Category: TRAVEL

Tips and advice offered from my personal experience

DESTINATIONS, DFW Metroplex, Restaurants & Bars, Shopping

The Weekend Report

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL HERE – FOURTH WEEKEND OF OCTOBER

Rodeo Goat at The Harbor

The plan was to meet my bestie for lunch after her dance lesson. When she called after the lesson, she was hungry for a burger and a beer. I named a couple of my favorite burgers in Rockwall and Rodeo Goat won the toss, because my favorite Rockwall burger joint, Well’s Cattle Co. doesn’t serve beer. They have amazing chocolate and coconut pies, which beat out a beer any day in my book, but it also doesn’t have the view Rodeo Goat does, so I couldn’t complain.

Before hubby left for a photo shoot that morning, he wondered where we were going for lunch, but we hadn’t planned that far in advance. So he called to let me know when he finished and tell me he was still interested in lunch with his two favorite girls. I told him his timing was perfect and to head to The Harbor.

Deborah got there before anyone and snagged a picnic table on the patio, overlooking Lake Ray Hubbard. I was next and suggested we start off with Cheese Fries. I told the guy there would be three of us and asked which size we should get. Apparently, there is just one size and it is gi-normous! We had enough for everyone on the patio – be warned.

Hubby showed up not long after the cheese fries arrived and even with all three of us working on them, we left a whole lot of them behind – in part, because we still wanted those burgers we came for. I shared a Bodacious Burger with Bill and Deb had the Blue Goat. The Bodacious Burger is sort of a delicious BBQ joint mess. Bill and I polished off it’s goodies, but left most of the bun behind. It was very good. Deb said the Blue Goat, with the Bleu Cheese was her favorite and would remain so. Bill and Deb washed their burgers down with beer, but Rodeo Goat has great margaritas, so I went that way.

Shopping Therapy

I am in the middle of creating a series of custom scrapbooks for a client who was a pageant girl and I needed some pageant-related stickers to jazz up my pages. Creative Memories, which is my go-to supplier, doesn’t have anything which is remotely pageant-related, so Deb and I hit the craft stores.

We first went to Jo-Ann’s, almost out of habit, because in the past we have bought truckloads of stickers and paper there. I am sad to say they are virtually out of the scrapbooking business. I lusted after the Cricut equipment a bit, but I am too cheap to buy it, so we headed to the next stop.

Hobby Lobby is definitely in the scrapbooking business, so it was next. They didn’t have pages of pageant-related stickers, either, but they had crown stickers and some teeny-bopper stuff that would do for Cinderella Girl and Junior Miss pageants. Of course, I didn’t stop there. Nobody can buy just one or two sticker packs!!

Then we went to Tuesday Morning, primarily because Deb just likes to go there, but they also have scrapbooking supplies, from time to time. I found a really cheap book of papers I decided I couldn’t live without. It had nothing to do with pageants, but some people do drugs – I do scrapbooking supplies.

A Quiet Sunday

I confess, I skipped church on Sunday. I needed to be at a family function at noon, so I would have only had time for Sunday School anyway. I decided to go easy on myself and play hooky for once, something I rarely do. The church did not fall down in my absence.

We went to a birthday lunch for our nephew. We have an odd sort of relationship with his in-laws – more like we are the parents, instead of the aunt and uncle. They are delightful people and we enjoy everyone on that side of the family, so while it may be weird to hang out at your nephew’s in-laws, it is a pleasure for us and we’ll be having Thanksgiving with them.

That evening Bill and I watched the new HBO movie, Moonfall. There is a star-studded cast which didn’t shine very brightly, except for John Bradley, playing a megastructurist (someone who believes aliens created and launched megastructures which are now planets, moons, etc.). He was the underdog no one believed, who ended up saving the world and he shone like the sun in the role. Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson did not. There was so much scientifically ridiculous about the movie that you just can’t take it seriously. The whole infrastructure of earth is being wiped away by mega-disasters caused by a moon out of orbit, but somehow their cellphones work – oh, and the moon’s gravitational pull which causing all that on earth somehow allows them to navigate into an opening on the surface of the moon. Un-huh, yeah.

And that, my friends, is that. Stay tuned. I’m continuing my Travel There series on Wednesdays and Memory-Keeping 101 on Thursdays!

Accommodations, Attractions, DESTINATIONS, Restaurants & Bars, Road Trips, TRAVEL, Travel Planning, United States

Lunch & Drinks at The Mirage

Jane Sadek

Travel There – My Vegas Slots Starts to Pay Out

In the days rolling up to our Vegas vacation, I was so devoted to earning awards on the My Vegas Slots app that I was skating on thin ice. I figured out the rhythm of the whole thing – how long you needed to wait for free chips, how long you could play a game until it got cold, how all the bonus games worked, even how long you could put it on auto-play without losing all your chips. Bill said he didn’t care how much I was winning. He just wanted to see his wife without her being distracted by her phone.

However, as we started to use my awards, my devotion to the games started to make more sense. After tackling the Bonneville Transit Station kiosk, we got on a bus headed back down the Strip and Bill began to freak out just a little bit. He was hungry and wanted to eat, but he was still in shock over his coffee experience.

