Finne's Follies: Christmas In The Air

Well, the Christmas "season" is officially here. It's in the air, on the air, in every store, and on every street. Who doesn't love December? The entire month has turned into a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ... or Santa Claus-- I guess it depends on who you are.

Remember when people put their Christmas trees up on Christmas Eve and took them down the day after Christmas? Me neither. But I've heard that once upon a time it was so.

This past Saturday, we finally got out of our shell and went to town-- Dallas, to be precise. We arrived just in time to see the last few minutes of their Christmas parade. The city was decked out with Christmas trees and decorations, and an air of festivity prevailed everywhere.

After we enjoyed the end of the parade, we walked over to the Dallas Farmer's Market, which is a huge affair with a very large tent area and some permanent buildings. They were having a "Tamale Festival." The place was very crowded, otherwise we might have tasted the wares of several of the tamale vendors, as it was about lunchtime. But we did try two of them, and ended up buying a dozen frozen tamales to take home. We also found some excellent homemade pickles and bought three jars-- sweet, dill, and relish. The only actual produce we walked away with was a small bag of Texas red grapefruit, which I was somewhat disappointed to discover turned out not to be very sweet. Oh well, that sometimes happens when you purchase fruit untasted.

There were two things on our list of things to do on this excursion. One was the Farmer's Market; the other was the free trolley that runs in a loop from downtown to uptown and back. After we took our goodies back to the car, we sat for a while trying to figure out how to get onto the trolley, comparing "D-Link" bus routes and trolley routes and trying to determine where we were (in the parking lot) in relation to all the routes and stops. Finally, in frustration, we decided just to walk into town and look for a trolley stop marker (round brown signs marked with a big M). I said to Mark, "What we really wanted to do was explore downtown, right? Well, here we are downtown. Lets just walk around a bit. Eventually, we'll find a trolley stop." And so that's what we did. And eventually we found a trolley stop and boarded.

The trolley is a quaint old single electric train car, powered by an overhead wire line. We rode along for ten minutes or so when the car came to a halt behind its sister car at the end of the loop in Uptown, and we were instructed to disembark and load up into the car ahead. After Mark and I were comfortably seated, I looked over and saw a sign for an organic cafe called the Southpaw Grill. It looked interesting. "How about an early dinner?" I asked Mark, as it was about 2:30. And so we hopped off to eat. That short ride marked the end of our trolley excursion.

Lunch was disappointing. It may have been organic, but other than that, it was nothing more than a sandwich joint, which was not what I'd had in mind for dinner. Nevertheless, we ate and then decided to follow the trolley track and get on the next one that happened by. Our walk took us by a Whole Foods. "Why don't we go in and stroll around until the next trolley car comes by?" I suggested. One had just passed us and we didn't expect the next one for another twenty five minutes or so. When we came out of the store, what did we see but a traffic accident that had happened while we were shopping.

A block or so up the street the road was filled with emergency vehicles, lights flashing, and what looked like a motorcycle laying over in the road (which made us sad). But there would be no trolley until the road was cleared, and that could be a good half hour. Wait or walk? That was the decision to make. As tired as we were, we walked along the track route, stopping from time to time to rest and watch for the trolley that never came, until eventually it was time to head off toward the parking lot. It was just about sundown when we finally reached our car.

We'd trudged almost four and a half miles over the course of the day. But we can say in all truth that we've seen Dallas. It's a beautiful city. The downtown "D-Link" bus is free. The trolley is free. And there is also a guided trolley bus tour, also free, that we might have gone on had we known more about it prior to our visit. (Maybe next time.)

Today is our last day in Lake Tawakoni. We still have one bit of business to tend to before leaving Texas, which we will do tomorrow: the mandatory Texas vehicle inspection for the RV. That's on the schedule for tomorrow. Then we head to "Our Alfa Shop," just east of Shreveport, Louisiana, where we'll be getting the coach "sealed" (to improve insulation and prevent exhaust fumes from getting in during transit). We'll also be making some decisions about the leveling jack system. More on that later. And there are some other minor items on Mark's list of things to get done.

After that, we're headed to Doreen's (my sister) for Christmas.

Until next time, happy Christmas season to one and all!