Fort Worth Tourists

If Fort Worth lacks appeal to you, it's because you've not spent time there recently. The Bass Performance Hall is spectacular. Sundance Square in downtown Fort Worth is abuzz with activity every day, but on weekends it is especially busy. The Amon Carter Museum is in Fort Worth (a very fine art museum), as is the Kimbell Art Museum, the Cowboy Hall of Fame, the National Cowgirl Museum, and many more. At the Stockyards, north of downtown, there is Billy Bob's nightclub, a legendary country music mecca. The Japanese Gardens, Botanic Gardens, the Nature Center, the Fort Worth Zoo...the list is amazing for a city known to most as a "hick" town in the shadow of cosmopolitan Dallas.

I'm writing all of this because this weekend my wife and I are going to play tourists in Fort Worth. A few months ago, we won a door-prize: a one-night stay in a nice downtown Fort Worth hotel (the Radisson), complete with a bottle of champagne, chocolate dipped strawberries, and breakfast for two. We're going to use it tonight. So, today, we're going to Fort Worth and act like tourists. At the Amon Carter Museum, there's an exhibition of Richard Avedon photographs...In the American West. We'll see that, and we plan to visit the Cowgirl Museum. I just learned the National Women's Finals Rodeo is going on this weekend, too, but that may be tough to see. Tonight, we go to see Four Day Weekend, billed as the best comedy show in the southwest; my wife got tickets for us at 7:30 pm.

We're going to milk this for all it's worth...as I have to come back to deal with car issues...my old Toyota Avalon, which seems ready to give up the ghost, and my much older Ford Pickup, which has never passed inspection and to which I do not yet have title (because it won't pass inspection). This morning, I went out to move the truck (it's illegal to leave vehicle parked in the same place for more than 24 hours...smacks of a Fascist state, to me), only to find the battery appears to have died. And, on Monday morning, I am scheduled to meet with a pest control company representative, who will offer advice on how roof rats are finding their way into my attic and, just as importantly, how to get rid of them. Hearing critters scamper about in my attic late at night and early in the morning is downright disturbing!

But for now, I'm going to shower, shave, put on my most comfortable casual kickabout clothes, and play tourist in Fort Worth! Fortunately for us, my wife's Camry is only 3 years old and is not threatening to conk out, so we have transportation to the "hick" town!