Day 7 (2018) - Fly Away Home

Today was our last day on the road, and our day started early (and cold) with a tour of the Texas Rangers' ballpark, Globe Life Park. As we learned yesterday while touring the football stadium, this is the last year the Rangers will use this ballpark, with their new one being built now on the other end of the parking lot. When they built the current park in 1992-1994 either retractable roofs were not an option, or it was a massive and expensive oversight. While it was cold today (37 when we left the hotel), it is brutally hot in the summer and can get uncomfortable for fans, especially during day games. The new park will have the coveted retractable roof.

Putting the X in Texas

The park is currently being used for a holiday activity, so the field doesn't look anything like it would during the season.

Not exactly game ready conditions

The tour took us to the press box, a suite, the batting cages, the interview area, and the Rangers dugout. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to go into the Rangers clubhouse because of some previous issues on tours where people didn't leave with the rest of the tour and things went missing. What is wrong with people?

Any questions?

No more questions

Stop the presses!

Good to know the Alligator and Elk jerky options are Gluten Free

Another interesting option at the ball park

After the tour we made our usual donation to the team gift store, and headed down the street to a place called Texas Live, which is basically an upscale food court with many large TVs. I would imagine that the place is typically busy, but with the Clemson-Notre Dame game taking place a few hundred yards away in a few hours, the place was kind of like a fraternity party on steroids.

Pre-tailgating. Notice all of the orange and green attire.

We were never going to get a seat at any of the restaurants, so I looked up someplace to eat that was between where we were and DFW Airport. I found a place that seemed to have a decent menu called The Ranch and made a quick reservation. Turns out that (a) we really did not need a reservation and (b) the food was really good. Stunningly, after we finished lunch we passed on dessert and headed to the airport, which was only about 10 minutes away.

Giddyup

I dropped everyone off so they could check our one piece of luggage that needed to get checked, then headed to return the car (which was so far away I thought I was heading back to Houston).

The flight home was uneventful, and thanks to the fact that the seat configuration was 2+2 Debbie was guaranteed (hopefully) not to have a nauseating seatmate (Amanda was on her best behavior to make sure).

So ends our latest road trip. Things have changed quite a bit since our first trip in 2010, but some things have stayed the same. The kids are much older, more opinionated, and much less enamored with some of the quirky side trips we make. They remain more of a hands-on group, and still enjoy a good meal. And as annoyed as they sometimes get with those side trips, they likely will remember things like the Toilet Bowl Museum or the saloon in Montana or the "throwed rolls restaurant" or Debbie's face after getting into the St. Louis Arch elevator for the rest of their lives.

A classic

I am very thankful that we did all of these trips, and I am sure they are also. The thought of doing a trip like this back in April or May of this year was the furthest thing from my mind, or any of our minds, so I don't take these trips for granted.

I have no idea if/when we will do another trip that is "blog-worthy" so for anyone that has read these daily summaries, thanks. It truly started out in 2010 as simply a way for me to write down some of the stuff we did so we would have a record of it. I sometimes go back and look at the old posts just for fun, and they make me smile. I hope they did for you as well.

As I said before at the end of one of the other trips - until next time, if there is a next time.