Thoughts from the trip

I've been back in Seattle for a little less than a week and even though I had only been gone from Texas for about a month, I noticed a few things that I hadn't really noticed before. Here are a few thoughts from my trip:

• One big thing that I was looking forward to was the food in Texas. I don't think I'll ever get Tex-Mex or barbeque in Seattle with the expectation that it will be any good. Plus, Texas has good burgers and fried chicken. I wanted to eat it all, considering that I won't get to have it as often anymore. The first night I stopped at Chicken Express for dinner, not wanting to go to a restaurant or have something that's a nationwide standard. The food was quite good, with tasty chicken, potatoes, and a biscuit, but the goodness was almost surpassed by how disgusting it was, with grase exuding from everything soaking my fingers and the box. The okra glistened with grease and had to be dabbed like a wet sponge before I would eat it. And it didn't stop that night, the next few days I had a meatball sub sandwich, a good attempt at Texas barbeque, steak, Tex-Mex, pizza, and then some great barbeque. None of those things are very healthy. I didn't quite eat that badly when I lived in D/FW but I'm glad that I won't be eating stuff like that again regularly for a while, it's a lot easier to eat badly in Texas, but it was worth it on the trip.


• Now that I live somewhere else, I really notice how far apart everything is in Texas. Sure, my job and my family were in totally different parts of the Metroplex, but everything is spread so far apart, it takes forever to get anywhere. And, there's so much nothing in between, sure there are restaurants and stuff, but there's just a lot of wasted and underused space. The roads are so much wider and parking lots are larger, which just makes getting from place to place require a lot of driving. While I was there, I did plenty of driving and used up a full tank of gas.


• Still, I really enjoy driving sometimes. Even though having to drive a long way to get anywhere is a big inconvenience that I'm glad to be rid of, sometimes driving on the freeway with music on and the window down is just great and it's something that I've missed.


• Even though I left work every day at 5, I still had some traffic to deal with. Fortunately it wasn't terrible, and I realized that I sometimes enjoy fighting traffic. Stopped traffic is no fun, but heavy traffic is like a challenge to me; I try to figure out the best route to take and then the best lane to be in to get to where I'm going as quickly as possible. I'm not sure if that makes much sense to anyone, but it's kind of exciting to drive through rush hour and feel like I've made good time. Still, traffic is annoying and it's nice not having to deal with it now.


• It was a good time to be in Texas, since the trees and bushes were starting to green. The grass was still brown, but there were a few bluebonnets and it was relatively pretty. The unfortunate thing was that even though I got to drive by a lot of land and trees, there are so many buildings along the highway that seem to try to interrupt nature as much as possible. I noticed an interesting contrast once I returned to Seattle. Along I-5, which is the major highway through Seattle, there are almost no buildings right along the freeway and there are a lot of trees and hills. It makes for a very appealing visual environment. Still, Texas grass and flowers can be pretty too.


• I talked to a few people at work about how I'm living in Seattle and a couple people commented on how Seattle is beautiful and how they wish they could live here.


• I think it's funny that people in Texas ask me about gas prices in Seattle. Gas is more expensive here by like a quarter per gallon, but I've only purchased it once, it's just not as big of an issue here for me as it is for a lot of people in Texas.


• I haven't noticed any bugs since I've been in Seattle so I've kind of forgotten that they exist. So, it seemed a little strange to see a Mayfly in the shuttle at D/FW airport, until I remembered that they're all over the place in Texas and it made me glad that I don't have to be afraid to sit on the floor at our apartment anymore.


• It had been a while since I'd been in an air conditioned building, since it hasn't been warm here. So being in excessively air conditioned buildings in Texas reminded me of how annoying it is to go from a warm outdoor area to a cold indoor area, especially when you're dressed for warm weather and are stuck in the air conditioning.


• Upon returning to Seattle and walking toward the apartment, I was reminded how much I enjoy the cool, refreshing air here and how glad I am that I can be outside and enjoy it while noticing buildings and other things as I walk along the street.


• After being in the Metroplex for a few days, it felt really weird at the airport to think that I was flying home to Seattle and that D/FW was not my final destination. D/FW still feels more like home because I'm so familiar with it. Seattle is home, but upon returning it almost felt like I was just a visitor, but that will change with time.


• It was great getting to spend time in the Metroplex, I'm glad I don't live there anymore, but I wish I could visit several times per year on an ongoing basis.