Fort Worth

Happy Easter everyone! Today John and I drove from New Orleans to Ft. Worth. On the drive, we ran into some pretty stormy weather and had to pull off on the side of the highway for a bit, but thankfully we arrived safely! We almost ran out of gas on the drive, too, which would have put a bit of a damper on things, but it's pretty funny why we had the predicament. Being in Louisiana we wanted to give ourselves enough time to find gas, (the exits are sparse and the chance that there is food or gas at the exit is even more rare), so we started searching about half an hour before we would need some. When the storm came through, the winds were very strong, gusts of about 60 miles an hour. When we saw an exit that seemed to have food and gas, we were excited- it was the first town we had seen in about 45 minutes, the storm had just hit so John and I really had to use the restroom (we had been driving for almost 5 hours at this point, too), and we were pumped to fill up on gas and grab a bite to eat. As we drove into the town, we thought it was really strange that no lights were on in any of the store locations. We stopped at a McDonalds, it was closed. The Wendy's and Burger King were the same. Although disappointed and hungry, John and I thought they were maybe closed for Easter... Until we arrived at the gas station. The place was locked up and the pumps weren't on, weird. Turns out when the storm passed through, the power went out in the ENTIRE little town! John and I had to go to the bathroom really bad at this point, so I thought maybe a hotel would have a generator. The hotel did not have a generator, but the friendly receptionist was kind enough to allow us to use the lobby bathroom- John and I just had to use the flashlights on our phone in the bathroom! After finally using the bathroom, we weighed our options- stay in this town until they got the power up and running or drive 60 miles to the next town with gas. We opted to take the risk and make our way further north to the next city. With about 40 miles remaining, the gas light went on. We just made it to the gas station! By the time we arrived we were running on fumes!

After we got to Fort Worth, John's Uncle Sam and his wife, Madelene showed us where we would be staying- John's uncle's condo! It's a great location and we couldn't be more pumped or grateful for such an awesome place to stay!!

Sam and Madelene took us to an amazing restaurant called Reata. We were seated at a great outdoor table on the roof and had a good view of the city around us. John and I decided to be adventurous and we started out with Calf Fries and Cream Gravy, a southern specialty. For those of you unaware of what Calf Fries are, they are cow testicles- yum (haha). They were actually pretty good, I wouldn't knock 'em until you tried them yourself. Then, we got a delicious sampler platter to split- if you look at the picture, the items are listed in order from top to bottom: Polenta Star, Bacon Wrapped Shrimp, Smoked Quail with Jalapeño Cheddar Grits and Molasses Barbecue Glaze, Jalapeño and Cheese Elk Sausage, Fried Calamari with Cowboy Cocktail Sauce, and Tenderloin Tamales with Pecan Mash. An amazing assortment of true Texan cuisine!

After dinner we walked next door to a tiny gelato store and treated ourselves to some scrumptious dessert! We then took a walk around the downtown Fort Worth area. It's a beautiful city and I can't wait to see more of it over the next few days!

I apologize if this blog post isn't formatted the same way as my other recent posts. This is our first location without wifi so I'm giving my blog app a try! I've been excited to use the app, so we'll have to see how this post turns out! :)