Category: Road Trips

Travel by car

DESTINATIONS, Restaurants & Bars, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

Allsop & Chapple Restaurant & Bar

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL THERE AND EAT HERE!

I don’t care why you’re in Little Rock or what your budget is, you need to eat at Allsopp & Chapple. I’d love to tell you some great story about me researching restaurants in Little Rock and digging up this hidden gem, but the truth of it is that we googled it after we got there.

I wasn’t sure exactly what time we’d get away from DFW, so I didn’t want to be disappointed. If we ended up getting out of town late and just grabbed Mickey D’s along the way, I wanted to be happy about getting away, not feeling deprived by missing some great restaurant. So, we googled from the un-luxury of our room at Days Inn and lucked into one of our favorite meals ever.

Historical Significance

Allsopp & Chapple used to be the name of the premiere bookseller in the state of Arkansas. It’s located in Downtown Little Rock in the Rose Building, which was built in 1900 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. For six decades A&C was THE bookstore in Little Rock, indeed the entire state. Perhaps the young Bill Clinton, who lived in Little Rock up to 1964 bought a book from there. By the time he was governor, the bookstore was gone.

The Modern Version

Even though it was a Wednesday night, we decided to go ahead and make a reservation, which was a good thing. The place was hopping! Patrons at the bar chatted over bespoke cocktails and most every table in the room was full.

During our first visit, we didn’t know about the complimentary valet, but now you do, so let them park your car. Instead we parked in a nice multi-level lot which was all of $2 and walked to the restaurant, but it was less than 1/2 a block away.

The vibe is good. We were wearing our travel clothes and fit right in. Some people were in suits and dresses, obviously there after a work day, but a pair of jeans would not be out of place. Please don’t show up in your pajamas or your active wear. It’s not that casual.

The dining room and bar are both in the same room and it’s a cozy room. That’s why you make a reservation. The décor is sleek and modern without being cold, and there’s a nod of the head to its previous existence as a bookstore.

The menu is varied but not expansive. I hate when they hand you a book that you have to wade through to find something to eat. There was a little of anything, from soup and salad to steak and seafood, but the choices did not go on and on and on. The wine list is extensive, but not daunting. However, what caught our eye first was the Cocktail Menu.

I’m usually pretty boring when it comes to drinks. Wine, a margarita or a beer are my usual choices. I’m just not that crazy about most hard liquor drinks – no old-fashions, Manhattans, gimlets. martinis etc. They usually look expensive to me and when I get them, I wish I’d just ordered up the usual.

Deborah is the adventurous one of us. She can talk bitters and liqueurs with the best of them and she’s more willing to splurge. When she does, she’s usually happy she did.

This time the Cocktail Menu looked good to me and the prices were reasonable. It also nodded its head to the previous bookseller of six decades. I chose the Don Quixote, which was a blackberry margarita and Deb had Much Ado About Nothing, an old-fashion infused with vanilla and oranges. Both were great. I loved mine and Deb gave me a sip of hers, which was also good – almost like a spiked Dreamcicle.

Amazing Food

So, the drinks were good, the atmosphere was pleasant and the décor lovely, but what about the food? Pull out your list of superlatives and use them all. The food was out-of-this-world good. I had the pork chop, which was cooked to perfection and had a great sauce, but lets talk about the mashed sweet potatoes.

Roasted banana sweet potato mash! The banana and sweet potato were perfectly blended and very smooth. I’m guessing they also had cream and butter and other good stuff in there, but whatever they had in it, it was the best mashed sweet potatoes I had ever had.

Deborah, in the meantime had the Redfish, in Pontchartrain Sauce with fried okra. I had a bite of the redfish and it was delectable. I don’t interfere with anybody else’s fried okra, because I don’t want anyone trying to score some off of me.

We’d observed very generous pours in other wine glasses, so we changed to wine with the meal and were happy as, in my mom’s words, dead pigs in the sunshine. We were so full we didn’t even have a dessert.

The Return Trip

It was so good…how good was it? It was so good we went again as we went back through Little Rock on the way home. Now the restaurant’s area has several nice looking eateries in it, but my pork chop and the drinks had been so good, we only had one destination in mind when we hit Little Rock and that was Allsopp & Chappele.

This time we ventured to other cocktails and while I can’t remember the name of it, this time I had their version of a daiquiri. It was smaller than my blueberry margarita and a lot more potent. I could have drunk several, but I wouldn’t have been able to walk.

Deb did get the pork chop, but I think they’d cooked her longer than they had mine, so she was a little disappointed. Perhaps it was catering to the busy Saturday night crowd that kept the pork chop on the grill too long.

This time the Gouda Mac with Mushrooms looked good to me and I had it with grilled shrimp added. Warning, no one could eat all the mac & cheese with this dish. If you get it split it, but also get it with the shrimp. Very excellent! This time we did share a piece of ricotta cheesecake. It wasn’t Junior’s cheesecake, which we had loved in New York, but it was yummy.

