Riding A Fort Worth Bus To Sundance Square While Not Enjoying In-N-Out Double Double Burgers

What you are looking at in the picture is the interior of a Fort Worth bus. Today I got myself a Fort Worth bus day pass and hopped on board the #21 to make  my way to the transfer station where I hopped on board the #2  bus which took me to downtown Fort Worth's Intermodal Transit Center.

Near as I can tell, by Intermodal Transit Center, Fort Worth means you can take a bus to get on an Amtrak train. And vice versa.

Today I learned that riding a Fort Worth bus is great exercise, particularly the articulated bus ride from the transfer station to downtown. This is one very bumpy ride that I think must do wonders for the abdominal muscles.

By articulated bus I mean a bus that can bend in the middle like an accordion. The only other articulated buses I have been on are the ones that run through the Seattle bus tunnel. The Seattle articulated buses are like well suspended Cadillacs, while Fort Worth's are like not so well suspended oversized VW buses.

In other words, the Fort Worth articulated buses, and the un-articulated Fort Worth buses give riders a much more adventurous ride than the sedate, smooth riding Seattle buses.

When I exited the #2 I had myself a fine time wandering the streets of downtown Fort Worth for the first time in a long time. One of the things I was wanting to see is Sundance Square. Ever since I moved to Fort Worth Sundance Square has perplexed me. Because there is no Sundance Square in downtown Fort Worth. There are signs pointing visitors to Sundance Square, but there is no square. Eventually, I and others concluded that by "Square" downtown Fort Worth means "parking lots".

So, last year it was announced that, after all these years of there being no Square in Sundance Square, Fort Worth was finally going to build one.

On one of the parking lots.

And call it Sundance Plaza. I assume to continue the tradition of confusing tourists.

I was a bit surprised to find that Sundance Plaza is a long ways from becoming a square. The parking lot in front of the Chisholm Trail mural, where the plaza is being built,  is a construction mess, with two new buildings being built on the west and east ends of the former parking lots, with the new plaza currently pretty much a hole in the ground. However, there are multiple signs, all around the construction site, such as the one you see above, where the guy in the cowboy hat is telling the Butch Cassidy lookalike in the derby, that "THERE'LL ALSO BE A NEW OUTDOOR PLAZA. A REALLY GREAT SPACE  THE WHOLE CITY CAN BE PROUD OF."

Below you see some of the signage around the Sundance Plaza construction site, with one of the new buildings, butted up against the old Flying Saucer Emporium building, with the Angels on the Bass Performance Hall blowing their horns on the right.

Isn't this Sundance Plaza project well past its projected completion date?

Regarding downtown Fort Worth, other than the construction zones, I have never seen downtown Fort Worth looking so good. Lots of street activity, new restaurants, many open to the street, well manicured landscaping.

I must repeat, because I was surprised to find myself thinking this, downtown Fort Worth is looking really good.

I also thought I'd never find myself saying that downtown Fort Worth is a much more lively, people oriented downtown that what one finds in Dallas. Then again, it has been a few years since I've wandered around downtown Dallas. Maybe downtown Dallas has improved just as much as downtown Fort Worth has.

After an hour or two of wandering around downtown Fort Worth my group of wanderers grew hungry. So, it was back to the Intermodal Transit Center to hop back on the #2 bus to head west to 7th Street.

The feeding choices were Sweet Tomatoes or In-N-Out.

All the wanderers had been to Sweet Tomatoes, but only I had been to an In-N-Out. So, it was to In-N-Out we went.

Today was my 4th In-N-Out Double Double Burger. The first two were consumed in Phoenix in 2004. Number 3 was consumed in Tempe, (or was it Scottsdale?) in 2012. I don't know what it was, for sure, but the Fort Worth In-N-Out Double Double Burger did not match the Double Double Burger of my memory. It seemed smaller, messier, not as tasty. And the french fries, something was way off with the fries. Almost as if they were powdery. As in flavorless starchiness. Very disappointing. I think I will be waiting til next I am in Arizona or California to have an In-N-Out Double Double Burger.

