A tour guide in your pocket

So, the thing we did today was a phone-app-based walking tour.  If that sounds strange, that's because it kind of is.  We did one a few years back, and it was sufficiently fun, so we thought an outdoor walk this morning might be a good idea.  

We bought a Groupon for a company that does guided walking tours in some major cites.  In the area, they have one for downtown Dallas and one for McKinney.  Since we wanted to try something totally new while keeping distant, we went to the seat of Collin county and checked out what there was to see in McKinney.  The tour we picked used a phone app to guide us to different locations in the city, giving us facts, photo suggestions and questions to answer (mostly based on historical building plaques) along the way.  

It was a cute walk, and as is now the norm this summer, the only problem with anything was that not everyone was practicing good social distance.  Surprisingly, though, most McKinney folks did well.  There's a saying about a few bad apples that applies, here.  

We started at their library, where we had to find a particular statue and take a photo of it.  After that, the app directed us to walk to a specific historically significant church and find the date when construction on the building was completed.  The walking tour sent us to a fountain in a park, then to check out some nearby statues.  It suggested some shops and restaurants, but we skipped those.  Maybe we'll stop by for a visit after the global pandemic is all wrapped up.  

The tour routed us to a large, imposing biding that used to be the Collin County Prison.  Famously some members of Bonnie and Clyde's gang were held here, and they were evidently planning a jail break, but were transferred to a different facility before they could pull it off.   After they stopped locking folks up here, the building was used briefly as a restaurant, and patrons could dine in tables situated in the jail cells.  A unique dining experience, to be sure.  

We also walked past an old school house where we were supposed to ring the bell out front- then to the Collin County History Museum, which used to be a very beautiful post office.  After that, a few more stops until the culmination of the tour at the Old County Courthouse, which is currently a performing arts center.  The tour offers up trivia as well as challenges and questions.  The trivia that popped up at the courthouse was that the last trial here was a murder trail, and a pretty gruesome one, to boot.  Apparently, a jealous mistress was accused of murdering her sweetheart's wife.  With an axe.  Oh, and she was acquitted...  Wow.  Such a pretty building, and such a dramatic end to its legal career.  

All in all, it was a good walk, an interesting morning, and yet another good option for the socially distant summer of local stuff we've tried to maintain.  

Here is the $19 Groupon we bought, allegedly a $50 value (it's worth $19, not $50): https://www.groupon.com/deals/zeetours-5-dallas

Here's the website for the company, though there are TONS of other companies that do this: https://www.zeetoursapp.com/

And, of course, here are photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2XJ3mX7a61qq3KRj7

Anniversary, Covid style

Cas and I have gone on some really cool dates that we find worth repeating.  There are a few that we recently tried to replicate in our home, with pretty great success.   One of the things we've done a few times is see Ricki Derek do a show.  He is a local guy who sings crooner-style while backed by a very large and very talented band.  We've seen him a few times around the holidays, but we prefer his Valentine's Day show.  He gets his whole big band on stage at the Granada Theater and sings amazing, old love songs.  After a full set, the movie screen comes down, and the old-timey movie theater-turned-music venue returns to its original purpose.  They typically screen Casablanca.  

Monday was our fourth wedding anniversary.  We sent off a few bucks to Ricki Derek and purchased his official CD.  Nobody even really buys CDs anymore, but I thought it was the best way to get Ricki into Cas' music library while shelling a few bucks out to a favorite local guy who probably isn't getting a lot of work right now.  We listened to the CD during dinner, then watched Casablanca on the living room TV.  New twist on our oft-repeated Valentine date.  Mission accomplished.  

Speaking of dinner, we have a ritual there, as well.  We use credit card points to obtain restaurant and retail gift cards, and because of that, we use the credit card for EVERYTHING.  This results in tons of gift cards.  We usually save up a bundle of Ruth's Chris cards and have a fancy, expensive, blowout steak dinner for our wedding anniversary.  And, while I know we could probably have headed to Ruth's Chris and they would have been happy to see us, we wanted to continue keeping our social distance.  So, we used some other gift cards.  We had a hundred bucks saved up in Omaha Steaks gift cards, so I volun-told Cas to make me dinner.  He was happy to oblige, probably because he enjoys grilling, and probably  because I have made so many meals since quarantine started.  