Do not miss this restaurant when you go to or through Little Rock. It’s a great experience with stellar food. Come back next week and we’ll suggest a place to have breakfast.

Accommodations, DESTINATIONS, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

The Three Mistakes

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL THERE – WHY I STAYED IN AWFUL ACCOMODATIONS

When I am shopping travel accommodations I have three categories I work with: I just need a place to sleep, I’m going to live it up and this has historical significance.

The historical significant category is easy. I expect to pay more, as in whatever it takes, to stay at the Mena House next to the Pyramids or Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood. Places like these will have a strong demand in any season, the location is out of this world and it takes more money to maintain these places in their historically correct state. I say “whatever it takes”, but that’s only up to a point and the point is flexible, depending on what the going rate is in the area and how much of my travel budget I have already eaten up. In some cases, I may have to settle for having lunch there, like we did at the Grand Hotel.

‘I’m going to live it up’ is often coupled with historical significance, such as our stay at The Cecil Hotel in Alexandria, but there are other reasons I will open our pocketbook. Take the Sanctuary Beach Resort for instance, which is all about location, location, location. The rooms are huge, luxurious and your door opens onto the beach. You are so far removed from the every day that you turn your car in for a golf cart. Delightful! I am more likely to live it up when I’m with Bill, because we share a travel budget and I don’t like to hog it for travels without him.

When I just need a place to sleep, I can get pretty cheap. On this particular trip, I figured out how much was too cheap. In fact, I can only think of one time that was worse and that was a Motel 6 on Sunset Strip. Major mistake.

I will blame it, to an extent, on Covid. While I’m no longer sitting around pining for the old normal, the pandemic has made a significant impact on travel. I always thought if you stayed in a well-known, mainstream motel/hotel you’d be OK. In fact, I assumed the biggest concern was the neighborhood. For this trip, I chose Days Inn, Travel Lodge and La Quinta and they were all awful. Here’s what I said on Facebook when I got home:

The Travel Lodge was the best overall, but they allowed some homeless lady and all her belongings in the teeny tiny lobby, which was also the only way in or out of the motel. I felt really sorry for her and made an effort to help her, but management should never have allowed her to be there for hours on end. They claimed they didn’t know how she got there. How does a lady with a stack of belongings taller than I am, a tub of sodas on ice and empty pet crates get into a lobby and management doesn’t know how she got there? Is that what they are going to say when I’ve been chopped up by the axe murderer? And in this day and age, how do you have a multi-story hotel without an elevator???

Self Provided In Room Snacks at the Travel Lodge

The La Quinta was pathetic. Close to the Little Rock Convention Center, it had once been a very elegant hotel. You could tell by the marble floors and elaborate woodwork, but it needed a complete overhaul. Sliding glass doors that didn’t slide, lights out throughout most of the garage, ice machine didn’t work, dirty furniture in the lobby, an empty pool. Our free breakfast was a bowl of oranges and slices of bread. They put out a toaster, but it had an “out of order” sign on it. How ridiculous is that? Our room was OK, but everything else seemed to be falling down around us. As we left in the morning, it seemed as if the local homeless population thought the exterior areas were a great place to hang out.

And then there was the Days Inn! From the outside it looked OK, but our room was in total disrepair. It was clean. I will give them that, but there wasn’t even a rod in the closet to hang my clothes on and some dog had been locked in the bathroom which clawed off the paint and the door frame. How does that happen in a Wyndham Hotel? I posted a picture of the bathroom on Wyndham’s Facebook page and didn’t even get a sad face emoji from them! Then there was the covered pool with plants growing over it. Don’t get me started!!

Jane Sadek: Facebook 9/26/2022

That pretty much covers it. I was targeting rooms for less than $100 a night. In the future, that will be more like under $200 a night. I might have to cut back elsewhere, but I’m not doing this again.

DESTINATIONS, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

Meet Me in St. Louis?

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL THERE – WHEN GOD SENDS YOU A POSTCARD

My tribe knows when I am struggling with something I sometimes say, “I wish God would send me a postcard and tell me what to do about this.” The summer of 2022 was a tough one and I was looking for a postcard.

Our real estate photography business was exploding, which was good, but it brought new challenges. To make it just a little more difficult, our long time editors went out of business with no warning. One morning we got the day’s delivery of images and when we sent a batch later in the day, they apologized and said they were closed down for Covid and they never reopened.

In addition to this, we had two remodels going on. We were adding a sunroom to our house and we had a rent house we were renovating to sell. As soon as the rental’s renovation was over, we put it on the market and had all the headaches associated with that.

The lethal cherry on top was my health. I got an awful summer cold, improved and then got it back. A week or so later after that was gone, I got hives – maddening blossoms of hives, which itched all the time. As a remedy they put me on prednisone, which was almost as bad as the itching, but was only a temporary solution, because a few weeks later I was back in the doctors office. So they gave me another temporary solution. I was half nuts with it.