As you can see in the above photo of the In-N-Out Burger joint, traffic on 7th Street is a congested mess. Methinks something needs to be done to ameliorate this, but what that amelioration might be, I have no idea.

But, I am almost 100% certain the traffic congestion is not going to be solved by the 300 bikes, newly operational, that I saw at several kiosks in the downtown zone today. I saw no one riding one of the bikes.

Even though I saw no one riding one of the 300 bikes, several seem to be missing from this 7th Street kiosk. Or maybe those are just empty spaces awaiting incoming bikes.

Like I said, 7th Street is terribly congested. But one block to the south, on Crockett Street, one finds a totally more sedate, better designed street experience. I think Crockett Street benefited from being developed long after long established 7th Street.

Crockett Street has wide sidewalks, well designed landscaping, with an overall more pleasant street walking experience than 7th Street.

Finishing exploring the 7th Street zone it was back on the #2 bus to head back to the Intermodal Transit Center. This bus had no seating available, standing room only, which made the ride a very rock and roll, standing on a subway train-like experience. I was enjoying the carnival ride aspect, but was sort of relieved to finally get off the ride at the Transit Center.

From the Transit Center we had to switch to an eastbound #2 bus to the transfer station, then back on the #21 to return to the starting location.

Today the buses were well timed. Very little waiting to make a switch.

It only cost $3.50 for an all day pass on the Fort Worth bus system. I really don't understand why more of the locals don't have themselves a really fine time trying out out this mode of transport. I saw more than one family group, today, with little kids, with the kids having a lot of fun on the Fort Worth bus carnival ride.

The Next To Last Monday Of April With Theo Tiptoeing Through The Skagit Valley Tulips

It appears, judging from the view from my secondary viewing portal on the outer world, that the next to last Monday of April has dawned with yet one more clear, blue sky morning in Texas.

Currently heated to 18 degrees above freezing, heading to a high of 74, today, if the temperature predictors are correct with their predicting.

Yesterday I mentioned that I bailed on the Hurst In-N-Out due to their being way too many people trying to get a burger.

My eldest nephew, Spencer Jack's dad, then commented to that blogging about In-N-Out, saying that his burger joint, the Fidalgo Drive-In, in Anacortes, was similarly flooded with burger maniacs, due to extremely nice weather and extremely HUGE crowds of tourists in the Skagit Valley due to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

Theo Tiptoeing Through The Skagit Valley Tulips

Yesterday I saw via the Blue and Max blog that my nephews and niece, David, Theo and Ruby had visited the Tulip Festival this past weekend. I don't know if they went to the Fidalgo Drive-In.

Blue and Max took some cute cute pictures of the kids in the tulips, one of which you see here. That is Theo checking out what a tulip smells like.

In the background those big mounds in the distance are something you don't see in Texas. They are called foothills. As in foothills of the Cascade Mountains. The white patches you see high up on the foothills are called snow.

Enough about tulips. I see the temperature has dropped another degree, to 49, since I woke up my temperature monitoring device. I must go swimming before it gets any colder.

Chisholm Park Fishing While Not Easily In-N-Out In Hurst Today

Fishing In Chisholm Park

I went to Hurst today with 3 destinations in mind. ALDI Food Market, In-N-Out and Chisholm Park.

I'd not been to Chisholm Park before. It is the biggest park in Hurst. Chisholm Park has a fishing lake, a big aquatic center, covered picnic pavilions, ballfields, paved trails, big parking lots and a lot of people having fun in the park on this very pleasant Sunday in April.

On a sign by the lake I read "A Freshwater Fishing License is Required For Anglers 17 Years Old and Older (unless born before Sept. 1, 1930)."

Apparently if you are older than 82 you don't need a fishing license, if I am parsing those words correctly.

Chisholm Park regularly stocks the lake with fish. Largemouth Bass, Channel Catfish, Rainbow Trout and Sunfish Species. The Rainbow Trout are stocked only in the colder winter months because that particular breed of fish does not like the temperature of Texas lakes in summer.

