We're down to our second-to-last stop on our family's Great American Adventure: Texas (the Dallas - Fort Worth area, to be specific). In just six days, we will be flying back to Amsterdam... but for now, we're enjoying some time with my brother and his family in what I believe just may be the hottest place that I've ever experienced in my whole entire life.

For those of you who are not familiar with Texan geography, we are roughly in the middle part of the continent that is Texas. And in this landlocked region -- separated by miles and miles from ocean, sea, or lake -- which just so happens to be at the same latitude as the Sahara Desert, let me tell you: the summer sun knows how to do its work.

When our plane landed at the airport yesterday, in the middle of the night (around 1:00 AM), the temperature was 91 degrees Farenheit (33 degrees Celsius). When the sun was beating down on us as we hiked through an area nature preserve in the middle part of the day, God only knows how hot it was. Let's just say it was very, very hot. Even when the breeze picked up a bit, it did not feel cool and refreshing (as I would typically expect a breeze on a hot day to feel). It felt like someone had pointed a gigantic hair-dryer at me, blazing focused heat in my direction. It was very hot. Not entirely miserable (since we basically knew what we were getting ourselves into by traveling to north-central Texas in late July) -- just impressive.

With a bit of bottled water and an air-conditioned vehicle and a pass to the local swimming pool, the heat can be beat. But I must tell you: I have a new respect for the strength and resiliency of Texans.