Then the postcard arrived. Joyce Meyers was having a Women’s Conference called Love Life. I wanted to love life, but wasn’t quite achieving it. I was making it through my days, but there was little joy.

My first thought was that Bill would never let me go. He’d really had a rough time of it when we went to New York a few months previous and the first thing he said to me when I walked into our house was, “You’re not traveling without me, ever again.” It wasn’t because he loved me so much, but because handling both ends of the business and the remodels by himself had been too much.

But I had gotten the postcard from God. I have not been a consistent follower of Joyce Meyer Ministries, but there had been a season when she was very helpful to me. A guy I’d really been crazy about broke up with me and I was having a tough time with it. I knew, for a number of reasons, he wasn’t the guy God wanted for me, but oh, there were so many reasons I wanted him for me. A cornerstone of our relationship had been having lunch together daily and when the relationship was over, lunch hour was a big gaping hole in my day.

So, I created a new lunch routine. I’d pack a lunch from home, go to a park to eat and listen to the radio. It just so happened that my lunch hour was at the same time as Joyce Meyers radio show, “Enjoying Everyday Life.” I love the “just so happens” with God and now it just so happened, I had gotten a postcard.

I worked up my courage and mentioned the conference to Bill. I’ve always enjoyed Women’s Retreats and Conferences. He’d seen me go away with the world on my shoulders, only to come home refreshed and happy. He knew my struggles and he knew I needed it. He didn’t necessarily want me to be away without him for several days, but he gave it the green light.

The next part was the best bit. I told Deborah about the conference and my green light. She was thrilled. A girl’s trip was on!

Though you are reading this in July of 2023, I got the postcard in July 2022. It’s now the end of September 2022 and I just returned from seeing Joyce. I tell you that, because I just made a discovery yesterday, as I picked up the infamous postcard to scan it for this post. I really did get the postcard from God, because it was addressed to a neighbor. For months on end I have had this postcard on my desk and then I carried it with me to the conference. Only now did I realize God had to reroute it from it’s intended mailbox to get it to me.

This is not the first piece of mail I have ever gotten in error, but for the other letters I knew right away they were not ours. About once or twice a month I’ll get one of theirs and walk down the street to put in in their box. When I saw this postcard, I knew without a shadow of a doubt God had put it in my hands. I just didn’t realize until yesterday it hadn’t been because I was on some mailing list, but because God arranged a very special delivery.

Come back next week and I’ll tell you about our adventures – and there were adventures!

ART, Decorative Arts, DESTINATIONS, DFW Metroplex, Restaurants & Bars, Road Trips, TRAVEL

Beboppin’ to Bebo’s

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL HERE – PILOT POINT HOTSPOT

My husband loves the internet. He lives for his Tik Tok time. He shops there. He researches there. Me not so much. I mean, I spend a whole lot of time on the internet – who doesn’t – but I like my word of mouth to come from real mouths, not Google.

Constantly, as we’re driving, he says, “Look up…” I hate that. This means I am about to get fed information via firehose and most of it I don’t want. If he really wants to drive me crazy, before I can even type in his last request, he has three other things he wants to research. I’ve tried to explain how maddening this is, but he hasn’t quite wrapped his mind around it, yet.

OK, maybe I’m exaggerating here, but I really do hate researching things on the fly. So, when we drove out of Ray Roberts Lake State Park and he said, ” Look up somewhere for us to eat,” I pulled out my phone and started typing, but I was a little nervous about it. Sure enough, the first things listed were a Subway Sandwich stop and a variety of other fast food eateries.

Scrolling down through the long list of unwanted restaurants I finally found a listing for Bebo’s and Kathy’s Cafe. It sounded like a cute place with home-cooked food, but I wasn’t sure it would suit Bill. He’s a lot pickier than I am about what to eat. His idea of home-cooked food is what his momma cooked him in Cairo. I love that, too, but I also like chicken fried steaks, fried chicken, fried okra, dumplings etc. and so forth.

I’m not sure this is the best place for Bill to have lunch, but there’s not much else nearby and he’s feeling adventurous. Google leads us right to the parking lot and we get a good laugh. Someone with a good sense of humor has worked on the setting of this establishment.

Inside it was your basic flea market decorations with a heavy focus on Elvis memorabilia. It’s not Bill’s favorite look, but we’re here and there’s a booth available, so we settle in for a meal.

Now, when I sit down to look at a menu, I think about what the specialties at this particular restaurant might be. If it’s TexMex, I don’t order a burger. If it’s a steak place, I don’t order fish. This method of food selection has proven to be successful around the world. When I travel with groups, I’m the one at the table that everyone stares at when the food is delivered. “What did you order? How did you know what it was?” and other such questions are peppered at me, as well as a lot of, “I wish I had ordered that.” It’s not unusual for people to start asking me what I will be having before they order themselves and then they frequently just say, “I’ll have what she’s having.”

