Graduation Trip - Travel Day 1 - Part 2

Ft. Worth Stockyards

https://www.fortworthstockyards.org/

With the separation at TSA well behind us, we arrived at Dallas Love Field Airport.

Travel fun #1 - taking an UBER to our hotel. Well, we waited for our UBER driver and after she pulled up and got out of her car, she looked at our luggage and made a "face" that conveyed a really big no way is that going into my car.

She opened her back hatch and a really large car seat took up a big part of her back luggage area. She said right away that our luggage was not going to fit.

You wanna bet!!!!!! Lady, if you are an UBER driver and you are going to an airport to pick up people, then you might want to ditch the unneeded car seat and leave room for passenger luggage. Just saying.

Anyway, she drove us to our hotel where we dropped off our luggage and headed to our next destination - The Stockyards in Ft. Worth.

To describe the Stockyards: impressive, laid back, historical, informative, food heaven, a little overwhelming, and lots of fun.

The first thing that we did was stand in front of the Stockyard Coliseum building and just pretty much stare at everything around us, as there was so much to take in. We decided to go to the John Wayne Experience. If you are a John Wayne fan, this is a must-see. There were a lot of personal items including letters, telegrams, movie costumes, firearms, and his Oscar for his role in True Grit, plus so much more.

https://www.johnwayneae.com/

Next, we just started at a spot and walked up and down each street, going into shops and looking at the variety of items for sale. Most of the shops smelled really good because they sold leather items.

Of course, the biggest draw to the Stockyards is the cattle drive down the town's street. There are 2 opportunities a day to watch the cattle. 11:30 am and 4:00 pm.

Before the cattle walk down the street, an announcer tells the story about the cattle drives following the Civil War. Cattle were taken from San Antonio, TX to Abilene, KS to be sold for use in the Northern states. The cattle drive was 900 miles and it took 90 days to complete the journey. Ft. Worth was the halfway point between San Antonio, Texas and Abilene, Kansas. Also, there is a marker near the street that marks the Chisholm Trail. The cattle drive was very impressive because the longhorn cattle are so majestic and regal.

I wanted to pet one of them, but was unsure where you could pet them without getting in the way of their horns. One of the cowboys nearby said that the safest place is near to top as far back as you can get without being in their blindside.

A friend of ours asked if we could bring one back for her.

Enjoy the pictures of the longhorn cattle.

photos by Brenda Wilder