If I were to blockquote everything I agreed with in this post, Rachel, I'd have copied nearly all the post. Esp. the part about pedestrians.

My second job is on Chicago's Michigan Avenue, which used to be the equivalent of Rodeo Drive, Fifth Avenue, etc. It used to be very tony shops that no one but the well-to-do could afford, but it's become more democratic over the last 10-15 years, with Victoria's Secret, Crate & Barrell and the Disney Store sharing space with the Brooks Brothers, Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. Some blame Water Tower Place (the first vertical mall in the world) for that, but that's neither here nor there. Besides your spot-on citations, what makes me meaner than **** is the pedestrians who stop in their tracks to watch the so-called "street performers", otherwise known as talentless asshats for whom it's not offensive enough that they are Mimes, but who insist on painting themselves silver or gold.

Thank heavens Chicago doesn't have a 'concealed carry' provision, or just this Sunday you'd have read about a bunch of people getting shot in front of Garrett's Popcorn! Thanks to that obnoxious Oprah, her minions line up along the entire block to get some mediocre popcorn at a price that makes movie concessions seem a bargain. Add to that all the idiots who stop dead in their tracks to watch a guy in a tiger-print jumpsuit with unstringed tennis raquets around his neck and I have a raging case of "Sidewalk Rage"! I have seen this same thing in London, so Europe's not above this madness, either:
I am therefore convinced the world can be easily divided into it's lowest common denominator: those who would stop to watch any street performer and those who would like to shoot the 'artist' so that everyone will get the hell out of their way.

And don't even get me started on people who think it's a good effing idea to being a double-wide stroller downtown!

Welcome back. I, for one, missed your ranting and even the dog-bloggin', as I was stuck working all weekend, and didn't get to have any fun.

Long, detailed, mouth-watering posts about the Mexican food would be cool, and not nearly as perverse as surfing for porn.

PIMF:

And don't even get me started on people who think it's a good effing idea to bring a double-wide stroller downtown!

Many years ago (in the late 80's and early 90's), when I used to travel to DFW on business regularly and stay for weeks at a time, there was an excellent Mexican restaurant called Mercado Juarez which I and my clients frequented quite, er, frequently. On business loop 12, if I remember correctly. So I'm just wondering...is it still there, and if so is it any good or has it gone downhill in the last 16 years?

Let me just defend the cops. I have to you know. :)

It's not their fault that idiots slam on their brakes because they're scared of going 5 over in front of a cop. Hell, I've passed cops doing 5 over. If people would just keep cruising along everything would be just fine. Maybe not at 80 mph...but 75 is normally not a pull-over-able offense (in a 70 zone that is). If everyone just stuck their cruise control and flowed things would be much more peaceful.

And cops all over the place are out there doing extra enforcements for DUI and speed. Hubby has been having a lot of fun catching people in his unmarked car. :)

Sounds like you had fun regardless of the asshats. More fun than I had that's for sure!

Casto, the problem is that while your hubby is obviously a decent fellow who knows that 75 is not a pull-over-able offense, the odds of driving by your hubby are pretty slim, and you never know whether the cop you spot is the decent sort, or if it's his last day to get his quota in...

But I agree with you in principle, just put on the cruise control and don't worry about it any more.

Sort of rockabilly/swing, hard to describe.

Are you familiar with Western Swing, and is this somehow different? One of my absolute favorite genres, defined by Bob Wills back in the '30s and kept alive largely by Asleep At The Wheel, who just happen to be based in Austin.

What is WITH the jelly-belly roll everyone is sporting these days? Seriously girls. Less food, more exercise.

Sure, you say that now.

But what happens when an asteroid hits the Earth, causing nuclear winter? All us people with jelly-belly rolls, being smart enough to store up a layer of excess fat, will survive while all you skinny people will freeze to death.

Boy, won't YOUR face be red.

Explain this to me please. Traffic would be going along fine, most vehicles at about 75-80 mph, and then suddenly everyone slams on their brakes and creates a huge slow-down because guess what, there's ANOTHER cop on the shoulder with a speed gun.

