This was our long weekend trip to Fort Worth, Texas to see a Rod Stewart concert with our friends the Burdicks, Dan and Chris. If you remember from June of 2020, we helped Dan and Chris move from California to Texas. If you don’t remember that, then I have to tell you Dan and Chris moved to Texas two years ago. Without further ado, here is our trip to Fort Worth.
Day 1
This was our travel day. We got up early, drove to Burbank Airport, which is so much more convenient and easy to use than LAX, and zoomed off to the Dallas Fort Worth Airport. The flight was event free, and Dan and Chris were waiting for us at the airport. We had a late BBQ lunch at Papa’s Delta Blues Smokehouse. The food was good, but good BBQ is easy to find in Texas.
The Burdicks drove us to our hotel in downtown Fort Worth and returned to their house in McKinney. We stayed at the Harper Kimpton, which is located in a historic building.
We got checked in and look at our room number.
Are you kidding me? The state of Texas clearly hates me. Once again, I tried to act tough and didn’t change rooms. We were beat and after checking in to our hotel, we went to bed. But I was nervous.
Day 2
Cindy and I got up, had some breakfast at our hotel, and did some sightseeing in the downtown area. It is a beautiful city.
Here is a picture of a street sign and an interesting shoe store, apparently for children.
In the early evening, we went to dinner with the Birdicks and then were off to Dickies Arena for the Rod Stewart concert.
We had pretty good seats on the floor, not too far from the stage. This was our first time on the floor and probably our last. The reason for this is people stood for most of the concert, causing us to stand as well to see the show. I could have accepted that if we would have had a clear view of the stage. But unfortunately, there was a jackwagon woman a few rows ahead of us who danced in the isle next to her seat and had to dance with her arms straight up in the air, blocking our view of the stage. All of my pictures of the show were from the monitors since I didn’t have a clear view of the stage due to the dancing flailing arm freak. Do I sound bitter? I was a bit, since these were expensive tickets that would have been better without my long armed friend. Anyway, back the the show we heard live and watched on monitors. The opening act was Cheap Trick, which seemed like an odd choice to me. That being said (or typed), they put on a pretty darned good show.
Rod Stewart was amazing. He put on a fantastic show and I would see him again. I can’t believe he is 77 years old. If you get a chance, see this man before he stops performing.
Day 3
The Burdicks spend the night at our hotel, in their own room of course. The day after the concert, Dan, Cindy and I walked to a nearby breakfast joint named “Yolk.” Yolk is a really great breakfast spot that you have to eat at if in the Fort Worth area. There is a link to their website at the end of this post.
After breakfast, we went looking for a statue of a panther. The panther is the official mascot of the city of Fort Worth. Here is the abridged story, straight from the web. If you want to read the whole story, see the link at the end of this blog.
Shortly after the Civil War, there was a nationwide depression, which lasted more than five years. Banks, railroads and other companies went bankrupt. The Texas and Pacific Railroad, which was promised land grants from the State of Texas if the railroad reached Fort Worth by January 1, 1874, simply stopped laying tracks a few miles east of Fort Worth. The population dwindled as people went looking for work. The city teetered on the brink, a near ghost town.
Enter Robert E. Cowart, who had lived in Fort Worth briefly before moving to Dallas to practice law. Cowart wrote the editor of the Dallas Herald that he had been to a meeting in Fort Worth the other day and things were so quiet, he had seen a live panther asleep on Main Street, undisturbed by the rush of men or the hum of trade.
Allegedly, motivated by this gibe, the remaining citizens of Fort Worth took up the abandoned tools and materials of the railroadmen and, with herculean effort, completed the tracks themselves, just before the deadline. The city’s future was secure, and the nickname ‘Panther City’ stuck.
Amused rather than offended by the new moniker, Fort Worth fondly embraced the panther as a mascot, which it remains to this day. Displayed proudly on Police badges, public buildings, high schools, and baseball teams, it has become an enduring if somewhat overlooked icon.
So we were off to the the panther statue. We found it near the convention center, and would you believe it was not the one we were looking for? This one was pretty neat and was part of a fountain. Have a look for yourself.
We returned to our hotel, freshened up, and left our room to meet Dan and Chris in the lobby. As we walked down the hall toward the elevator, a room door opened and a completely naked younger (mid 20’s) man was standing there, with a confused look on his face, and not a stitch of clothing on his body. Cindy took a double take and did her best to look offended. But since this guy was in pretty good shape, I did notice a few extra peeks in the streaker’s direction. I just laughed because it was clear to me he was probably very hung over and had no idea he was standing naked in front of his room. So we have now added another new experience to our many to date; “Naked man in the hotel hallway.”
