Dallas, Texas – Big Trip 2019

Thursday 27 June –  sunny and 38 Celsius. We left Houston to go to Dallas,Texas. We got to the Bad Luck RV Park and took site 100 near the front of the park.  $31 cash a night, it was a very small campground.  Close to the highway and not that many sites.  It wouldn’t be my choice for a long stay but it was okay.   After we set up, we stepped outside to have a beer and started chatting to the people beside us.  They had a huge old bus that was broken down and they were trying to fix it so they could leave.  They eventually did get it going and were on their way the next day.

Well we had our break and then off to the neighbourhood of Deep Elum., about a 30 minute drive from our campground.  Deep Elum is a former warehouse district and is now the site of great nightlife, restaurants, music and bars.  They also have superb wall murals, we walked around the area to get some photos and take a look. After that, we stopped off at  Deep Elum Brewery.   What a cute little place and Gaston, the bartender, was super nice.  I like to know stuff so I asked him and a couple of other young folk what the rent was like in Dallas.  They were all the age of our kids, early to mid thirties.  They said oh it’s very expensive here, you can pay up to $1000 a month for rent!   I was surprised as I thought it would be a LOT more.  I know people in Toronto that pay $2000+ for rent and even where we live (population 46,000ish) , rent starts well over $1000, averaging 1500-1600.  But maybe their wages are not as high as ours?  or the cost of living?  Anyways, as I said, I was surprised.

 We had a flight which we shared then decided to eat here sharing a pizza and tacos. We ordered another glass of beer as we liked it.  I really like the little flight glasses, they had a happy face on them and the mouth was in the shape of a beer bottle.  We enjoyed our time in this little bar!

Friday, June 28 – sunny and 35 Celsius.  Well this is Clint’s lucky day, we are off to see South Fork!  Clint loved the TV show Dallas and now we get to see some of the places they filmed.   It was $16 each to get in and $12 for the photo.   They take a photo of everyone just prior to entering the grounds.  Dallas style photo.  And yes we got one!

I forgot to mention, they had free parking outside the Visitor Centre/Gift Shop.  After we paid and after our photo was taken, we got on a tractor, which was pulling a trolley, and it took us to the mansion. We did a tour around the mansion and saw all the rooms inside.  A really nice lady was our guide and she sure knew her Dallas TV show trivia and facts.

 

 

Afterwards, we were able to walk all around the grounds. We bought a trailer sticker of South Fork for Bullsy, (the name of our trailer)   After that, we went through the museum and the gift shop.  We spent a couple of hours here and it was quite interesting. They even had little headstones for some of the people who were in the TV show in a tiny little cemetery.

We finished there and then  we were off to Fort Worth stockyards. It’s actually just stores and restaurants in a cool old area of very unique,and old, buildings. We sat and had a beer at Ricksbys Ribs to wait until 4 o’clock.  This was the time they were going to have a herd of longhorns come running down the main street. When it came time we went outside to watch the herd. It was only about 15 longhorns and they didn’t run.  They were barely walking.   I guess it was really hot for them or they were just really old? but they just meandered down the street. It was still something to see though.

On a side note………..The only other cows I like better than Longhorns are those  little fluffy Scottish Highlands Cows.  They are really cute, but I digress……….I only have photos of the Longhorns.

We wanted to go to the bar called Billy Bob’s but it was sold out for a concert so we ended up at Los Vaqueros for Mexican food and half price dacquiris!

Saturday 29 June – sunny and 36 Celsius. We drove to the Book Depository Museum and we stayed a couple of hours there.

I remember when John F. Kennedy was shot, barely, but I do remember.  He was the youngest US President to get voted in and the youngest US President to die.  So sad what happened that day.  We went inside and had to wait in a lineup to buy tickets ($15 each) and then waited in another lineup for the 11 o’clock tour.  We were given headsets to listen to as we toured the exhibits.  So there was no guide, you just wandered on your own and listened on the headsets as they described each display/exhibit.  We went to the sixth floor where it all happened.

