Monthly Archives:May 2013

I have made my weary way back to Alaska – started out Saturday mid-day and arrived Kenai Sunday morning early – about 24 hours travel and lay-over time. To continue our story – where did I leave off with the first part?

Ahhh, yes . . . we were headed to Ft. Worth and the cattle drive. Now, you have to understand, Ms. Shelly is a patient tour guide. She has seen all this before, but wanted me to get the full Texas experience. So we chatted and laughed and drove up to Ft. Worth and looked through the Colliseum at the Fort Worth Stockyards Saw tons of Hall of Fame pictures of rodeo giants an rodeo clown giants. Took a peek into the arena itself and listened to bits and pieces from a guide with a group of school kids.

Then we wandered through some shops (grin) and meandered off to the street for the drive. 16 head of steers and a group of yummy cowboys made their way past in a slow procession. One got a little antsy and wandered toward the crowd, but was mustered back into the herd. Yippie-ky-yay!

After all that, of course we had to EAT! So we were off to Joe T. Garcia’s aka Joe T’s, for lunch. Whoa! What a great place – and way too much food. We ordered a combo fajita plate (just 1) and both ate from it . . . then took leftovers home where the mister and we ate from it again . . . and then he had the rest of it for lunch the next day. I highly recommend.

We drove past someone who might be a relative (haha) at Mulholland Custom Imprints (my maiden name) on our way downtown Ft. Worth where we gandered at some of the old buildings (soooo much history!) on our way to the Central Square Ft. Worth Water Gardens. Just lovely!

Thursday night was a special one for Denton Main Street Association as they held the first of several Twilight Tunes events at Sweetwater. Shelly and I decided to go to see if we liked the music of Los Patos Poderosos and discovered we LOVE Chicha. Entirely too much fun.

Friday dawned windy and cold and I took the heat for bringing Alaska weather to Denton. It was to be a special day – Good Morning Texas was coming to town to do a live remote on the Square. Of course, the Moose an Shelly had to go “Dentoning” so we stayed up late the night before getting high . . . erm . . . making signs with markers. Of course we had to stop by Jupiter House Coffee for our morning warm-up go juice. Yum!

After that it was hurry up and wait as the appointed time of 8:30 came and went. We braved it nonetheless and as the day warmed I even shucked my jacket down to short sleeves – to the consternation of several teeth-chattering locals. Heh. Alaskan in the mix. The festivities did finally start and you can even see me (sans jacket) at about 30 seconds in an 40-45 seconds in. After that the host stood directly in front of me and I was the “invisible moose”. lol It was great fun.

We then drove to Rose Costumes . . . and, let me tell you . . . you NEED to go see Rose Costumes! So many things – so little time – we had a ball . . . AND I found somethings for daughter, Lessa’s, wedding next year. Yes, yes I AM that kinda mom.

A siesta was in order afterwards because I had a big evening ahead of me.

It was time to meet internet friend, Lisa and her hubby and baby. Lisa and I have been internet buddies for such a long time that we can’t remember NOT being friends. She doesn’t post much at her blog anymore, but we see each other still on fb. We had a lovely visit – much too short because they were headed further south and east and on a deadline. Like Fran, Corina and Shelly, we really MUST do this again . . . next time y’all come to ‘laska.

To top off a very full day, it was time to take the Ghosts of Denton tour with master storyteller, Shelly! In honor of my being there . . . and First Friday . . . AND Paranormal Day, Shelly offered a BOGOHO – go ahead sound it out. LOL – Buy One Get One Half Off sale. We were joined by about 10 other folks for the trip around the Square and yonder to hear tales of ghosts seen, ghosts felt, ghosts experienced. An extra story was added about an experience Shelly and I had the day before at Recycled, a book store on the Square, located in the Opera House building.

Saturday arrived much too soon an it was time to say goodbye to my hosts, Shelly and Eric. Shelly brought a muffin an mocha to my room while I was in the shower – of course it was from Jupiter! Awww! Then the three of us sat and chatted and got to know each other still better. Then Eric went off to get brunch – BBQ from Rudy’s . . . at 10:30 a.m. Y’all are awesome in Texas!!!

Eric then loaded me up and we headed off to DFW to say goodbye. You can find more stuff about the trip home in my Moose Meandering posts on fb.

It was lovely to visit with everyone. Lovely to be home. Hubbymoose picked me up at the Kenai airport at 6:30 after he got off the night shift. We went out for breakfast then came home so I could catch a nap. I’ve been writing this all afternoon while doing laundry.

Now . . . I will go edit some pics and get them added to this and the first Texas post. Thank you, Texas!!! You did yourself proud.

I am on the last few days of a wonderful trip to Texas. I came for business – which took up the first few days. Then I visited with my aunt and uncle – which was a blessing.

So hard to leave them because this may be our last meeting – at least here on this plane. As you can imagine, it was bittersweet both to see and to leave. I am thankful for their son-in-law who has taken on a gargantuan task of caring for them in his home. His wife, their only daughter, passed away a few years ago.

While in Austin for business I was delighted to meet an online friend – Fran Hart and we had a lovely time visiting over the biggest steak I have eaten in a long while. (can we say Texas?) Lovely to find someone with like mind and spirit.

While visiting the elders in Mansfield, I got together with another long-time internet buddy (we think it’s been at least 10 years we’ve “known” each other) Corina, aka TX Skatemom. We had decided a good (slow) walk was in order. She had just completed the OK Memorial marathon (you can read about it at her blog) and I am, while getting in shape, still slow. We went to a park with a 1 mile marked loop (pay attention, Kenai) and started off . . . finishing two laps later. Yes, that woman encouraged me enough that I completed 2 miles.
🙂

Well, you can’t do all that without some food, so off we went to BFF Bistro and ate on the patio near the fountain. YUMMO Asian quisine – and, equally yummo waiter, Westin. Thanks for a lovely time, Corina.
🙂

After a morning last visit with the elders I headed back to the hotel to check out and meet up with Ms. Shelly Tucker. We talked and talked all the way to Denton. There I was given a quick drive through town with a stop at Viet Bites where we had some delightful Vietnamese quisine – again on the patio where we could catch whatever breeze there might be. We walked around the square and stopped for ice cream at Beth Marie’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream. We poked our noses into some shops – including an old fashioned candy shop. Not quite penny candy anymore, but reminiscent.

After settling in and meeting the mister we visited a bit over catfish, shrimp and other delights at Hootchie’s Oyster House.

You would think I would never eat again, but we are up and ready for today’s adventure which includes a stop at the coffee shop and a drive to Ft. Worth.

Pictures after I get back home. Thanks to everyone who has so far made my visit to Texas quite lovely.

p.s. I just have to laugh. I looked at the upper right corner and am greeted with “Howdy, PurpleMoose.” How fitting for Texas.