We met the Burdicks in the lobby, shared the story of our naked friend, and were off to have a tour of Globe Life Field, the home of the baseball Texas Rangers.
It was really cool to see the field so close.
They have a few interestingly named food stands.
There is a row of wood rocking chairs near the upper deck that are actual seats you can buy tickets for.
The stadium has all kinds of art and team history.
There was a speakeasy with a really neat copper ceiling.
You could sit at a table that was at field level and you were protected by a net.
Here is Cindy with the largest bobble head either of us had ever seen. And yes, the head bobbled.
And the best part of the tour, playing on the actual field.
After the tour, the Burdicks dropped us off at our hotel and returned to their house. Cindy and I had some take out from the Italian restaurant at our hotel and got some sleep.
Day 4
This was the day we flew back to California. Since our flight was in the evening, we used the day for some more sightseeing. We started the day with another walk and found the other panther statue. The one we were actually looking for the first time.
We returned to our room, got packed up and checked our bags at our hotel so we could visit the Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art.
We arrived at lunch time and had lunch in their fancy café. There was a shallow lake around the café.
After lunch, we hit the museum. Here is some of the art we saw.
This ladder piece looked really cool in person. You could look at it from the bottom or top.
This next two pieces had no name. How can artists have all this creativity to make art, yet not have the ability to come up with a name. Come on artists, if you can make it, you can name it! How about, “Orange and Chrome Stairs to Nowhere.”
And I’d name this one, “Some Lines Because I Couldn’t Think of Anything Else to Draw.”
Now this next artist named their piece, and it makes no sense.
Here are a few things that didn’t make sense. Stairs that end in a floor, and what looked like floating silver pieces.
Then there were these exhibits outside.
And last but not least, a few more from the inside.
While I have to admit that I do not understand or “get” modern art, I do enjoy seeing most of it.
We returned to our hotel, got our bags, and were off to the airport. Now I need to explain something about this flight. Usually when we book a flight for two people, it is under one reservation number. This way anything we do involving our flight, we only have to do it once. On this flight, I used a credit we had from a cancelled flight from last year. For some reason, American Airlines made me make a reservation for each of us, so two reservations. Now I had to do everything twice. So the night before our flight, American Airlines offered me an upgrade to first class for only $91. Since you get a free checked bag in first class, that saves $35. So the actual upgrade price is really only $56 per person, for a total of $112. Did I want to upgrade for only $112? Oh yes. And we have never flown first class, so this was going to be a surprise for Cindy. Here she is enjoying her extra wide, only two seats across, first class seat.
And here I am.
So why am I sitting in a row with three seats? Stupid American Airlines and having two separate reservations. Back to the night before. When I went to check in for my flight, I received the $91 upgrade offer. Obviously, I did not want to upgrade then find out there was only one and leave Cindy in the back of the plane with the commoners. So I checked her in and the offer was still there. Bam, Cindy was in first class. I went back to check myself in and rut-row, it said I was already checked in, with the commoners. Gosh darn it. I called American Airlines customer service, waited an hour and a half to speak to a live person, only to be told there was nothing they could do. Insert curse words here. I was told to talk to the counter person at the airport. Fast forward to the airport. Because Cindy was a first class flyer, we got to check in using the “special” first class lane. There, the counter person had good news and bad news for us. I’m sure you already guessed the bad news. First class was sold out. The good news was first class passengers (Cindy) get to check two bags for free. So another $35 savings. That made Cindy’s upgrade cost a whopping $21. And I ended up on a row with no other passengers, so I really got to stretch out. And other than being at the front of the plane and having really large, comfortable seats, how different could first class really be? Let me tell you. While still at the gate, I was getting scolded to put on my seatbelt and leave my tray table up. Cindy was handed a hot towel to relax with and offered a preflight drink, alcohol included if she wanted that. Once airborne, I got nothing while Cindy was being served warm nuts in a ceramic bowl. Once it was service time, I had a tiny bag of pretzels tossed at me that bounced off my forehead, and about 3 ounces of flat soda in a plastic cup. And don’t forget the two inch square paper napkin. Cindy was served a “cheese tray” which consisted of cheese, crackers, hummus, and vegetables all served on ceramic dishes with real silverware. And a soda in a real glass with a full size cloth napkin to boot. Yes my friends, there is a huge difference between first class and the rest of us suckers. And for the record, while I may have slightly embellished what happened to me during the flight, everything here about Cindy’s flight is 100% true.
The next blog entry will be about the our return to St. Joseph, Missouri. Stay safe until then.