I said, “I have a bogo deal at the Mirage. We buy a sandwich and get a free beer. I think we could share that and it would hold us over until dinner.”

“Well, what are we doing for dinner?” he asked.

“We can make reservations at Lemongrass over at the Aria. I have a bogo deal there, too.”

“What kind of food do they have?”

“Thai.”

“What’s Thai food?”

“Remember the place we went to for Stone’s birthday. It was Thai and you liked that.”

About that time The Deuce pulled up to the Mirage and we hopped out. As we got off the bus, Bill allowed that he had liked the food at that Thai restaurant, so my plan was a good one.

Using My Vegas Slots Awards

Here’s the thing about the My Vegas Slots Awards. You can’t just walk up to the place you have the award for and show them your phone or a coupon. First, you have to go to an M Life Desk, located in the various lobbies where the coupons are good and get an M Life Card.

And here’s the reason the MGM is perfectly happy to give you these awards. It’s at this point that most people think it’s too much of a hassle and never redeem their awards.

Not me. Bill and I marched into The Mirage, found the M Life desk and endured the obvious irritation of the clerk who apparently had more important things to do than issue M Life cards. But that’s just the first thing you have to do.

Once you have your M Life card, you have to redeem your reward. I had visions of redeeming all the rewards at once and using them as I had a need for them. Au Contrare! That’s not how this works. You can only redeem one award at a time and you have a limited period in which to use it. If we thought the lady was irritated about issuing the cards, that was nothing to her near dismay at being forced to give us a bogo coupon for their snack bar.

Scoring Goodies at The Mirage

The clever name of the snack bar at The Mirage is SNACKS. The burger we split was delicious and while it wasn’t free, there was more than enough to share. Washing it down with free beer certainly didn’t hurt. Bill’s liking my awards better all the time.

“What do we do now,” he wondered after we’d had our burger and enjoyed the huge Aquarium behind the registration desk – the Mirage’s free attraction. I pulled out a free drink award for The Still, a whiskey bar that had just opened for the day. I would give you a review of the Aquarium, but while we were in Vegas, they announced the Mirage was going to be torn down, so you couldn’t go see it anyway.

We went back to the M-Life desk, renewed our award for a coupon and headed over to The Still. Going through that rigmarole for every redemption was truly a hassle, but if they wanted to waste their personnel’s time on it, we could play that game with them.

We went to The Still, turned in our coupon for another beer, since our other option was whiskey and began to enjoy our vacation.

Back to Paris

After our free drink, we found the Deuce bus stop and caught the next one that came by. In minutes we were back at our hotel. I made the necessary reservations for Lemongrass. That’s another of the award tricks you have to watch. Some of the awards have very specific instructions about making reservations, including how far in advance you have to make the reservations. Those specifics kept us from ever using the awards for the Wolfgang Bar & Grill over at the MGM, but otherwise we were able to juggle the instructions and our patience with the hassle.

Come back next week and we’ll have some Thai food.

TRAVEL

The Weekend Report

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL HERE – THIRD WEEKEND OF OCTOBER

Cemetery Tales

Since this is the month of Halloween, I thought I’d chat with you about cemeteries. Not all of them, just the ones I visit.

Decorating the cemetery is a job handed down to me by my mother. I guess it actually started with my grandmother, but mom’s the one who delegated it to me. My grandfather, Thomas Byron Mobley, was buried at Pecan Grove and I grew up going there with my mom, Ruth, and my grandmother, Lula Mae. They’d load up the car with hoes and rakes and pruning shears and we’d head off to do our duty.

I’ve never been one for yardwork, but the plot at Pecan Grove with one headstone, a pecan tree and a peony bush was a manageable job and besides, I wasn’t doing it by myself. I was with two of my favorite people in the world. We’d unload our tools at the corner of Pecos and Rhea in the historic old cemetery and go to work on making it look good. I got assignments like picking up limbs from the pecan trees or gathering up the trimmings from their pruning, while Ruth and Lula Mae would share stories from their memories. All in all, it was a great way to spend an afternoon.

As you can see from the picture, our plot has changed from those companionable days. The first change was the headstones. Aunt Tommie decided we needed to upgrade our look. New residents were going to be joining my grandfather and the government-provided headstone, for a veteran of the Spanish American War, wasn’t going to fit with her idea of what our plot should look like. So, she talked her sisters into donating to the cause and the ladies went to a stone mason to choose matching double headstones for Grandfather, Grandmother, Tommie and her husband.

I had no idea, at the time, why Mom did not join into this upgrade by getting a stone for she and my dad. I’d find out later, but the years after the upgrade were busy and my grandfather did get new neighbors. The peony bush was replaced by silk arrangements in the fancy marble urns, but the rest of the job stayed the same.

As our plot gained new residents, Mom’s cemetery job also grew, but Grandmother was no longer around and I was an adult, too busy for cemetery time. In Pecan Grove, Mom took on the responsibility of checking on Aunt Hiley’s grave, which was on the block catty-corner to my family. Then my Great Aunt Bird, Grandmother’s sister, started getting attention. In addition, we began to have family members buried at Ridgeview, which was just a few miles from Pecan Grove.

