After lunch we did some shopping. I can't remember if we went to Ross or TJ Maxx but it was one of those awesome little stores. Erin made out like a damn bandit. Then we headed over to the mall. I don't know why but I really like to visit malls in other cities.
Erin's mall is bad ass! It definitely gave The Mall at Robinson a run for it's money. They of course had every store ever but on top of that they had a Cheesecake Factory (like Millenia), a Dave & Busters, and an AMC movie theater all connected to it too! AND we just so happened to go during The Lego Americana Roadshow where lots of historical buildings were made out of legos. It was pretty awesome! The only thing I hated about the mall is that it was packed. Like about-to-give-me-an-anxiety-attack packed. I don't like crowds so we both were kind of annoyed by that. We decided to see a movie since it was just one of those rainy days that was just begging us to stay indoors. We saw Age of Adeline (Erin's second time seeing it) and we LOVED it. I'll expand on why I loved it in my next 'Currently' post.
After the movie, Erin gave me a tour of Frisco. Everything is so new. The town looks like it's not more than 10 years old. Every shopping plaza is fancy, every neighborhood is fancy, and everything is stone or brick. Frisco has everything you need so I can totally see why Erin doesn't frequent Dallas much. They have every chain restaurant Florida has and then some. The only thing they don't have is Publix and I didn't see WaWa anywhere. It's pretty impressive. Apparently Frisco is like the headquarters of headquarters. All these huge companies have been moving to the area. That town is a booming! They have fields of cows and then a fancy plaza. A field of wildflowers and then a fancy neighborhood. It's the perfect mix of small town and big city. They basically have done what Palm Coast has been trying to do but never succeeded at.
I asked her to take me somewhere sweet so we ended up at one of her favorite places: Smallcakes. I'd say the name is appropriate as these suckers were far too large to be cupcakes. A small cake is exactly what they had going on. I got a Peanut Butter Cup for myself and one to take home for Dustin. Erin and I dropped by a CVS to get some random shit and on the way out we ended up at the Redbox. (I didn't tell her it was my first time ever using a Redbox. Shh!) We got another great movie which I'll discuss in another post. Once back at her place we got tatted up! I meant to have us do it earlier but my time in Texas was such a whirlwind. I can't believe it's already been a week. It came and went so fast!
Erin and I tried to go to bed early because we had to get up at 3:30ish but we stayed up talking in her pitch black room late into the night. We never get that kind of boo time anymore so sleep can always wait. The Texas area has had some pretty crazy weather. It's been raining for weeks and some areas have really bad flooding. Well, I had one of those natural disaster alerts go off on my phone at 2AM and it scared the shit out of me. 3:30AM came real faster after that nonsense. I woke up feeling like shit. Thank you, period! Erin dropped me off at the airport around 4:30 AM. I was so nervous I wouldn't be able to navigate the place. I walked in and the place was a ghost town. There were no people in there except employees - the total opposite of MCO a couple days prior. I was able to print out my boarding pass within minutes. I was the only one in the security line which was awesome and eerie. The security guy asked about my fake party hat tattoo on my middle finger. "Wow, the ink is still so dark!" I replied "Oh it's fake!". HA! Security took all of 3 minutes. The longest part was taking my shoes off and putting them back on. Even though Erin dropped me off at American Airlines my plane was boarding on the other side of the damn airport. So I had to take their weird tram around the whole thing. The tram doors opened and it was packed full of people. I almost didn't have a pole to hang on to for when the thing sped crazily around each terminal. I made it to the right place and side eyed the whole damn time. That airport is probably my least favorite I've been to. The layout is awful. It's basically just a series of hallways and there are restaurants and stores scattered on the sides instead of more of a mall/food court vibe of most airports. As I walked to my gate I noticed a Victoria Secret/PINK/Dallas Cowboy store. Then it occurred to me this was the first time I had seen anything Cowboys related. Hell, I hadn't seen anyone wearing Texas sports team apparel the whole time I was in TX. How bizarre is that? However, I distinctly remember texting Dustin that there was a guy in a Pirates hat while at the aquarium. I thought the Cowboys were "America's Team" but apparently no one gives a shit about them. I'm used to going to Pittsburgh (no matter what time of year) and seeing every person, baby, and pet decked out in a variation of Steelers, Pirates, or Pens gear. I mean every where you go it's in your face. One of the things I love so much about that town is that it feels like you've automatically got something in common with every stranger. You're all on the same team. I thought Dallas would be like that but it wasn't at all. It's definitely a cool place though. The downtown area is so much bigger than Orlando but not as crammed as Pittsburgh. I'm happy I got to come to a new place and Texas isn't at all what I thought it would be. It was much better than I had expected. I'm even more thrilled that Erin and I got to finally make some new memories. I'm glad I got to see her new world.
I thought the flight back might be delayed with all the crazy weather but we left on schedule even though they wouldn't serve us drinks until we were past the storm and over Louisiana. Florida was just as I left it - bright and miserable but home.
And, it was good to be home.
