Why We Hate to Travel

I35 to Austin, 6th St., & Hut's Hamburgers

My son had to drive the to Austin yesterday and asked me if I would like to make the drive with him. Happy to escape the paint-roller-scraper routine of the home remodel, and happy to take any opportunity to spend time with one of my children, I said, yes, absolutely.

The reports I hear from regular Austin I-35 commuters fall somewhere between resignation to hatred. Understandably. There is a steady traffic stream almost any time of day and an abundance of trucks, all of which, to me, is a sign of a good and vibrant economy, but to the normal travel is just a beating. Our traffic and drive was actually pretty light, the weather was perfect, and the morning sausage rolls at the Czech Bakery in West made "all God's chillen happy."

I know it's not financially viable now, but in the future, a high speed rail between the triangled "metropoli" of DFW, SAT, and IAH would be high on my list of public works spending. Imagine riding your bike to our train station, taking a 2 hour ride train to Austin, sight-seeing there a while, and coming back that same day.

On to Austin.

Austin, downtown on 6th Street, has a nice feel to it. It is pedestrian busy, which is nice to see and I like the view of a Capitol dome in any American city. We walked around downtown looking for a good hamburger lunch and finally found Hut's on 6th Street. Hut's has been selling hamburgers in Austin since 1939 and I'm glad they made it to 2010 because that is one good hamburger. My son and I both like the tastefully old lunch place that doesn't have a lot of anything but chairs, tables, customers, and good food. Friendly and attentive waitstaff helps, as does a mounted animal head or two. Hut's has all of that. And good burgers. I don't like a tricked up burger, so I ordered the regular cheeseburger, which in Hut's case is #20. We split an order of onion rings and fries. All very good.

Then there's good traveling music, like this one released in 1969.

Sweet Sammies

I am working my way through the various West 7th shops and restaurants.

I have been to Paciugo. How can you not like gelato? And I have been to Yofe, Fresh Fruit & Yogurt Cafe. I liked it as well, but it is not my preference for a dessert treat.

And then Friday night we went to Sweet Sammies, which of the three will most likely be my diet downfall for the simple reason that I love ice cream and cookies -- and that I can resist anything but temptation.

Sweet Sammies is ice cream. Blue Bell ice cream. Sweet Sammies is cookies. Made at the shop daily. These two components make an ice cream sandwich that is very good AND, at least for now, costs only $1.75. If you don't want an ice cream sandwich Sweet Sammies serves a single scoop of ice cream for a buck.

Bailey's Prime Rib is next on the agenda, but I think that will cost me more than $1.75.

Freda's. Coffee. Breakfast. Lunch.

In a recent post,  Eat This Fort Worth annouced that a new coffee shop had opened at the old Art Gallery, so I stopped by this morning. The newly opened Freda's Place is serving coffee as well as breakfast and lunch. The menu includes breakfast plates and sandwiches, as well as soups, salads, sandwiches and daily hot plate specials for lunch. Freda's also serves a grilled-after-you-order hamburger. I thought I saw an Aduro Bean coffee bag on the counter, either way, I had the dark roast coffee this morning and it was excellent.

We now have three, count 'em, three, independent coffee shops in the downtown area.

Freda's Place is on Jennings, just south of downtown. Good luck to all involved.

Freda’s
609 S. Jennings
Fort Worth, Texas

Neil Young in Dallas

On June 7, Neil Young is coming to Dallas' Morton Myerson Symphony Center. Almost everyone is familiar with his falsetto-like vocals, but Young is as much a lyricist as he is a vocal performer, and belongs to that elite group of still-active '60's-era musicians (the decade not the age), that includes Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Eric Clapton, and Paul McCartney. He keeps writing new music, and performing it. Young has some 400+ songs to his name, including Down By the River, Southern Man, Old Man, & Cinnamon Girl.

The lightning that he caught in the '60's and '70's will probably never be captured in the same way. Not that I get the impression from his interviews that he wants that. He is doing what artists do.

I am sure it will be a great performance, but it is all a little too tame, too smokeless, and too comfortable, when viewed from the lens of my memory. Besides, I think I'm too old to try to sneak into concerts anymore.  But I still love the music. If any music reminds me of the summers of my youth it is 1970 album, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Deja Vu, with songs like Helpless, Country Girl, and Woodstock. It is the background music of many memories. For that alone I wish Neil Young well.

Out of town visitors: visit Fort Worth. Take the Trinity Railway Express from Dallas to Fort Worth.  $7.50 for an all day pass. Fort Worth has a beautiful downtown with good food, great music, and great places to walk and shop.