Suneson Scenes: GTT - Gone To Texas, Inga returns with Sean

It'd been far stretch since she'd been back to Texas. But she let us know that she'd like to come visit for a few days and bring her boyfriend Sean along to see her natal land. We all said, "Boy Howdy! Y'all do come for a spell!"

We picked Inga and Sean up at Love Field in Dallas on a Friday evening and returned home for what was to become a beef-eating bonanza. I put 4 steaks on the grill over the charcoal and we had a late dinner of steak, crusty bread, mangoes and an angel food cake for dessert. Sean marveled as he told Inga's mother; that is ALL her favorite food! Sue smiled, "You know, there are no happen-stance coincidences here."

Inga had a Texas-sized agenda laid out for the two of them, mostly to immerse Sean in all things Texan - at least North Texas, Texan.

On Saturday it was up and at 'em by mid-morning with a trip out the back door to meet Chomper and Isaac, the resident tortoises. Inga and Sean each took a few pieces of melon and had those two curious and friendly reptiles eating out of their hands in no time.

Later on Saturday, Inga had set up a Tex-Mex lunch with her friend Brianna McCord to meet Sean. Brianna's parents who have been our good friends since the girls were very little also came to town from their place in East Texas to meet Sean. After lunch at Mi Amigos, Inga and Sean visited the Dallas Arboretum, a favorite spot for us and the kids when our family was young. I find it gratifying to have the 'kids' return as adults and revisit the places which we parents thought of as special family places.

Come Sunday it was off to the west to Fort Worth for the two of them to visit the world renown Zoo and then a hearty meal at Cooper's Barbecue at the edge of the Fort Worth Stockyards District. They actually bought more meat than they could eat, so they brought some home for our enjoyment too.

Monday, we all had lunch a our local Chinese spot, Yen China; where, I as a regular, am enshrined with my photo on the wall of the restaurant. I had told the owner, Nichole, that Inga and Sean were coming from Oregon to eat there, so they got a big Chinese family welcome when we all arrived, and a special plate of pot stickers on the house for our celebration lunch.

Inga had purchased tickets for our home team, play-off bound, league leading Texas Rangers. This was to be Sean's first professional baseball game, and he was suitably attired in a Ranger's jersey and had been recently converted to the love of the game by Inga. They were rewarded by a 9th inning, come-from-behind walk-off win by the home team. Inga, who makes things happen, also made sure that they were in the gallery for the post-game show and got interviewed by roving ballpark TV reporter Jim Knox.

As seen from our TV at Home
Ingsa & Sean interviewed on Post Game Show

A shot from our TV
Ingas makes sure that visitors from Oregon
are featured after Rangers victory on Post Game TV Show

Inga gave Sean a tour of her former route to Sachse High School; which she has characterized to all of her Oregonian friends, as "The most sterotypical Texan commute to high school one could imagine". Her drive to high school took her by the Whataburger (beloved Texas institution), past the gun range, then along side the FFA livestock barn, over a limestone hill, thickly filled in the Spring by lush Blue Bonnets (Revered State Flower of Texas) and then to Sachse High.

More BBQ on Tuesday. This time to downtown Garland's brew pub and smoke house. It is a 'hipster' kind of place, so it was a good mix of Portlandia and Texas.

Unfortunately, Inga ans Sean did not pack a bag big enough to bring Portland weather with them. though they thought that mid-September might be mild and pleasant, they got the tail end of Summer, with temperatures at 100 degrees.

A trip to downtown Dallas on the DART train brought them to the Perot Museum of Science for a day and the free Dallas Museum of Art. However, by the time they had finished there museum trek, the food trucks were pulling away from their spots in Klyde Warren Park - so they missed lunch. No worries, Whataburger is open late.

What is a trip to Texas without an order of your favorite Whataburger? It is incomplete - that's what. Oh no. Can't have that. We all pledged to allow Sean to have his first Texas Whataburger. Inga had raved to friends in tofu land about the flavor and the experience of a Texas Whataburger, but they all mocker her. They pretended that she was raving about a "Water-burger". Ha! They made fun of Inga and her Texas boasting often. So, it came out that this is what Sean's trip to Texas was all about. It was to be vindication for Inga once she got Sean to disavow his "Water-burger" foolery. It was time for tasting a Whataburger, a time for tasting comeuppance.