Plenty Of Places To Toss Your Bones In Chisholm Park

Judging by the dozens of people I saw fishing there must be a lot of fish to be caught to sustain that level of fishing optimism.

I saw something in Chisholm Park I'd never seen before. Each of the picnic pavilions, each with a large BBQ pit, were ringed with 8 angled garbage cans.

I was completely bum puzzled and bamboozled til the engineer, Big Ed, figured out that all the angled garbage cans were likely in that configuration to facilitate the easy tossing of bones during a BBQ eating frenzy.

I saw a group of 3 people working on a big BBQ. It smelled real good.

After smelling the BBQ I was hungry. So, it was off to the newly opened Hurst In-N-Out Burger joint.

Well, no luck at In-N-Out.

In-N-Out was over run with customers. There were In-N-Out traffic directors, splitting the incoming cars, with one line going the dine-in option, the other the drive-thru option. There were dozens of cars in the drive-thru. The In-N-Out traffic directors led incoming dine-in customers to a parking spot.

I got led to my parking spot and proceeded inside. I figure this would be like my recent In-N-Out experience in Tempe where it appeared to be really busy but there was no line due to how efficient In-N-Out is.

Well, the Hurst In-N-Out appeared to be very efficient, but there was a line, a long one, almost out the door. And a lot of people were standing waiting for their order number to be  called.

I decided to bail.

I liked Chisholm Park. Since it is so close to ALDI, I'll be back. And I'll try In-N-Out in Hurst, again, when it quits being over run by burger maniacs.

Walking A Wal-Mart Parking Lot With #23, Oregon Christmas Trees & OC Burgers

I had a half hour to kill. I was in Hurst, after having been to North Richland Hills. I forgot that I was supposed to look at a big pipe today in North Richland Hills. Or was it Haltom City? I hate my age-related memory woes.

So, with a half hour to kill, and after having gotten what I wanted to get from ALDI, I went across the street to the Wal-Mart Supercenter.  After I got garlic powder and peanut butter I decided to walk around the Wal-Mart parking lot and enjoy the brisk refreshing temperature and see if I could find anything of interest to look at. Or something odd.

Sadly the tour of the Wal-Mart parking lot rendered not a lot of oddness. But, there was the vehicle you see above. All its windows, except the front windshield, had a message on them. Apparently a football team named the Chargers won a football game. Which evidently had these people wanting to insist that their window viewers have a Happy Christmas.

Now, what amused me is that the football player is #23. So, on dad's driver's side window a square box is drawn in to frame dad's head, with the message saying, "#23's DAD." And behind dad is seated #23's Brother. On the other side we had #23's MOM and #23's Sister. #23's DOG Cajo sits in the back.

Next on my tour of the Wal-Mart parking lot I came to Wal-Mart's puny display of 5 Christmas Trees. Priced ranging from $30 to $60. And, just like the Christmas Trees at my neighborhood Kroger, these trees came from the Pacific Northwest. Kroger's were from Washington, Wal-Marts from Oregon. Noble Mountain Tree Farm based in Salem, Oregon, to be precise.

Why does Texas not supply Texans their Christmas trees? I've seen plenty of pine trees growing in the Piney Woods Region of Texas.

A few months ago, to some small fanfare, a California based franchise named OC Burgers opened in Hurst, adjacent to the Wal-Mart parking lot. OC Burgers did not last long. I noticed it closed last week. Most of the OC has been stripped away, except for the drive-thru menu.

I assume OC stands for Orange County. I've no idea why OC Burger failed. The burgers, as depicted on the menu, look tasty, except for the California Avocado Burger and the Jalapeño Burger.

This week In-N-Out Burger, also based in California, let it be known that they are opening an In-N-Out in Hurst, also on Precinct Line Road, just a couple blocks south of the now dead Hurst OC Burger.

I hope the OC bad burger outcome in Hurst does not bode ill for In-N-Out Burger.

There you have it, my very eventful, exciting walk around the Hurst Wal-Mart parking lot.