Then my mom, always a timid driver, started asking me to help her at the cemeteries, because she didn’t want to drive up to McKinney on her own. I somehow got attuned to the rhythm of job – keeping the headstones clean and changing the flowers with the season. Like the cemetery days with Grandmother, we’d share memories and usually we’d also share lunch.

About this time, my very favorite relative, Aunt Edie, was beginning to think about where she’d be buried. There was a bit of competition for that honor. She had two husbands buried in Temple, TX, but in truth, she was fairly happy being rid of both of them. Mom and I lobbied for her to be buried in Pecan Grove, with the family, but in the end, she decided to be buried next to her last husband. It was one of the three worst decisions she ever made, in my opinion. You might guess what the other two were.

A little more than a year after we buried Aunt Edie, my dad passed away and my mom was forced to make some decisions she hadn’t been willing to face before. The reason she hadn’t gotten a stone when they did the upgrade, was because she’d always held out hope that Edith would be with us. She had an idea of where she wanted Edith to rest and Mom wanted to be right next to her. Now, the remaining 10 spots in our plot had to be parceled out, without the option of Mom being buried next to Aunt Edie.

Grandfather had been first and of course, Grandmother rested next to him. My Aunt Tommie had scored the spot next to Grandmother (which Mom hated) and Tommie’s husband finished off that end. That left three on the front row and seven in the back, except that one of those on the front was taken up with a tree. That’s when I learned about the Battle of the Pecan Tree, which had never been mentioned to me in all of my life, in spite of the many times I’d picked up the “mess” the tree deposited on the plot.

When Grandfather died, Great Aunt Bird decided “Tom” needed a tree on his grave and dug up a small pecan tree to plant next to him. Lula Mae, thought a tree was OK, but she didn’t want a pecan, because they were too messy. The sisters argued ferociously about it and Lula Mae told Birdie she’d never talk to her again, if she planted that pecan tree on Tom’s grave. Well, Aunt Bird did plant that tree and, as far as I know, Grandmother never quit talking to her, but she also refused to let anybody dig up the tree, which I thought was the funniest part of the story.

Lula Mae and Aunt Bird were no longer around to put in their two cents worth, but we had to decide whether the tree would stay or go. Perversely, Ruth wouldn’t tell me where she wanted to be, nor would she tell me whether she wanted the tree to stay or not. So, I consulted the stone mason who would make the headstone and the manager of the cemetery. They both voted for the tree to go, so it went. With the tree gone, Mom decided she’d rest between her father and her husband, under a double headstone that matched the other two. That left a single grave next to my dad. Who knows who will be buried there!

In less than a year, Mom was laid down between the two men she had adored more than all others on earth. In all the years I’d been her cemetery chauffer, one message was repeated each time we visited the cemetery (as well as any other time she could work it into the conversation), when she was gone, I’d be in charge of the cemeteries and she knew I wouldn’t let her down.

I wouldn’t let her down for the world, but I’m not as faithful as she was. She provided new arrangements for all birthdays, for Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Decoration Day – in fact, it seemed as if we were up there once a month for some reason or another. I put out poinsettias (which she loved) for the holiday season, change the poinsettias for her birthday in January (usually tulips, peonies or roses – which she also loved), change them again for spring around my Dad’s birthday, then perhaps a couple of other times as the seasons, change and my life allows. Usually, I also get to Ridgeview, but I can’t put out flowers for my aunts and uncles there, because all of their fancy gravestones with the urn you can put up or down, now have their urns stuck in the down position. Yes, I need to do something about that.

However, I do one more thing Ruth never did. I also go up to Melissa and decorate my father’s family plot, in the cemetery there. Mom never did and she reluctantly stopped short of telling me not to.

During her last year, she was in the hospital or a physical rehab facility more than she was home. She let me know my cemetery duties had officially begun, but when I told after one trip up there, I’d also taken care of the Caves, her response was, “Oh, you don’t have to do that.” From Ruth this kindly-sounding phrase was in truth more of a demand like “DON’T DO THAT!” Her strength made me strong and I ignored her. I continue to ignore her and hit all three cemeteries as frequently as I can.

I have no idea why Mom was so strongly opposed to keeping the Cave family plot in good order and I am happy to leave that problem in the grave with her. I am the product of two families, not one.

The Rest of the Weekend

Not much else. I met my bestie for a late lunch, after I was through at the cemeteries. We ate at Brio’s, which is one of my favorite and most-often visited restaurants in the Metroplex. Had I not taken up all my words talking about cemeteries, I might compare it favorably to the Cheesecake Factory next to it and wonder why the Cheesecake Factory stays so much busier than Brio’s, but I’m already over my word count. After lunch we did a little shopping therapy at the Allen Outlet Mall, something else I could use up a whole bunch of words about – whining about the stores which are no longer there and the dismal things they call bargains today. Sunday I went to church and then the rain kept hubby and I in the house.

I hope you’ll have a great weekend and see me back here next week for another Weekend Report.

DESTINATIONS, Road Trips, TRAVEL, Travel Planning, United States

Shades of Amsterdam

Jane Sadek

Travel There – Jane Faces the Kiosk and Loses

With the RTC discount card firmly in hand, our next hurdle was buying the three day pass we’d need to get around Vegas. The human who issued our senior discount card could not sell us tickets for the buses. We had to go outside and face the human-less kiosk. I am intimidated by kiosks. With humans, you can say oops, but kiosks don’t care.

