How Much Do I Love Texas. . . ?

T H I S M U C H

I’m back! At least in body, anyway. My brain, however, is still circling the airport. Hopefully it will land in a day or two and I’ll be coherent again!

I had the best time ever in the Lone Star State. Let me tell you, those Texans are Big Book Lovers—exactly my kind of people. And that good old time Texas hospitality is no myth, either. Everyone was as friendly and helpful as can be. (Including a big-a$$ed ol' bug that hitched a ride on my blouse Friday night, and terrified me and two other women in a tiny elevator. That was a little more friendliness in a bug than I prefer!)

Every single person at the Dallas Museum of Art was lovely and gracious, but especially Carolyn, Katie, and Helen. They were awesome! The museum has the most brilliant outreach program ever for kids; After Dark, where the museum is open until midnight once a month. Let me tell you, it was a treat to see so many families out and about with the kids just as excited about being at the library—as if it were better than Disneyland (which it totally is!)

Legacy Books in Plano was a gorgeous new indie bookstore. Wow. I could have spent hours in there. One of the highlights at Legacy Books was the amazing Josie and her friend, who showed up dressed as Theodosia, gloves and all! SO FUN! Her mom has promised to send me a picture and hopefully she’ll let me post it here on the blog. I also met a very knowledgeable and helpful publicist, Janet McLeod of Haute Tour Public Relations. We had a great time talking books and marketing.

And Book People in Austin lived up to its amazing reputation! Topher, Meghan, and Brandy were awesome hosts and dreamed up a hugely fun mummy-wrapping contest. One girl (whose name I've forgotten already) showed up in a way cool gold Egyptian wig/headdress that I covet. Another painted her fingernails with hieroglyphs--very impressive--and hard to do! And I got to meet a boy names Giles, who knows nearly as much as Theodosia does about Egyptian mythology. The lovely Cynthia Leitich Smith and her husband Greg were there, and I finally got to meet fellow author and blogger, PJ Hoover, who has two of the most adorable kids. Seriously, if they would have fit in my carry-on, I’d have brought them home with me.

Perhaps it was such a great trip because I had to run a gauntlet just to get there. Crikey! Every single airline let me down. One flight was canceled (my husband had to play Rescue Ranger and race me down to LAX to catch a flight that would get me to the museum in time), one flight was delayed, one arrived so late that I would have missed my connection if my connecting flight hadn’t also been late. Seriously the most jinxed travel experience I’ve ever had. And one airline, who shall remain nameless, had two airplanes with malfunctioning bathrooms, which made the entire flight smell of chemical toilets. Urgh.

But you know how it goes--the harder you have to work at something, the better it is, and this trip surpassed all my wildly optimistic expectations. My sincere thanks to everyone who helped make it so!