Get Along Little Dogies...Spending the Day in Fort Worth

We have until 5:00pm until we need to catch the shuttle to Globe Life Park for tonight's baseball game, that leaves us several hours to kill during the day.

The weather report keeps talking about a major storm ("damaging" is the adjective they use) so our plan was to just hang at the hotel and wait it out. Outside, though, the weather doesn't look so bad and monitoring the real-time radar on Accuweather.com shows that the storm is passing just to the north of us.

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Fort Worth, and it's Stock Yards, are only fifteen miles away so we decided to pile in the car and at least drive around to see what we can see.

The sun is still shining as we turn onto Exchange Avenue and a handicapped spot is open in the middle of the block. Apparently, the gods are on our side so we park and get out.

In the back of our parking lot is what's left of the real stockyards, a few cow pens with a small herd of longhorn cattle in them.  It's ramped and wheelchair accessible so we start here.

One bull is being frisky and odious to the other cows as he tries to mount, bully, defecate, and fight among the other more docile animals. What a show...

We're not going to be able to see the cows being driven down the street. It happens two times a day but the first one already happened and we'll be long gone when the second drive is scheduled.

It's lunchtime and we're looking for somewhere to tackle our rumbling stomachs. All I can see are the usual 'meh' tourist lunch spots until a sidewalk sandwich board beckons me with a $7.99 flat iron lunch special.

$7.99 is right up my budgetary alley, let's see if it's worth it.



We're at Riscky's Steakhouse. Of course it's western themed. I feel like I've gone back home and ended up at Knott's Berry Farm. The friendly host seats us, we order a couple of ice-cold Lone Stars, and explore the premises.

While I'm taking pictures, one of the bus boys asks if I've taken a picture of the safe yet. No, I don't know about a safe so he takes me back to a standard and sturdy vault in the back of the dining room.

"This used to be a bank," he tells me. The vault must not be that sturdy because the next thing he says is "this was the first bank to be robbed by Bonnie and Clyde." (I can't find any other verification for this, though)

A basket of bread so delicious it's in danger of ruining our appetite is brought out. Not too long after, the food arrives.

Warby Parker's Free Home-Try-On Program

The steak, a just-right serving of tender, juicy flat iron is delicious. It's served with a few Texas-sized steak fries and half a slice of garlicky Texas toast. I'd probably pay three times as much for a similar meal at home. At eight bucks, it is a true bargain.

Tim opts for the chicken fried chicken, which is like a chicken fried steak only using chicken instead of beef.  It's all really good and we polish it off in no time.

This would turn out to be the best lunch we'd have in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Satisfied, we wander among the shops of Exchange Avenue and notice some raindrops start to fall. It's also smelling very wet so Tim and I head to hang out near our parking spot while Letty does some more shopping.  If that 'damaging' storm is about to hit, I want to be able to put Tim in the car immediately.

It never happens so we watch the Grapevine excursion train locomotive turn itself around on the adjacent turntable and disappear in the cluster of shops (that doubles as the train station) across the street before driving back to Arlington for tonight's game.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2017 - All Rights Reserved

Photos by Letty Musick
Copyright 2017 - All Rights Reserved

Reliving a Terrible Day in History - Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas

The flight to Love Field was flawless and on time. Hertz did a fine job getting us a car quickly, this one a Nissan Rogue, which would fit Tim's new folding power travel chair very easily in the rear hatch. The on board GPS (free for AAA members) routed us straight to our hotel, Homewood Suites in Arlington, just west of Dallas.  We just had to deal with some rush hour traffic, a lot of road construction, and potholes before we arrived.

Checking in, we find that the hotel did not hold the accessible room we guaranteed. In fact, their records show we didn't book an accessible, 2 queen, suite but my printout of my confirmation puts lie to that.

We sleep in the non-accessible room, which has a bathroom that will just not do. In the morning, a conversation with the manager finds us moving to an accessible suite that became available.  

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I really don't like moving after already being in another room and I don't like it when the hotel doesn't live up to it's end of the bargain either (Hilton gave us another 10,000 points in our loyalty account for compensation when I complained).

Enough of our hotel follies...

