Dallas/Fort Worth

On Tuesday morning Andy, Kay, Dan and I headed for Dallas for a couple days. Andy, who knows his way around EVERYWHERE, did the driving. We thought we might stop and have breakfast at Magnolia Table (Chip and Joanna's restaurant), in Waco, but there was a line of folks waiting outside, so we settled for IHop.

After checking into the hotel in Dallas and enjoying a little down-time, we all got ready for an evening out. The main reason for going to Dallas was to see the stage performance, Les Miserables. Before heading to the Fair Park Music Hall, for Les Miz, we ate dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, which was a real treat.

The performance was good, as we knew it would be. Dan and I have seen it twice before, once in Seattle and once in Albuquerque. That might give you a clue to how much we love the story and the music.

In the lobby of the Fair Park Music Hall

Driving back to the hotel after the performance

Wednesday morning, after breakfast at the hotel, Andy put on his "tour guide" hat and drove us around downtown Dallas. We drove by the Texas Schoolbook Depository and the "grassy knoll." We stopped at the Dallas Pioneer Plaza Cattle Drive, located near the convention center. It honors Dallas' cowboy past and features native landscaping, a flowing stream and waterfall, and a herd of bronze longhorn cattle statues being driven by cowboys on horses.

From there, Andy drove on to Fort Worth and made a stop at the Fort Worth Water Garden. The park is made up of a series of walkways, pools, terraces and vegetation. The three pools feature the different characteristics of water: a quiet pool, a dancing pool and the active pool. We spent our time at the active pool, where water rushes down steep steps, into a pool forty feet below. There are steps that descend to the pool below, but Andy was the only one of our foursome who ventured down them. Kay and I sat on a ledge, overlooking the rushing waters, while Dan - true to form - made a new friend and spent his time visiting with him.

That's Andy, down at the bottom.

Here's the friendly police officer, "Darrell," whom Dan befriended.

Finally it was lunch time, and Andy had promised us a meal at Joe T Garcia's Mexican Restaurant. It's a very old restaurant, in an old Fort Worth neighborhood. Andy remembers eating at Joe T's when he was a kid, and never comes to Fort Worth without making a stop there. When we first drove up to it and parked in the parking lot, across the street, I just saw it as an unassuming old restaurant. But what I didn't see was that behind the walls adjacent to the building was the most beautiful garden oasis. We ate out there, among the shade trees, flowers and light breeze, then walked through the different garden areas. Not only was it a beautiful place, but the meal might have been the best Tex-Mex food I've ever eaten! We ordered a family-style lunch, which came with more than we could, all four, eat.

The drive home, after lunch, included one more food stop - as if we needed it! We found a little creamery, where they make their own original flavors of ice cream. It was in Waco, across the street from the Baylor campus (for my Newberg readers, it had an atmosphere similar to Coffee Cottage).  I had a scoop of Texas Salted Caramel on a fresh-made waffle cone. Yum!

Many thanks to Andy and Kay for providing the transportation and the sightseeing inspiration. It was great fun, packed into two all-too-short days.