Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind?

THERE IS A NEW POST UNDERNEATH THIS POST!

One of the things I love about Texas is how many of its cities are featured in country songs. A few that come to mind immediately are:

"Dallas" by Alan Jackson

"How a Cowgirl Says Goodbye" where Tracy Lawrence mentions Abilene and Last Chance. He also mentions Amarillo in the song "Texas Tornado."

"All My Exes Live in Texas," by George Strait, where he references Texarkana, Abilene, Galveston, and Temple.

"Lubbock or Leave it," which is a song by the Dixie Chicks that never actually says the name Lubbock, but paints an unmistakably unflattering picture of it nonetheless. There's also one called "Texas in the Rearview Mirror," by Mac Davis, which also portrays Lubbock in a bad light, but calls it by name.

"Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind?" also by George Strait. Incidentally, George Strait sings about Texas often. He has another song called "Texas" in which he makes reference to the Cowboys, Willie Nelson, and other Texas cities, including Fort Worth and the song that he recorded decades earlier.

What's the point? Tonight, after my 6:00 violence group didn't show, I headed to Fort Worth for the Texas Association of Marriage and Family Therapy's annual conference. 

Some thoughts as I was driving:

• Why are there so many Spanish and country radio stations in this state?
• I'm really glad every small town in Texas has a Dairy Queen. It's nice to be able to count on things.
• What if you named all of your children after cities in Texas? In addition to the big ones working fairly well (Austin, Houston, Dallas) some of these small towns might make good names too: Jermyn, Vera, Jacksboro (some are better than others).
• Should I stop eating all this trail mix?
• I wonder what that roadkill used to be.

I am pleased to report that I made it to the Fort Worth Microtel Inn Suites safely, only to get lip from the desk clerk for not looking old enough to book a hotel room.

Typically, when I go to conferences, I do not spend a lot of time at the sessions. However, this time around, two of the biggest names in my field came to present at our conference. On Thursday, it was Monica McGoldrick, and on Friday and Saturday, it was Sue Johnson. I realize that five of the six of you do not know/care about these people. The name dropping is for Ami. They were great! Not only that, but TAMFT provided lunch both days, so I didn't do what I usually do, which is leave for lunch and sneak back in late/go up to my room and take a nap/explore whatever city I am in.

Hence, I have not gone off to explore Fort Worth, which is known for its stockyards. I have had dinner at two local restaurants.

The first was a sushi restaurant because I am always on a quest for good sushi when I leave Lubbock, which, as I have mentioned ad nauseum, has no good sushi. My last three sushi experiences have looked something like this:

• Sushi from the grocery store that Layne picked up for me one night-nice gesture, mediocre sushi.
• Sushi from a combination sushi bar/teppanyaki place. Mostly rolls. Too artsy to be authentic, although they have a tempura roll that is pretty good.
• And the restaurant in Fort Worth. Why did I think ordering raw fish in a city known for its beef was a good idea? I think my thought process went along the lines of, any place has to be better than Lubbock, right? Wrong. The restaurant was called Avocado, which should have been a tipoff right there. Obviously, the owner of the restaurant has a warped sense of what is important at a sushi restaurant. It was pretty much downhill from there. Their menu consisted primarily of rolls, some with American cheese, some with chicken. They had a few options as far as sashimi or nigiri, and some sort of a bento. I couldn't get a straight answer as to what was in it, though. I ordered one artsy roll and one spicy tuna roll. I can't prove the "spicy" in the tuna was Tabasco, but I can say that the tuna was the worst piece of raw fish I have ever tasted in my life. I managed to finish about half of it before I had to wave the white dishtowel. They had mochi ice cream, but I decided to cut my losses, and I got a mini-cup of Ben and Jerry's from the grocery store to kill the taste of the tuna.

Tonight, I learned my lesson. Rather than trying out another ethnic cuisine whose population is not represented well in this state, I opted for barbeque brisket. Stick with what you know, Texas. I was not disappointed. Great brisket, great fries. I got lip from the guys working the counter for my t-shirt, which reads, "I am a marriage and family therapist...so, how does that make you feel?" The guys asked if I was married, and then mocked me because I'm not. It seems to be a theme here in Fort Worth. I didn't get enough ketchup, or a fork for my baked beans, but it was exponentially better than last night's dinner.

I would like to say I enjoyed the Fort Worth nightlife, but, instead, I spent the night in my jammies looking at cakewrecks. 

The next morning, I skipped the last session and drove home. On the way home, three things of note happened:

• I had to go to the bathroom and drove 60 miles to find one.
  
• I got pulled over.
• I discovered an Elvis store in Jacksboro.

You may wonder why I got so excited about an Elvis store in Texas, when I just visited Memphis three months ago. But, as it turns out, this is the largest Elvis-only store outside of Memphis, and the only Elvis-only store in the entire state of Texas.

 In addition, the proprietor is an Elvis impersonator. This is his costume on display. The proprietress was one of the friendliest people I have ever met. The woman who was running the Elvis store across the street from Graceland wasn't nearly as friendly. You could argue it's because she wasn't a Texan. The proprietress, whose name I cannot remember, but I remember thinking it sounded very west Texas, gave me several business cards and fliers to give to friends. I'm pretty sure that Stephanie and I will be making a trip to Jacksboro before she leaves Texas. All in all, not a bad weekend. Except for the whole traffic ticket thing.