What's even more annoying is when you finally get past the gridlock and find out it wasn't actually a cop with a speed gun, but a cardboard cutout of a cop with a speed gun. That happened to me a week ago. Apparently it's all the rage with the poe-lice these days.

Not for nothing Ms. Raychill Lukis but until you have driven the Garden State Parkway during a Summer Holiday weekend, you ain't seen nothing yet, and sure as hell have nothing to complain about traffic-wise. We created the term "Left Lane Dick" here in NJ. Sides, am betting Rupert did all the driving both ways. He strikess me as the type that would. Thats what we gentlemen do.

PS: Since when does enjoying my daily Nature Vally Fruit & Nut Trail Mix Granola Bar make me a fucking hippie? I dare anyone to try and pass up it's Almond, Raisin, Peanut, Chocolate covered Cranbury gooey granola goodness. I just dare you!

I drive that route several times a year, Rachel, and let me assure you. It's not the cops, it's the drivers. That entire stretch of I-35 between Waco and Austin is like that 24 effing 7. It's a miracle if you ever get UP to the speed limit for more than ten minutes, even when there isn't a cop on the entire stretch from Hillsboro to Austin.

Somehow it is considered acceptable to drivers on that stretch to drive next to each other at five or ten mph UNDER the speed limit for miles on freakin' end in the middle of NOWHERE, apparently just to create massive rolling jams that have to periodically slow to a crawl for no noticeable reason. The road's not bad at all. The drivers are abysmal. When you complained in the earlier post about the assholes on the freeways of Texas, I knew EXACTLY what route you took, and knew you went to Austin or SA for the weekend.

Long ago I realized that it was a lot simpler to set the cruise control at the speed limit and laugh at the asshats who roared up behind me thinking I'd get out of their way.

That way, no tickets, and a lot less annoyance...although I'm still considering mounting twin .50-cal's under the hood and carrying a grenade launcher in the car for those special cases.

An armed highway is a polite highway.

We drove to San Antonio this weekend and I feel every bit of your pain w/ the traffic. And there were several people on the Riverwalk that were very close to being thrown under one of those ridiculous tour boats.

The comment from mightysamurai made me laugh out loud and I just wanted to say that first off heh.

Also I'm envious of your Labor day weekend Rachel,it was wayyy too hot out here in Cali for me to do anything nearly as fun as you guys had...oh and good to know Austin isnt populated soley by hippies(a huge load of my mind:)

I hate that stretch of I-35, and I have family in Austin, so I have to drive down from the DFW area.

I wouldn't be caught dead in any of the Mexican restaurants you mentioned, especially On the Border.

I eat at Manuels every time I am in Austin. They have this enchilada plate with the different sauces arranged as the Mexican flag. I could just inject it into my veins like Mexican smack.

Rachel, have you tried La Hacienda Ranch or Anamaia's up in Southlake? I don't know where you reside in DFW, but both are awesome.

I am hungry now.

Are you sure that it wasn't the Guadalupe that you went tubing on?

Your right though, Austin isn't Hippie Central anymore, though it has a severe infestation of Greener/Holyier than thou Californians. It is also ground zero of the self-described "progressive" movement, you know the type, worshiped at the feet of St. Molly of Ivans. My brother-in-law is their chief pedant, he lives off South Congress in Austin

As for food in DFW, if you know where to look you can still find some gems. I don't know if they still exist, but on Lower Greenville, yes I used to live in the M-Streets a decade before it got trendy, there is the Ali-Baba Cafe that has to-die-for Shish Tawook. Down the block is Dodie's that has a passable Shrimpo Po-Boy but the real treat is the world's god-damned best Cajun fries.

Good to see some of you know the pain of I-35 in TX. And trust me, I do blame the drivers more than the cops. I think the cops are too many but the drivers are the assholes in the equation.

Stormy - YES! Rupert had that exact enchilada plate with the three sauces! I think it was called Enchiladas Bandas or something like that? Does "banda" mean "flag" in Espanol? I had the enchiladas suizas with the awesome sour cream sauce.

Tolbert - we tried the Guadalupe but there were too many rednecks at the check-in station so we drove further down in New Braunfels and went to the Rockin' R toob place, and I believe that put us on the Comal or something like that. But I'd have to ask Rupert to be sure.