Bill goes at it a little differently. First, he decides what he would like to have and then he looks over the menu and tries to find something to match his whim. He landed on a Club Sandwich. Now I love Club Sandwiches. The crisp pieces of toast separating delectable cold cuts, cheese and fresh veggies, which are then cut into delightful quarters – and if you’re lucky, they’ll put those decorated toothpicks through each quarter – and maybe there will be homemade potato chips on the side.

To me, this seemed the perfect place to order up something fried and I hadn’t had fried catfish in a long, long time. When they brought it out to me, sizzling hot, on a plate running over with fried okra and cole slaw, I was in heaven.

Then I looked over at Bill and his “Club Sandwich.” First of all there were no dainty triangles of toast with decorated toothpicks in them. Instead, it was a couple of pieces of Texas Toast (I kid you not) and the main ingredient seemed to be bacon. He was not in heaven. His sandwich was served with fries and they weren’t exactly what he’s used to getting at McDonalds.

Though I pitied his dismal food choice, I had hot, fresh catfish waiting on me, so I tucked in to eat it with relish. Bill spent a good amount of time rearranging the ingredients in his sandwich, but I don’t think he was exactly satisfied at the end of the meal.

Now, you may be wondering if you should put Bebo’s on your list of restaurants to check out. I would say that depended 100% on whether you are on Team Jane or Team Bill. Team Bill should stick to Subway sandwiches. Team Jane is gonna love it!!

From Bebo’s Bill and I ran a number of errands related to the sunroom we were furnishing at the time. Meanwhile, I had another trip up my sleeve. Come back next week and let’s talk about a women’s conference in St. Louis.

Accommodations, ART, Attractions, DESTINATIONS, DFW Metroplex, Gardens, Road Trips, TRAVEL

Pilot Point Getaway

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL HERE – JUST AROUND THE CORNER

Why Pilot Point?

About fifteen years of my life was spent in the office equipment industry and most of that with AIS/IKON. There are people I knew in those days which are closer to me than some of my family. So, when I heard about a jam/reunion that was happening up in Pilot Point, I couldn’t resist going. Initially, the jam was supposed to be held in someone’s house, but the attendee list got so long they decided to move it to the Point Bank Community Center. It was also recommended that attendees book a room at the Lone Star Lodge and Marina. Too busy to do much more than let them know I was coming and making a reservation at the Lodge, I wasn’t too sure what I was getting Bill and I into. On the appointed day, Bill and I loaded up the car and headed to Pilot Point, about an hour and a half from our home on the eastern side of DFW.

Lone Star Lodge and Marina

I cannot say enough good things about this little lodge. It isn’t swanky or luxurious, but it was delightful. Most of the rooms are on the ground floor and at least half of them look out into the woods or have a lake view. The rooms are a bit rustic with a western flair – no frills, but nothing to complain about. For $114 we had a great place to stay and beautiful grounds to explore.

Check-in was a breeze. We ran into friends on the parking lot and let them know we would be on our way to the jam, right behind them. We moved into our room, freshened up a little and them headed off to the jam.

Point Bank Community Center and the Jam

If you ever need some place to have an event in the Pilot Point vicinity, I recommend you check this venue out. It’s nothing fancy, but really is nice. There’s a big community room, restrooms and a kitchen, as well as a storeroom. It did a great job as a venue for this jam/reunion.

I had been warned this wasn’t a reunion in the traditional sense, just the outgrowth of something a group of them used to do – get together and play music. I was also warned some of my best friends from those days weren’t able to come, but I still thought it would be worth it – and it was.

Bill and I walked in just as the band was beginning to play. The band was an odd assortment of people playing drums, guitar and keyboard, but I won’t try to convince you they were good. As I adjusted to the light of the room, I began to see faces I recognized, but even more which were unfamiliar to me. We took our beverages to the kitchen, served ourselves and looked for a place to light.

I was soon up again, going around the room to get some hugs from those familiar to me and was introduced to others. I checked back in with Bill and he was ready to go. He knew virtually no one and those he did know were only slight acquaintances. The music was loud, so starting up a conversation was difficult. I thought the music was fun, but mostly because I knew and loved those who were playing. I excused him from further torture and told him I’d either come back to the lodge with friends or call him when I was ready to go.

I enjoyed visiting with those I knew, but with the loud music, it was hard to chat. The performances were not intimidating in the least and guest musicians took over various instruments from time to time. My friend Tammy and I decided that under those circumstances, we should probably contribute to the jam by singing. The picture above highlights our performance which was nothing to write home about, but a lot of fun.

Having hugged all the necks I needed to hug and contributing musically to the jam, there really wasn’t much more to do, since there was really no way to talk to the people I had come to see. I eventually called Bill to come get me. When he stuck his head in to let me know he was there, laughter, cat calls and innuendo bounced around the room.

Back at the Lodge

We had a good night’s sleep and then headed out of our room to explore more of the Lodge. I can see it being a great place for a wedding , reunion or other event.

