Here is the one-sentence version: Mom and I went to Texas for David Winarsky’s wedding. If you don’t want to know all of the exciting details, then you can just stop here; otherwise, keep reading.
Mom went to Randy’s and Liz’s several days earlier to help out with the 3 kids: 2-year-old Sammy and the 4-month-old twins, Abraham and Julia. It’s not easy with 3 very young children in the house, but they’re managing. I flew down to Texas on Thursday with Anne Reeves. Our flights were fine - Philadelphia to Dallas and Dallas to El Paso. Mom picked us up at the airport, along with Peter Winarsky, who was in El Paso and needed a ride to the wedding.
The drive to Ft. Davis is about 3 hours, with beautiful scenery, starting out arid and desert-like, then transforming to strange colorful foliage as we drove into more mountainous terrain. We got to Ft. Davis at dusk, and after dropping our stuff off in the rustic cabin, we were hauled in a wagon to the fiesta. Lisbeth, Norman, and everyone else were there. Mexican food and singers with guitars, the whole works. What was most striking was the nighttime sky — as it got dark, the stars multiplied into a vast array of shining points. It turns out that the nearby observatory, McDonald Observatory, has the darkest and clearest night sky *anywhere*. That’s right. The stars were simply amazing.
After a semi-difficult night’s sleep (Evan: think back to Eustace and Jill’s difficulties sleeping during their second night’s journey with Puddleglum in The Silver Chair), we awoke and headed into Ft. Davis for breakfast. We drove a little bit through the original Fort, which is from the late 1800’s. Texas’ history compared to Princeton’s history is similar to Princeton’s history compared to London’s history. We think things that are 300 years old are the greatest; London thinks that 300 years is nothing. Similarly, Texas thinks that things from 1890 are historic; we think they’re just broken down and worn out. The original Fort Davis follows along this track.
Later we went to Marfa — 25 miles away, with nothing, and I mean nothing, in between. One quickly gets used to driving long distances, and not thinking much of it. In Marfa we bought various neat things — fossils, jewelry, etc. — at this place called Moonlight Gemstones. Cool. Then on the way back, it was very calm, but our car got hit all of a sudden with this violent wind, for about 2 seconds. It was a “dust devil”, a mini-tornado that occurs fairly frequently down there. Mom saw a piece of paper caught up in it. I was driving, and I really had to grab the wheel and hold on for dear life. (I’m exaggerating a little, but it was 2 seconds of trying to control the car.) Awesome. At night, we drove back to Marfa for another Mexican fiesta for the out-of-town guests who weren’t part of the rehearsal dinner. I met quite a few people from Texas. It was definitely a blending of two vastly different cultures while we were there (I’m including other Princetonians or former Princetonians in one culture, and Texans in the other culture.) But the Texans were very, very nice, and we felt really welcome there. I sat at a table with two Ranchers / Cattlemen, with a capital-R and a capital-C. Big ranches, lots of cattle.
Next day, we went into town for breakfast, and Hanne & Simon came in, so we ate with them. It was fun. After breakfast, mom and I went to the hat shop and we each bought cowboy-type hats. I also bought a cowboy-type shirt, cowboy-type wallet, and cowboy-type belt. I was the living example of “all hat, no cattle.”
We then went to Alpine, a 26-mile drive through nowhere. At a place called Johnson’s Feed and Western Wear, I bought classic cowboy boots and a cowboy tie, called a bolo tie, which is really a pendant which can be moved up and down via the strings that it is hanging on. Obviously, I looked ultra-cool.
On the way back we saw a historic marker, so we stopped and took photos. Here’s what the marker said (I’m paraphasing): “This fort was used by rangers as they cleared the land of Indians and bandits.” Yep, those Indians and bandits that needed to be cleared out. Hurrah.
That night was the wedding, outdoors, and beautiful weather. (The weather was always beautiful. Actually the days were hot — between 90 and 102 degrees, and the nights cool — even 50 - 55 degrees.) After the wedding came dinner, which was a classic “chuckwagon” — cattle ranchers had rolled up the wagon earlier in the day, then unloaded it, and built fires etc. The steaks on the huge grill were the largest I’ve ever seen. Anyway, we all had plenty to eat, and it was very good.
Next came the reception, which was a really interesting confluence of the two cultures. First the DJ would play a rocking number like U2’s “with or without you”, then switch to country/Texan for several numbers. Almost invariably, the dancers on the floor would switch between the one culture and the other culture — like dancing team “A” swapping in for dancing team “B”. But as things went along, the blending was much more successful.
Interestingly, the reception was “dry”, i.e. without alcoholic drinks.
In the morning, we got up and ate a chuckwagon breakfast. It was hard to say goodbye and leave our newfound friends, but our flight was due to take off from El Paso at mid-day, so we needed to scoot.
On the drive back, still in the mountainous country, I saw a tarantula on the road! (We were looking for them because the day before, Peter, Hanne, and several others had seen a *humongous* tarantula on the road… but then David Winarsky had accidentally run over it! At the time I wondered how David could have been careless… but it turns out that life is not so easy…) — anyway, I backed up so that we could see the tarantula, but it had moved, and… I ran over it! Squish. We all got out and looked at the flattened tarantula on the road. I felt bad.
We also saw roadrunners! No kidding, long legs, a weird crown on their heads, and fast motions. Mom saw one as we were driving from El Paso to Ft. Davis on day one, and I saw one as we were driving back to El Paso.
Anyway, we made it back to the airport, and Liz & the 3 young children met us there. I was very glad to get an opportunity to see Sammy and the two twins.
Then we flew back, got home late, and that was that. The only mishap was that our flight from Dallas to Philadelphia was delayed because the plane apparently had had a bad burning smell on it — do not get on a plane with a bad burning smell. So they switched us to another plane, and everything went fine from that point onwards. We got home at 12:15 a.m.
That’s it. If you read all this, then you’re probably wondering why you didn’t just read the first sentence and stop right then and there. Meanwhile, we’ll put up photos as soon as mom gets back from Washington D.C. — she is there today and tomorrow for a Democratic Women’s Leadership SomethingOrOther.