Sometimes I do fine with the kiosks, like getting food coupons at the State Fair of Texas or when we bought subway tickets in Vienna. I was a total champ, but there will always be Amsterdam. That’s when Bill and I were nearly defeated by a phone with more slots than your average casino. To this day, I am convinced the hand of God reached down and saved us, because after trying our luck with various phones and various slots we were suddenly connected and I’m not sure why.

There have been other kiosks which won the battle – like the day we headed to Portland and ended up in Denver. It was the weather, not the kiosk, but the argument we had in the terminal was all about the kiosk.

And how about the first time I tried to tackle the Southwest kiosk. We ended up with boarding passes, but no luggage tags. An exasperated Southwest employee treated us like a couple of senior citizens who didn’t know the difference in dial-up and broadband. I like Medicare and senior discounts, but I’m not senile, yet. You can call me “ma’am” or even “honey” (which seems to be Millennial for old person) but don’t treat me as if I take my brains out and play with them.

As we trudged out to the RTC kiosk with our senior discount ID’s, I felt as if we were headed to a firing squad playing a game Russian Roulette for bus tickets. Would we get our tickets or be sent back to Dallas?

Pushing the Buttons for Tickets

I still can’t explain what happened, but suddenly, I was holding not one, not two, but three bus passes and each pass was for three days. Drat that kiosk!

I looked at Bill and he was as clueless as I was. He’d stood there coaching me through the transaction and he didn’t know how we’d ended up with three tickets either. We shrugged our shoulders and headed back into the Transit Station.

I reminded the attendant I hadn’t wanted to face down the kiosk in the first place and she was sympathetic, probably because she had those senior citizen prejudices, but there was nothing she could do for us, except give us a telephone number. Isn’t that always the case these days? You’re standing in the bank, looking at one of their employees, who hands you a phone number to call to deal with your issue.

Apparently, I’m the only idiot who’s ever had this problem, because the first few people we talked to didn’t know what to do about us. Eventually, we were transferred to a lady who could help, but even then, we had to read some number off the extra ticket and that was more difficult than you might imagine. The senior citizen thing kicked in, because Bill couldn’t see the number with any of the glasses we had with us.

Now, the extra ticket only cost us $10, but the whole reason we’d gone through this exercise in the first place was to save a little money and that $10 would have rendered our efforts useless, so we stood around in the Transit Station working out our refund.

The Most Fun We Had in Vegas

I told you at the beginning of this trip that Vegas wasn’t my kind of town, but let me illustrate for you just how much it wasn’t my cup of tea. Looking back, this adventure to the Bonneville Transit Center was my favorite part of the trip. There was an element of discovery. Bill and I laughed together about several of our other travel challenges, from evil kiosks to running out of gas coming back from Temple. We were having good old fashioned fun and for the most part, the rest of the trip was tinged with disappointments and Covid-related challenges, not fun.

Come back next week and we’ll start using the coupons I’d earned playing the My Vegas Slots app.

ART, Attractions, DESTINATIONS, DFW Metroplex, Museums, Restaurants & Bars, Road Trips, TRAVEL

The Weekend Report

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL HERE – THE SECOND WEEKEND IN OCTOBER

A Dancing Lesson

Saturday was a day in Fort Worth with my bestie, but we had a stop to make before we got there. Deb, who dances ballroom competitively, had a lesson with her new partner at Dancesport Training Center in Addison. She’s been dancing for many years, so I have gotten to know her teacher and many of her fellow dancers. I knew I’d be hearing a lot about the new partner, as they prepared for competitions in the spring, so I wanted to observe.

I have to tell you, I love to go to the competitions and as I see Deb float on the arms of a tuxedoed partner, I think, ‘that would be fun.’ Going to observe a lesson reminds me why I have no interest in ballroom dancing. It’s a lot of work. Over and over and over I watched them practice the same series of steps, not even an entire dance. Granted, they’re new partners, so there are basic logistical adjustments to figure out, but seriously, it’s like watching paint dry.

Not for Deb! She left exhilarated. She thought it was a great lesson and was full of enthusiasm about social dances at a new studio, taking lessons from her partner’s teacher and maybe doing rhythm at the silver level. Which reminds me of the other reason I’ll never be a competing ballroom dancer. It’s unbelievably expensive. You pay weekly for lessons, often multiple lessons, and then you pay to compete and then you pay to have your pro there when you compete and if the competition is not in your area, then you pay for your pro’s travel. And those beautiful dresses Deb floats by in during the competitions? Thousands of dollars each. Yep, I’m staying in the audience.

Lunch Café Modern

Did you know there is a Wolfgang Puck-ish restaurant in Fort Worth’s Museum of Modern Art? Not to worry. Most people don’t and until this visit to Café Modern, we didn’t realize the Wolfgang Puck trained-chef part. We’ve been before and loved it, but as most of you know, when I get to Fort Worth, I usually go to Joe T. Garcia’s. This time, we’d been to Joe T’s recently and decided to do something a little different.

You need to put this on your list. It was 12:30 on a Saturday afternoon and only a smattering of people were enjoying the wonderful atmosphere and great food, which was surprising to me, since special events were happening all around the museum area. Almost everyone was on the patio taking advantage of the great weather and we joined them, but the interior is quite nice. We ate there last time during a winter visit.