In-N-Out Burger Bringing Double Double Burgers To Fort Worth

That is a quartet of In-N-Out Burger Double Double Burgers in the picture.

I have only had an In-N-Out Burger Double Double Burger once. It was during a 10 hour layover in Phoenix. I'd been drug to a Happy Hour where way too many appetizers were consumed.

And then on to In-N-Out Burger where I had 2 Double Double Burgers. By the time I buckled my seat belt on the plane I felt like I might explode on take-off.

The In-N-Out Burger Double Double Burger is the tastiest hamburger I have ever tasted.

So, I was quite pleased to read on the Facebook pages of one of Fort Worth's favorite Town Gossips, Bud Kennedy, that an In-N-Out Burger is coming to Fort Worth, with this news confirmed this morning in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The Fort Worth In-N-Out Burger is scheduled to open in mid-July, of 2011, at the northwest corner of West 7th and Currie Streets.

This will put In-N-Out Burger close to the Fort Worth burger icon called Kincaid's. I wonder what Kincaid's aficionados are going to think of getting a taste of a really good burger? I've had a Kincaid's burger twice, thinking both times why does this blah burger get such high local accolades? Methinks it may be an emperor has no clothes type thing, all the sheep going along with pretending that Kincaid's makes a good burger. When they don't.

Paying Homage To The Tandy Hills Shrine While Talking To My Mom, Worrying About Tootsie Tonasket & Thinking About The Tacoma Queen Of Chocolate

You are looking at the newly restored Tandy Hills Shrine on top of Mount Tandy. The oracle known as Stenotrophomonas prophesied that new balls would migrate their way to the shrine. As it was prophesied, so it has come to be.

Before I say anything else about anything else, I must tell you the nice homeless doggy I introduced you to has found a home. At this very moment he is getting a haircut. And then it's off to the Dog Doctor for a check-up and shots.

It is like the nice homeless doggy knew something good was happening. He'd been a bit skittish, we did not know how we'd get him in a dog carrier cage for transport to the Dog Fixers. Instead, the cage door was opened and the no longer homeless doggy walked right in. Liked he'd seen this before and knew it led to good things.

Enough of the dog. Back to me. On the way to the Tandy Hills I got gas, so, like I always do when I get gas, I called my mom. Mom was being chatty, so the chattiness continued after I arrived at the Tandy Hills. After my mom stopped being chatty I called Tootsie Tonasket, because Tootsie had emailed me regarding a rather urgent matter that she wanted to talk to me about. I got voice mail.

Tootsie just called back, but I'm blogging right now and not in the mood to talk about Tootsie's Travail.

I heard from the Chocolate Queen of Tacoma, this morning, that she's been reading my blogs.

Most complicated website I ever made was for the Chocolate Queen of Tacoma. The complicated one, that I made, has been replaced by a less complicated, but far better, version.

Next time I'm in Tacoma I'll be visiting the Chocolate Queen. There is a chance if I do that I might get to taste some exotic chocolate. Most chocolate I've ever consumed, occurred during a 10 day period in February of 2004, while I put chocolate products on Amazon for the Queen of Chocolate. I probably had more chocolate during that 10 day period than the entirety of my life up to that point.

When I flew up to Washington, in February of 2004, I weighed 206. When I returned to Texas, 10 days later, I weighed almost 220.

The 10 days of overeating were topped off with a 10 hour layover in Phoenix, where I had McDonald's All You Can Eat, twice, within an hour, once, when I landed, again when my sister landed. A few hours later it was off to Happy Hour at some place with cheap Happy Hour appetizers. After that I was stuffed, but then it was off to my first visit to an In-N-Out, where I learned why they are so highly regarded, by having two burgers.

After In-N-Out they took me back to the airport where I slowly waddled in, eventually barely able to secure a seatbelt around me. I was very happy there were very few on board. I had a whole section of the plane all to myself.

Even though we got down to only 35 degrees above freezing, last night, the sun has managed to heat us up again, to 93, so the A/C is back doing its cooling thing.