Tim usually has a place he wants to see when we're in a town.  It might be the Reichstag in Berlin or the Olympic Stadium in Munich or Alcatraz in San Francisco...you get the idea. Yes, we are ostensibly here for baseball (the Rangers are hosting our Halos - we'll get to that in another post) but Tim also want so see Dealey Plaza.

Tim also likes to try the rapid transit systems of each city he visits so we drive 15 miles to the nearest DART light rail station (as opposed to the 16 miles it would be from our hotel in Arlington to Dealey Plaza).

Once we find the station, it's an easy ride into Union Station, about 2 blocks away from our destination. Union Station is pretty but also pretty quiet and dead. A fairly easy 5 minute walk takes us up to the plaza.

We have to navigate through hordes of school field trip kids along the sidewalk as we make our way to the infamous 'grassy knoll.' I'm skeptical but I hope these kids grasp the immense significance of the spot they're standing at. No one has ever made an attempt on a president's life in their entire existence and hopefully never will. I imagine this must be an abstract, long ago, historical fact for them.

Of course, on November 22, 1963, president John F. Kennedy arrived at Love Field in Dallas to attend a luncheon in his honor. The motorcade was planned for maximum exposure so the crowds could get a look at their president. The president opted not to have the protective 'bubble' on top of his limousine.

Around lunchtime, the procession turned left into Dealey Plaza. Shots rang out and the popular president was dead.

Two X's mark the spot on the road where the bullets hit him...the first, a wounding shot through the neck. 

The second, the deadly kill shot in front of the concrete pergola wall where dress maker Abraham Zapruder stood, capturing the whole thing on his home movie camera.

Behind the pergola sits a parking lot with an inconspicuous wooden fence separating the two. Many have theorized that a second gunman set up behind it to shoot the president. A quick walk over and I can see the conspiracy theory graffiti on it advertising websites to learn more about their views of the assassination.

Of course, the main (lone?) gunman was set up 6 stories over the corner in the Texas Schoolbook Depository. That building is now a museum, focused on the events of that day.

We get tickets and wait half an hour for our turn to take the elevator up to the 6th floor where a walking audio tour takes you through the election of Kennedy, his presidency, his visit to Texas, the assassination, and it's aftermath. A glassed-in corner shows where Lee Harvey Oswald set up his sniper's next to shoot the president.

It's all a sobering reminder that with great power comes great personal risk.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2017 - All Rights Reserved

Photos by Letty Musick
Copyright 2017 - All Rights Reserved

The Evolving Destination...How a Trip Decision Comes Together at The World On Wheels

Picking where to go on a trip isn't merely "hey, let's go there!" for us. Well, sometimes it is and everything comes together rather quickly. Other times, it's an evolution.

Take our latest travels...how does a Caribbean island vacation morph into a triple destination trip through the Lone Star state then over to the Florida Keys?

After last fall's European Grand Tour, we were talking over the difficulty of multiple air legs to reach destinations deep into Europe that didn't offer non-stop service to Los Angeles. Tim had some anxiety before leaving but did fine. The last leg, of three, on the way home didn't sit too well but he managed fine.

"I don't want to go anywhere where we have to take more than two flights," he told me, "but I wouldn't mind going to St. Croix even though that takes two flights."

That started the wheels spinning. We love St. Croix and, especially, the beautiful Buccaneer Hotel there. The only thing is it's a bit hard to get Tim onto the sandy beach (but not impossible), pool, and especially the ocean.

That got me searching for alternative spot where we could go somewhere in the Caribbean, tropical, and where we could get Tim to some crystal-clear ocean water. The Bahamas, Barbados, Curacao, and more came up where...maybe...I could get Tim to the water's edge and wade in. 

Harder yet was to find a boat that he could go on then go into the water from. We learned the hard way that advertising your dive boat as 'handicapped accessible' doesn't mean that it is in anyway, shape, or form accessible in St. Croix (one operator there plasters their web site with it but when asked said "yeah, you just need to be able to climb this ladder-like set of stairs onto the boat and off into the water").

My search did keep turning up one operator in the Florida Keys, Tranquil Adventures, who had installed a pool lift onto the side of a pontoon boat specifically to lower disabled people into the water to go snorkeling.

I'd put that in my memory banks for later use, if I needed it. In the meantime, I came across an ad for Southwest Airlines announcing that they'd just started nonstop service from our favorite local (but underused) airport, Ontario, to Dallas' Love Field.

