Goin' To the Big D

Our excursion to the Shreveport-Bossier Captains baseball game the other day whetted our appetite for baseball so we decided to take a little trip to Dallas for the weekend to attend a Texas Rangers game. Last Wednesday, we booked a cheap hotel room on Hotwire (plus used a $25 credit!), ordered game tickets online, and made a plan for leaving Saturday morning.

First up on the agenda: Leaving in time to arrive in Tyler, Texas, just before 11 a.m. Tyler is about an hour and a half away, and their exit off of I-20 offers a topnotch rest stop. Truly. At the Texas Best Smokehouse and Travel Center you'll find incredibly chipper attendants, quite possibly THE fanciest gas station bathroom in the world, and a glorious, glorious selection of beef jerky.

Have you ever seen such?

We were trying to time our arrival in Tyler for lunch.


No, not here at Wienerland, though when we spotted it I did declare we will eat here one day. We were wanting to eat here:

We first read about Stanley's Famous Pit Bar-B-Q in a Texas Monthly article, and we tried it out last summer on our way home from Dallas. That trip, we got to Stanley's in the middle of the afternoon and they were sold out of ribs. We tried again a few months ago, and again they were sold out. In fact, the owner told us they sold out of ribs within the first 20 minutes of opening that day. We were determined to be first in line this time. We sat in the parking lot until they opened up, and Matthew was finally able to try the ribs.

Doesn't he look happy? And they were good too.

With full tummies we were off to Dallas. We headed first to check in at our hotel, Le Meridian. You never know what hotel you're booking on Hotwire until you commit to the purchase. I think we lucked out. The hotel has been recently remodeled and the rooms are very mod.

We were also within walking distance of the Galleria Mall. After checking in and doing a little shopping we headed to the Bishop Arts District. I'd read in Southern Living about a place called The Soda Gallery. Their website said they sell Dublin Dr Pepper (glass bottles, pure cane sugar) by the case so I, of course, needed to go. As it was a summer day, we needed refreshment and bought a few drinks while we were there. I obviously went with a Dr Pepper (and Matthew bought me a case to bring home), while Matthew tried Kickapoo Joy Juice and a black cherry soda. I can't remember the brand. It's a fun little colorful shop.

Then we were off to the game. Now, let's say, hypothetically of course, you arrive to a Texas Rangers game, pick up your tickets from will call, and sweet-talk a fellow Georgian into letting you in a gate that you aren't supposed to go in, when all of a sudden she scans your ticket and says, "Well, looks like you're not getting in after all. Your tickets are for tomorrow." There's no need for a sob-filled breakdown or a blame game of who's the dunce who clicked on the wrong day. Nope, should this happen-- not that I would know personally or anything--but should this happen to you, simply go to the manager's ticket window. If they have tickets available, they'll work with you! Whew!

Once inside the stadium, we took a walk around. To check out the food offerings, natch. It's a really great stadium to watch a game in, and there are tons of things for kids to do. We watched a little batting practice before deciding on nachos and a cheeseburger and heading to our Lexus Club Level seats. What? That's just how we roll.

The Rangers lost to the Minnesota Twins, but the game was still fun. Perfect weather. No humidity. Constant breeze. And a lady who comes by every so often to ask if you need anything. Unfortunately, what I desperately needed was ice cream and she didn't deliver that, but that was okay. If I'm going to eat three giant scoops of ice cream, it wouldn't hurt me to walk to get it.

The next day we went to the Dallas Farmers Market before heading home. It's a really good market, and by the time you walk through it you will have eaten an entire fruit salad worth of samples.

We bought tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini, okra, and strawberries.

Then we headed back to Shreveport. We wanted to get home fairly early because Matthew was on call Monday. We did, however, stop again at the Texas Best Smokehouse. Matthew normally strictly forbids me from eating beef jerky in the car with him. He felt generous this trip and stopped on the way back so I could make a purchase. There are all sorts of varieties and they'll happily give you samples. I went with sweet honey bison jerky. And I've just about eaten it all.