As you can see, the scenery is beautiful and the grounds are well kept. There’s a nice ballroom, the gazebo and even several levels of patios. The lobby area is attractive, also.

The lake you see is Lake Ray Roberts and the Lodge is a part of Ray Roberts Lake State Park. We had our morning caffeine and a snack as we enjoyed the beauty of the place.

Then we went back to room, got ready for the day and packed up to go. We visited with some of my friends who were also enjoying their stay at the Lodge as we went to turn in our key.

Ray Roberts Lake State Park

Before heading home, we decided to check out Ray Roberts Lake State Park. It was lovely. Deer gazed out at us from the edges of the wood. It was very, very quiet – perhaps because school had just started. We turned off the main road and went to a picnic area. There we parked and walked around the shore of the lake. It was a great way to spend a morning.

It was time to head back home, but first we needed lunch. Come back next week and find out about a great little restaurant you can enjoy if you decide to visit Pilot Point.

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

The Sandpiper Bay Effect

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL THERE – WHERE IS MY RIDE?

When we stepped off the plane in Palm Beach, we were excited about starting our luxury vacation. Our anticipation was based on our excellent experience at Club Med Punta Cana. We were going to be disappointed!

The Transfer

In Punta Cana, Club Med had provided us with the name of the transportation vendor and other contact information, but we didn’t even need it, because the pick up area was clearly marked and someone was there to greet us.

In Palm Beach, there was nothing. I started going through the paperwork and found a number to call. Suddenly, their absence was my fault. They had texted me and I didn’t reply. There had been no text, but it magically appeared a few moments after I got off the phone with them. I was assured a car was on its way and someone did show up pretty quickly, but that panic after we had picked up our luggage dulled our excitement.

In Punta Cana, the airport is a short drive from the resort and the scenery along the way gets you very excited about where you are headed. The entrance to the property is well-marked and inviting. Getting there was part of the fun.

In Palm Beach, that’s not the case. You are about an hour away from the resort and we had the joy of adding time to that, because we were in rush hour traffic. You’re stuck on a freeway that looks pretty much like any freeway and as you near the property, you start wandering through residential areas. When you finally arrive at the gate, it looks a little bit like the entry to a run down mansion that might be in a horror film.

The Arrival

In Punta Cana, our driver pulled into a drive and right by the van was a man standing at the podium to greet us. Everywhere we looked was lush greenery and attractive buildings. We were ushered from the van to a shaded seating area where we given refreshments.

At Sandpiper Bay, the driver dumped us off on the sidewalk and we made our way into a glassed-in lobby marked as “Registration.” The harried clerk raised a finger at us to let us know we’d need to wait. We stood there and no one offered us any refreshment. In front of the registration office was a rock garden with dead plants in it. Everywhere we looked resembled the dormitories of a second, maybe third rate, college.

After we’d been registered at Punta Cana, one of the GM’s walked with us to our building and let us into our room. She showed us around our accommodations while we waited for our luggage to be delivered. The room, while not luxurious, was very nice and attractive.

After we’d been registered at Sandpiper Bay, the clerk pointed at our building, which was nearby and told us we were on the third floor. The elevator was at the other end of the building from our room. The room, while not exactly awful, resembled my dorm in college with the exception that we did have our own bathroom.

The first thing we said to each other was, “Sandpiper Bay ain’t no Punta Cana,” and that pretty much sums up the entire adventure. On the ride to the resort, I’d used my phone to handle transferring the day’s shoots to our editors. I always feel nervous when I do it that way, certain something is going to go wrong, because it is a very truncated process via phone, but I was ready to start enjoying our vacation.

We’d arrived after happy hour, which was always one of our favorite times on Punta Cana, but I changed into an fresh outfit, touched up my make-up and headed out to have fun. So far, we were less than impressed with Sandpiper Bay, but hopeful things would get better.

Come back next week and join us for dinner. Then you’ll find out if our beach vacation was getting any better.

ART, Attractions, DESTINATIONS, Fashion, Music, Performing Arts, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera House

Jane Sadek

Travel There – Styling at Lincoln Center

Dressing up and going to the Opera had been one of the things Deb and I had fantasized about most as we looked forward to this trip. When we made it back from our trial run for Penn station, I was still raring to go. Deb was done in. She laid on the bed and said she was going to wear what she had on.

Now if you recall, her feet were in serious pain and had been ever since Tuesday night, yet we’d been walking all day, every day. The only shoes she could wear at this point was a pair of kitten printed canvas slippers. She was a little rung out from the train station episode and I’m not sure how much fun it would be to get all dressed up and finish the look with kitten shoes.

Here’s what’s so great about our friendship, I still wanted to get dressed up, so I did and she thought that was great. I pulled out all my finery and as I did, I also started prepping for the next morning, when we’d be going to the christening. That’s when I figured out I had no hosiery for the next day. In Dallas in May, that would be OK. In New York, I figured I would freeze to death.

