Lone Star State of Mind

If I lived in Texas I would be enormously fat and very hot.

We are in Fort Worth, Texas, for a few days before we fly from here to Melbourne, Australia, direct, on a 17.5-hour flight. I have already eaten enough that I may cause the plane to crash upon take-off. Also it’s very hot here. But why am I wearing a hoodie in the picture above with my mother-in-law? Because it is Texas, which means that while it’s 95 degrees outside (31 C!). it’s a frosty 63 inside, thanks to A/C.

This part of our travel is very much about visiting family, specifically my in-laws, so I’m unable to wax poetic about the cultural wonders of Fort Worth. THAT SAID, the sky here is huge. I know that Texas isn’t technically Big Sky Country (because that’s. . . Montana? Wyoming? Maybe Nebraska? Somewhere a tourism-board agent just got a chill down her spine). But really, I know it’s strange to say it, but the sky is SO BIG here. I keep looking out the car windshield and marveling at how it is everywhere and goes all the way down to the ground. For some reason it does not seem to do this in New England. I took a video so you, too, can marvel at the big big sky:

Anyways. I don’t think it’s just travel-exhaustion but it might be. So what have we done here? Well, we have eaten. We discovered that there is a Cava near our hotel, and since this is quite literally my favorite fast-casual eatery, I am completely sure that our future travel will all be downhill from here. Cava is one of those places that, if I were enterprising and clever, I would get them to sponsor me for talking them up. But I am neither, so I will just say, for free, that they are the best chain ever and if you live near one, GO. (They seem to be a mid-Atlantic and southern thing so are sadly not in Massachusetts. But truly, Cava is to Chipotle as filet mignon is to a cold McDonalds cheeseburger.) Go, get the mixed grains and greens bowl, get the harissa dip, and the grilled chicken or spicy lamb meatballs and veggies, and the lemon-tahini dressing with pita strips on top. You’re welcome.

We also discovered Crumbl cookies, which will sell you huge, hot chocolate chip cookies in 4-packs, and we devoured them forthwith even though we are not stoned college students. The next day we hung out with, you guessed it, family and got lunch from Whataburger, which is a Texas stronghold where I got a jalapeño and cheese burger with onion rings. Then more family for dinner at Joe T. Garcia’s, a local Tex-Mex place that really only makes like four things, but they all involve cheese and tortillas, so they are amazing. (For those keeping track at home, I had a cheese enchilada, beef taco, and what Joe T. calls “nachos,” which are individual fried tortillas covered in cheese and salsa verde.)

I’ve been promised barbecue for lunch today, and the coffeeshop across the parking lot sells chai made with coconut milk, which is my favorite holdover from when I was following the super-strict MS diet a couple of years ago. (Though here’s a thing: The cafe advertises WOOD FIRED COFFEE, which strikes me as weird. Is that weird? I mean, wood-fired pizza, sure. But coffee? Maybe it’s just me.)

I have nothing else really to report except that the Residence Inn disabled bathroom is my favorite so far, with a shower that lets me both sit and stand, which in my variable state is great. (Some days I am strong enough to stand through a shower. Some days I need to sit to shampoo my hair without losing my balance.) And tomorrow we will hit the Museum of Modern Art, where I have not yet been, before we get on a plane and fly for a day and a half. Until we land, then, I will continue to eat all of the food and try to visit Cava at least one more time. See you on the flip side.