Texas

I think this was supposed to be about what we did in Nashville. Instead, I'm going to talk about the good and bad things concerning Texas.

First, the positive points. Living in Pennsylvania, I have a certain amount of pride for the Commonwealth. I mean, there are only four Commonwealths, and we're one of them. But people in Texas, well, they've got pride like nothing else. There are stores, flags, banners, emblems and stickers everywhere.

Second, the weather. We were there the week between Christmas and New Year's. It was perfect. In the upper 60s, down in the 50s during the evening. Maybe a slight breeze now and again. The sun wasn't too bad, and there wasn't any rain.

Now for what I don't like about Texas. Keep in mind that I grew up in the Northeast, so my bias is toward good ol' PA and the like.

I really can't stand how spread out everything is. I mean, if you do have land to use, you don't necessarily have to use it. You don't have to litter the landscape with a bunch of one-story buildings. Make a two-floor job now and again.

All the roads are straight when you get out into the burbs of Houston. This is forever dull. After a while, you get slightly disoriented because well, the same few shops are on every single corner.

The houses don't have basements. This truly freaked me out. I'm used to having a basement and a ping-pong table in it. Thus, people put things in their garages. And then their cars end up outside, blocking the sidewalk. I noticed this when I was walking aimlessly around the neighborhood.

Also, while I was on this walk, it was about 10 a.m. There was still trash out for trash collection. I'm sort of used to it being collected at 6 a.m. or something silly. That kind of hour that you don't want to wake up at knowing that you forgot to put the stuff on the curb.

There are huge runway-style reflectors dividing the lanes on the massive highways. Not just painted stripes. Reflectors that stick about 2 inches above the ground. So everytime you change lanes, you think about the $600 it takes to buy four new tires.