Deb got the Cubano Sandwich, which she loved, while I ate Chinois Chicken Salad. It was good too, but think more salad than chicken. It’s mostly green stuff with strips of cooked chicken thrown in, not chunks of chicken, fruit and nuts I love best. The service is good, but not fast, so we each had a couple of glasses of wine. Prosecco for Deb and Sauvignon Blanc for me. We split the bill paid about $50 each including tip. Not a bargain, but a great meal in a wonderful space.

Murillo at the Kimball

The Kimbell’s own Murillo from the Exhibition App

A few weeks ago we went to the Dallas Museum of Art and happened upon the last day of the Cartier and Islam exhibit. I was both happy I got to see the exhibit before it left and mad that the DMA, for which I pay a membership, didn’t manage to communicate it to me in a way that made me aware of the exhibit. You can interpret this to mean they probably sent me emails along with the 50 thousand others I get in a day and I missed it. If you really want me to know something an email blast probably isn’t you best bet – especially with the summer I had.

So, this weekend, we went to the Kimball, where Deb is a member, only to discover they were having a 50th anniversary celebration with all kinds of stuff happening. Their lawn between buildings was full of tents, chairs and a stage. They were having a concert that evening of some sort. We went directly to special exhibition area to see the Murillo exhibition.

I was very surprised, because it was free and there was absolutely no line. The Kimbell permanent collection is always free, but you have to pay for the traveling shows. For this special weekend, the Murillo exhibition was free. It’s an amazing collection of paintings and you should see it, but few were taking the Kimball up on their offer of free.

If you’ve been to the Kimbell before, then the image above is familiar. The woman with the glasses haunts me and I enjoy speculating about her and the other three images in painting. This exhibition expanded my knowledge of the artist. His portfolio is wide, from landscapes with religious subjects to the dark portraits I identify with Spanish portraiture to whimsical paintings of everyday people.

Please go over to Fort Worth and see this beautiful collection of paintings and learn more about Murillo. He was a humanitarian and one of his goals was to sneak meaningful messages about charity and morality into his gorgeous paintings, hoping as they adorned the walls of his patron’s homes, the message would sink in. You’ll like him and you’ll enjoy his work.

Not much more to share. Sunday morning was given over to church and since it was my weekend to stand in the breezeway and greet people, I had a marvelous opportunity to enjoy the weather. Once home, Bill and I took more time outside, sitting on our swing next to the pond and having a coffee break in the sunroom. Then it was time to go pick up a new scrapbooking project from a client. I’m so excited to start working on it.

Come back Wednesday for some more travel stories from Las Vegas and perhaps another Weekend report later in the week.

DESTINATIONS, Road Trips, TRAVEL, Travel Planning, United States

The Transit Adventure

Jane Sadek

Travel There – Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada

Bill and I usually get a rental car when we travel by plane. We like to avoid the hassles and constraints of public transportation, but what the heck are you going to do with a car on The Vegas Strip, except pay very expensive parking fees. So, I did a little research.

There’s a monorail and we’d used it extensively when we’d stayed at the Sahara attending a conference which was in the Venetian. It did a great job of getting us around then, but for the itinerary I’d put together, it wasn’t going to do us much good this time.

I looked into the Big Bus Tours which were so convenient and useful when I’d visited Chicago. More about them later, but for a tourist getting around Vegas, nothing seemed as convenient as the Deuce on the Strip! And guess what else!! I discovered Bill and I qualified for the senior discount. All we had to do was get to the Bonneville Transit Center and get a free Reduced Fare ID.

Once Bill had gotten in his nap and I’d moved into our room, we were ready to go see Vegas. First on our list was our senior discount!

From Paris to the Bonneville Transit Center

I am a timid user of public transportation. I always have visions of missing my stop and being forced to disembark in a ghetto, where I get mugged and perhaps caught in a drive-by shooting. I don’t know if Las Vegas has a ghetto or not, but I had a good map of the the routes in my hand and I was tackling the public transportation system with my handsome husband.

Another of my fears of public transportation is having the right thing to pay for my ride or coming to a point where I have to pay more and I don’t have cash or any form of payment they will accept. Irrational, of course, most fears are, but the ticket we got to take us to the Transit Center was good for two hours, certainly we could find it in that time without paying more – even if I had to get off and try again in another direction. And besides the street-side kiosks took credit cards.

Riding along in the Deuce, we craned our necks to see the sites along the like other tourists. After passing The Strat, we knew we were at the end of The Strip and that our destination was just a few stops away. Thanks to Bill we did get off at the right place. Dodging the busses to get to the building was dicey, but we made it.

Inside the station, they actually knew what we were talking about, which is always a plus. Often in my research I find something that no one but me knows about or they just did away with it a week ago, but not this time. We had our pictures taken and were issued with an ID card which would provide reduced fares until 12/13/2026.

If you are only going to be in Vegas for a couple of days, this is probably not worth the effort, but we used the heck out of the passes, so we thought it was great. If you’re one of those people who go all the time or you are staying for more than a couple of days, why wouldn’t you get it, if you qualify.

