What a Saturday in Big D!

First, the bad news -- Buckeyes lose to Purdue by having an extra point blocked.  <sigh>.

Plenty of good news, though.  Dropped Sloopy off in the morning at the Richter Animal Hospital to be boarded for the weekend.  Carmen was there a day earlier to be spayed and they'll spend the rest of the weekend there.  When people talk about how pets "tie them down", we don't get it.  If you have somewhere to go, there are plenty of great boarding places wherever you are.  We once boarded Sloopy for 14 days in Tucson while we cruised to Hawai'i.

We travelled to the other side of Dallas to the Texas State Fairgrounds.  Saw the Cotton Bowl, and my she's showing her age.  Still want to do the Texas State Fair someday.

Our purpose for our visit, though, was to see the Zac Brown Band perform at the GEXA Pavillion.  We arrived around 3:30p local time and after our walk to the Cotton Bowl, back to the truck to tailgate, only we were pretty lonely.  We walked to the other side and saw that the partying had started on the other side, but our parking location was going to be so good, we decided not to leave -- a good decision.

Been awhile since we'd traditional tailgated, including charcoal.  Had bought a little portable guy at WalMart for $5 and it included a package of charcoal, which was terrible and wouldn't light.  So we through the bag of Match Light on there, and we suddenly had enough charcoal to cook a turkey.  Plenty for our couple of hamburgers.

The GEXA Pavillion is a nice venue, with a large lawn seating -- our preference.  Can't estimate the crowd, but it was pretty full and Zac Brown said it was the largest sale they had had on this tour, so let's just say 'big'.

Concert itself was a great value -- two opening acts took us to an hour and a half, and ZBB played another two and a half with a special appearance by Randy Travis.
Traffic getting out was as you would expect from an older venue, lots of one lanes, lots of cutting into traffic.

Today, we're on the road to Galveston (about 5 hours from the Dallas Arlington KOA) for the inaugural event of the Carnival Magic.  Will have plenty about it for the ride back!

Day Trip to Ft. Worth

The week has been kind of crazy here.  We were getting ready for our busy weekend. First up, Carmen goes to the vet Friday to get spayed.  Saturday, after college football, of course, we head out to the Zac Brown Band concert.  Can't wait!  And, last but certainly not least, Sunday, we will be going to Galveston to check out Carnival's newest cruise ship - the Carnival Magic.  We'll be sure to share our experiences at the concert and the ship, so be sure to check back next week.

Even with us trying to get ready for all the hubbub, we were able to slip away for an afternoon to Ft. Worth.  Anyone staying in the Dallas area should make a visit to Ft. Worth.  There is something for everyone.

Our first stop was a quick visit to the TCU campus.  The football stadium was getting renovated with a lot more seating.  The campus was very scenic and quaint.

After that, we made our way to the downtown "Districts".  They have three - Cultural District, Sundance Square District, and the Stockyards.  The Cultural District is home to the Will Rogers Memorial and several museums.  The Sundance Square is a nice shopping and eatery area.  Some of the merchants will even validate your parking garage ticket with a purchase.

Our favorite area was the Stockyards.  There are a host of restaurants and pubs located within a couple of blocks.  The streets are all brick and the atmosphere takes you back to the wild west days.  There is even a free Cattle drive daily (11:30AM and 4:00PM).  If traveling there, you must go in and check out the hotel too.  The decor and artwork inside are truly amazing.

We would have liked to have stayed longer in the Stockyards and enjoyed some dinner.  However, we had to get back to "the girls" so we stopped long enough to try a Buffalo Butt beer - brewed locally exclusively for the hotel bar.  It received two thumbs up!

Better get back to making sure we have everything in order for the rest of the weekend.

See ya down the road....