Joy and I are ready to board our early flight to Dallas Love Field from Sacramento. We are in the lounge to get a drink.
I love the Mavericks logo as we headed out to baggage claim at Love Field!
Budget Fastbreak put us into a Bronco Sport for this trip to the Lone Star State. Everything is bigger in Texas after all, even rentals!
We headed to Lockhart's Smokehouse in downtown Plano after we left Love Field to meet a friend for lunch! They crave the meats and sell it by the pound.
I loved all the vintage oil company signs inside the restaurant including the old Mobil Oil logo. My dad worked for Mobil when we lived in Plano.
My fellow conservative buddy was at a political event earlier in the day. It was great to catch up on Texas politics with him.
The Roys went out to South Fork Ranch afterwards to meet up with our old friends, the Ewings! This was the theme for our date night in the Metroplex that night!
I think Dallas is one of the greatest TV shows of all time!
The Roys are ready to put our claim up for South Fork against Bobby and JR. I will drill on it against Miss Elly's wishes! I love big oil!
After South Fork, we went to a Wal Mart to get the Tostitos Cowboys chips and some Cowboys gear for Joy.
I love Braum's Ice Cream! When we lived in Texas, I grew up on this Oklahoma dairy company's products!
We went to Nick & Sam's Steakhouse, a Dallas icon known for hosting many celebrities, for our date night!
Since our theme was "Dallas" from the TV show, JR (Anirban) wore his boots! Sue Ellen had to wear sneakers since she was drunk as usual. JK.
One of the cocktail waitresses is preparing the caviar service in the lobby. They serve complimentary caviar at this high dollar establishment!
JR & Sue Ellen look great for date night!
Our wait staff gave us great service unlike in liberal California. The waiter smoked my Macklowe bourbon tableside for me!
Our waiter showed us a live crab flown in from Alaska. This crab was between $700-900!
Our waiter showed us some of their best cuts. We got a bone in filet. They even had a $1,000 steak! People in Texas have money unlike California where the high taxes screw us over!
We started with a chef's selection omakase of sashimi. The sushi chef has been there for twenty five years!
Here is the complimentary caviar service that was Icelandic lumpfish that day.
We got the cotton candy with two cake pops for dessert! Joy loves cotton candy! The waiter put a sparkler on one of the cake pops to celebrate us flying in for the Cowboys game!
Our waiter offered us some complimentary port to finish dinner! We were surprised at how much less a fine dining experience like this is in Texas versus California! The left ruined California with high minimum wage!
We took a nice walk around the lakes and canals of Las Colinas where we stayed the first night after getting coffee.
Las Colinas has lots of man made lakes around the community. There are so many running trails.
There was a waterfall near our hotel that went into the canal.
The next morning, we met a good friend for brunch at Gloria's in Arlington.
I was in Cowboys gear from head to....
toe! LOL
We stopped at the Pudge statue at Globe Life Field on the way to AT&T Stadium. The Rangers played that day also.
At first, I thought this was Jerry's helicopter, but Jeff Bezos was also at the game so maybe it was him? We sat at a table that Jeff and his wife were dining at in DC before! The Roys are also celebrities! LOL.
We are ready to go inside AT&T Stadium for the Cowboys Home Opener!
The teams are warming up here.
I love how the Rangers and Cowboys have Blue Bell Ice Cream at the games! Of course, I got some!
We walked by the Dr. Pepper display on the way to our seats! I told Joy how I grew up on Dr. Pepper in Texas!
We had a nice view from our seats!
The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are doing their opening routine here!
They are introducing the team here! Let's Go Cowboys!
We are ready for the kick off!
I loved watching the Cowboys score!
Dak tied Romo for the most passing TDs in franchise history during the first part of the game!
Dak broke the franchise passing TD record during that game too with a TD to Cee Dee Lamb! We witnessed history!
The Cowboys humiliated the Commanders! We won 37-20!
After the game, we headed down to Waco for the night. We stopped in Hillsboro for dinner at Whataburger! Their shakes are so good!
We had brunch reservations at the famous Magnolia Table in Waco the next day!
This restaurant features Joanna Gaines' famous recipes! Chip and Jo have the famous Magnolia brand for home decorations!
Jo's carmelized Corn Flake French Toast was the most amazing French Toast I ever had!
We went to Magnolia's Silos next. This place made cottonseed oil back in the day and stored it.
The Silos Baking Company is located at the Silos too. We got some of Jo's famous baked goods here.
Afterwards, we went to the Dr. Pepper Museum in Waco.
I liked this display at the Dr. Pepper Museum since we went to Mineral Wells a few years back and tried the famous water there!
Dr. Pepper's origins can also be traced to a drug store like Coca Cola.
