Beyond reasonable doubt jesus is alive

We saw a billboard shortly after crossing the Texas  border that read, "Beyond a reasonable doubt, Jesus is alive." I don't think Texans understand reasonable doubt.

As we made our way to Dallas, we  encountered a major storm. It was a little dicey traveling through the driving rain. But, thankfully we made it to Dallas safe and sound.

Our route was primarily motivated by people along the way. Dallas made the list in order to see one of my oldest and one of my newest friends. W and I have been friends since high school. We stayed close through college, and he even went to business school at Berkeley while I was still living there. He was in our wedding, but I hadn't seen him since. He'd been living in Kansas City for a spell and then relocated to Dallas, so I definitely wanted to be able to visit him and his partner A.

When we arrived at their house, we were greeted by their adorable Yorkie, Max. It took a minute for Max to warm up, but I had a fast furry friend. This dog clearly runs the house. They feed him steak and otherwise bend to his tiny yappy whims. As we left to go grab some food, A put on Star Trek for Max. Apparently A watches it when he works from home and has found it soothes the dog when they leave.

Since it was raining and pretty miserable out, we went to the mall. But it's not just any mall; it's apparently the most profitable mall in the country. It's privately owned by this woman who also has an impressive art collection that she displays all around the premises.

Some of the installations 

Warhols

We got some food and wandered around the stores and checked out the various instillations of works by Warhol and others. Since there is no room in the car and I'm basically unemployed right now, I resisted the urge to buy anything (well, I bought some pods for our Nespresso machine that we're currently hauling across the country and a travel mug as I realized all of mine are on a moving truck, but I walked away from many gorgeous shoes and dresses).

After the mall, Eddie and I went to check in to our hotel. For most of this trip, we're in Hilton Garden Inns and the like. But, in Dallas, we stayed at the Omni. It was conveniently located and had a Tesla charger. I was excited for a little luxury. Our room was nice if small and the building looks impressive. But, after two weeks in Portugal with impeccable service at high-end establishments, the Omni was a let down. But I'll get to that in a bit.

For dinner that night, we went to a place that was "very Texas" called Stampede 66. What sold us among the various choices outlined by W was the table side margarita. They take tequila, Cointreau, and prickly pear juice and mix it with liquid nitrogen to freeze it table side. Then, they top it with a lime foam that is sort of like whipped cream. Apparently there is usually someone who just does these and it was not our server. But for whatever reason, she opted to make them for us. She set out to make four in one batch but grossly underestimated the amount of juice needed. So, the first two she made didn't quite freeze and were super boozy. Eddie and I took those ones. 

The food was really good. I got fried chicken, and Eddie got brisket. The food is Texas with a foodie flair, and both dishes were excellent. And the margarita made it all taste even better...

As W and A dropped us back at our hotel, I realized just how much I miss W. This guy walks past us as we are saying our goodbyes in a neon tank top and jean shorts. He's tatted up and looks... unkempt. W and I exchange looks and start cracking up. Yes, it's mean. But Eddie never even notices the unwashed masses or other human oddities let alone joins me in my petty judgments. Sigh. So, that was clue one that the Omni isn't as upscale as it fancies itself. And while they cannot control who their clientele is, they can control the level of service they give that clientele. And they level they chose is unimpressive.

We had plans to see a friend for brunch before we hit the road on Sunday, and I thought we could do a late check-out to allow us to leave our stuff safely in the room. Well, apparently if we wanted more than an hour, it was going to cost us $60. As brunch was at 10:30, we opted to just check out beforehand.

So, it's Sunday morning, and we call down to guest services to ask the valet to bring the car and the bellman to bring up two luggage carts. Eddie calls twice, letting it ring for a solid minute each time. No answer. So, I go downstairs to request the car and fetch a bellman with carts. The valet assures me he'll bring the car around, and the bellman follows me up. While the bellman did his job, the valet didn't. We get downstairs about 7 minutes later, and they haven't even gone to get the car yet.

While Eddie waits for the car with the bags, I get in line to check out. Just as I am next in line and one of the 2 people working frees up, a colleague goes up to the free front desk person to attempt something that had never been attempted before with cash. Or, I assume it had never been attempted before given how long it was taking. When the woman working the front desk frees up, instead of letting me check out, now the other guy has roped her into whatever task he was working on.

We finally got loaded up and met one of our newer friends, J, for brunch. We went to this really great place in downtown called Saint Ann. It's below a museum, so there were some pretty interesting samurai touches by the bathroom.

After a delicious brunch, we got on the road to Oklahoma.