I write this from the FW side of DFW, from a slightly below-average Hampton Inn that was at least “free” with Hilton points. We came up yesterday to drop the daughter off at UNT after Spring Break, thinking to split the driving up a bit and make a little day-trip of it. We had a handful of random things to do & see, which turned out about as I expected: some pretty cool, some less so. The stop at an area art-supply store (Asel) was a big hit, as they had all kinds of things she was excited about, especially a rack with hangers of large sheets of handmade papers. Sundance Square was so-so; cool area but full of chain shops not at all different from what’s at the Domain in Austin.

We ate at a fancy-looking Actual-Mex (not Tex-Mex) place, but the loud couple next to our table put a serious dent in the experience for me. When we left, the woman had switched from threatening her tiny daughter that the Easter Bunny wouldn’t come if she didn’t sit still and moved on to chewing out the waiter about the service, even though they go there “all the time”.

A brewery was next on our loose agenda, but it turns out longtime favorite Rahr & Sons isn’t a brewpub situation; they’re only open on 2 days, for a couple hours each. So we went to Collective, where I found a bunch of sour and “funky” beers and not a single one I even liked well enough to get a crowler of. Oh, well. Then a few more errands, including a Half-Price Books stop with no treasures that we found. We spent the rest of the evening watching Ghostbusters in the hotel room.

Well, that all sounds less than great, ha ha. But it’s okay. Breakfast out this morning, drop off the daughter, and another trip down 35. Bought some new (to me) music for the drive: Invitation by Filthy Friends, the supergroup that includes Corin Tucker, Peter Buck, a King Crimson dude, and others. Plus, here I am finally writing something here as I’ve been meaning to.