Another long term goal of ours is to see every Major League Baseball stadium. We're up to 25 and the two stadiums in Texas are among the last five we need to visit. My brain clicks in to tell me that if I could get a cheap, nonstop, Southwest flight to Dallas, maybe we could get another cheap flight from there after a layover to the Caribbean allowing us to not only have an easy transit to the islands but get another stadium in along the way.

Perusing the flight schedules, there's not much from Dallas to the Caribbean but from Houston we could get a short and simple flight on Southwest to Fort Lauderdale...only 90 minutes from Captain Mick's Tranquil Adventures in Key Largo.  It's also a very easy and cheap add on to fly one hour from Dallas to Houston and...hey!...they have another stadium there with a very affordable Homewood Suites only a block from it.

We can do this!  Two Texas stadiums (plus a day or two at each city to experience what they have to offer) then an extended stay in the Keys...which would satisfy our itch for a warm beach at least adjacent to the Caribbean...where we can go snorkeling on a lift-equipped boat.

So, Tim's original comment about taking the two flights to St. Croix evolves through several permutations to become a trip to Texas' two biggest cities ending up on a Florida island for some warm, beach adventures.

Stay tuned for that...

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2017 - All Rights Reserved

CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH TOWNS: Murphys

Just a few miles outside the more famous Angels Camp (home of the Jumping Frog contest that pays homage to Mark Twain's famous story) is the beautiful old Motherlode town of Murphys.

The brothers Murphy, who were merchants and brought the first immigrant wagons over the sierras to John Sutter's fort in Sacramento in 1844, first went to Vallecito after the Gold Rush started in 1949.

Successful in mining, in what became known as "Murphy's Old Diggings," the brothers were more successful at merchants at their new location, which became known at "Murphys New Diggings."

A rare mining success story, the brothers retired rich and the area's name slimmed down to the current name over time. It was a very rich gold mining town and today is still a rather affluent area in Calaveras County.

Today's Murphys just oozes Motherlode charm. Dozens of wineries have tasting rooms lining the streets, along with boutiques, pubs, restaurants, and art galleries.

Before going into the town proper, we head about a mile south to take a stop at the massive Ironstone Winery, tasting room, and gardens.

While the wines are good and reasonable, we came to see the rest of the property which is filled with gardens, a lake, and plenty of wheelchair accessible trails to see them all.

It's also home to a very large and popular amphitheater that features top name entertainment in the summer.

Back up next to the tasting room is a museum, the star attraction is the Kautz Specimen, a 44 pound hunk of crystalline gold found in nearby Jamestown. It's the largest one in the world.

It's not uncommon for this little town to be chock full of tourists on the weekends so we opt to come midweek to have more of the town for ourselves. There a nice, flat handicapped parking space with plenty of room next to the public bocce ball courts behind the Murphys Hotel.

There's also an accessible public bathroom across the street and another steps away in the Community Park.

It's a hot day so we decided to start off by wetting our whistles. I saw a brewpub at the south end of downtown when we drove in with a very pleasant shady garden, so we make our way over there. Murphys Pourhouse is indeed at that garden but their customers can't use it. It belongs to the winery, Hovey, that takes up the front half of the building.

We content ourselves to drinking our cold pints indoors. Murphys Pourhouse does have garden seating outside but, today, it's under construction and doesn't look as nice as the winery garden out front.

Next time, it'll be the winery.

A couple of doors down is JoMa Ice Cream shop where some custom made ice cream and cookies also taste good on a hot day like this.

Continuing on, we make our way to the end of downtown on this street, culminating at the Art on Main gallery where some paintings tempt us but the prices leave us wanting to continue our search for house art in our local pawn, antique, and thrift shops.

Across the street is an interesting antique shop. Along with the normal stuff you seen in antique shops, the DEA Bathroom Shop specializes in vintage bathroom equipment. Alas, the shower heads that Letty really wants to buy for our bathroom can't be sold in California. They only ship those to other states because they do not meet our state's low flow requirements.

Continuing back the other way we have a light but very expensive late lunch a the Murphys Irish Pub while being serenaded by a guitarist with so-so original music.

