Dallas / Fort Worth and Me

While tooling around looking for the neighborhood of Lower Greenville recently, I somehow ended up at White Rock Lake and came across the Bath House Cultural Center. Now, anyone who knows Dallas would probably wonder how the hell I managed to end up there when I was supposedly heading for a whole other part of the city, and don’t ask me how it happened; my only excuse is that I was suffering from a combination of too much heat, irritation at a condescending store clerk, an upset stomach, and an annoying bout of moving house. Yes, I really have been living in Dallas for 15 years, and yes, I really did get completely turned around the other day. These things happen to me. Look, shut up.*

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It’s August in DFW, and you know what that means? Yep, dozens of days in a row with triple-digit temperatures, and not a hell of a lot going on around the metroplex — because hey, it’s too bloody hot. Thank goodness that there’s an oasis in the cultural drought we’ve got around here, and it’s called Addison.

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Even in the midst of a big city, you can find wonderful places that remind you that concrete, glass, and steel aren’t all there is to the human condition. In my own experience, possibly the best example is Central Park in New York, which is a surprisingly organic place to find in the heart of such a metropolis. I just wish I’d had a chance to see more of that city and park personally while I was stuck up there in the Northeast back in the last decade.

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Addison is a relatively small town imbedded deep within Dallas County. It’s all city, more or less; the only way you can tell when you’ve crossed over from Dallas or Richardson or wherever is when you see the street signs, which are all labeled Addison! in flowing script. I used to work there  once upon a time, and I’ve gone to quite a few events in this little “Mid-City”, as we call the prosperous burgs between Dallas and Forth Worth.

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Sunnyvale is a quiet town located southeast of Garland, maybe two miles beyond the point where Broadway crosses the east-west stretch of IH 30 and turns back into Belt Line Road* for a while. It’s not known for much (except maybe as a shortcut to get to Town East Mall and environs), but it does hold a happy little Fourth of July celebration called Sunnyfest every year. Sunnyfest is  definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area, because it combines your standard small-town charm — a la the Cedar Hill Neighborhood BBQ Cook Off I reported on a few weeks back — with the flavor of a big carnival or fair: in other words, all the expensive State Fair-type  food and drink were there at the usual prices. Such consistency does my heart good, it does. Makes me feel right at home. More at home than I felt at the remains of Garland’s Star Spangled Fourth, which used to be the highlight of the year around here…but more on that next time, eh?

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In Part I of this exciting episode, I introduced you to my favorite state park: Dinosaur Valley, which is located just outside the town of Glen Rose, fifty miles southwest of the DFW metroplex.  Not only can you camp, hike, and ride horses here, you can also enjoy the current wildlife, and look for traces of wildlife more than 100 million years dead — the dinosaurs of the park’s name. The park offers three specific areas where you can view dinosaur tracks impressed in the mudstone eroding out of the riverbed. It costs $5 each for adults over 12 to get in; kids are free.

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Happy anniversary, Constant Reader! I started writing this blog on June 29, 2007, and this is my 101st post. That’s a lot of writing, when you come to think about it, especially almost all my posts have exceed 500 words — often by a good bit. So let’s see; assuming I’ve written something like 800 words for each of those entries, that’s about 80,000. Zounds! As they say, words fly when you’re havin’ fun.

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The Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex is a happening place, with dozens of events to attend across the course of the year in the various towns and cities that make up this bustling metropolis. I’ll use this page keep track of what’s scheduled every month. I’ll continue to add events as they appear and the dates are firmed up, and it’s my intention to attend and write about these events as they happen, insofar as that’s possible. At the moment, the list is weighted heavily toward large tourist-oriented events like festivals and celebrations, but I’ll soon add big-name concerts and other top draws to the list. I’ll also insert new events as they’re announced or as I find them, so please check back regularly. With rare exceptions (such as the first game of the season), expect local sport events to have their own special page.

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