Virtual Tour Day 1: Cowtown on a Budget!

Welcome! You've just stumbled upon the Humor Bloggers Dot Com Virtual Tour and its stop in Cowtown (Fort Worth), Texas. We just finished stalking brookeamanda up in Illinois and if you want to see where we've been and where we're going, click here! I hope you had a nice, relaxing flight and are well rested.

I know you're probably ready to begin the tour but first, like the classy responsible tourists that we are, we must check our budget.

That's right. Times are tough down here in Cowtown. I've been saving up for a nice pair of roper boots (or maybe a nice pair of boobs will do) but I'm willing to use the money to entertain you. Let me grab Cat and we'll see what we've got:

Photo: ReformingGeek

As you can probably guess, that money won't get me nice pair of anything so I checked with the Fort Worth Stockyards and they are doing a special event today with the cattle. That's right. They could use a few extra hands (pun intended) to shovel.....er....stuff. While we're shoveling, we can enjoy the history behind the Fort Worth Stockyards (thank you Wiki):

The Fort Worth Stockyards now celebrates Fort Worth's long tradition as a part of the cattle industry and was designated as a historical district in 1976. Many bars and nightclubs (including Billy Bob's Texas) are located in the vicinity, and the area has a Western motif. There is also an opry and a rodeo. The Fort Worth Stockyards are the last standing stockyards in the United States. Some Fort Worth volunteers (Hey, that's us, except I got them to pay us) still run the cattle drives today. They do it so that people can see what it was like in the 1800s.

Photo: dchrisoh, flickr.com Creative Commons

Fast forward a few hours and we are incredibly ripe out here in this heat!

After a quick shower with a garden hose, we are headed to lunch. That's right. We will be eating at *Manny's house near the stockyards. This is on the north side of town where many of the "hole in the wall" Tex-Mex restaurants are and the population is mostly Hispanic.

Hubby's great-grandmother (not Hispanic) owned a cafe in this area in the 1930's and we have a family recipe for Spanish Spare Ribs that was one of the most popular dishes on the menu.

Let's get back to Manny. Manny is a friend of Hubby's and his mama cooks up some mean **Tex-Mex (a hybrid of Spanish and native Mexican foods): Enchiladas, Spanish Rice, Refritos (Refried Beans), Tamales, and Sopapillas for dessert.

Photo: kodamakitty, flickr.com Creative Commons

That's enough gas to tank you up pretty dern good. Never fear. If you need to use the facilities, we've got plenty of these around town:

Photo: some email

Just kidding. We've got real bathrooms...somewhere around here I'm sure. Aw, forget it. There's a bush. I'll cover you.

You probably should take one of those pink antacid pills because we are headed to Six Flags over Texas this afternoon. It's in Arlington about 20 minutes from downtown Cowtown. After a cool down on the log flume ride, we are in line for one of the main attractions: Titan. I hope you like roller coasters. This one's a blast!

Photo: mulf, flickr.com Creative Commons

But wait. There's more. After spilling the contents of our stomach from the roller coaster ride, we are going to sit down for awhile and catch a baseball game. In the picture, it's that red stadium that can be seen from that seriously evil coaster. We will be watching the Texas Rangers play Crotchety's New York Yankees. I think we're going to need lots of beer. The Yankees usually kick our ass.

Also, in the background of the picture is a work-in-progress shot of the new Cowboys stadium, the new home for the Dallas Cowboys professional football team (just in case you haven't heard of them!) If you've got a spare thousand, you might be able to get a reasonably decent seat.

Do you get the idea that sports are a big thing down here?

You would be right.

OK, the baseball game's over. We actually won! Let's get on the road. You're spending the night at my place tonight. Um, no, not with me. Sorry. There just isn't enough room in the bed and Hubby won't even let the cat sleep with us. I've got plenty of room in the backyard and you can fight over the little shed:

Photo: ReformingGeek

Sorry about the mess in the yard. It's been a stormy week. We'll talk more about that tomorrow. Nighty night. Sleep tight. Tomorrow will be a busy day!


*Not his real name of course!
**Tex-Mex - "Mexican" food with Texas influences such as a heavy chili con carne sauce (spicy beef gravy), lots of melted cheese, beef, and combination plates served with chips and salsa ("hot sauce").

Flickr photos: Creative Commons license (see sidebar)