Dr. Pepper's long time CEO, Foots Clements is pictured here with both President Bush Sr and Jr. I like the Bush family a lot.
We were able to get a made from scratch soda also with our tour admission. The soda "jerk" made our drinks with carbonated water and syrups.
Dr. Pepper also owns 7 Up.
Big Red is another brand of soda associated with the Dr. Pepper group.
We stopped at the famous Czech Stop on our way back to Dallas for their kolashes!
Kolashes are famous Czech pastries. I think this area has a large Czech community.
We stopped at a Buc-ee's in Hillsboro afterwards to check it out. Joy liked the beaver mascot.
We headed back to Dallas after our stop at Buc-ees! This is the famous Dallas County Courthouse in downtown.
This is Dealy Plaza in Dallas where JFK was shot. In the background is the Texas Book Depository where the shooter was.
We went to the original El Fenix for dinner afterwards. I loved this chain when we lived in Plano, Texas.
One usually sees the Roys eating $500 dinners, but I like comfort food like this too! The tacos at El Fenix are amazing!
A Few Days After Dallas......
We flew into San Diego late the Friday after returning from Dallas. The Doubletree San Diego Bayside upgraded us to a nice balcony room with a harbor view! This was a nice way to wake up!
After breakfast at the hotel, we took a walk to go get coffee. We stopped at a Winchell's for donuts on the way!
Better Buzz Coffee by our hotel was really good!
The pumpkin foam they had was so delicious! I got it on top of my iced Americano!
We got our gas guzzler the next morning. It was waiting for us as usual since I am a Fastbreak customer. Joy and I do not care about the green agenda. LOL.
We headed out to the water front in downtown San Diego after getting our rental car.
That is the USS Carl Vincent across the bay from where we were.
We went to the San Diego Maritime Museum that morning. The ferry boat in the front of the picture was the main entrance.
The USS Dolphin is the deepest diving submarine ever. It is behind us in the picture.
The periscope is behind Joy inside the submarine.
This is a Vietnam Era Swiftboat.
This is a replica of the HMS Surprise.
The Star Of India is the oldest active sailing ship in the world. The museum still takes this out onto the bay.
Joy and I are on board the Star of India here.
We met our friends at Sea World afterwards. Chad and I are riding the kiddie rides with his two sons.
We are here with the Coopers watching the Sea Lion Show at Sea World!
The Dolphin Adventures show was cool too at Sea World.
We went to the Convoy area of Kearney Mesa for dinner that night and found a great place for Japanese shaved ice! The ice is imported from Japan!
Joy and I went for a nice walk by the harbor outside our hotel the next morning on our way to get coffee.
Saab still makes maritime equipment. Yes, this the same Saab that made cars before.
They had gelato at Portside Coffee so I got some to go with my iced Americano. LOL.
The Doubletree San Diego Bayside had a nice putting green area too. We liked that resort a lot.
Later that morning, we met up with our friends in La Jolla at Queenstown Village for brunch. The inside was so beautiful!
The cinnamon rolls were only available on the weekend here. We loved them!
We enjoyed brunch with our friends John & Tammy!
We had reservations at 5:00 sharp for Sushi Ota, which is one of the most popular and exclusive sushi restaurants in San Diego. Some of the fish are flown in from Japan!
Even at 5:00 PM when they opened, the place was full! One sees the most expensive cars too in their parking lot!
Taking full advantage of our Southwest Companion Pass for the fall, my wife and I had two additional trips using it after our trip to Kona. We flew to Dallas for the Cowboys home opener against the Commanders two weeks after returning from Hawaii. Our early morning flight to Dallas Love Field left around 6:25 AM, but we got in early so we could meet a friend for lunch at a great smokehouse in Plano, my old stomping grounds. Afterwards, we went to South Fork Ranch before making sure to buy some of the limited edition Cowboys Tosittos chips at Wal Mart. We also were able to get a drink at Rowdy Cowboy in the Colony. I tried Taylor Sheridan's 6666 whiskey there as the eye candy was all around us. LOL. I booked us a Hilton property in Las Colinas since Joy wanted to run in the morning around the trails which are next to the canals and lakes in that area.