So, I finished up getting cute and had time to spare to go to our drug store. I have no idea what we would have done without it. We’d gotten foot remedies, new skin for my finger, super glue for my sunglasses, late night snacks, numerous Diet Dr Peppers and now I was going for nude colored hose and something to treat a fever blister. Yep, it’s always something.

We were such pros on the subway now, that we probably could have made it just fine to Lincoln Center, but just to be sure we used Lyft. I could get used to this. Our driver dropped us off right in front and we didn’t even have to think about parking.

I do not have enough superlatives in my vocabulary to describe how wonderful it was to see the Franco Zeffirelli production and sets for Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera House. It is one of my favorite operas of all time and I have seen it a number of times at my beloved Dallas Opera, but there’s a reason The Met is The Met.

Turandot was the Ukranian, Luidmyla Ariltato and she did a remarkable job, but her Calaf was a South Korean, Yonghoon Lee. It was so fitting to see an Asian in this role and he knocked it out of the park, vocally. It really was special in my mind. Deb kept talking about how amazing the entire chorus was. “They were actually moving and acting,” she said, “not just standing around singing.”

Then there were the costumes. They were the perfect compliment to the outrageously wonderful sets created for each scene. If there is perfection in this world, short of heaven, then this production of Turandot is it. I can die happy.

Remember the grand nephew we visited across from St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Well, we made plans to join him for a bite after the show. We had a little difficulty finding his favorite sushi restaurant, even though it was close by. Lyft let us off at Columbus Circle and it was supposed to be right there, only we couldn’t find it. They were just about to quit serving when we finally got there, but we weren’t all that hungry after our feast at the Tavern on the Green earlier in the day.

Then he escorted us to the right subway station and sent us on our way. We made it back to the hotel just fine and felt very New Yorkish to be trotting around so late at night. I know horrible things happen to people on the streets of New York, but we never had a moment’s trouble.

The fun is almost over, but we have one more big event. Come back next week and we’ll take a little train ride.

DESTINATIONS, Restaurants & Bars, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

Tavern on the Green

Jane Sadek

Travel There – Saturday in the Park

My mom left me with a long list of travel must-do’s. Never mind I’d managed to go places she never saw. She wanted me to be sure and see the things she had seen or things she had wanted to see, but never made it. Like the Tower of London. She went to England twice and never made it to the Tower to see the Crown Jewels. I’ve done that. She loved Windsor Castle. I still haven’t been there. The list goes on.

Last year I knocked off a biggie – the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. Now I was in New York, ticking more things off her list. Certainly, the Metropolitan Museum of Art was high on her list, but so was Tavern on the Green. For many years I despaired of ever getting to Tavern on the Green, because it closed down for a while. Not as in a pandemic casualty, but long before that. Various New Yorkers and the City of New York were squabbling over everything from trademarks to vendor’s licenses. According to Wikipedia, Trump (yes, that Trump) came in and made the necessary renovation happen and now the Tavern is back in all its glory.

While I wanted to tick as many items off Mom’s New York list as I could, I also had my own preferences to consider. So, I chose the Frick over the Guggenheim or MOMA and I had the Tavern on the Green as a possibility, instead of a must. Part of me wanted to go ahead and make reservations for that Saturday afternoon, but the other part didn’t want the pressure of rushing through the Frick.

So, with the Frick behind me, we strolled across Central Park (a treat in itself) and made our way to the Tavern. Something I had read told me to go ask for a seat in the bar. Reservations are hard to come by and expensive if you don’t show up, but apparently you could always just ask to sit at the bar.

When the girl looked up and said, “Do you have reservations?”, with a smirk that said, “You out of towners never have a reservation,” I smiled and said, “We’d like to sit in the bar.” We were seated immediately.

I’d like to say we were waited on immediately, also, but that did not happen. We were virtually there forever. I ordered a burger, the most expensive one I’ve ever had and proceeded to enjoy our time in the Tavern.

As we sat there, waiting first for a drink, then for a menu, then for another drink, then to place our order and then the decade to get our food, we watched the entire bar area fill up. The patio outside had been full when we got there and stayed full the whole time. The rest of the restaurant was full, also.

When I finally got the most expensive hamburger I’d ever ordered, it was delicious. I wouldn’t say the best I’d ever had, but certainly a good one. Deborah also liked whatever it was that she ordered, but we agreed the price was prohibitive. Maybe if Mr. Trump invited me to be his guest, I’d go back, but probably, I won’t be back.

The Subway Challenges Us

We had tickets to the other Met this evening – The Metropolitan Opera – but the next day we would be venturing into New Jersey via the train. Deborah was a little anxious about how all that was going to come down, so we decided to make a trial run.

For once, the Subway and its app were not our friends. Apparently, a lot of maintenance happens on Saturdays, when the traffic on the subway is lighter than weekdays. When we’d visited Grand Central Station the day before, Deborah had gotten some information that should have helped us find our way, but that information did not take into account the Saturday maintenance and the app, wasn’t really helpful.

