We headed out on our road trip on Tuesday. A zip through Micky D's in post for an Egg McMuffin, then down to Snyder, then on through Roby, Anson, Albany, Breckenridge, Mineral Wells, Weatherford and a few wrong turns, we made it to Arlington and into our hotel for a little rest before catching the red trolley to The Ballpark at Arlington to see the Rangers and the Oakland A's play. We had A+ seats along the 3rd baseline, 12 rows up. An added bonus was that Cliff Lee, newly acquired from the Mariners and a darn good pitcher, was the Rangers starter. It turned out to be a pitcher's dual and Lee pitched 9 innings and was pulled when the game went into extra innings. So when Nelson Cruz hit a 2 run homer in the bottom of the 10th to win the game, Lee did not even get the win. But he's a darn good pitcher. Great game.
***Cliff Lee***
Coach Tuberville threw out the first pitch. Pictures of him were not great. The only one that showed him full face had Gerald Myers in it and coach appeared to be picking his nose. Not sure which is worse.
Wednesday was shopping day. We headed to Frisco to Stonebriar Mall to go to Restoration Hardware, a place Deborah particularly wanted to see (me too!!), along with Williams Sonoma and Sam Moon's which is not in the mall but out in front of it. First stop though? Cheesecake Factory for Tamale Corncakes and chocolate coconut cheese cake for me and soup/salad/sandwich lunch combo and key lime cheesecake for Deb. We got another piece for Uncle T and Aunt Betty who we were meeting later for supper. Theirs was banana cream. Sadly, after a long afternoon in the hot car, none faired well although they did reappear in a different shape after refrigerated and the taste wasn't bad. You could just not swear as to what it had once been..
Our trip inside the mall was not completely as planned. Restoration Hardware was a goner, replaced by a Forever 21. Williams Sonoma did manage to take a few bucks from me...new mixing bowls, measuring cups, measuring spoons, a baster brush and some chocolate & vanilla sugars. Here are my mixing bowls:
The cups and spoons are the same colors. Love them a lot. They will look fab in my glass front cabinet doors...adding color to my kitchen.
Then it was out to Sam Moon's. If you are not familiar, it is a store that has accessories--purses, wallets, hats, key rings, jewelry, etc. Reasonable prices...between wholesale and retail and millions to choose from.
I ended up with a key ring, a purse and a wallet. All have silver stars...sorta Texas stars...way cool.
Next stop? Ikea. A store that overwhelms me, no doubt. After a full hour or so in there and total purchases of a green picture frame for Grayson and a drain rack for Deb, we left exhausted, headed for dinner at Babe's with Uncle T & Aunt Betty.
Babe's is a restaurant that has several locations in the Dallas area and it's concept is simple. They have branched out lately to other foods but when I first went it was fried chicken or chicken fried steak, then all the southern-wow-just-like-mom-used-to-make and almost as good. Mashed potatoes, homemade cream style corn, green beans, biscuits & gravy. In my mind it does not get any better. They actually bring out 1/2 of a fried chicken per person and then keep refilling the sides. It is an enormous amount of food and leftovers are abundant. To die for and tonight was not exeption. Everyone left with a full tummy and after a little pre game traffic, we made it to the hotel in time to share leftovers with the evening desk crew and catch the Rangers loss on tv.
Thursday finds us sleeping in a little and then heading for a tour of Jerry World, the new Dallas Cowboys stadium. WOW is all I can say. Huge facility with a huge price tag and it shows. We saw all the levels, the Cowboys and cheerleaders dressing rooms and had our picture taken on the star in the middle of the field. I'd been to Texas Stadium a few years ago and was in awe of the 'Ring of Honor' and Jerry moved it over but it was not quite the same. I do have to give him an A for effort.
Here is the picture of Deb and me on the star:
After the tour, late lunch at Cracker Barrel and then to the Rangers game again. A+++ seats...still on the 3rd base line, 4th row, excellent seats. The game was more of a hitters thing and the Rangers won 7-4. Fun game but we had a distraction: Greenman. Apparently a character from a show called 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia", a show I'd never seen. We had the luck of sitting directly in front of Greenman and he was eventually noticed by Fox Sports and he had the pleasure of being interviewed by Jim Knox, a regular sportscaster with no personality whatsoever. When they do the Tech games, the guys in the booth say "back to you Knoxy" and I groan alot. But I digress. Here is Greenman. He told his wife he's putting this picture on their Christmas card this year.
Friday morning we headed home and we were a little less lost which was a good thing and we had breakfast at a diner called The Weatherford Downtown Cafe. Finally home about 5 and boy oh boy was I tired. I was glad to crawl into my little soft bed and to sleep in this moring.
I'm going to have to take the week to recover from all the fun!!
