Dad's Birthday Trip

After finding out that the termite guy couldn't even do the treatment on Monday, we got ready and headed to Grandma & Grandpa's house as our home base for Dad's birthday trip. Here is David kicked back & snacking in the car.

Tuesday, April 4 - Dad's Birthday. We started the day by touring the area to see how the landscaping has changed since we were last there.

We visited both new wells and the site of Uncle Bubba & Aunt Wee's new house.

It was sad to see so few wildflowers this spring after the lack of fall rains. Here is a lonely little patch of bluebonnets in an area that is usually covered with them.

From there, we headed to Fort Worth. Dad wanted to go to the Vintage Flying Museum at Mecham Field, but alas, it was closed.

Then we went to the Stockyards and went through the Cowtown Cattlepen Maze. We had to find and punch our cards at 4 letter stations: M - A - Z - E. It was pretty hard! But it was fun! After being in the maze for a while, David actually walked part of it. When he got to a dead end, he'd turn around and try another way!

Here he is holding up our punch card at the end to show that "We Made It!" He got a shiny sticker and a toy pinwheel for completing the maze! (Grandpa took these pictures for us from the look-out - see Grandpa's Blog for more pictures from the day.)


Then we walked down the street to the Fort Worth Stockyard Exchange building. Grandpa helps Grandma up the steps while he reminisces about coming here with his daddy as a little boy to sell cattle. Grandpa said, "It was bigger then." It always was bigger then... Inside the museum, we saw a window that Grandpa remembered seeing as a child.

Everyone was hungry by the time we left & Dad was hankering Riscky's BBQ downtown. Not the one at the Stockyards, the one downtown. Here we see to satisfied and full customers headed out the door. Grandma was about walked to death by this point!

Mom, Dad, and David headed up the street another block to the old Fire Station No. 1 which is currently housing the exhibit, "150 Years of Fort Worth." It was really interesting about the history of the town, the panther, the FW-D rivalry, and the beginning of the fire department. (the picture of Dad & David with the buffalo in the previous post was taken at this exhibit)


Here is an old FWFD helmet from the Panther Town display.




Outside, Dad tries to show David the skyscrapers, but the sky was really bright and cars & trucks kept driving past. Give David a wheel any day & then you've got a friend!

Ready to head home, Grandpa suggested stopping by the Trinity Railway Express station and got no complaints here! We never saw the TRE train, but there were several trains sitting there. Here, Dad tells David about them.


And there goes David, off to check things out for himself. The gold sticker on his back is from the maze.


Back at Grandma & Grandpa's house. What an exciting day!





We came back home on Wednesday. We left Grandma & Grandpa's about 10am, went to the school to see MawMaw & Aunt Laurie, then out & visited with Grandpa H, Norma, and Curtis. From there, we were going to stop by Grana & Papa's, but after calling on the way, they weren't home so we turned around. Had late lunch at Taco Cabana, then we went back to Radio Shack in Arlington(!) to exchange Dad's new scanner. Stopped in Weatherford for drinks & snacks, then here in Eastland to try to see a train come by. (We waited & then decided it would take too long.) Then to W-M in Eastland to go potty while Dad looked for a cable. Paused a bit later for Mom to take a picture and finally got home a little after 10pm! Can you believe it??? It took us 12 hours to get home!