I'd seen a little, hidden and narrow alley next to the pub building so I convinced Letty and Tim to follow me through to the other side. It ended up being the highlight of the day.

At the other end was Murphys Community Park. This is a gorgeous, tree shaded park with plenty of picnic tables, a bandstand, and playground bisected by Angel Creek where the kids, adults, and various dogs would scamper and splash in the cool, clear water.

To us, is looked like a little slice of Munich's Englischer Garten plopped down into the middle of the Motherlode.

I just could resist...I popped off my shoes and waded into the shallow and swift moving water. Letty soon joined me, while Tim resisted all our entreaties to come with us. It was very refreshing but rocky. Next time, we bring our water shoes with us.

While waiting for our feet to dry before putting our shoes back on, a couple with a very playful black lab showed up and played fetch with a stick it's owner through into the creek.

That dog showed us all how to have fun that day.

Walking back over to the car, we see the town's old 'pokey.' the jail.

We say goodbye to the inmate and then head back home. It was a wonderful day in this great Gold Country town.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2019 - All Rights Reserved

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Bay Breeze

Quick, short, simple, and sweet. 1 1/2 ounces each of vodka, cranberry cocktail, and pineapple juice. Pour all ingredients into an 8 ounce glass filled with ice. You're done and now have a 150 calorie cocktail that tastes like a mai tai.

Watch the Video!

Cheers!

Darryl

CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH TOWNS: Columbia

Gold was discovered in Columbia in 1850. Over the next half century or so, more than $150 million worth of the metal was pulled out of the ground. While at one time the state's second largest city, after the gold gave out, population dwindled until a relatively stable 2-3,000 people today.

In 1945, the town's central district around Main Street was made into a state park to preserve and interpret the history here. We're going to spend the day here and see what we can find.

Columbia is located about 65 miles by road, due east of Stockton off high both highway 4 and 49 (take 4 to 49 and turn south...look for the signs).  We pass by the large parking lot at the entrance and follow the road to the back of the park to a smaller lot on Yankee Hill Road at the corner of Columbia Street.

Nearby is the cute little cottage of Columbia Kate's Tea Shop where we start off with lunch.

It is some of the best food we've had in this part of the Motherlode, with a peach/chicken sausage quiche, chicken salad croissant, and red bell pepper soup.

Fortified, we move on to explore the park.

Tim and I start off with a stroll through a carriage barn where we see an old hearse.

At the south end of main street is a place where you can pan for gold.

It's a bumpy, dirt path to get there. It's doable but a new, wooden ramp for wheelchairs is under construction, which should be done by the time you read this.

At the Fallon Theatre, we find an old hotel...the Fallon Hotel...that does feature a ground floor, accessible room with a double bed and roll in shower with rates between $115 and $125, depending on the day of the week.

Next door to that, in the theater lobby, we have some ice cream in the parlor there.

It's a hot day so this treat really hits the spot.

The theater itself is still in operation. Now home to the Sierra Rep Company, accessible seating is available at either end of row B. Call (209) 523-3120 to score those wheelchair spots for their productions.

Back on Main Street, our first stop is Nelson's Candies. In business for around a century, they still make candy the old fashioned way, using equipment that dates back to the 1880's...plus a few more modern appliances that are only around a hundred years old.

We get some fruit chews, freshly made, that are absolutely delicious.

Tim hears what sounds like bowling pins being knocked down, so we go to investigate.  Across the street is this ancient, one lane, self serve bowling alley.

I bowl a frame for posterity and we move on.

We end up checking out this old fire station.

Inside is a small, accessible cubicle where you can check out the equipment inside.

And, that's our day in Columbia. Now that we live in the area, we'll be exploring more of these old Gold Rush towns, so be sure to stay tuned for that.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2019 - All Rights Reserved

The Cheapskate Wine Taster: Free and Cheap Wine Tasting in California's Wine Countries

UPDATED March 2019

Time to make a new list. Those of you who know me well know I don't like to throw money away. Maybe 'Cheap' is not quite the right term.  I just like to get my money's worth.

For example, I might think $12 is way too much for a mediocre burger and fries but I don't have a problem spending into the three digits for a spectacularly prepared lunch like we might get at Taste up in the Amador wine country.

