Doing the Texas Two Step, Days 2 and 3 in Big D

After a very tiring day trip to Austin, we planned another busy day in the Dallas area.  Our plans called for trying another Triple D location, then a tour of the newly opened George W Bush Library and Museum followed by going to the Texas Rangers vs. Detroit Tigers baseball game at the Texas Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.  Steve is a beer vendor at the Ballpark so he had arranged to get me a ticket for the game.

We started out by heading into downtown Dallas to an area known as the Farmers Market.

Building 2 - Home of the Pecan Lodge

Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives featured a barbecue joint in the Farmer's Market called the "Pecan Lodge".  This is a very unique place.  It is open 16 hours - A WEEK- !  They are open Thursdays through Saturday from 11a until the food runs out each day! 

We arrived at the place a 1040a, 20 minutes before it opened and there was already a line awaiting it's opening.  We got in line and waited.  I was able to count the line up to our position and Steve and I were numbers 25 and 26 in line and it kept growing fast as we waited.  The Pecan Lodge is in an enclosed building of the Farmers Market and houses a number of restaurants, none of which were doing any business.  The best location is the cake place right next to the Lodge, as they get some of the residual business, they smartly put out samples of their cakes which are sampled by the waiting patrons of Pecan Lodge.

The lineup for Pecan Lodge Barbecue

The line was probably near 100 when the place opened.  Although we were 25 back the line really moved quickly.  We made our way to order and the menu is loaded with great items.  On the show they featured their Beef Brisket and an item called  "The Smash", which is a barbecue stuffed Sweet Baked Potato.  I decided on the 2 meat and one side plate and chose the Pork Ribs and Beef Brisket with a side of Mac and Cheese.  Steve chose the Beef Rib and a side of Cole Slaw.  They sell the beef rib by the half pound and Steve as just over a pound, it was a huge rib! 

My Pork Rib and Brisket Plate with the Bacon Topped Mac and Cheese

Steve's Beef Rib (over a pound) and Cole Slaw

Although the food came out very fast, I was able to meet the owner and have him sign my book.  We found a table just out front of the place and had lunch.  Now, I really like barbecue and I am sad to say that Northern Virginia is not a real hot bed of barbecue, so I always like to try it whenever I travel and I am lucky to have had some really great barbecue but the food at the Pecan Lodge is the BEST barbecue I have ever eaten, hands down!  The flavor was unreal and the spices that they infused in the meat and used for the bark was delicious!  If you look back on my blog entries you will see that I have always said that the Lobster Ravioli at Rino's Place in Boston is my favorite meal of any of the DDD places that I have visited.  This meal at Pecan Lodge rivals that!  I might have to say that I now have had two favorite meals, Rino's and the barbecue at Pecan Lodge!  Remember I have some fantastic meals in my DDD journey's so that is saying alot!  If you are in the Metroplex (Dallas and Ft. Worth area) you NEED to visit Pecan Lodge, but get there early because there will be a line and when they run out of food, they are closed!

From there we headed into north Dallas to the campus of Southern Methodist University.  This is the home of the newly opened (April 25, 2013) George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. 

Dedication Display

Whether you liked or didn't like the President, the Museum is a very impressive facility.  It was dedicated (as per tradition) by all of the living Presidents and is home to artifact, gifts and displays of President Bush's life, both his Private and Public Life.  the most moving and impressive display was that for the tragic events of September 11, 2001.  In the display area are the names of all of those who died on that day.  There is also a part of the cell tower that was on top of one of the World Trade Tower buildings.  They also have a replica Oval Office and alot of the gifts he received while in office. 

Display of Baseballs thrown out during his Presidency

Display of Names in the 9/11 area.  Shelley Marshall was a classmate of mine at Oakton High School

Ceiling of Oval Office

The Oval Office

Me in the hot seat of the Oval Office!

