage Village, a living museum housing 19th century homes which gave us an insight into what life was like in Texas over 100 years ago.

We couldn't leave Texas without going to a Rodeo and visited the Mesquite Rodeo in Dallas on our final evening. It was really interesting to see and forms such a big part of the farming/cowboy life in this part of America. However, Paul and I couldn't help but cringe at some of the things the animals had to endure, and I guess being a vegetarian doesn't help!