Flashback to Texas - Fort Worth Stockyards

Heading to Houston in 2009 was not our first encounter with Texas.  In fact, when Joe and I finished university in 2005, Joe's job required him to spend 8 weeks training in Forth Worth.  This was back before Joe and I were even dating - we met in 2001 in our first year of university as we lived on the same floor in residence.  We became really close friends (not that type of really close friends) and we hung out a lot over the course of our 4 year degree.  He was one of my best friends and we continued to talk regularly even after he left to begin his career.  The nice guy that he was, flew me down to Texas for 2 weeks while he was there.  (How I didn't catch on that there was something more than friends there, I'll never know.  We continued as friends for 2 years after this!!!)

One of Forth Worth's most famous attractions is the Fort Worth Stockyards.  The Stockyards are exactly what I pictured Texas to be like - livestock, cowboy boots and hats and saloons.  When the railroad was built in 1857, this became a shipping point for livestock and later, the livestock was actually processed in the area.

Today, it's home to restaurants, hotels, bars and shopping.  Twice a day, herds of Longhorn cattle are brought through the streets giving a truly Western feel.  Before I arrived on this trip, I think Joe frequented the bars with his colleagues but he took me here for a steak dinner.