Texas Trip - June 3-6, 2021

Thursday, June 3, 2021 - Amsterdam, New York, to Dallas, Texas

The trip began with a late morning flight from Albany to Baltimore, full but all on time and easy enough. Plenty of time at BWI for Chick-fil-A, then on to Dallas. Everything went more or less according to plan. I was able to get my luggage and car, get checked in at my hotel, and make the ride up to Frisco [5 Pictures] for the RoughRiders game. The ballpark is pretty unique in my experience. A single bowl of seating from foul pole to foul pole and a number of buildings behind for concessions and suites. There's also a pool in right field. The whole thing is in a planned development in a similar style. The RoughRiders beat the visiting Amarillo Sod Poodles, 2-1. Unfortunately, I left the camera in the car and had limited charge left on the iPad and phone, so pictures are a little limited. [17 Pictures]

Friday, June 4, 2021 - Dallas Area

This was the day to stay in the Dallas area. In the morning, I went to the SMU campus to visit the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum [15 Pictures]. It was a very enjoyable visit. By the time I was done there, it was already lunch time. I drove down to the Deep Ellum neighborhood to get a great BBQ lunch from Pecan Lodge [2 Pictures]. By the time I was done with lunch, I decided to skip my other possible stop at the Sixth Floor Museum for now, and took a little extra loop around I-635 back to the hotel for a little break. Late afternoon was time to drive over to Arlington for the Rangers game, the main motivation for this trip. The Rangers opened their new stadium, GlobeLife Field, in 2020, but no fans were able to attend games before the playoffs, making this my first real opportunity to see a game there. It became by 42nd MLB stadium, and I can once again say I've been to the current, permanent home of all 30 MLB teams. The stadium is kind of like a huge mall with lots of seating and a fake baseball field in the middle. But it was a pleasant place to watch a game, and there were no worries about the weather (although this particular night would have been a pleasant one for outdoor baseball). The Rangers took a 5-0 lead over the Tampa Bay Rays, and held on for a 5-4 win. It was a good game, and included the Rangers scoring on a safety squeeze, a rarity in 2021 baseball. [32 Pictures] [19 Pictures from the Roads]

Saturday, June 5, 2021 - Texas Road Trip Day

This day was included in the trip to be able to explore some part of the area where I've never been before. I decided to head southwest out of Dallas, as there are lots of areas out that way that I have not visited. I started by going south on US 67 all the way down to Brownwood, where I grabbed my lunch at Whataburger. I took US 377 south from there to Brady, passing near the "Heart of Texas", the geographic center of the state. At Brady, I took a loop around the town square, then took US 190 East toward Killeen. That was where I was when it came time to check in to for my flights home. Some sort of glitch kept me from doing so on my iPad, and the 2 or 3 minute delay put me way at the end of the B group... In the Killeen area, I was able to drive the relatively new I-14 end to end. I took a loop around Temple, then I-35 north through Waco, which like much of Texas, was undergoing a major reconstruction. At the split, I took I-35W up toward Fort Worth, with stops near there for gas, tacos from a Taco Casa, and a shake from Braum's. I got back to the hotel in Dallas about 11 1/2 hours after I left, with 525 miles logged for the day, the vast majority of them through new territory for me, including my first 8 new counties of the year. A tiring but enjoyable day. All pictures are on one big page: [116 Pictures].

Sunday, June 6, 2021 - Dallas, Texas, to Amsterdam, New York

No rush in the morning at the hotel, then still plenty of time for a little loop around Dallas before going to the airport. My loop was "Loop 12" around the city. My only stops were for a mile walk at the end of the Love Field runway in Bachman Lake Park [11 Pictures], then some chicken from Golden Chick. Loop 12 was pretty interesting, and seemed to go through a little of everything you find in Dallas: poorer neighborhoods, high-end residential areas, parks, and commercial strips. Then gas for the rental car and a quick drive right through downtown Dallas. [9 Pictures] I still got to the airport earlier than needed, as my first flight was delayed. We got going a little less than an hour late [3 Pictures]. There was still plenty of time in Baltimore for dinner and that flight was delayed a bit as well waiting on a pilot. Back to Albany around 11:30, home around 12:30.