Saturday, February 23, 2008
Another Reason to Hate It
I don't like Dallas. The Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex is one giant metro area with a lot of competition between the two major cities and Arlington (there are also a kajillion suburbs). Arlington has the Texas Rangers baseball team and is now building a giant football stadium for the Dallas Cowboys, which will probably be the Arlington Cowboys someday, although they (the team) were in Irving the whole time and were never known as the Irving Cowboys.
~
I lived in Dallas from 1984 until 1988. I hated it. I always had a hard time explaining why, but I just found this line from Yahoo Travel: Contrary to popular belief, there's no oil in glitzy, status-conscious DALLAS. If you need a hint about which words are true and also disturbing to me: It's the same reason I don't like L.A. And on top of the, I don't know, attitude, there's the traffic. The traffic is always horrible and there are several major car accidents every single day. I have honestly asked myself many times when in an introspective mood, "Did I leave my first husband just to GET OUT OF DALLAS?"
~
Although I left in 1988, I couldn't just wave goodbye through my rearview mirror. My daughter was only 4 and her dad lived there, so every other weekend was the horrible drive to Dallas (or its burbs). When she turned 16 I was SO happy! I also had to work there quite often when I was freelancing (1996-1998). I can't begin to guess how many hours I spent on 635 going 45 IPH (inches per hour). I probably lost 6 months of my life sitting on 635. The best place I ever worked was in a town north of Dallas (The Barney the Dinosaur corporate offices) and they started talking to me about a permanent position and all I could see was me spending hours and hours on 635. And 75? It's as bad. And you had to take that to get to the Barney place. Aaaargh!
~
Once after I left the Barney place, and I was in a rush to get to one of my daughter's volleyball games, I came upon a fresh wreck on 75. It looked like Hollywood was filming one of those post-apocalypse movies. There were about 5 or 6 cars and glass scattered all across 4 lanes. I just drove all crazy and slow swerving between all the stopped crashed cars, because I had to get to the volleyball game. I did look at everybody to make sure no one had blood spurting out of their heads, but I just wanted to get AWAY. And one time on 635 after creeping and crawling for FOREVER, I passed the wreck that had held us up. A truck was sitting on top of a car as if it had been lowered by a crane. I never saw anything about it in the news and to this day wonder how that happened.
~
The only time I go to Dallas now is for the State Fair. The State Fair is worth it and is on my side of Dallas. I can only think of a few other times I've been in recent years: A Red Wings game and to meet a childhood friend at his downtown hotel. So today on the news they announced that after his term is over, Mr. & Mrs. Current President will be residing in Dallas. That seems appropriate and I think it will suit them just fine.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
I agree. When I left the Big City people didn't understand why. Now, I have to FORCE myself to go there, and my main goal is to figure out how to avoid it (unfortunately, there aren't many stores where I live; the internet only gets you so far).)
I never thought much about going to Dallas, and after this post, I'll try to avoid it.
Big cities are fine if you have a quiet neighborhood to come home to. I'm finally starting to like my town with all it's craziness.
I live in a big city, Toronto, but I don't think it's as bad as Dallas or LA. We have the traffic jams and the shootings and the big buildings that make you crave for a little patch of grass... we also have lovely neighborhoods (I'm lucky to live in one) but very crappy areas that are totally devoid of anything.
What I've learned to love is my total lack of dependence to a car. Something I could never do in the burbs or small village. But I also know it's not for everyone. I really wonder what the urban planners were on when they designed some cities and their suburbs...
Never been, but I visited Houston and hated it. Dallas always seemed even worse. Yee.Haw.
Celeste,
~~I'm not sure what past of east Texas you're in, but couldn't you do all your shopping in Plano?
Scarlet,
~~I don't have much experience of Miami, but I've been to Florida. Miami may be a big city, but you have the Ocean! And Palm Trees! And Nice Weather!
HD,
~~I could do that - live inside a big city. I could easily live in New York and never drive again. Dallas is not even that kind of city.
Michael,
~~They're pretty similar. I do give points to Houston over Dallas because of it's proximity to water.
Geewits, you will love Vancouver. It's a big city, but it doesn't really have a big city feeling to it. You can smell the fresh ocean breezes and it feels really laid back here - especially compared to cities like LA (which I also don't like).
Vancouver made a decision several years ago not to allow any freeways to go through the city, so we don't have any. When I go to Seattle, I am amazed at the freeways going right through the city.
My girlfriend used to live in Scurry, TX. I used to be able to fly into Love Field, but after 9/11 I wasn't able to and had to fly into DFW. I think she internally groaned about that. heh. So I'd pack good snacks for us to eat on the way back to her home.
Now she lives in OK. The weird part is, she's smack dab in the middle between OKC and DFW. A shorter drive to DFW by about a half hour, but she prefers I fly into OKC. I haven't yet, though, I need to go see her again.
Josie,
~~Fresh ocean breezes. Mmmmmmmmmm.
Jammie,
~~I'd rather go to DFW than Love Field but that's because I live next to it - the GOOD SIDE. But I can understand she'd rather you fly into OKC. But honestly I've spent too much time in Oklahoma and hope I never have a reason to go back there.
To get to the important part: What did you do for the Barney people and what more would you have done if you had taken the permanent position?
Tick,
~~I'll post about that this week.
Post a Comment