That's how it is with California wine tasting...I don't really have a problem with a winery that charges me a small fee, say $5 dollars or so, to taste wine as long as they let me apply it to my purchase.  I do have a problem with the many wineries in this state now charging $15, $20, $25 or more to have just the slightest taste of their product and then have the audacity to tell me I can't apply that to my purchase. 

I've been ranting on that particular subject for years.  Now it's time to fight back.

Lets celebrate the wineries in this state that are not trying to rip you off.  Here's a list that I hope to keep growing of vintners and dealers in the Golden State where you can still taste for free or a token 'money back when you buy' fee.

And, finally, be a good wine visitor...support these great wineries, and their friendly tasting policies, by buying a bottle or more while you're there.

CUCAMONGA VALLEY (about 40 miles east of Los Angeles)

Galleano Winery, Mira Loma - My favorite Southern California winery. Great wines and a refundable $5 fee for five tastes.  You are free to share, too. Bring a picnic, borrow a couple of glasses and enjoy an al fresco lunch with a great bottle of wine at their lovely, historic, and relaxing picnic area.

Joseph Filippi, Rancho Cucamonga - Same as above. $5 refundable fee for five tastes. Not quite as nice to visit as the Galleano folks but still an historic winery in an area where they hang on by a thread.

LOS ANGELES

San Antonio Winery, Los Angeles (with branches in Ontario and Paso Robles) - Free for the day's three tastings. More for artisinal wines.

LODI AREA

Bogle, Clarksburg - Beautiful winery with some outstanding wines. Another great picnic destination in the Sacramento River delta. Free tasting No longer free, $8, refundable with a $20 purchase per tasting.

Delicato, Manteca - Large winery right next to Highway 99, can't miss it. Free.

Heringer Estates, Clarksburg - Open every day and featuring events such as owl releases down in the delta. 3 tastes for free.

Michael David, Lodi - $5 for five tastes, applicable to purchase.

NAPA VALLEY

Heitz Cellar, St. Helena - Free.

Mason Cellars, Napa - Lower priced Napa Valley wines and free tasting.

Sutter Home, St. Helena - Bargain label run by the Trinchero family in the heart of the valley. Free, extra charge for library wines.

Vincent Arroyo Windery, Calistoga - Free tasting for parties of 4 or less.

SIERRA FOOTHILLS

Amador 360, Plymouth - a wine collective, featuring local wines from winemakers too small to have tasting rooms. $5 tasting fee, refundable.

Avio, Sutter Creek/Jackson - on the edge of the two towns on Ridge Road, just north of Amador County Airport, on the way to Jackson Rancheria Indian Casino. Free.

Convergence Vineyards, Plymouth - In the hills, south of Drytown, on Highway 124 a mile south of Highway 16. Free

Drytown Cellars, Drytown - Small winery with very good wines and two dogs...one friendly, the other sometimes grumpy (unfortunately, grumpy dog has passed - Ed). Free

Iron Hub Winery, Plymouth - Modern tasting room on hilltop with expansive views. Bring a picnic to enjoy on their patio. $5 tasting fee, refundable.

Ironstone Vineyards, Murphys - In the hills above Angels Camp...where Mark Twain's frogs fly...and about a mile west of the beautiful little Motherlode town of Murphys. $5 for tasting (refundable), free tours, expansive gardens, great free museum, and an amphitheater with top name entertainment in the summer.

Renwood, Plymouth - is probably the best known of the wineries up here. $5 for five tastes, applicable to purchase.

Sobon/ Shenandoah Wineries, Plymouth - Two wineries, one company...free tasting. Sobon is also the oldest, continuously operating winery in the state.

Story Winery, Plymouth - Our favorite winery in the world. Awesome wines, best picnic area anywhere, great and friendly staff. $5, applicable to purchase.

Tanis Vineyards, Ione - Tiny winery at the western edge of the Amador AVA in a lovely, quiet area. Free.

Vino Noceto, Plymouth - Play bocce ball and picnic with one of the last Doggie Diner heads in existence at this Sangiovese specialist. Free.

STATEWIDE (and beyond)

Total Wine and More stores offer weekly wine tastings. There's a catch, there's a fee and you can't apply it to your purchase but it's only a penny.

Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved