We’re impulsive.
Last weekend we decided that it would be a good idea to skip work on Friday and go to Dallas, Texas to see U2.
It actually turned out to be a pretty great idea.
Straight shot 4 hour flight from Vancouver at 7 am got us there at 1 pm Dallas time. We stayed at the Aloft in downtown Dallas, for no particular reason other than that the price was right and it looked to be in the middle of the action. Wrong. There really is no action in downtown Dallas. Pretty decent hotel though.
After we dropped our bags, we headed to the Bishop Arts District (the long way apparently, thanks to the directions on my phone, which seemed to consistently be a bit “off”), for some Bar-B-Que. Google found us the Lockhart Smokehouse which was absolutely fantastic. Follow the sign past the bar that says “Meat This Way”. Around $25 got us a whole barbequed chicken, ‘slaw, mac and cheese, beans and for some reason about 6 slices of regular white bread. The meat was wrapped up in paper and, basically, you take it back to a picnic bench, grab a beer from the bar, and rip the bird to pieces with your hands. It was great. http://www.lockhartsmokehouse.com/
Then off to the show. The show was at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, where the Dallas Cowboys play. The place was freaking massive.
Eight levels of stands. And apparently somewhere around 90,000 people there.
My cousin has the coolest job in the world – he works with U2. He had arranged for “family” passes which get us into any show. We had to walk about ten million miles to get to the Media Entrance at AT&T Stadium, which apparently was the only place that recognized our passes. We went to the floor, which had a particularly nice bar area. Two double Tito’s and coke were $55, which was a bit of a shock. After a nice visit with my cousin we settled into a very private area beside the stage for the show.
The show was, predictably, great. The setlist was similar to the one a few weeks back in Vancouver, except that the ending was a bit more upbeat. I’m going to take personal credit for that. http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/u2/2017/atandt-stadium-arlington-tx-6be7c696.html
The tour celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of U2’s The Joshua Tree, and the middle set of the show saw the band play the album cover to cover. It’s a killer album from front to back, but their live (first time ever) version of Red Hill Mining Town is, well, perfect. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ5T33Zxprg
Back to Dallas for the night, and up early to look around. It was freaking hot – well into the nineties by 11 am. We Yelped ourselves a great breakfast recommendation – Breadwinners in Uptown. I had grits for the first time (and a killer blood orange mimosa). Pretty good all around http://www.breadwinnerscafe.com/menu/
Then it was time for the Dallas sightseeing walk. One good thing about our hotel was that it was close to the sights worth seeing in downtown. There was a bit of an interesting park across the street from our hotel – Pioneer Park. It apparently is the number two attraction for tourists in Dallas. It was, historically, a civil war era cemetery for local civic leaders. Now the key attraction is an art installation featuring fourty-something brass steer running about.
And there was an odd little shrine to the Confederate Army, with statues of four generals, including “Stonewall” Jackson.
Having conquered Pioneer Park, we headed to the Grassy Knoll. Dallas’ big, but somewhat sad and morbid, attraction is Deeley Plaza, where JFK was “allegedly” (see the plaque below) shot by Lee Harvey Oswald. Honestly, I grew up thinking that one of the reasons people doubted that Oswald was the shooter was that it would have been near-impossible for him to have made those shots from where he was on the sixth floor of the Texas Schoolbook Depository. Having been there, it honestly didn’t seem that difficult to believe. It was pretty close. I could have hit a car with a paintball gun from that distance.
We continued our walk through downtown. There were some interesting things here and there. It was fun to wander around without any real itinerary or map. Stumbled across a representation of the first homesteader’s cabin in the middle of downtown.
One great discover was Wild Bills Western Store. Bought a cool Scully jacket and Sharon got a hat. Staff was great – offered me a beer, but I thought he was joking. He wasn’t. My loss.
We had lunch at a place called Gator’s in the Historic District. We were intrigued by the “all you can eat catfish” and the drinks that seemed to come in one gallon Mason jars. We were still stuffed from brunch, and had to pass on the cajun fried gator.
Saturday night we decided “hey, you can’t go to Dallas and not Uber to a really cool honky tonk dive bar”. So … welcome to Adair’s. I have no idea where it was.
Sunday morning we checked out of the Aloft and headed to a town known to the locals as “Fartworth” (Fort Worth). We skipped right through the centre of town, which actually looked quite interesting. Our goal: the Fort Worth Stockyards.
As the name implies, the Stockyards used to be …. wait for it … stockyards. Now it is a very well preserved touristy district with lots of western stores, restaurants and bars, including the famous Billy Bob’s, which bills itself as the largest country bar in the world.
