I kept telling people we were going to Dallas but in all honesty, we didn’t ever go into Dallas proper. Our place was in Arlington and we spent time in Ft. Worth. But to recap…

We left Thursday right after work. Elliot didn’t get cleared to play his soccer game that night so we got to leave earlier than anticipated. We got into Pensacola around 7 and the kids ate my mom’s pot roast and we just sort of hung around, watching football. The next morning, my sister and her bf got to the house around 7 and by 7:45 we hit the road. We wanted to make good time but also, stop along the way if we found anything good. We went through Hattiesburg, Mississippi and found the sketchiest looking bottle shop. However, they had a great craft beer selection and the people there were really nice. But again, it was also where Leroy gets his 40 of Schlitz malt liquor. Lol.

After that we went to a pretty mediocre Mexican place in Monroe, Louisiana. Not very good at all. Hit up another bottle shop in Shreveport with a cool name – Brewniverse – then pressed on to Arlington. I think it was maybe 6-7 when we got to our Airbnb, which we knew looked cruddy from the outside but the inside was very nice. It was right across from the GM plant and about a six minute drive from the UT Arlington campus and lots of cool places! We left right away to eat at a little joint called the Tipsy Oak, which I’d recommend. Good food and beer selection; live music and good atmosphere. We then went to this little Latino ice cream place but only my sister ordered something. We decided to hit up Division brewing which was awesome! They had excellent beer and a metal band playing in the back. Let me tell you, judging from the crowd, those were my people. I was in heaven! Stayed a little while then headed home because that was a long day!

The next day’s plan was that Justin and my sister would have lunch with his family. He’s from there and a bunch of them met up and gave him a cake and stuff because after all, he just turned 40; hence this trip. Our plan was to meet up with a friend from college to have lunch. Drew took us to Hard Eight bbq and man was it good! We only planned to have lunch together but he asked what we were thinking and we’d mentioned the Stockyards. They do a cattle drive twice a day so we had time to kill before the 430. Even though Drew no longer drinks, he took us to Rahr and Sons brewery where they had a special event because of the college football stuff. I think it was 20 bucks for a pint glass and 3 fills. It was towards the end so the guy gave us two glasses actually. We stood around there a while then made it to the Stockyards. There, we met up with my sister and her bf and then his sister and her son. That entire area is really cool! Since Drew has lived there over ten years he was the perfect tour guide. We walked all through the old areas, seeing where they used to load livestock into trains, etc. We shopped too and went into a brewery named Second Rodeo (ha ha ha) for one beer, since you can open container it in that whole area. At the end of our tour he took us over to Billy Bob’s, the world’s largest honky tonk…and a place from one of our favorite movies, Necessary Roughness!

We had no idea it was a real place. We paid the 3 dollar cover and went in. That place is huge! Though admittedly, pretty much everything in Texas is. Drew showed us around, had one (seven dollar!) Shiner, then the rest of our folks met us there. They ate and played pool but we left with Drew to let his dogs out, get gas, and eat at a tiny taco restaurant named Rodeo tacos before heading back to Billy Bob’s for the 8:30 bull riding. I had never actually seen that stuff live and it was really cool. We had front row seats and even got dirt kicked onto us from a crazy bull! That was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

That was another looong day. We knew Sunday would also be long so we hit the hay soon as we got home. We took it a little easy Sunday morning, drinking coffee, getting ready. By 11:45, we were parking for a place called Grease Monkey. We’d seen it Friday night but actually, someone Ash ended up chatting with in the first brewery told us it was the place to go before the game: good cheap food and an 8 dollar round trip shuttle to the stadium! We had excellent burgers there, watched the early games, then took a minute to head next door to On Tap and have a few beers, then back to Grease Monkey for some more food before the shuttle took us to the venue.

It was a good day to watch the Cowboys because they won handily. I am not necessarily a fan, though we are football and fantasy fans so that was a really awesome experience. That stadium is GIGANTIC! We had good seats, as you can see from the photo. My only complaint would be that at a certain height and upwards, you tend to just look at the jumbo-tron and not the field, which reminds you that you could just watch the game from the comfort of your living room. But we were there for the experience! When the game ended and we headed for the shuttle, I think we were all exhausted. You can’t be out all day and not be!

Monday was our chill day with only one activity planned. We eased into the day then went to a hibachi place for lunch. We hadn’t had that yet and this one had a 10 dollar lunch special. It was really good! The worst part were the veggies, which is normally my favorite part but these weren’t that good. Afterwards, we went to the Social House for a beer and my sister shopped for candy. We wasted some time there, went into a pie shop called Buttermilk sky, then to the Walmart that’s literally right across from the stadium since our tour was at 3. Ash thought that would be a neat thing for everyone to do and yes, it was! Really cool to see that huge venue empty, save for the people on tours. We got to see locker rooms, press boxes, ground level things, and go out onto the field. It was definitely worth 40/person for it, that’s for sure.

We had a little time to kill before meeting Justin’s nephew and girlfriend for dinner so we went to False Idol brewing, which was just ok. Their stouts had a little too much cinnamon in them for my tastes. But still good to try new places. We met up at On the Border and though that’s a chain, ours closed a few years ago so it was nice to go back. We enjoyed dinner there and that was basically our trip! We left the next morning EARLY (6:45) because that trip is loooong.

Ten hours in one fell swoop is not recommended but we made it work. I was definitely ready to be back and, well, a way from my sister. We all had a good time and now one argued or anything but I can only handle someone who a.) doesn’t plan and b.) lives minute to minute making poor choices. My sister is nice and all but man, she and her boyfriend are the type who just mask all their problems with food and drugs and whatnot so it gets a bit old hanging out with them. I like them both but we were done after that trip. Ordered pizza when we got home then just hung out, decompressing. We drive back Wednesday morning and got back to real life: laundry, errands, house cleaning. I needed that half day to put everything back together and get my brain ready to be back here, at work. All in all, just like the last time there, I really enjoyed Texas!