Now you’d think this was the end of this story and we’d move on to our next Vegas adventure, but not all my fears of public transportation are unfounded. Come back next week and see what happened next.

DESTINATIONS, DFW Metroplex, Restaurants & Bars, Road Trips, Shopping, TRAVEL

The Weekend Report

Jane Sadek
Photo Snipped from The Republic website. Link below.

TRAVEL HERE – THE FIRST WEEKEND IN OCTOBER 2022

Happy Hour at My Place

We don’t entertain much. We’re busy people and when we’re not busy, we relax. It’s a shame in some ways. Our home just begs for a big party and I’ve inherited pretty much every serving dish and implement known to man, including 36 place settings of Gorham Chantilly sterling flatware. Salad scissors anyone?

However, the completion of the sunroom was a milestone, so we decided to have at least a few neighbors in. Since the sunroom is a small space, we decided to do it in phases, inviting a pair of couples in at a time – this end of the cul de sac one night and the other end the next night.

Invitations sent and accepted, I woke up Friday morning, did the necessary tasks for our business and then Bill and I went errand running. Bill went because he’s always afraid I will overbuy when we entertain, and sometimes I do. I had a list ready of what we needed and a set of priorities, as well as reasons for my priorities. I had to take that list, tear it up and throw it away. Bill rearranged everything in the exact opposite order I had planned and threw in a trip to Costco for our Covid boosters, which hadn’t been on my list at all. Only wives will understand.

Aldi and Costco

Aldi is not my go-to grocery store. Heck, out here in Heath, I don’t have a go-to grocery store. I remember fondly the days in Dallas when I could get to one of virtually everything within five minutes – Central Market, Whole Foods, whatever, but Market Street was MY grocery store.

When I go on a normal grocery run, I want to go to someplace that will have everything on my list. My mom spent her life chasing bargains and would visit several grocery stores in a week. That is not my life and that’s the reason I am not a regular at Aldi, because they will not be able to fill my whole list. However, I’ve learned, when I entertain, Aldi has more of what I want, in the quantities I need, for amazing prices.

So, we went to Aldi and found what we needed. Three different exotic deli meats, sliced thin, all in one package. Two cheeses. One of those boxes of fancy crackers with several varieties in it. Some hummus and Bill picked up some flatbread thing he wanted. He’s a bigger shopper at Aldi than I am. He loves their chocolates and their kettle chips, so we got those, too, not for the party, but we were there, right?

Along with our Covid shots, we picked up wines at Costco. My next door neighbor loves Aldi’s Winking Owl wines, but for wine, Costco is the go-to for us (when we don’t have time to get all the way to Trader Joe’s). I picked up Prosecco, which is what everyone ended up wanting and Bill chose a few other things for those who might not.

Bill drops me at home, so I could get things and myself ready for our guests. One of the things I needed to get ready was my nails, so I ran off to the salon for a new set. By the way, my go to is Signature Nails, next to Kroger, here on the south side of town. That’s when I got a text which threw my party plans in the air. I’m trying to resolve them via text with the hubby, who is determined to wait until I get home.

When I got home, we did resolve the issues, probably to no one’s satisfaction, but the show for Friday night went on and who knows when we’ll get around to the rest of the street. In spite of the storm in my teacup, Friday night went well. It was one of the first times we’d connected socially with our neighbors since the pandemic. It felt like we’d redeemed one more chip of our lives.

Working Weekend

So, Saturday was given over to work and making a trip to the discount fabric stores on Harry Hines. We’d borrowed a tasseled tieback from an upstairs room for out Friday night soiree, but needed to get one. If you’re decorating, I hope you know about the discount fabric stores. On Midway there’s Childress Fabrics and Cutting Corners. Over the years we’ve been successful at both, but for the sunroom, the drapery material came from Cutting Corners. However, we never buy any fabrics until we’ve been to the corner of Harry Hines and Perth. The names change, but the savings all along Perth Street stay the same. Need fabrics – go there.

Listing photos taken and tasseled tieback bought, it was time for a late lunch. We went to Republic Texas Tavern on Inwood Road near Forest. I’d been for a business meeting once and saw enough to think it was worth another visit. As we sat admiring the restaurant, my husband, (who I claim will try to tell God how to improve the streets of gold) asked, “Guess what I don’t like about this restaurant.” I confess, I rolled my eyes and asked what. “Nothing.” That’s high praise folks!

He had a beer and I had their version of a margarita, which is Texas Ranch Water. He loved his Pastrami Sandwich and I enjoyed their Truck Stop Burger. Every sip and bit was delightful. We’ll be finding reasons to go back, even though it is on the other side of town. You should go, too.

Casa Mama

So, after church, Bestie and I wanted to grab some lunch. It was a late lunch, because Deb sings in the choir and it meets Sunday afternoon. My criteria were Tex-Mex and a patio. Deb sort of leaves the choices up to me, because she says I make more exciting selections.

After cataloging the usual possibilities in my mind, I remembered there was a new restaurant downtown. Anything called Casa Mama was probably Tex-Mex and I knew they had a patio, so that’s where we went.

