Back in July I bought WifeGeeding tickets to see the Mary Poppins musical in October. I thought she would be taking her mother or a friend, but she commanded that I escort her. You’re right, it’s not the most masculine thing to do, but it’s a chance to become cultured and it’s important to make your wife happy.
It just so happens that the musical coincided with the State Fair of Texas, which means since the Music Hall at Fair Park is on the fair grounds, our music tickets got us free tickets to the fair. I consider this my first real trip to the fair. I never attended as a kid, WifeGeeding and I attended one time before because of a concert, but we didn’t spend hardly any time at the fair. So this was the first time I got to see Big Tex in person. I actually thought he would have been taller. For those of you non-local readers, you can read up on Big Tex’s history here.
To avoid traffic and to make life a bit of an adventure, we decided to ride the DART rail system to the fair. Our adventure started off at the TI (Texas Instruments) and later I learned that each station is decorated a bit different. For instance, the TI location had circuit boards as decoration. And one of the downtown locations had a model map representation. Actually, there is a lot of interesting art work on display as you ride the rail, I was actually impressed.
The most impressive piece of art, and I surprised I never knew it existed, was the Traveling Man of Deep Ellum. I think it was his shininess and reflective properties that caught my attention.
Other than the art work, you also get to see some very interesting people. For instance, there was this one-armed man sitting next to us on the ride home, he rolled a joint using just his one arm and stub of a hand. He was very friendly, he talked to us about Jesus and his distaste of fried butter.
I didn’t find any fried butter at the fair, but I did find some chicken fried bacon [pic and pic]and fried corn on the cob. Oh, and some future bacon [picpic and pic]
During out trip a group of about five teenage boys boarded. All were hanging together, but all were wearing headphones. I thought wearing headphones was something you did when alone.
When we arrived at Fair Park I noticed a store across the street call “A Store Divided” where half the store was selling only University of Texas products and the other half was only selling University of Oklahoma stuff. Hopefully no fights will break out in that store come Oct 17.
Upon entering the park I noticed a cool looking fountain/statue dedicated to the fallen of the military and law enforcement. The back side caught my attention because of how the wings stood out from all the water. Here’s the front of it.
We got to musical early enough to eat at the English themed buffet. WifeGeeding was impressed by the Mary Poppins themed menu. Heck, I was impressed by the giant spoon full of sugar next to the desserts.
I ordered iced-tea to go with my meal, but the waiter failed to inform me that the only tea they served was peach-flavored, so I asked him to replace it with a Coke. Upon drinking my Coke I found out it was really Pepsi. You would think the waiter could provide you with those kind of details. I ended up just drinking water.
Our seats weren’t too bad, but I found it interesting we were sitting with a bunch of little people.
I know I’m a little slow and all, but I didn’t know that the name Mary Poppins was descriptive of the character – as she always seems to pop-in and pop-out of her nanny roles and duties without notice.
The theatrical special effects were very impressive, and I didn’t care if I could see the wires or not.
After the musical we hit the fair grounds, and before hitting the midway I was impressed with this picture I took of us using the one armed stretched out technique, getting both the sign and the Texas Star Ferris wheel – the tallest in North America. It would have looked better if the sun was shining.
It rained for most of the time we were at the fair, but we didn’t mind. On our way we stopped at Walgreens and picked up a couple of $3 disposable ponchos which proved valuable and made for an enjoyable evening. People kept stopping us asking where we got them, and we had to break it to them we got them before the fair. On second thought, I could have bought more and sold them at the fair.
All my life I wanted to check out the car show at the fair, it wasn’t as cool as I expected, but I did see a talking robot and a Ford truck with one ugly grill. I was impressed with the new Buick LaCross and Ford Taurus.
I was so tired after the fair I didn’t catch any SNL.
While watching The Amazing Race last night the contestants went through my family’s town of My Tho – that was a pleasant surprise, even if they pronounced the name of the town incorrectly.
Why is it that breast cancer seems to get more attention than all the other cancers? Does it affect more people than any other cancer, is it the most deadliest, just good marketing?
I can’t remember the last time I saw a muddy football game on television.
Free Ivy League Courses – For some reason Hardin-Simmons isn’t on the list of universities, but I think there are a few course I might actually check into.
Thanks for your reflections on the Dart ride to the Fair and “Mary Poppins”. I rode the New York subways everyday for several years. I always felt safe because of the heavy law enforcement presence. More often than not there would be interesting characters and a good story even from just a short ride.
You didn’t say whether you liked Mary Poppins. Gary Cogill reviewed it on Friday, saying it was an excellent production with first-rate actors. He thought it was too long for children, however.
I also watched the Amazing Race last night solely because of the images of Vietnam. I was very impressed with the cleanliness of former Saigon, as well as the friendliness of the people. It made me wonder what an American city would be like if everywhere you went you could only take a small scooter or bike. If everyone only had the option of a scooter, there would only be a small range of status or power differential between any given vehicles. No anonymity hiding behind tinted windows, riders are close enough to carry on a conversation with the person traveling next to them; bikes are so light and traffic is heavy enough that there are probably no serious accidents; and, of course, any significant others would also be sitting on the back of the bike pressed next to you. Parking would be less of an issue…no need to circle the block looking for a spot, just pull up on the sidewalk next to the front door.
Thanks for your reflections on the Dart ride to the Fair and “Mary Poppins”. I rode the New York subways everyday for several years. I always felt safe because of the heavy law enforcement presence. More often than not there would be interesting characters and a good story even from just a short ride.
You didn’t say whether you liked Mary Poppins. Gary Cogill reviewed it on Friday, saying it was an excellent production with first-rate actors. He thought it was too long for children, however.
I also watched the Amazing Race last night solely because of the images of Vietnam. I was very impressed with the cleanliness of former Saigon, as well as the friendliness of the people. It made me wonder what an American city would be like if everywhere you went you could only take a small scooter or bike. If everyone only had the option of a scooter, there would only be a small range of status or power differential between any given vehicles. No anonymity hiding behind tinted windows, riders are close enough to carry on a conversation with the person traveling next to them; bikes are so light and traffic is heavy enough that there are probably no serious accidents; and, of course, any significant others would also be sitting on the back of the bike pressed next to you. Parking would be less of an issue…no need to circle the block looking for a spot, just pull up on the sidewalk next to the front door.
Oh my, you were right. The sunflower story made me cry. Wow! Wyatt was at that show with them.