For dinner, Joy and I had a "Dallas (the TV show)" themed date night! We went to the famous Nick & Sam's Steakhouse in uptown Dallas. This hot spot for celebrities was highlighted by Ella Langley recently on a Chase Sapphire Reserve commercial. We get a $300 dining credit through CSR at fine dining establishments like this. Originally, I booked it through that special Chase reservations link since reservations are hard to get and planned to use part of our credit, but apparently we went to a CSR affiliated restaurant for our anniversary in August so we used up our credit. After the valet took our rental SUV, we headed into dressed up like JR and Sue Ellen! I had my boots on! They do not allow hats so I did not wear my cowboy hat like JR would have. LOL. In the lobby area, there was a caviar station set up where the staff would scoop up the Icelandic Lumpfish and serve it with accompaniments as a complimentary treat for guests. The beautiful hostess dressed in a tight black dress showed us to our table like the tightly clad hostesses did at the "Cattleman's Club" on the tv show, Dallas. Our waiter provided with us with amazing service. We told the hostess that we flew in for the Cowboys game so the restaurant gave us even special VIP service since they probably thought we were high rollers! The waiter showed us a live Alaskan crab which was $700-900. He also showed us a $1,000 steak! I told Joy that with no state income tax in Texas, a $700-900 crab is nothing for many couples in our income range. In California, we get screwed over the leftists with the high taxes! The waiter smoked my bourbon for me tableside. We got our complimentary caviar service. For starters, we got the omakase sashimi platter for two. Their sushi chef has been with them for about twenty five years, and we got some delicious sashimi! Afterwards, our bone in filet arrived with the sides. The king crab elote was amazing as a side! For dessert, we got the cotton candy with the cake pops. Our waiter even offered us some complimentary port to end our meal. In Texas, the labor costs are much less than California so restaurants can be generous! Also, the staff rely on tips there so they provide amazing service unlike the lazy staff in California. As one can tell, I hate California! Socialism is wrong! It hurts all Americans, but it especially hurts those of us with money like the Roys! Or I should I have say "Ewings."
Joy and I had a nice walk around Las Colinas after getting coffee on Sunday. Afterwards, we met another friend for brunch at Gloria's in Arlington. Their Latin food is amazing! We got a drink at Tight Ends in Arlington before the Cowboys game. Parking for the Cowboys game was not an issue as the city of Arlington has probably 100,000 spots around AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Field where the Rangers play. Texas is far more organized than the shit hole state of California where parking is so hard for sporting events. The leftists want you to use public transportation in California. I loathe the green lobby! Public transportation is for losers! We bought our parking spot ahead of time via the parking app. It was a short walk to the stadium past the Ranger's park. I should mention that the Rangers played that afternoon too yet there was plenty of parking for both games! Climate change is a hoax people! Do not let the left lie to you! Enough for my politics now. As usual, we were amazed when we entered AT&T Stadium. Jerry built quite a nice facility here for us Cowboys fans. Prior to entering, we saw a helicopter which we thought was Jerry's copter since he arrived via a helicopter usually. However, the Bezos were also at the game so maybe it was Jeff and Lauren? LOL I can be on a first name basis with them since after all, one might remember that we sat at the same table that they had at Rasika in Washington DC two years ago. Also, we saw a nice Rolls Royce bypass police barricades to get to the stadium earlier. We figured it was a current or former Cowboys player. Joy and I rode in one of those too a few years back when I took her to Napa for her birthday! The Roys are truly living the American Dream!
After getting a souvenir Cowboys ticket for this game and some Blue Bell ice cream, we settled into our seats. Our view was amazing. We also had the white rally towels at our seats. The beautiful Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders kicked off the usual pregame show. I loved the game since we did pull out a win, but we saw Dak tie and break the franchise record for passing TDs. Let's Go Cowboys!
We went down to Waco that evening so we could get an early start to tour the Silos and Dr. Pepper Museum down there. Joy and I got brunch at The Magnolia Table in Waco where I tried Jo's famous Carmelized Corn Flake French Toast! It was the best French Toast ever! The Silos were really cool too. The Dr. Pepper Museum nearby was great also since I grew up on Dr. Pepper when we lived in Texas! We also got to try custom crafted sodas at their soda fountain there. On the way back to Dallas, we stopped at a Buc-Eees also! I showed Joy some highlights of downtown Dallas including the famous Dallas County Courthouse they showed on Walker Texas Ranger as well as the place where JFK was shot.
The next weekend, we flew down to San Diego to see a few friends and relax by the beautiful city by the border. I booked the Doubletree Bayside Resort which was really close to the airport. We tried a local coffee shop called Better Buzz on Saturday before getting our rental car. Our first stop after was the Maritime Museum. Then, we enjoyed a nice Mexican lunch at Miguel's before meeting friends at Sea World. We spent half a day at Sea World with our friends before going out to Kearney Mesa so Joy could get the Asian food she wanted to try.
On Sunday, we had brunch with some other friends in La Jolla at a New Zealand themed restaurant. Then, we went to Ojos Locos to watch the Cowboys play the Ravens in Rio. We went to the top sushi place in that area, Sushi Ota, for dinner before our flight home.