Deep In The Heart of Texas

So on Saturday am, Wifey and I ubered to MIA and had breakfast at the Centurion, where we met Paul and Patricia. And then we boarded the 7-3 for the flight to DFW.  Mike and Loni had rented a SUV, but had to meet their girl Amanda, and so we Ubered to the hotel -- in a place called South Lake.

SouthLake was nice -- sort of like Weston.  The hotel was abutting a Trulucks, so I felt right at home. We dropped our bags and then Mike fetched us -- he had the line on a bbq place called "Meat U Anywhere." Indeed, we had some of the best brisket we ever had. And then we learned something about Texas -- some counties have only wine and beer stores -- no liquor. So we drove to an abutting town and stocked up for Sunday.

That night Paul and Patricia stayed and ate at Trulucks, and we drove to Fort Worth, to the Stockyards, which used to be where the cows came home. Now it's South Beach in Western Gear -- packed with restaurants and bars.

We gathered in the basement of the Lone Star Bistro -- there were 20 of us at two tables -- and plenty of LSU fans. The waiter said he was "Switzerland." As we drank more, the "Let's Go Canes" cheers started, followed by "Tiger Bait." One fellow had an actual felt purple tiger tail attached to his jeans. Loni asked him if he realized that. He said, in perfect La drawl "Sure do, darlin' -- why don't you show us YOUR tail?"

There was another group, from Arkansas, and they were hilarious -- saying they only had 6th grade educations, and while they married their cousins, some of them looked like Melania Trump.  Darriel ordered shots for them, and the waiter brought shots for ALL of us -- some kind of vanilla tasting stuff. We left the place very happy.

We walked around the corner and went to the White Elephant, which had an awesome outlaw country group. I really like Outlaw country, and the band was excellent. We two stepped, or maybe 5 stepped -- Wifey had a blast, and was shocked to see that the men really wore cowboy hats, and the women boots and hot pants. She decided it was an easier look than the skimpy clothing of South Beach.

Sunday we drove to the stadium -- Jerry's World -- and found great parking. Barry and his family saved the day -- no one of us remembered to buy food, and Donna provided for us wonderfully -- wraps, shrimp, ribs, and chicken. We did have plenty of alcohol, and had a fine tailgate.

We found our seats -- I had the best I ever had -- 30 yard line, 10 rows from the field. But the Canes sucked early and often -- the game was essentially lost by the second quarter. The "other than THAT, Mrs. Kennedy, how did you enjoy Dallas?" jokes started right away.

Monday we were true tourists. Mike took us to the 6th Floor Museum, where JFK was shot. They had a fascinating exhibit -- all about the JFK years, and a recreation of Oswald's perch. We spent a good few hours there -- very well done museum.

Tragedy made us hungry, so we found a great pizza place called Piggies, in the SMU campus. We ate heartily, and then headed to the George W Bush Library, also on the SMU campus. I'm no W fan, though the current idiot in the White House makes me long for his administration. Still, the library was gorgeous and well done -- especially the 9/11 exhibit. We all enjoyed ourselves.

That evening, Becky rejoined us, along with my my school friend Alison, who now lives in Keller. We compared our lives since we last saw each other -- in the late 80s. She had kids older -- a daughter is a college sophomore, and her son still in high school. They suffered a tragedy -- her husband was killed crossing a street near their house. But Alison has soldiered on -- no depression for her.

Tuesday we had breakfast at the hotel, and then off to DFW. I thought Tropical Storm Gordon might affect us, but only delayed our departure by a half hour.

We had left the dry heat of Dallas for the wet heat of Miami. It was lovely to get home.