They had terrific displays and panels, so much history in this place.  Afterwards, you go to the seventh floor. On this floor, they showed us an old film of what happened the day JFK got shot and they also had huge magazine covers on the walls displaying JFK and different people/events from that era, the 60’s to the 2000’s.  It was a fascinating place. They had the room set up where Oswald shot JFK. Lots of interesting information. We left the building and walked around outside also.  You could see where his car went by when he was shot and also the grassy knoll.

Afterwards we walked half a mile to see the cow statues at Pioneer Plaza which someone had told me about. Cow Statues you say?  What?  Well let me tell you, these are pretty impressive life-size cow statues and there must be 40 cows and 2 Cowboys on horses. All lifelike and pretty cool.  They have them placed as though they are running through the park.  Quite something to see.

On the walk back to the truck we stopped at McDonald’s for quick burger.  We were laughing while there because…………..McDonald’s had foods from the World or something.  The food they chose to represent Canada was Chicken Parmigiana on a Bun.  What?  We’re Canadian  how about Poutine?  or Beaver Tails?  or just about anything other than Chicken Parmigiana, isn’t that Italian?

Anyways, time to move on, so we drove to the Community Brewery. It’s a big building and there was a country band playing and they wanted $15 each to get in. We said no, we just wanted a beer and we don’t listen to country music.  So off we went, heading to Four Corners Brewery set in an old carriage house, we didn’t care for the beer or the people.  Everyone seemed a stuck up?   We are friendly folk so we like to get to know the area and the people. However the interior was pretty cool, especially their overhead lighting.  And there was a guy set up in the corner making these wicked big drinks which looked pretty cool!  We did not have one and I kinda wish I had.

On to the third brewery!   And the lucky winner was Small Brew Pub in a little downtown area on the outskirts of Dallas downtown area. There was a guy and a girl at the bar, they were polite but not super friendly. The beer was good and  we looked at the menu and decided to have a bite to eat there. Nathan, the chef came out and chatted with us and he was super nice. We had an unusual lunch consisting of three Mesquite wings, (they were huge), heritage heirloom tomato salad and a melted Patty on grilled toast with fries. We shared it all and it was all really good.  We chatted with him quite a bit and he told us about another bar where bands play on Sundays but we didn’t end up going there.

SIDENOTE – I googled the Small BrewPub to get a link to their website and discovered they are permanently closed!   I guess business was not so good.  There is a lot of competition in the Craft Beer market.  

Sunday, 30 June – sunny and hot. Went back down early to Deep Elum, the neighbourhood, not the bar.  We got a free place to park! Funny the little things I get excited about……………..We walked around the neighborhood and saw lots of cool wall art.  I do love some good wall art.

We saw a bar called Brain-Dead Brewery which intrigued us so we went in and had a flight of beer.  Because it was so early on a Sunday, you had to have food in order to drink. Some kind of archaic law. So we had a flight of beer and ordered brunch.  I had a Croque Monsieur which I do like and rarely ever order.  This one consisted of two huge slices of sourdough bread with ham and cheese inside of it and two eggs, barely cooked, on top with hash browns on top of that. It was very gross and I have never had a Croque Monsieur made this way before.  Clint had a full platter breakfast. I don’t remember what was on his plate, I was focused on my plate.  The bill ended up being $50 and the food was only $22. They charge an arm and a leg for their flights.   Then………….we got talking to the young bartender and he asked what we had been doing during our time here and we told him.  When I mentioned about the JFK and the Book Depository, his attitude was “Who cares?  that happened years ago and it’s old history that no one cares about.”

Okay then, so your food is crap, your beer is overpriced and now you are showing a sincere lack of respect for your own country’s history.  Yes I was annoyed at his attitude……………….

We ended up walking around the neighborhood for another hour or so and then drove around the city here and there, just in case we missed something……..and home early.

Goodbye Dallas

Tomorrow we are off to San Antonio, Texas !