Ft. Worth Bound!

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Ah, the yearly pilgrimage to Ft. Worth, Texas. Every year is different, obviously. This year as I was playing on Facebook during the 7 hour drive I saw where you ask Siri “What are you doing for Christmas?” This was her answer.

If you play in Snapchat any at all I’m sure that you’ve seen you get the ‘Tis the season from the different states you’re in. I should have taken one from Missouri before I left but didn’t think about it. I can also tell you when you get right inside the Texas border, it doesn’t show up yet. So I feel bad for those people… I forget which town I was trying it in. It took getting closer to McKinney before it showed up.

We made great time. Usually we make good time but somehow we made great time. When we got into Ft. Worth we decided to go on and eat. We decided on Hoffbrau’s. YUM!

They obviously start you off with rolls and butter. Again, yum, even though I heard it is in bad taste to refer to your food as yum. I didn’t make it so technically is it in bad taste me saying that?

We also got some Texas Peso’s. Holy cow were they awesome. Battered jalapeño’s, cheese, what more could you ask for? Oh wait, the ranch dressing…. check ✔

Oh, and a salad with ranch dressing. Like I’ve said many times, is there any other dressing?

And my steak. Oh wait, this is an empty plate… I guess that means it was good, right? I went with a Sirloin, medium rare, and a side of broccoli.

From there we went and checked into our hotel before heading off to Will Roger’s Coliseum. When we got there, the show hadn’t started yet so we went and wandered around the trade show. Sadly this year it seemed smaller than it was last year, or at least a lot of different vendors than normal. We also had this little one as your leader. She was boasting with energy after sitting in a van for 7 hours…. if you can only imagine.

When tickets went on sale this year, hubby made sure to try and get us our favorite spots. Tbug got to go with us this year too…. Yey!

The first night was the finals for the Amateur and the Non Pro. My uncle made the finals for the Non Pro with one of his horses. Obviously because I didn’t scream from the top of this post, he didn’t win, but he was there, he competed, he placed and he’s a winner in our book. He wasn’t last for sure! Good Job! I really am proud, I hope that comes across. I don’t remember where he actually placed and I believe it started with over 300 horses in that particular class.

Friday morning we woke up and decided to go eat breakfast at Ol’ South. I went with an egg white omelet with spinach, feta cheese, mushrooms and onions. I think they called it the Greek Omelet. OMG, how good was it you ask? So good I’m still thinking about that omelet. In fact, we went again on Sunday morning and I had this again.

It came with a side of pancakes which I gave to the little buglet. She wanted pancakes, I really didn’t, so it worked out. Although I stole a few bites of the pancakes and they were mighty good too!!

From there, we ventured down to the Stock Yards to do a little shopping and take the girls to see Santa possibly. I saw on a Facebook group that if you went to the Stock Yards Santa they not only got their picture taken (for $10) but also got a coloring book and a stuffed horse. And sad to say, the picture was better than the picture that was taken the night before with the trade show Santa.

We had plans to meet up with AC at Joe T. Garcia’s which tends to be one of our favorite Mexican restaurants in Ft. Worth and sadly, we were a little disappointed. Most of us got Fajitas, not all and they were just so so. My aunts was mainly vegetables. In fact, I think they originally brought her vegetable Fajitas.

After lunch we decided to go to Central Market. It’s this grocery store down there we enjoy walking around. If they wanted to move one of those closer, I wouldn’t complain. I love real grocery stores (around home we mainly have Walmart) and so I took a few pictures of some of their creations. Wow!

The little one is getting quite cantankerous about having her picture taken when it’s a family photo.

Late that afternoon we headed back to the Coliseum to watch the Open Semi-Finals. Wow, was that a friggin awesome semi-finals. In fact, it took a 216.5 to make it to the finals. That’s HIGH! Last year I think it took a 212….

While we were over at the trade show, we took the girls over to get their boots shined (and mine and hubby’s). This was Abug’s first boot shine. In fact, I was telling Tbug to step up there to get her boots done and Abut beat her to the punch.

I took my iPad for Abug to play with. Yes, I became one of those people who entertained their child with a tablet. Usually I don’t, but asking a 2 year old to sit for 5 hours is rough so I needed a little extra help. She was playing some preschool Monkey game that a lady taught us about the year before. It is educational at least 😁.

There are usually 5 heards in the semi-finals. We left before the last one because it was already 10something, we were hungry and had a sleepy toddler.

We chose to eat at Uncle Julio’s. This is the first year I’ve thought they had excellent food. Usually it’s just good or okay but it was excellent. I had a chicken breast over pico and tortilla chips covered in cheese and bacon. No idea what it was called but holy cow was it good!

Abug was so tired that she slept in my arms while I ate. In fact, hubby wound up having to cut my chicken for me because I only had access to my right arm. Good thing too because I’m right handed. Watch me eat left handed sometime. It’s quite comical.

Saturday morning we had plans to go up to the sale and watch the horses sale. As we were walking through the barns, these informational posters caught my attention.

There was free breakfast so we jumped in and grabbed a plate. They usually have free breakfast there. There was eggs, pancakes, bacon, and sausage.

Around noon we decided to leave and go grab lunch. We decided on Cattlemen’s Steakhouse because Tbug had never eaten there (neither had Abug but she’s younger 😉).

We decided to get a starter of Calf Fries. This year Abug decided to try some. I never really decided if she liked them or not. Tbug loves them.

And who can have a salad without Ranch Dressing? Seriously!

I went with a New York Strip, medium rare, and a side of broccoli. The Strip was okay. It was cooked perfectly but it wasn’t my favorite steak I had down there. Now my dad said his Sirloin was the best he’d had so maybe I should have stuck with the sirloin like I initially thought about getting.

So one thing I love about Old Fort Worth is the streets. Look how gorgeous these are!!!

Then there was the Scavenger Hunt which I wound up winning. I’m not sure what my prize was/is, but I know I did get a hat out of the deal. They contacted me this last week.

The night of the finals they usually induct new Hall of Famers so we went and watched that and the other awards as well as rider/owner introductions for the Open Finals.

The winner of the finals Matt Gains on Second Spot marked a 229 which is an average of a 77 between 3 judges roughly. When the first horse came out, Sir Long Legs ridden by Austin Shepherd, he was going for gold, but at that point, why not! It can either do good for you or it can hurt you. He marked a 222 and held the title for a long time. He went on to be reserve.

That night we went to eat at Pappadeaux’s Seafood. That is hubby’s favorite place down there to eat but duh, he likes seafood. I went with the Crab Mac & Cheese and a side of Broccolini. Their Broccolini was just okay, but the mac and cheese was excellent!

Then there was dessert. Mom and dad went with the bread pudding. We went with ice cream. Hubby, Tbug, Abug, and I shared Haggen daas ice cream and holy cow, that was excellent ice cream!

Sunday morning we had plans to meet with my aunt and her friend who lives down there in the area before heading home toward Missouri. We met at Ol’ South and I ate the same thing as I did the morning earlier in the week.

Then we started the 7 hour trek back home. Around 2:30 or so we stopped in Pryor to eat at the Chili’s. We really wanted JL’s BBQ but they aren’t open on Sundays… bummer, so Chili’s got our business. I started again with a salad with Ranch…. I like Salads with cheese, croutons, and Ranch dressing. We also had chips and salsa and their skillet queso.