everything's bigger in texas

so i'm back from a two-day conference trip i had in dallas, home of the dallas cowboy cheerleaders and some of the biggest texas cowboys (not the football team) who give our state the reputation it has.  the conference was held at this huge conference center and resort in one of the suburbs just outside of dallas' city limits.  i had never been and this place was crazy:

it was seriously it's own amish-like compound that you never had to leave; the only difference was it had electricity and lots of alcohol.  it is the alcatraz of hotels, no joke.  it has over 1,700 rooms, three large restaurants, a bar, three smaller cafes, three gyms, jogging trails, a replication of the alamo in the middle of the freakin' place, a huge day spa and salon, about ten clothing, jewelry, and trinket shops, AND a night club... ridiculous, i know.  in case you haven't heard, that's how we do it in texas - BIG.  oh, and during christmas, they apparantly have ice skating rinks and shows.  you could survive on the compound and never have to leave, which is the idea i guess.

anyways, the conference goes through saturday night, but my boss and i just had to attend some committee meetings.  even though dallas is only a four hour drive from houston, we flew.  the flights to and from each city are 45 minutes to an hour tops.  last night, our flight from dallas into torrential storm houston was over two hours and full of nauseating turbulence as we flew all over the state of texas to get around the storm cell.  always comforting when your pilot comes on after you've taken off to tell you: umm, got some bad news, folks.  we're in for one helluva ride this evening.  it's too dangerous to take a direct route to houston, and air traffic control isn't even allowing it so we're being diverted which will double our flight time.  the fasten seatbelt sign will stay on the duration of the flight.  flight attendants will need to stay seated, as well.  you know it's gonna be good when they tell the flight attendants to buckle up, too.  needless to say, i already hate flying after a terrible experience on a flight home from switzerland over the atlantic ocean.  i was ready to be on the ground and so was the rest of the plane as we erupted into cheers when we finally landed.  glad to be home wearing my rainboots at the office again!  happy friday!