Forth Worth Stockyards

Hi All!

After sleeping pretty much all day Saturday and Sunday, I am feeling better. For an added bonus - I don't have to work today so . . . YEAH!

Here is the second installment of the visit with my parents and my aunt and uncle. The Fort Worth Stockyards.

For those of you who don't know, Dallas and Fort Worth are only about an hour apart and these two cities and the suburbs between them are known as "The Metroplex." Dallas is considered to be the more "citified" of the two cities while Fort Worth maintains some of its "cowboy" roots. This doesn't mean that Fort Worth isn't a sophisticated city - it just means that it has kept more of its traditional past alive than Dallas has. This is a good thing since it gave us a good place to visit!

The Forth Worth Stockyards is a sample of what life might have been like in the "old west" when cattle ruled the scene. Every day there is a cattle drive in the Stockyards. Of course, we had to go and see that!

The herd of longhorn cattle were herded through the streets. They are very impressive animals. Just look at those horns!

Then, I got locked up in the "pokey!"

Mom and Aunt Donna got locked up too!

Then Dad got thrown into the slammer!

Here are some longhorn cattle trying their hardest to stay away from people. I am standing on an observation deck and the cattle are on the opposite end of the pen. Smart cattle.

Inside the Live Stock Exchange building Aunt Donna stood beside an antique buggy.

They have a "Texas Trail of Fame" and in the building they have plaques with all of the honorees on them. They were neat to read.

We all spent some time looking and finding some familiar faces and names.

You could get your picture taken on the back of this VERY patient longhorn. We opted to just take Mom's picture in front of him.

Cowboys accompanied the cattle drive (sorry some of the pictures are a bit out of order but . . .). Earlier they were cracking bullwhips. Really!

The cattle do this "drive" twice a day and are pretty content to do it. I don't think that the cattle would have been so docile in the days of the real cattle drives.

The horses were as impressive as the cattle.

It is a good thing that the cattle didn't decide to take offense to the cars parked along the road. Imagine what their horns could do to that paint job!

This marker is one of over 400 which were set in the countryside to mark the Chisholm Trail.

Aunt Donna and Uncle Al sat in the Billy Bob convertible. How fun!

Mom and Dad get up close and personal with "Calamity Jane." Isn't she cute?

There were plenty of touristy shops in this old building which once was used to sell sheep, goats, pigs, and other smaller livestock. The train runs right through the middle of the building for easy loading!

We found some neat shops. My personal favorite was the Ernest Tubb music shop where I found some good local talent CDs!

Speaking of Earnest - here is his star on the Texas Trail of Fame!

We all had a fun day at the stockyards. We ate at Riskey's BBQ (I am hoping I spelled that right!) and had good food. Then we set off for the new Dallas Cowboys' Stadium. That will be another post for another day!

Trisha

Voice Update: Huskier than normal due to the cold but doing well - all things considered!