Deb loved it. She raved over the choices on the menu and thought the brisket enchiladas with spinach were delicious. I was a little more picky. The patio is right on the main road, which even on a quiet Sunday afternoon meant it felt like we were eating in the street. My cheese enchiladas were good, but not the ridiculously gooey mess I love at El Fenix or El Chico. (Yes, I like El Fenix and El Chio – that’s real Tex-Mex with lots of Dallas tradition on top.) The interior cheese on my Casa Mama enchilada was melted but not runny, gooey. Some people might consider this an improvement, but give me the goo.

Their margarita made up for any lack of gooey cheese and yes, I will be happy to go back. I will not sit on the patio and I will not have the cheese enchiladas, but I will go back and you should visit, too.

So, this is the Weekend Report. This one’s a little longer than most of them will be, because it was a busier weekend than most are. I have challenged myself to do this every week as a counterpoint to my Travel There series on Wednesdays, but I can’t promise I will always make it, nor which day I will post it, but keep an eye out! I have also challenged myself to start posting scrapbooking tidbits, but that’s not ready to roll out.

So, the next post I can promise is on Wednesday and we’ll be in Las Vegas!

Accommodations, DESTINATIONS, Restaurants & Bars, Road Trips, TRAVEL, Travel Planning, United States

Our $22.50 Coffee Break

Jane Sadek
Photo by Quang Anh Ha Nguyen on Pexels.com

Travel There – Let the Las Vegas Sticker Shock Begin

Coffee is a very important substance in Bill’s life. I’ve found there are two kinds of coffee drinkers – the ones who just want coffee whatever form it comes in and then there are coffee drinkers like Bill. Of course, there is a particular strength of coffee he prefers and it must be hot, very, very, very hot. At home he actually heats his coffee in the microwave halfway through the cup to keep it hot.

But there’s more. He wants to purchase his coffee with minimal hassle, he wants a good pastry selection, he wants access to a variety of coffee accoutrements to doctor it to his flavor and there should be somewhere nice to sit and enjoy the coffee once he’s got it just like he wanted. Oh and by the way, the coffee should not cost an arm and a leg.

I’ve mentioned the predominance of slot machines and gaming tables in the lobby. There’s a lovely lobby bar, a full service restaurant, a pretty no-frills coffee shop and a stand-up coffee bar. And that’s it. No cozy sofas or easy chairs. No café tables. In fact, unless you want to play the slots, there is nowhere to just sit down and people watch.

Now Bill’s plan was pretty good. He’d scoped out both the coffee shop and the stand-up coffee bar and ascertained that both pastry choices and coffee beans were better at the stand-up option. His plan was to get his coffee and enjoy it in the Lobby Bar. What his plan did not take into consideration was the chains across the entry to the bar with the notice that only bar patrons were welcome there.

Now, I tried to point this out to Bill as we stood in line for our coffee, hot chocolate and brioche, but he wasn’t feeling very chatty. I got it. He’d been up and on the run since 5:30. He deserved to be left alone to enjoy a relaxing cup of coffee without his wife blabbering away about the attractions she wanted to see. Only I wasn’t trying to talk about what’s next. I was trying to keep him from making a tactical mistake.

So, when he got to the bar and encountered the chain across the entrance, he was not happy. Then, depending on his charm to get him what he wants, the way it usually does, he was irate at being turned away. He ended up drinking his very expensive coffee in the very boring coffee shop whose lights were too bright and whose décor was virtually non-existent – just white everything and no reprieve.

That he had paid $22.50 and the coffee was only mediocre didn’t help one bit. To be honest, the brioche wasn’t much either. The hot chocolate was fine, but in truth I would have preferred to have a Diet Dr Pepper. That wasn’t anymore of a choice to me than a seat in the lobby bar was to Bill.

So, trying to make the best of things, we did a little exploring. We found the spa and Bill discovered he could get free bottles of water there, which was the brightest spot we’d had in this vacation, so far. We found the very elegant wedding chapel, with multiple wedding venues. And we discovered the CLOSED pool area. There wasn’t even a hot tub we could access. I wasn’t feeling very good about our Vegas vacation at this point.

Back in our room we had business calls to field. Entrepreneurship has it’s drawbacks. Once everything was settled, I went about unpacking and getting us moved into the room. Bill took a nap. We’d been in Vegas for 3.5 hours when I sat down with my travel journal to record my impressions up to that point, then I took out one of the books I’d brought with me and waited for Bill to wake up.

Come back next week and enjoy the adventure we got into next!

Accommodations, DESTINATIONS, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

Vegas, Here We Come

Jane Sadek

Travel There – Getting There Is Not Half the Fun

There was a time when flying Southwest was a blast, but that was a long time ago. They’ve “improved” things since then. By flying Southwest you were doing a very Dallas thing and you were rooting for the underdog, both of which I loved. Now, it’s just another airline and the whole “no assigned seat” thing, which used to be sort of fun, has morphed into an absolute pain in the neck. The only thing Southwest has going for it, as far as we’re concerned, is that Love Field is a lot closer to Heath than DFW.

Thankfully, this was an easy trip. Early, but somehow they all seem to be. We sort of miscalculated the time, but it worked out ok, because we were able to walk from the car onto the plane with virtually no stops. At the Las Vegas end, the package we won included transfers, so with minimal hassle we were dropped off at the Paris resort to begin our vacation.