Our usual move at Ruth's Chris is to have a fancy cocktail, then be seated for dinner, order a bottle of fancy wine and get some steaks with amazing side dishes.  Okay, challenge accepted.  I made a us each a very nice old fashioned, then we popped the side dishes in the oven and got the grill all warmed up for the steaks.  We had a fancy bottle of wine with dinner, of course, and when we finished that, because Cas and I are pretty perfect for each other, we watched cartoons.  

I hope everyone who is staying home is doing so with a good person or some good people.  It makes all the difference in the world.  

Here's the bar where we had the fancy drinks, complete with the flowers Cas' mom sent us.  I think it really adds something, don't you?  

Ricki Derek: http://rickiderek.com/new/

Omaha Steaks: https://www.omahasteaks.com/shop/

Count the cupcakes

If you have ever been to the Dallas Arboretum, you have seen them.  There are almost always at least a half dozen teenage girls in big, puffy dresses that make them look like torsos sticking out from the tops of fancy cupcakes.  I always count the cupcakes when I go to the arboretum.  Today, there were only two socially distant cupcakes.  Still, it's something to behold, and just a little strange to see while everyone else is fanning their faces and shuffling sandal-clad feet through the flower-lined paths.  

In a lot of Hispanic cultures, girls have a special party on their fifteenth birthday.  Consider it their version of the Bat Mitzvah or the Sweet Sixteen.  It's called a quinceanera (Keen-suhn-YEH-ruh).  There are always elaborate photo shoots in the puffy dresses before the party.  I wondered this morning as we drove to the arboretum if we would see any at all.  Apparently, some things will never change.  Well done, cupcake girls!

I went with a much more casual look.  I sported shorts and a T shirt today as we walked around the Arboretum.  Cas and I seem to hit up the arboretum once a year- usually in the summer, and usually in the morning on a day when the forecast is for lower than hundred-degree temperatures.  Next year, we will check the humidity before we head off to go cupcake counting.  Live and learn.  

It was a very pretty walk, though.  The arboretum limited the number of people they allowed in at any time, and they had marked paths for one way and two way traffic.  Some things were understandably closed- they turned off the toad fountain and shut down the play area for kids.  They did have a new feature, though.  They had a sculpture exhibit on display with pieces all around their beautiful park.  There are pieces that look like people doing different park activities whose clothing and accessories are so real looking that sometimes, we got confused and thought actual patrons on park benches were additional statues.  It was kind of funny, and honestly, the sparse crowd in the arboretum made the statues stand out all the more.  Here's a shot Cas snapped of a sculpture heading out for a picnic.  

Smart girl- go for a spot in the shade!  

It was a really nice walk in the park, and I am glad we went early in the day.  It was far less crowded than any other time I have been there, and I am sure that was by design.  The lack of too many other people was nice.  There were still some times when Cas and I cut through the grass to avoid having to walk very close to other people.  There were a few people who followed so close on the marked paths that we called them tailgaters, but it's easy to step to the side and let them move on.  

Overall, it was very pretty, and we had a good time.  We got home just in time for lunch, and if I play my cards right, maybe a nap.  

If you're interested in the arboretum, buy online and schedule a time: https://www.dallasarboretum.org/

We got tickets as a gift, but they are typically $10-$15

And, naturally, photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2XJ3mX7a61qq3KRj7

A hill, a park, a pool-lake

So many things.  Cedar Hill State Park is at Joe Pool Lake.  So, it's a hill park pool lake.  Or something.  Nevertheless, we started the day looking for a few scenic drives.  The mercury has been climbing lately, and this promised to be another 100+ day  It's 97 degrees as I sit in my air conditioned home and write this, so it's probably for the best that we've made our way back inside.  

The scenic drive portion of the day started off pretty nicely.  We trekked to Cedar Hill, well south of Dallas.  It's a community around Joe Pool Lake, which you could locate on a map by drawing a straight line down from DFW airport.  The area around Cedar Hill was, in fact, quite hilly.  Kind of a shock to the system, knowing how flat most of Dallas is.  We tooled around the area for a while, deciding finally to pay the entry fee and tool around in the state park.  Once we were in, we found a hiking path that looked pretty good and went for it.  Regrettably, there was not a lot of shade on this path, but there was not another soul in sight, and the scenery was beautiful.  We trekked around for a while, until we came to the scenic lookout, a spot that all but demanded a photo be taken.  

