A trip to the Fort Worth Stockyards is a trip back in time. When I visited back in April of this year, it was the Stockyards that finally sold me on Texas and cemented my desire to move here. To me, though touristy, it best represents what authentic Texas is. Walking along Exchange Ave, with its historical charm, statues of longhorns, saloons, and steakhouses, it almost makes you want to put on a cowboy hat and wear a belt buckle the size of a serving tray.
This past Monday, I saddled up and ventured back to the Stockyards after my visit to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. There was a whole block of Exchange Ave (which is where the Stockyards are located) that I didn't get to see the last time I was there.
I was hungry(naturally), so I decided to get some lunch. I chose a place called Riscky's Steakhouse. Since it was just me, I didn't need a table so I moseyed up to the bar. They were having a lunch special, so I got a six ounce steak, potatoes, and toast for only eight bucks.
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| I'm a meat and potatoes kinda guy |
After lunch, I walked around and took in all the shops along Exchange Ave and in a place called Stockyard Station, which is bunch of shops tucked away in a historic building that made up a very vibrant marketing center of livestock back in the day.
I came across another shop called Cowtown Winery, that caught my interest. I don't really care for wine. I've haven't really sampled anything that appealed to me, but this time I thought I would give it another go.
The lady who owned the store was very friendly and we chatted it up for about a half an hour. She let me sample four different wines. My favorite was a white wine called Ambush, which was a sweet blend of citrusy fruits . Very nice.
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| Cowtown Winery |
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Finally I ended my time with a visit to the White Elephant Saloon. Sadly there wasn't a pair of swinging doors to walk through, so I couldn't make my entrance like the mysterious, lone stranger.
I don't know where it got the name White Elephant, but this ol' watering hole has a lot of history. Back in 1887, the White Elephant was the scene of a famous gunfight between Long Hair Jim Courtright and Luke Short, who owed the saloon. Luke Short had a faster hand with a deck of cards than he did with a six shooter, but he managed to put Jim Courtright in the ground. Every February 8th, the day of this famous duel, the White Elephant reenacts its.
The inside of the saloon is just like you would expect a bar to be: dim, with only the light spilling from the front windows and the neon glow from all the beer signs that hung on the wall. The bar was a dark wood, with old wobbly stools that sat in the front of it. Cowboy hats, each associated with a name, hung from the ceiling and walls, and in the back, where the pool table was, were cabinets filled with different kinds of porcelain, white elephants. The place had a dusty quality to it. It's like they didn't want to wipe it up for fear of erasing all the history this place had come to know.
I decided to wet my whistle so I walked up to the bar and chatted it up with a Cowtown local, and a couple of friends visiting from Minnesota. We had a very pleasant exchange. We talked about the usual. What brings you here? What do you do for a living? Life in Texas. Life in Kentucky. That sort of thing.
After about an hour, I decided to end my touristy excursion. I had been out all day, and it was getting dark and I wanted to get off my feet. I strolled around a little bit more before I got to my car. There was a bronze statue of a cowboy corralling a bunch of longhorns along Main St. that I wanted to get a picture of.
It's places like this that make me really appreciate Fort Worth. It's a big town, but not quite so much when compared to Dallas. It may not be sleek and modern with buildings reaching the stratosphere, but it does have character. From Sundance Square downtown to the Stockyards along Exchange Ave, Fort Worth embodies a cowboy spirit and hearkens back to the glory days of America's expansion out west.
I got back in my car and I rode it like I stole it, all the way back home. Home was east, towards Grand Prairie, so there was no sunset to ride off too. I guess that was the only wrench in this whole western themed blog entry. Oh well.
Fort Worth Stockyards
Stockyards Station
White Elephant Saloon
Cowtown Winery
I don't know where it got the name White Elephant, but this ol' watering hole has a lot of history. Back in 1887, the White Elephant was the scene of a famous gunfight between Long Hair Jim Courtright and Luke Short, who owed the saloon. Luke Short had a faster hand with a deck of cards than he did with a six shooter, but he managed to put Jim Courtright in the ground. Every February 8th, the day of this famous duel, the White Elephant reenacts its.
The inside of the saloon is just like you would expect a bar to be: dim, with only the light spilling from the front windows and the neon glow from all the beer signs that hung on the wall. The bar was a dark wood, with old wobbly stools that sat in the front of it. Cowboy hats, each associated with a name, hung from the ceiling and walls, and in the back, where the pool table was, were cabinets filled with different kinds of porcelain, white elephants. The place had a dusty quality to it. It's like they didn't want to wipe it up for fear of erasing all the history this place had come to know.
I decided to wet my whistle so I walked up to the bar and chatted it up with a Cowtown local, and a couple of friends visiting from Minnesota. We had a very pleasant exchange. We talked about the usual. What brings you here? What do you do for a living? Life in Texas. Life in Kentucky. That sort of thing.
After about an hour, I decided to end my touristy excursion. I had been out all day, and it was getting dark and I wanted to get off my feet. I strolled around a little bit more before I got to my car. There was a bronze statue of a cowboy corralling a bunch of longhorns along Main St. that I wanted to get a picture of.
It's places like this that make me really appreciate Fort Worth. It's a big town, but not quite so much when compared to Dallas. It may not be sleek and modern with buildings reaching the stratosphere, but it does have character. From Sundance Square downtown to the Stockyards along Exchange Ave, Fort Worth embodies a cowboy spirit and hearkens back to the glory days of America's expansion out west.
I got back in my car and I rode it like I stole it, all the way back home. Home was east, towards Grand Prairie, so there was no sunset to ride off too. I guess that was the only wrench in this whole western themed blog entry. Oh well.
Fort Worth Stockyards
Stockyards Station
White Elephant Saloon
Cowtown Winery
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