With a little difficulty, Deborah was able to find Penn Station, which is where we needed to catch the train. She found a very helpful agent that walked her through the whole process and relieved her mind. Then we tried to return to our hotel. That did not go as well.

The Metro app and the construction signs were taking us around in circles. We finally left the underground and hit the sidewalk to figure out where we were. That’s when my handy dandy analog maps came in very handily. I’d been referring to them all week, but when electronics failed us, what a blessing those little books were. They helped us get to another part of the subway system not being worked on and then back to our hotel.

It was time to go to the Opera. Come back next week and enjoy the highlight of our trip. We did save the best for last!!

ART, Attractions, Decorative Arts, DESTINATIONS, Museums, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

The Frick Madison

Jane Sadek

Travel There – A Fricking Great Art Collection

While it would have been very easy to spend every waking hour of my New York week at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, I didn’t, because I want to feel as if I know any city I visit, not just hit the top site. That’s why we stomped all over Mid-Town and Lower Manhattan, as well as taking advantage of the subway. Hopefully, some day, I will get back to The Met, but I needed more than one museum to know New York.

You could museum into perpetuity in New York. They have a little of everything. Museums like MOMA and Guggenheim are better known, but once I’d read about the Frick Mansion overlooking Central Park, I knew it was the choice for me. My choice was tested when I discovered they were renovating the mansion and a selection of the best items had been moved to a temporary home called Frick Madison, but reading through a list of items in the collection, I kept the Frick on my list.

While the Frick was no further away than our stroll to the Met, at this point of the vacation, less steps are better. As we ate meal bars in our hotel room (we were dead tired of their breakfasts and I could not face another egg) Deb pulled out her handy dandy Metro app and discovered we’d need bus service to get close to the Frick. So with the help of the app, we took the bus. It dropped us into a completely different world a few blocks from our destination.

This was residential New York, the Upper East Side and plenty swanky I will let you know. This was a quiet Saturday morning. We saw a few joggers. There were mommies and daddies out with the latest style of preambulars. We were on hallowed ground.

Coming to Madison Avenue, we made a left and continued to enjoy our surroundings. We arrived on the doorstep of the Frick with time to kill, so I backtracked to a small convenience store I’d seen along the way. You know those movies where someone steps into a small crowded bodega and is suddenly swept up in a robbery or a mugging? Yeah, well this wasn’t that place. The proprietors were oriental. Everything was neat, nothing was crowded and yet the space seemed to have a little of anything you might need.

I was in dire need of caffeine and I was ready to take it in whatever form I could get it, but to my absolute delight, they had my beloved Diet Dr Pepper in a screw top bottle. I could drink what I needed and save the rest for later. I was jubilant. I don’t think anyone had ever been jubilant in their store. They smiled and nodded, but I could tell they wanted the crazy person to leave and return them to their previously quiet and neat atmosphere.

Then it was Frick time. The first floor is a functional floor with offices, ticket sales and a store. We walked into the first gallery on the second floor. Holbiens, Hals and other fabulous painters from Holland and the Netherlands. Then BAM, the Rembrandt self portrait we all know. We may not even know it is a Rembrandt self portrait, but we’ve all seen the guy with a mustache in a funny hat, washed in golden light. A roomful of Van Dykes and three of the only 34 Vermeers which exist in the world today. We’re only in the first set of galleries and we’ve already seem more Old Master paintings than most bigger museums have in their entire collection!

The third floor has many of the decorative arts, which many of you will recall is my absolute favorite thing in a museum. Carpets, porcelain (so much Meissan) and of all things, clocks. There was a lot of Italian art of all varieties and in the Spanish section, several El Greco’s, which I love.

The decorative arts also filled the fourth floor and these were French – oooh la la! Not in necessarily in manufacture, but taste – think Sèvres and Meissan. Continuing on the fourth floor was a gallery filled with Frangonard’s Progress of Love. Like the Rembrandt self-portrait, these are paintings you’ve seen reproductions of all your life. To see them in person and all together was stunning.

Then, as if you are not already gob-smocked from all you’ve seen, there is a room of Impressionist paintings, finishes out the floor. Not a comprehensive collection, but stunning nonetheless. At that point, I just wanted to go back to the second floor and do it all over, but other entertainments beckoned and we were hungry!

If I went back to New York tomorrow, I would first go to The Met and then back to the Frick – and hopefully, the renovation of the mansion would be over and I could see these masterworks in their usual venue, placed in his gorgeous home, just as Mr. Frick thought they should be. Then I would go to the Guggenheim and MOMA. The Frick is just that good.

But it’s lunch time! Come back next week and we’ll cross Central Park to the Tavern on the Green.

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

The Weekend Report

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL HERE: TRAVEL & ART – MY FAVORITE THINGS

Travel & Adventure Show

Traveling is my thing and every year, when the Travel & Adventure Show comes to town, I feed that passion. I remember the first year I happened into it with my hubby at the Dallas Convention Center. He was more excited about the Belly Dancers on the Global Beats Stage and I didn’t worry him by picking up every brochure in sight, like I do these days, but I knew I’d found something.

