Texas is a big place. It’s still difficult for my Michigan brain to fully comprehend the vastness of the state.
The result is that even “short” trips from one city to another can be three-to-eight hours of driving – Houston to El Paso is over ten hours. Like I said, it is an incredibly large place.
But with all this in mind, when the opportunity for my son and I to join my husband for a work trip recently arose, l jumped on it, no matter the distance or hours in the car. Fortunately, the trip would only take us to the 4.5-hours-away city of Dallas.
Well, there’s a caveat here. In Texas, “Dallas” is a relative term – it’s more like a region. There’s Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano, Frisco, Grapevine, Arlington … to name a few cities. There’s a gaggle of smaller cities and towns in the surrounding megaplex, any and all of them colloquially referred to as “Dallas.” So, when he mentioned Dallas, what my husband really meant was Plano and as I’d never been to that part of Dallas before … I was pretty excited to explore.
But what was there to do in Plano? It wasn’t a city chosen for its myriad delights, but instead was ventured to out of necessity. But, if my travels around the world have taught me nothing else, it’s that some of the greatest adventures happen in the most unexpected places.
“Texas is a big place, but there are so many little adventures to have, if you just hop in the car and drive.”
The day we arrived, we planned to take in the Frisco RoughRiders baseball game. The team boasts a very special and unique stadium: It has a lazy river inside the ballpark. Even though our hotel was in Plano, the stadium in Frisco was a three-minute drive and without the normal hullaballoo of a major ballpark. The stadium was charming, designed to look like a small village. Inside, we found standard fare; pizza, hotdogs, nachos, copious amounts of beer. Our special “lazy river” tickets in hand, we shimmied out of our shorts and t-shirts and into our swimsuits, grabbed the closest inner tube and hopped right into the water.
It was late afternoon, soon to be evening, but the sun was thankfully lazier and friendlier than in midday. So, while still more than hot enough for swimming, it wasn’t blisteringly miserable. The RoughRiders are a minor league team, players hoping for advancement to the majors, and the game itself feels more intimate. The players are physically closer to the stands, the crowd almost a part of the team.
We paddled around awhile, occasionally rammed by children in passing tubes, or jostled by a couple who had a few too many drinks. From our location in the lazy river, the view of the field was perfect – close enough to feel the action but removed enough to take in the entirety of the field and the crowd enjoying the game. We watched batters strike out, daring runs and attempted base-stealing. We cheered for the RoughRiders loud and heartily, the stadium vibe making us instant fans.
We ate hotdogs, cracked open a couple of cold beers and watched the sunset over the field. The water was refreshing, the stadium was electric with anticipation and excitement and one and all were enjoying themselves tremendously.
But, baseball games are long, and six-year-olds get tired. As the last rays of sun disappeared on the horizon, we changed back into dry clothes, packed up our souvenirs and left. I don’t know who won, and I really don’t care. The experience itself was a home-run (terrible pun intended) and well worth the hours of road trip.
Texas is a big place, but there are so many little adventures to have, if you just hop in the car and drive (sometimes a little longer than you’d like).