It really was a gorgeous hike, and there were some very good breezes that showed up along the way.  We wandered around the hiking trail, then made it back to the car for some sweet, sweet air conditioning.  One more stop in the hill park pool lake was necessary, and on that one, we dipped our toes in the water.  That seemed to cool everything down 20-30 degrees.  I may be exaggerating.  It just felt really good.  

The only way we could top that was by purchasing a Slurpee on the way home.  I know it's a cup of slushy sugar water.  We all know it's a cup of slushy sugar water.  I do not care.  A Slurpee on a super hot day after a particularly shade-free hike is the best feeling in the world.  

Except that shower when you get home.  That shower is pretty great.  

Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2XJ3mX7a61qq3KRj7

Cedar Hill State Park- $7/adult: https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/cedar-hill

Off the beaten path

This morning, we got out of bed uncharacteristically early- at an hour that nearly offends Cas in the summer- so we could get out the door and to our destination before the sun really got revved up.  We made it to Bonham State Park, which is about 60 miles from our house, just after they opened the gates at 8 am.  It was an act of sheer will for us to wake that early for a leisure activity, but it was totally worth the groggy march out the door.  

The state park has a lake, and it's called Bonham State Park Lake.  That is in no way to be confused with Lake Bonham, which is about ten miles to the north.  No- Bonham State Park Lake is pretty small.  Stand at the edge of the water at any place, and you will see the whole lake.  We booked our entry online the day before and arrived to find that while we were welcome to swim, they were not renting kayaks, because, the person at the information desk said, they had no way to sanitize them.  Puzzling.  We had been wiping down oars and the sides of the kayaks at White Rock, then stashing the wipes in a pocket so we could row.  We're not park professionals, and we figured that much out.  I digress.  We spent the majority of the morning hiking.  

The folks at the information desk gave us a very nice trail map, and we went about the business of checking out the trails.  There were five trails on the map, and they told us one was closed because there were people felling trees.  Gotcha.  Don't want to walk underneath that.  If a tree falls in that forest, I don't want to be underneath it to hear a thing.  We even found a geocaching box and wrote our names on the notepad in it.  

It was just starting to get oppressively hot when we were wrapping up our visit.  We walked knee-high out into the water and watched some small fish swim near our feet.  After a few minutes of that, we pulled our picnic lunch out of the trunk of the car and ate under a shade tree before heading back to Dallas.  All in all, a very good morning.  Both of our Fitbits registered 10,000 steps before we left the park, so when we got back home (after some really necessary showers) and sat down to read for a while, there was absolutely no guilt about being so sedentary.  

Cas is about to put lots of photos in the album from our morning, but I think I will share a photo of the trail they call Gnarly Root Trail.  If you look at the path ahead, you will see how the name was inspired.  

Bonham State Park- $4 per adult: https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/bonham

If you wanted to check out geocaching: https://www.geocaching.com/play

And, of course, photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2XJ3mX7a61qq3KRj7

Up a creek

With the smashing success of our last kayaking trip to White Rock Lake, Cas and I decided to go back. The White Rock Paddle Company did well by us the first time we went, and Cas had spotted a creek just past a bridge last time we went out on the water.  This time, we were literally up a creek (and back down it again).  

We've got the procedures down, now.  The rental folks insist on touchless rental and payment.  The only thing we touch when we get there is the kayak and the oar.  We got in, rowed out about 15 feet and took off our masks.  I had a Ziploc bag for those and my car key.  Cas had one of those watertight phone cases.  We were slathered in sunscreen and armed with bottled water.  

The trip up the creek was nice.  There were exactly three humans we encountered once we really got into it.  We saw one man fishing and we saw two other paddlers heading out as we were returning to our start point.  Other than that, it was quiet and pretty.  I spotted a turtle and scared him off his log, but we both managed to see a crane perched on a rock, grabbing a little lunch.  When we got back to the lake, we saw another crane (or maybe the same one?) before rowing back to return the kayaks.  

It's a fun way to spend a little time, and kayaking is a perfectly socially distant activity.  I suspect yesterday was not the last time this summer we'll find ourselves deliberately up a creek.  

Photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2XJ3mX7a61qq3KRj7

If you are interested: https://www.whiterockpaddle.com/index.html

$19.99/hour + tax, not including gratuity

Have a Willie nice 4th

Willie Nelson is an American legend.  His voice is one that you can immediately conjure up in your mind if you have ever heard it before.  He is all at once nasal-sounding and able to sing with perfect pitch.  He has been making music for longer than most folks I know have been breathing in and out.  His beat up guitar has a name (Trigger), and has seen more life than most of us ever will.  

Last year, Cas and I saw his show in Dallas on July 3rd.  This year, we tuned into his virtual Fourth of July picnic.  I styled my hair appropriately: 

To try and get the pinnacle American holiday correct, we got some barbecue to eat while watching the music.  I have to admit, the show didn't really get good until around 8pm.  That's when Asleep at the Wheel went on.  After that, it was a parade of different people- most of them legendary in their own right- who sang Willie Nelson's songs, songs about Willie or songs that felt otherwise appropriate for the occasion.  

Finally, when it was time for Willie himself to get in on the show, the feed for the live stream got all kinds of glitchy.  I would call it a hitch in the giddy-up, so as to stick with the theme of the evening.  I suspect that lots of folks skipped the opening acts and the banter between Lukas and Micah Nelson (the banter was very skippable, by the way) and popped in to overload the system just in time to crash Willie's performance.  The folks broadcasting it even went so far as to back up the stream and start from Sheryl Crow's song a couple of times.  

I was frustrated and ready to give up, and just as we were about to, the whole thing cleared, and we watched Willie Nelson's family band regale us in the safety of our own home.  

His older sister played the piano- she was born in 1931, two years before Willie, but for some reason, he calls her "little sister."  Go figure.  The band was incredibly talented.  And Willie was exactly the same as we remembered.  He looks all of his 87 years.  His craggy hands match his aging guitar when the camera zooms in.  Still, he has that spark of a great performer.  He clearly loves playing music, and it comes through.  

Hopefully, next year, we can spend the 4th out watching fireworks or sitting at a baseball game- the plan was to be in Boston yesterday, which seemed like a very patriotic idea.  Still, I don't think we could have conjured up a more American stay-at-home activity than the Willie Nelson's Fourth of July Picnic.  We even put out a blanket and ate, picnic-style.  Happy birthday, America.  

Some photos for you: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2XJ3mX7a61qq3KRj7

I don't know what you've heard...

Today, we carried on with the apparent theme of the week by taking a trip to the Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary.  What a mouthful.  Anyhow, in a non-Covid world, the Heard museum would be a place for hiking, learning, field trips, a ropes course, ziplining- you name it.  In our Covid summer, the Heard museum has limited exhibits, but full access to the hiking trails.  When Cas and I set out this morning, we did so with extra water and a picnic lunch.  

The Heard museum is in McKinney, so it wasn't terribly far from our house.  When we got there, walked through their entry building (and gift shop, of course), paid admission, then started on one of their well marked paths.  

There were boardwalk paths that crossed wetland spaces, as well as shaded gravel paths that went through some very pretty scenery.  The paths are all well marked, well mapped and reasonably safe, though no one can guarantee anything outdoors is free from snakes, fire ants or plants that make for itchy rashes- not that we saw any of that.  

The museum is very much set up as a learning space, so there are interspersed zoo-like exhibits.  We met a pair of bobcats and a pair of deer who were in enclosures.  There was also a butterfly enclosure we walked through, which may have been my favorite part.  

We walked several of their paths, only seeing a few other people along the way.  Every time we encountered other humans, we put masks on, but with today being the first day of July, we walked without them when it was just the two of us.  

When we finished the nature walk, we went back to the car and retrieved a nice, cold picnic lunch. We decided to enjoy our meal on a park bench in the pretty garden area near the museum entrance.  I don't know if a mandarin orange ever tasted so good as one that had been on ice and was ready to go on a sweaty, dirty, post-nature-walk lunch, but they were perfect.  In fact, the whole picnic was perfect.  Heck, the whole morning was.  We just got back, and I think the rest of the afternoon will be decidedly cooler, cleaner and less active, but we had a pretty great morning at The Heard.

If you are interested, here is their website: https://www.heardmuseum.org/

And we paid $10 each to get in.  They have a sign outside so you can pay online and do touch-free entry, but we just handed the lady behind the desk a $20.  

Of course, as always, here are some photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2XJ3mX7a61qq3KRj7