Summer mini vacation #1

We took a day trip vacation yesterday, the first of several that we have planned this summer because this might be the very last summer that we get to do things like this with Jamie. Next year he’s going to Japan on a school trip, plus he will likely have a summer job, which will make getting away more difficult.

First stop: The Fort Worth Water Gardens

We have been here twice before with Jamie, but both times the water was off. We got lucky today.

My hand started glowing, though.* Is that bad? I saw some guys in sandman suits and so we left pretty quick…

* It’s a Logan’s Run metaphor. If you’re old like me and watched this 1970s movie and TV show, where one of the most iconic scenes was filmed at the water gardens, you’ll know that I’m about 23 years late to Carousel.

Next stop: Greer’s Ranch Cafe in Stephenville

This was Jamie’s idea — I had him do research on day trips that he would be interested in taking this summer, and we are trying to do everything on his list.

He wanted chicken-fried steak, so we drive two hours for chicken-fried steak and I was dubious that this would be a good use of our time, but it was worth it. Both Doc and Jamie reported that the chicken-fried offerings were delicious.

Their salads were suitably fancy with radicchio and frisée, and the dinner rolls were hot and dense and yeasty and amazing. I had grilled chicken and a loaded baked potato, which was very tasty. Doc had some fried green tomatoes alongside his chicken-fried steak, and I thought those were excellent as well.

I have never had chicken-fried steak. I had a bite of Jamie’s chicken-fried chicken so now I can say that I have tasted that. It was good, but I’m not sure what differentiates it from just regular old fried chicken. Maybe the existence of gravy on top? I am definitely not a fan of cream gravy, as it turns out.

Final stop: M.C. Escher art exhibit

The Arlington Museum of Art is having both a Pride juried exhibit and an M.C. Escher exhibit, so we stopped here on the way home.

Most of his art is surprisingly small, which makes the intricate details that much more impressive. And multiply that by the fact that he pretty much did everything backwards, since he worked mainly in woodcut, mezzotint, and lithography, all of which are done by removing negative space and making a print.

I really liked seeing a couple examples of his actual woodcut blocks, which all had large circles cut into them, effectively destroying the original piece so it could no longer be reproduced.

We were issued magnifying glasses at the ticket desk so we could more easily see the details.

And the Ames room and the infinity mirror chamber were fun.