HT - yep Mercado Juarez is in DFW, it's a chain actually. There are several of them, and they're not bad.

Triticale - I don't know for sure, but it sure sounded a hell of a lot like what Western Swing would be. I really dug it.

How did the Germans ever lose the war? They can drive as fast as they want, and everybody stays to the right and passes on the left.

Why are the presidential candidates wasting their time on health care and Iraq? I'll vote for anyone who will get the idiots out of the left lane.

Rachel, you have to get to 121 and Hall Johnson for La Hacienda Ranch. Their fajitas are the best in town, plus they have this apple pie they bring out sizzling on an iron skillet, and they pour on the hot butter/caramel sauce at the table. After it sizzles a while they stick some ice cream on top, and leave you to drown in the sugary goodness. We eat there all the time. It is worth the drive time.

Mercado Juarez? Seriously. Their guac sucks, last I checked. I ate there once and never wanted to go back. La Hacienda Ranch is pretty good Tex-Mex.

Rachl Lukis, you will not convince us to change our minds, no matter how good the food is in Austin. Won't. Work.

I don't tube on the Comal or the Guadalupe. Canoe only. There be moccasins in those waters.

And you have to go to the north side of Fort Worth for good Mexican food. And NO, I do NOT mean Joe T's the most overrated restaurant ever. Teeny little hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurants on Main Street north of the Trinity River bridge. But hey, I like El Chico's top shelf guac and their ceviche (I think they call it a Mexican Martini or something -- it has a shot of tequila in it to spice it up). What's that little place in downtown Fort Worth that used to be way west on Lancaster near Wesleyan? Mexican Inn maybe? Good chips.

And I don't know what you're complaining about. Y'all have Chipotle AND Rosa's Tortilla Factory (which makes the best tortillas in the Metroplex -- fluffy, warm, yummy).

We first tried to get on the Guadalupe River just down the hill from Gruene (I wanted to eat at the Grist Mill afterward. The seating out on the deck overlooking the river is fantastic.), but the road was blocked off; probably due to flood damage or something. Anyway, Gruene was ridiculously crowded, and I didn't want to hike up & down the hill all day; so we split for the Comal River near Prince Solms park in downtown New Braunfels. The water was perfect; nice and clear but not too cold. It was a little crowded, but it was Labor Day weekend; so we expected that. It rained just a little while we were out there, but we got on the road before the real storms began.

Enchiladas Banderas...

As for the idiots riding 5 feet behind your bumper: Tailgators make me nervous. When I get nervous, I tend to slow down. ;-)

Enchiladas Banderas...Oh, how I miss you!

My father lives close to Manuel's, so he gets to eat it all the time. I like Z Texas for a more Southwestern flair.

Enough is enough. It's enchilada casserole tonight.

My favorite Tex-Mex in the DFW area is a little hole in the wall place called Rudys in Irving, on Rochelle just off of Belt Line. La Hacienda is ok, but I tend to like the smaller places.

Oh, and to casto above, I have, in the past, gotten a ticket on exactly that stretch of highway going 5 over. So I don't begrudge anyone slowing down when they see the tax collectors.

I spent 4 months driving around the US in summer of 2004 (a very strange time, indeed) with my dog, the missus and an infant. Went as far north as Washington state, over the Rockies through Colorado, as far east as Boston, down through Florida, Bamy and the Deep South... and home again to sunny SoCal via the Great State of Texas. After 12,000 miles, we decided that there was only one other place in the US, other than coastal SoCal, where we'd raise a family. Austin. Love it. Love everything about it. Food, music, bars... what else do you need? Even the stinky hippies work well there. Unfortunately, my genetic makeup requires that I live no further than 3 miles from any given ocean. Else, I would forgo the crowds and ungodly real estate prices for a place in the foothills.

Austin's a great place to visit. Yeah, the nearest real beaches are a couple of hundred miles away, down towards Padre/Corpus. But they're very nice beaches. :-)

Having kids, it's not on the top of my places-to-live list. (Pretty much no metro over a million in size makes that list.) Without kids, it'd be right up there at the top. If you're bored in Austin, it's your own fault.