Steve in the Oval Office

President and Mrs. Bush's Air Force One Flight Jackets

Patch for the Surprise Thanksgiving Mission to Baghdad

Samovar Tea Service, a gift of Russia

After leaving the Bush Library we headed out to Arlington to the Ballpark, to get the ticket for the game.  The day had been very hot and I know that both of us were tired.  As we pulled into the parking area at the ballpark, Steve had to go and get the voucher for the ticket and as I waited I had a feeling that because it was a Friday there would be no voucher and I decided that if there wasn't one then I would just bypass the game, I was hot and tired and could use the time to relax and rest.  When he returned and there was not voucher, I was pretty relieved and Steve worked the game and I caught my second wind for my last day on the trip.

Saturday morning came and we weren't sure what we would do, we had some ideas and after a short discussion we decided on breakfast at a Dallas area breakfast institution called "Jackie's Ham and Eggs" in the community of Lewisville and then a tour of the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Dallas Love Field.

Jackie's Ham and Eggs is not a DDD locale but should be.   It is a sort of tradition for my visit to Steve's and they are know for Extra Large Texas sized breakfasts.  The namesake Jackie recently passed away but she was a larger than life personality.  The parking spot that she used had a sign that stated "Don't Even Think About Parking Here".  It is near Valley Ranch, the home of the Dallas Cowboys, so there are pictures of her with various players on the walls (sort of tough to look at for a Redskins fan!).

I chose the Hamburger Patty and eggs plate and Steve chose the breakfast tacos.  As I said the portions here are huge!  I chose the biscuit and gravy as my bread and that is a meal in and of itself.  the meal was delicious as always and filled me up until dinner.

My Breakfast Plate

The Biscuit with Ham Gravy (YES, that is a full sized plate, it is THAT big!)

Did a good job!  The biscuit was a bit too much!

We left the restaurant and headed to North Dallas to Dallas Love Field.  Love was the main airport in the Dallas area until the early 1970s when Dallas/Ft. Worth Regional Airport was built.  A few interesting notes at Love is that it is named for a fallen World War 1 airman than has no ties with the DFW area but grew up and lived in Fairfax, Virginia, my hometown!  Another thing is that Love has been restricted as to service since DFW opened.  Although it is the headquarters of Southwest Airlines, flights to and from Love can only be operated within the state of Texas or to one of the 4 states touching Texas (for aircraft with 56 seats or more), this is known as the Wright Amendment.  The amendment will be lifted next year and Southwest plans a huge increase of service at Love.  It is also the airport that John F. Kennedy landed into on that fateful day, November 22, 1963.

The Museum is in two former hangars and salutes both the history of Love Field and it's two home airlines (Braniff International and Southwest Airlines) as well as military aviation.  I am not the biggest fan of military aviation, but I do enjoy it, but I love commercial and airliner aviation.  There is a really neat display of Braniff International Airways, which went out of business in the 1980 after a very colorful history.  They even operated the Concorde for a time operating British Airways and Air France's aircraft from Dulles to DFW airport. 

A Proposed Commercial Version of the Air Force Lockheed C5A to be used by Braniff as the Lockheed L500

On the military side they have a unique aircraft that was built at Vought Aircraft in 1942 and was an experimental airplane know as the Flying Pancake.

The Flying Pancake

Another highlight at the museum is the Command Module from the first Apollo flight into space.  Apollo 7.

Apollo 7 Command Module

On the other side is the Southwest area.  There is a Boeing 737-300 in and out of the museum and you can walk into it and there are seats and displays of the history of the airline.  Southwest was run by a great and eccentric businessman name Herb Kelleher.  Herb is the reason that Southwest is the great airline that it is today.  In the aircraft display is the Herb's Harley Davidson motorcycle that he received from the Southwest employees.

"The Spirit of Kitty Hawk" N300SW the display plane at the Frontiers of Flight Museum

Herb's Harley

The nose of the plane dedicated to Herb

After finishing up at the museum, we headed off the DFW so I could catch my flight home and Steve could head to Arlington to work the Rangers game.  After a fun and tiring 3 days I headed home and my DDD count stands at 305!