Ft. Worth, Texas

The Dish Washer and I are having a great time in Cowtown! We are here for the Red Steagall Cowboy Gathering. It is taking place at the Historic Stockyards. We really wanted to stay at the hotel that The Dish Washer comes to every time he comes here on business, but Red rents the whole thing out to his folks, so we are staying a short drive away in Downtown Ft. Worth. I was pretty disappointed to not get to stay there, and the potty breaks we have taken there have made it that much worse. This place is a step back in time. The Dish Washer even says that they use the old turn keys to get into the door...none of this electronic key junk.

When we first got to town, our driver took us straight to eat at Joe T. Garcia's Mexican Restaurant. The food was very good, but nothing over the top special about it. The main thing, though, is that you CANNOT beat the atmosphere at this restaurant. We sat outside and it was a perfect night. We even got to hear a little Sweet Home Alabama playing at a private party.

Yesterday, we got started just in time to see the cattle drive down main street immediately followed up by the parade of chuck wagons that are competing in this year's competition.

We skipped breakfast since we were so full from Thursday night. We had lunch at Riscky's at the Stockyards. In Texas, the thing to eat is BBQ brisket, so The DishWasher and I both had a chopped BBQ brisket sandwich. I am such a PORK barbecue girl! It wasn't bad, but there is just something about that pork! Oink, oink! Right? Then we walked around all the chuck wagons, walked through the trade show, and went to listen to some old Texas swing music. It was great, and I am completely fascinated with chuck wagons. The Dish Washer's boss told us that a completely renovated and functioning chuck wagon costs $25,000. I'll just keep walking around them instead of buying one! I even met one of the teams that was featured on the Food Network when they had the chuck wagon cook off. They said I could come back and help them clean the dishes after all the cooking was over. I ran into them again today and offered, but they said they were done. Too bad, because as much as I hate to clean dishes by hand, I would have loved to clean chuck wagon dishes!

Friday evening we had dinner reservations at Lonesome Dove. I was very disappointed to be so full from lunch, so I wasn't ready to eat. I've heard great things from The Dish Washer about this place. They eat there just about every time he comes out here and it was even featured in my BFF Paula's magazine. Even though, I wasn't that hungry, I did order from the second course the Pork and Hatch Green Chili. Remember when I said The Dish Washer said my chili was the best? We have a new winner!! This was the best chili I have ever had and such a different version. It was made with ground pork and had chunks of green chilies throughout. The Dish Washer also got the hand cut beef tenderloin and I tried a bite of that. So tender...like butter, or "buttah". I'm never too full for dessert, so you know I had to have chocolate bread pudding. Mmm, Mmm!

We had such an early dinner reservation because we wanted to go the ranch rodeo. I've never been to a ranch rodeo before and these are very different than the rodeos that are so popular on TV. The events are very different and are things like calf branding, team doctoring, wild cow milking and my favorite, mutton bustin'. This is the cutest thing: tiny little cowboys and cowgirls get on helmets and protective chest gear and get on sheep and hold on tight for a wild ride. There was one particular fella that didn't want to go at all and it was the funniest thing! His daddy, I guess wanting his son to be "tough," picked him up and put him on that sheep anyway. You could hear that poor boy SCREAMING! Needless to say, he didn't go, but his disappointed daddy sure didn't comfort him! The Dish Washer and I agree that My Buddy would be good at mutton bustin'. He has such determination that he wouldn't let go if we told him not to. It was a full day, but really so much fun. This is a picture of the mutton bustin'.

We got started earlier today, because we wanted to see all the chuck wagons cooking. But before they got too far into their cooking, we had brunch at H3 Ranch. We had another early dinner reservation tonight because we couldn't miss a certain ballgame, so we planned to eat brunch to hold us over. It was very good and The Dish Washer's huevos rancheros were a favorite. After that, we headed back to the chuck wagons. I'll let the pictures do the talking for me.

Then, we watched the Cutting Horse finals and listened to the youth fiddle competition. We also took a stroll down the streets to find Cowtown Fudge & Creamery. We both enjoyed some ice cream cones. We ran into some more folks that The Dish Washer works with, which was so much fun.

This evening we had dinner with some other work folks at Del Frisco's Steakhouse. They have a place for you to hang your cowboy hats. His boss is such a regular that he has his own hook. The group started with calamari. I tried it, and I could actually eat it! I was proud, but it was fried and had yummy marinara sauce, so that probably helped. I had the filet and The Dish Washer had a ribeye. They have very good bread and sides. Their special tonight that we got to try was Jalapeno Macaroni and Cheese. I had an average cheesecake for dessert and The Dish Washer had bread pudding. (Diets go out the window when you are on vacation!! YIPEE!)

We'll wrap up our trip tomorrow. We plan to see as much of the ranch rodeo finals we can before having to go to the airport. There is also a junior chuck wagon cooking competition tomorrow, so you know I want to see that. I'll let you know if we eat at anymore fun places. I think we are planning to return to H3 Ranch. If you ever come to Fort Worth, you really should check out the places that we have eaten.

I've worn my Tony Lama's everyday and I even got to ride a Texas Longhorn! We have had a great time living the Old West lifestyle the past few days.

Happy trails to you...