Welcome to Paris!

Though we were not guaranteed to have any particular resort in Vegas, they said it would be on The Strip and they asked where we’d like to say. I said Paris, because I always thought that would be a cool place to stay.

I’d been to Vegas before, but never for pleasure. Once, when Bill and I were on the way to California, he stopped in for some stock traders event at the Flamingo and we stayed off The Strip. Another time we stayed in the Sahara, also for a stock trader’s event. That was a bad choice. Cheap and convenient, but way past it’s days of glory. The only other time I was there, Bill had been in Iraq and I went to a convention with my sister-in-law. We somehow managed to stay at the Luxor and that was very nice.

I’d visited the Paris on one of those trips and for some reason had been impressed by it. I also liked the picture of the rooms I looked at after I knew that’s where we had been booked. Arriving for our stay, I couldn’t imagine why I’d been so impressed with the Paris in my previous visit. In my memory, the lobby had been grander and not stuffed in every corner with slot machines and gaming tables. I guess they had “improved” it at some point. At least the registration area held on to its grandeur.

It probably didn’t help that our van dropped us off at some ignominious back door, instead of the glitzy art nouveau main entrance. We had to drag our luggage all the way across the casino to find registration. That did not jive exactly with the entry into our glamourous Las Vegas vacation I had imagined.

It was still morning when we arrived and let’s face it, unless you’re up for a buffet, there’s not much to do. Bill was not up for a buffet, so we paid $56 for early check-in and my disappointment continued. Shabby chic was once a decorating trend, but these sad, worn out furnishings didn’t qualify and the trend has passed. Our rooms was sort of like a furnished apartment in a college town, but the furnishing had happened decades before and since then everything in the room had been abused. Even the carpet looked as if it should have been replaced several years ago.

However, it was clean, so we counted our blessings and reminded ourselves it was free. Had it not been, we would have probably demanded a refund and moved over to the Bellagio. We also had what must be the worst view in the hotel. We could only see the roof of the casino and all the equipment on it. We closed the curtains and went in search of some coffee.

Come back next week and have coffee with us in the Paris lobby.

Accommodations, Attractions, DESTINATIONS, Road Trips, TRAVEL, Travel Planning, United States

My Vegas Slots

Jane Sadek

Travel There – and Get It for Free

Shortly after I won the trip to Vegas I was getting my hair done and Loree, the goddess of hair, who also happens to be my friend, told me she would also be heading to Vegas soon. So we compared notes.

Her travel secret is Facebook Groups. She travels a lot and wherever she’s going, she finds a FB group or two to follow. I confess to being a FB dinosaur. If doesn’t happen on my Newsfeed, then as far as I’m concerned, it didn’t happen at all.

It’s not that I haven’t tried out groups before, it’s that there was entirely too much useless chatter and I don’t know these people! I don’t know their priorities or their taste or their budget. Why would I follow their advice?

In fact, I don’t pay much attention to all that recommendation/review noise on the internet. Even if I know you, you’re not going to be able to influence me much. For instance a relative told me not to stay at the Mena House in Giza or go to Alexandria. This is someone who has been to Egypt many, many times. They should know right?

Was she ever wrong! My stay at the Mena House was one of my favorites – ever. And Alexandria? She was right that it is past its former glory, but it was still a fascinating place to visit and we had a blast. The Royal Jewelry Museum there is one of best I’ve seen and it’s in a beautiful old mansion. So, rather than take folks’ recommendation, I do a lot of my own research, but chances are I won’t be reading your online review.

However, Loree didn’t give me any reviews, she told me about an app – My Vegas Slots. I shouldn’t get started on apps, but we’re there. You can keep your apps. Give me a good old guide book with maps any day.

Every time I allow myself to depend on an app, it lets me down. I don’t even trust a GPS. Too many times a GPS has sent me in the wrong direction or just flaked out at critical moment or took me to a place that moved or closed. And that’s just the GPS. Almost every time I try to use a travel app to get around a destination, it’s a disaster. I don’t know if that’s the app’s fault or mine, but it doesn’t work for me.

However, the app Loree was talking about wasn’t really a travel app. It was a game that paid out in free Las Vegas stuff. We downloaded it while I was in the chair and I had hundreds of thousands of points before I left her shop.

A New Obsession

The next morning I sat at my desk and took inventory of the free stuff I could supposedly win on the app. It was good stuff! Free meals, free drinks and even rides on the monorail.

The next trick was redeeming my points. While you can start playing My Vegas Slots without giving them any information, if you want to redeem anything, you have to give them all the usual stuff that helps hackers get into your life. The app is sponsored by MGM Resorts and all you’re actually doing is signing up for their Rewards Program and you do it on their site, so I did it.

I redeemed some of my points and I was hooked. Because I am me, I went through the entire catalog of prizes and listed them on a sheet paper, in order of my interest in them along with the number of points they’d take. After that, every free moment of my time my face was glued to my phone, playing the stupid slots games.

And when I got to Vegas, I used the coupons I earned. A free drink here, a bogo buffet there and a free gelato at the Bellagio. Yes, My Vegas Slots is legit and if you get serious about collecting and using them, you can certainly be a winner in Las Vegas without even going to the tables.

Come back next week and lets head out!