We
awoke rested and refreshed! Time to git along little doggie to the Stockyards!
Stockyard-Mile
1438- Fort Worth Stockyards- We arrived early so we were able to meander
through the rodeo stadium and historic downtown area before it got too crowded.
We did the touristy things because we are tourists. Maze in the hot Texas sun,
Mechanical Bull, and Rodeo arena. But, then it was time for the main event! The
cattle drive! At 11:30 everyday, the cowboys drive the cattle through the
middle of town! I’d never seen a Texas longhorn before! And, we joined hundreds of friends from the
globe to see it.
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| The observation deck in an important feature if you want to see your kids act like lab rats. Survival of the fittest, or the smallest who can scurry under the walls. |
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| World's Largest Honky Tonk! They have no idea what that is. |
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| What long horns you have! Better to gore you with. |
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| What's that you say, window lady? World's Largest to the left! Sure-shootin', I'll see you there! |
And then on to the Cowboy Hall of Fame!
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| Rodeo Clowns need love too |
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| The real Trigger! Smartest Horse in the Movies! |
Lunch- We ate lunch. But, it wasn't at the Beef Jerky Outlet. Who gets their Jerky from an outlet?
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| This bull ride is a little more his speed. |
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| Fort Worth. Where a kid can be a kid. |
Light
bulb- After lunch we entered into a little museum in the main stockyard building.
I let out a little shriek! I totally forgot that the second longest burning light
bulb in the world is in Fort Worth. Talk about serendipity! It has been burning
for 108 years. "How could that be?", you and I ask. It has something to do
with the filament and a perfect vacuum.
Our little docent was only slightly more excited about telling us about
the light bulb as I was hearing about it. I felt like I had found a future me. A soul mate that gets real excited about long burning lightbulbs. Then she ushered us over and let us listen to Gene Autry sing Happy Trails on a real
live phonograph. She joined along and then of course I joined along. She was a spunky little thing! And, she is my new best friend.
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| I have a feeling our perky docent was the author of these signs. |
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| I want to be her when I grow up. |
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| Happy Trails, Fort Worth! |
mile 1513-Buc-ee's-
We’d had a couple of people tell us about this place. It’s a gas station. But,
really. It’s much, much more. They have every fountain drink
imaginable, about 16 slushy machines, candy and nicknacks as far as the eye can
see. Thanks for the rec, Lindsay and Laurel!
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| Lest we forget World Famous Bathrooms! |
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| Clearly, we are not a selfie people. I am okay with that. |
Mile 1638-Austin
Bats- After we found our hotel in Austin we had to take off for this night's excursion. We set sail on the Texas Star riverboat to behold a wonderment. There
is a bridge in Austin that houses 1.5 million Mexican free–tailed bats! It is
the largest urban bat colony IN THE WORLD! Holy Guano, Batman! Just as the sun set,
the first bats started to fly out, followed by a swarm that formed a big bat
cloud that was the coolest thing I have ever seen! I didn’t take a video of it,
but I found this one.
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| A gajillion people waiting for a gajillion bats. |
By
the time the boat got back it was almost 10:00. And we still hadn’t eaten dinner.
We found a random Australian themed restaurant that featured a beach volley
ball court. It was just like Top Gun!
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| Because. Austin. |
Callaway is so glad you went to Bucee's! It's his favorite place on earth after Disney! Also my name is LindsAy. Don't be spellin' it with an e like street trash. LOVE YOU!
ReplyDeleteOMG! I can't believe I did that! I do write these in the middle of the night. I guess the Texas heat got to my head!
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