No, you will have plenty from which to choose once you get there.

You look fabulous in your cowboy hat, so I say hell, yeah. Use the money you save not buying another hat to put towards some totally kick-ass cowboy boots. I have never regretted buying mine.

Essezjan, to think of you remembering that I wore a cowboy hat in Vegas!

And getting some cowboy boots might be a nice idea. I could wear them in Toronto, unlike the hat, which I have only been able to wear once, for Halloween, when I was a sherrif.

It depends on how many actual Texans will be at the conference (and a lot of other variables), but I think it could easily look a tad gauche to show up in a cowboy hat and boots. If the conference were in Mexico City would you were a sombrero?

No, but be sure to get your shots first.

Sure, why not? But be careful. You just might get yourself elected governor.

Do realize that if you go, you will indeed see people (men, actually) wearing cowboy hats unironically. Hell, the cowboy hat was actually an important part of the prom outfit for about 52% of the guys in my high school.

Anyway, if you do end up going, try your damndest to get to the original Sonny Bryan's on Inwood. (The original! Not the newer ones.) That right there is some fantastic barbecue.

Get boots! When I went to San Antonio 4 years ago, I got a pair of Ariats and a pair of Luccheses (the guy in the store told me those were the cadillacs of cowboy boots and I believe him) and I wear both all the time and neither have let me down once.

The only people in Dallas that wear cowboy hats unironically are mexicans and surly old white men. But if it floats your boat, why not?

Oh also your hat might get damaged in transit.

The only people in Dallas that wear cowboy hats unironically are mexicans and surly old white men.

Don't forget the guys at the Round-Up (may be slightly NSFW).

I'll second the pupster on the Sonny Bryan's rec. The newer ones (at least the one downtown and the one off of Lover's) are just fine on their own, though.

And the one thing I'll always recommend to anyone ever as a must visit in Dallas is the Nasher Sculpture Center. If you go, please don't miss it.

Alas, they are sending one of my co-workers to the conference.

Now my cowboy hat must continue to languish in a hatbox in my closet.;-)

This Fort Worth resident cringes at this thread. First of all you have to remember that Fort Worth is where the West begins, from which it naturally follows that Dallas is where the East peters out. Secondly... Sonny Bryan's? Well, I guess if you're stuck in Dallas, maybe you can't get anything better but seriously... Ew. I will admit that the Nasher is pretty cool. (NPR did a feature recently comparing the Fort Worth and Dallas art scenes and really, both sides won.)

I don't think you'll find too many people wearing the so-called unironic cowboy hats in Dallas, because like I said, they're an Eastern city. You will see them in Fort Worth though, and you can tell they are the real deal, not from the hats, not from the boots, but from the fact that they actually wear functional spurs.

*snort*. Yes, verily, take western advice from the native Buffaloafer.

love ya, hickster

Sorry you didn't get a chance for the cultural exchange, OS.

For those of you who think I would have been blithely culturally insensitive, the plan was merely to take the hat with me in hopes of having a chance to wear it.

I am planning a vacation, probably to Boston, this fall. But the cowboy hat definitely won't be going on that one.

Oh, I knew you'd call me on that, ufez. Dallas will be fun visit, and really Sonny Bryan's is good bbq, but come on, I couldn't let all the Dallas love go untempered, could I?

:)