The next year, bestie went with me and a tradition was born. We schedule our day around various speakers, grab every brochure that even slightly interests us and get our picture made at the photo booth. It’s a good time.

This year she had a dance lesson and we met afterwards. Confession, the last few times we’d been, it want’s the marvelous hit it had been in those first few years and we couldn’t even blame it on Covid. Somewhere along the way they’d moved to Dallas Market Hall and it just wasn’t what it had been. So, bestie and I decided we didn’t need to rush over there. We could have lunch first. I mean we’re not about to miss it, it had just fallen short in helpfulness since it first came along.

So, we grabbed lunch at Torchy’s Tacos, near one of her dance studios. We have one in Rockwall, but I rarely get there. In truth, I think it’s a little pricey for street tacos, but that’s me. This time it was well over $20, basically for fast food, but I did splurge and get a specialty margarita. It was bigger than the standard margarita and while Deb complained her regular margarita was a tad tart, mine was awesome.

Then it was on to Dallas Market Center. This year did not feature some of the big name travel types we’d seen in the past, but I thought it was an improvement over the last few years. The first time it was at DMC it was pathetic and the Covid years were tough, but we’ve hung in there and this year it really was worth the effort. It’s easy to be worth the price, because it was only $10. What else can you do for $10.

We started off with “How to Travel Solo, from the Experts” in the Savvy Traveler Theater, for Deb, who is contemplating a test drive in the world of Solo Travel. There had been a similar seminar last year, but it had been a total waste of time. This year was better – marginally so, but better. Deb was encouraged to discover more and more companies are doing away with an upcharge for solo travelers, but disappointed the cruise industry is slowest on the uptake.

The next seminar was right back in the same place, but it was Gabe Saglie of Travel Zoo talking about “How to Prioritize Travel in Uncertain Economic Times. He talked a lot about trends and offered up travel tips, but his goal in life was to get us to sign up for Travel Zoo. He made it sound good enough, that I actually just did so.

We immediately went to “”The Insider’s Guide to Visiting Arizona Parks,” but the seminar was misnamed. It should have been, “Look What I Did.” Some lady who worked for the Arizona Office of Tourism spent the time showing videos which are on the National Parks’ websites. Apparently, she had been tasked with making the National Parks websites more accessible and she was very proud of her videos. Thank you, I know how to use the internet. You have wasted my time. She got away with showing one. We left when she started showing the second one. She may have made the websites more accessible to the general public, but she made her presentation a real snorefest.

Next up was “Cruise Tips, Trends and Personal Stories from Our Adventures at Sea,” in the big Travel Theater. This seminar was also misnamed. It was an advertisement for Princess cruises to Alaska. The MC for this talk was Alanna Zingano, a social media travel influencer (No, thank you!) and Jeff Corwin. I confess, he looked a lot like Steve Irwin, the Australian Nature Dude who got killed by a stingray, so I thought he was that guy’s son. Not so. Somehow Jeff Corwin has gotten a job as the Nature & Adventure Ambassador, probably because I’m not the only one who thinks he’s Steve Irwin’s son. Anyway, Alaska is not at the top of my travel list and Deb has been four times, so that was a loser.

The final seminar of the day was probably the best. Someone named David McGuffin did a talk titled, “Exploring Europe: Top Destinations, Attractions and Experiences.” Of course, he was advertising his European travel company.

David and our friend from Travel Zoo were the most informative guys at the travel show, but I wish that wasn’t giving them more credit than they deserve. In the past, we’ve seen Samantha Brown, Rick Steves and other travel luminaires behind the podium. So, it was not a star-studded event. However, they have ramped up the quality of their vendors and I felt as if it was more worth the trip than it had been in recent years.

David Solomon at the Biblical Arts Museum

The other big event for the weekend was an opening reception for a new exhibition at the Biblical Arts Museum. I’m not sure how I get on these lists, but the museum invited me to opening of the “Flowers of the Holy Land” Exhibit. A little honesty here. I’m not really fond of this museum. It’s mostly a warehouse for copies of various religious art – including Thomas Kinkade prints. They also cram entirely to much stuff into the space they have, so actually enjoying one of their oversized look-alikes is difficult to do.

I can’t say I walked away from this exhibit with much more respect for what they are doing. Bill and I both thought an exhibit of my own photographs from the Dallas ARboretum would offer better photography and certainly FOREVER would have done a better job printing the large format photos. The refreshments offered were bad wine and bagels – a little odd, but the jazz band which played was actually pretty good.

Glad I went, so I know what’s up. I wonder if the exhibit will be there later this month when the Crowley Chamber Concert will be. While I’m not crazy about the museum, I do love the Crowley Chamber Concert Series.

For now, I must run! See you next week for travel, memory keeping and another weekend report.