That stretch of I-35 makes almost everyone dream of roof-mounted Twin .50's. Just as a warning device. Really.

To get to a nice beach from Texas you have to a) take I-10 east or west out of Texas b) get on a cruise ship in Galveston or c) get on a plane at DFW.

What is UP with the 4-abreast-walking sidewalk-hogging assholes? They SEE you coming. They won't move. You are supposed to dive and roll off into the weeds or the gutter to avoid THEM.

Times have changed and I realize I must change with them, so I've taught myself to be willing to have the occasional painful head-on collision with the 4 strangers on the sidewalk. Then I act all confused and surprised about it. Works for me.

The cops on the Comal, and other, rivers aren't there because they're concerned about underage drinking. They're there because the property owners have been trying for generations to stop people from floating on the rivers.

The problem is that Texas law says that no one can own the river, only the state can own the river. Thus, cities can't stop people from having access to and presence in the river. Property owners adjacent to the river have to put up with loud obnoxious tubers. They should have bought somewhere else.

There is no law against drinking on the rivers either. So, the locals use the cops to harrass people because that's all they can do.

Rachel,

Don't blame us cops, the higher-ups always come up with these goofy holiday enforcement programs. That way, the day after the holiday, when the highway death toll is calculated, they can claim credit if it is lower than last year. Of course, if it is higher, then we obviously need more manpower, equipment, etc.

BTW, we are not impressed that you can maintain your speed at 5 mph below the limit when you are in our vicinity. As you have described, slow drivers are often just as dangerous as speeders. Most cops will allow a 5 to 7 mph over cushion when they are working traffic (well, except maybe motorcycle officers, but their whole job is ticket writing).

Oh, and I HATE the slow drivers who will drive side by side for miles, stacking up traffic. That is really dangerous. I also can't stand drivers who will park in the left lane at the EXACT speed limit or maybe even BELOW to limit. Both of these conditions lead to frustration on the part of other dirivers who then will inevitable do something really stupid.

Someone told me once that they do this intentionally to slow speeders down, I gave him a big lecture about the fact that it is not so much that "speed kills" but that "speed differential kills" and to leave the enforcement to us.

Retrocop - exactly!! I saw some thing on TV about traffic engineering and the experts said what you did, that it's the differential that's dangerous. Everyone could be going 100 mph and it would be safer than if ONE guy decided to go 80 mph. I hate those drivers who think they're going to slow everyone else down. They might accomplish that, but usually by causing a crash.

And those side-by-side drivers who back everything up? I call that a Double Asshole Formation. Sometimes on bigger highways you can even get Triple Asshole Formations and Quadruple, too. I want those people to burn in hell.

Skyler - you're right about the riverside property owners wanting the floating to stop. I just can't believe they don't realize that the entire economy of some of those towns is based on the river recreation.

Oh, and I HATE the slow drivers who will drive side by side for miles, stacking up traffic. That is really dangerous. I also can't stand drivers who will park in the left lane at the EXACT speed limit or maybe even BELOW to limit....Someone told me once that they do this intentionally to slow speeders down...

Mike Straka calls them "Left Lane Vigilantes".

"Left Lane Vigilante — An automobile driver who believes so strongly in speed limit highway laws that he or she will drive 55 miles per hour in the passing lane, forcing people to either adhere to the speed limit or to pass on the right. Left Lane Vigilantes never use their rear view mirror, so tailgate intimidation or flashing the high beams is of no use. These are people committed to keeping you from getting a speeding ticket, and they will do whatever they have to to keep you behind them."

Retrocop, you're my kind of cop. Speaking of the speed vigilantes driving side by side...

For a brief, insane period in my state quite a few years ago, the state police had the BRILLIANT idea to conduct their own "rolling roadblocks," where two troopers would get side by side and drive exactly the speed limit down the interstate for miles and miles.

That lasted all of about a month before somebody pointed out that the 10-mile-long traffic jams thus created were hindering emergency vehicles from getting where they needed to go. At least, that was the official reason for ditching that insane policy.

