Texmess Part 1: Houston and Salado

Howdy partner! Reporting back from our Texas getaway. We’ve wanted to go to Texas for years. Back in 2008 when we were travelling Europe we stayed with a friend of my Aunty’s. and she told us all about the time she lived in Texas. We were hooked.

Conveniently, we had some friends from home that were planning a bit of a road trip from Vegas to New Orleans. We managed to tag in with that lot and meet them in Dallas and Austin. Now, before that happened O’Hara and I spent 4 nights exploring some other parts of Texas.

Boots and belts everywhere

First night in, we managed to catch up with a new friend that lives in Houston. We only just met him over Christmas at a friends wedding. Perfect timing! He took us for some fabulous tacos and margaritas and then followed it up at a true cowboy bar. This was our first western bar experience, complete with trying to two-step and line dance. We learnt a few moves, all in preparation for when we take up the rodeo circuit.

Nailed it

On Saturday we got lucky, and were taken to a shooting range for some clay pigeon shooting. We had done this once before at a friends farm, and I was rubbish. Don’t think I hit a single one. This time however I bought my A game. O’Hara did not. I absolutely cleaned him up. It’s one of the only times I’ve beaten him in any sort of sport. Poor kid was not impressed.

After a brilliant morning shooting things, we tried to pick up our hire car. Unfortunately for us, it closed at 12. Epic fail. We made a mad dash back to Deavo’s place booked somewhere else, had to call them and ask them to stay open for a few extra minutes and got a car in the nick of time. We were just way to relaxed for our own good, and it was day 1.

We saw a lot of this

After finally getting the car, we drove the 3 hours to Salado, which is a cute little B&B town about an hour north of Austin. We stayed at the Yellow House Inn and couldn’t have asked for a better place (don't even get me started on the breakfast. It was incredible). Salado is a fairly central location, which meant we were able to explore the area easily. We visited the Texas Ranger Museum in Waco. Explored the funny little Homestead Village and ate delicious homemade and homegrown food. Acted like fools at Belton Lake at sunset. Spent hours looking in antique stores in Salado and ate more great food.

Homestead