Both of these conditions lead to frustration on the part of other dirivers who then will inevitable do something really stupid.

Which is why they won't let me have my roof-mounted Twin .50's. :-)

There's an Austin band I'm particularly fond of called The Derailers. Country/western, but with a significant rockabilly influence. They make no secret of the fact that they are strongly old-school Buck Owens-styel throwbacks, and I think they sound just great. Especially refreshing for those of us who feel that C&W has strayed too far down the pop music path. If you're curious, they're at here and here.

Excuse me..."style," not "styel."

Have Ruprecht take you to The French Laundry:

http://www.frenchlaundry.com/tfl/tfloverview.htm

Although I understand that jumbo loans are rather hard to get these days.

I'm still waiting to hear about the de-briefing. Geez, way to tease. Maybe it's filed under too-cute couple games? I haven't had a good debriefing in quite a while. Or a good deboxering for that matter.

A big thanks to all for the hints on food and gigs. I will be visiting DFW on work from the wilds of New Zealand in a coupla weeks and have a weekend off to see Austin. Gonna git me some tex mex food and see some good bands.

So... how many times in your few hours of floating on the river drinking beer did you get out to potty? Or did you do like everyone else and just float along?

Rachel, the only reason you didn't notice the hippies is because you were only there for a day, and you were looking for young hippies. Austin is full of OLD hippies. Trust me on this. My brother lived for years up there, and the neighbors were loopy as hell. One lady told him that the CIA had used Northstar to disable the windshield wipers on her Ford Explorer.

In addition, I personally used to work for Sun Harvest Farms, the competition for Whole Foods based here in San Antonio, and we had a store in Austin. I spent 3 weeks helping them set up a new vitamin department there, and I met the entire granola gang of that city.

Austin is full of hippies. You just didn't go to the places they're most likely to congregate. 6th Street is no longer the prime hippie location because it's become trendy and upscale. But the lesser known areas are still hippie-ville. Go check out Friday nights at the Alamo Drafthouse if you don't believe me.

Now...for a daily visit? Austin rules. Music? The bomb. Food? Awesome. Although, I'd personally put San Antonio's mexican cuisine above Austin's, Austin's BBQ is much better. Still, neither can hold a candle to the Beirgartens of Fredricksburg. If you ever get down that way, you'll definately be impressed.

Rupert, the Guadalupe is definately better, if you can do it.

Gruene Hall is a great place to watch music, by the way. They regularly have acts like Willie Nelson, Asleep At The Wheel, Junior Brown, and Jimmie Vaughan.

Great venue to see those guys.

One of the things you are missing out on by not being a parent, Rachel, is trying to turn the wee savages into responsible citizens. The natural state of humanity is barbarism. Civilization is a very thin veneer requiring thousands of applications before it fully adheres. I am forever reminding my daughters that we are not alone in the universe and that other people would also like to get from one place to another. The entry to Costco is not the correct location to stop and search your pockets for your Barbie's hooker boots, for example. Same thing applies to the four abreast sidewalkers. Their veneer just didn't stick.

When I lived in Phoenix, I had the joy of driving in rush hour pretty much every day for 2 years. Having moved to Colorado, the only thing I miss about Arizona is the quality and quantity of pavement. The freeways there were packed, but for the most part you were still able drive at or near the speed limit until you got close to downtown. During daylight hours, I too would get a colonoscopy fetishist snapping on their latex gloves right behind me. I didn't want to hit the brakes and get rear-ended, so I would intermittently turn on my headlights instead. Looks quite a bit like brake lights when you are eight inches from my bumper.

Phoenix also had an annual migration of geriatric drivers. I worked at the airport and parked at the top of the parking garage. This meant that most of the winter I had to follow a Buick LeSabre, apparently driven by arthritic knuckles and a wig, as it slowly crept through the lot, checking each and every parking space to be sure that the vehicle occupying it was really there and not an optical illusion. I wanted to mount a 30 mm cannon (from an A-10 Warthog) on the top of my truck and get a split -blade snowplow. They'd get one warning shot through the window. If that didn't motivate them, cut the car in half with the cannon and use the snowplow to push the pieces off to the sides.