Thursday evening, after recovering from all the physical exercise, we sampled genuine Texas Barbecue at Hutchins BBQ. Let me tell you….the Brisket is delicious!
Friday morning, the 17th of October, we met Roger and Mary for breakfast at Jimmy's Egg. This is a local chain that just opened a store near our home base. The menu is quite extensive and the service was fine. They have only been open a few weeks and are still working out the kinks. Great food!
After breakfast we decided to cruise around Frisco to see the changes that have occurred since our last visit in 2007. Oh, Boy! The Dallas Cowboys football team is building (with local help, read $$$) a practice facility in Frisco, so we were able to get a glance at it as we drove by. The site is huge and will eventually house shopping and hotels as well as the stadium.
One of the must-see things on our list this morning was a visit to Central Park, where the great cattle drives of the late 19th century are memorialized. Most of the cattle drives went through the Dallas area on the way to Missouri and beyond. Most went through the North Dallas/Frisco area and this park commemorates, on this very spot, one of the most famous, The Shawnee Trail.
The park is dotted with quotes from the cowboys that worked the trail…
Large bronze pieces are cast into the walls in the park depicting views of the cattle drives.
Bronze Longhorns burst from the walls on a dead run, so lifelike that you would think they've just been spooked by lightning.
Running and jumping, pursued by cowboys, they appear to be heading right for the apartments across the street!
The lifelike figures are unbelievable!
From "The Bridge" at the end of Central Park, we can just make out the new Cowboys stadium.
Just up the street, around the corner, and through the woods, another series of sculptures honor the cattle drives. These "Longhorns" look to be moving along a grassy area between a street and some businesses.
One Doggie had to stop for a bite of grass!
But Mr. Cowboy is coming up fast!
The detail on the sculptures is amazing!
A short trip to Plano, Texas, brought us to the former EDS building, now part of Hewlett Packard. The large structure in the center was once known as "The God Pod" due to it being the home of the Big Wigs.
Just past "Four Corners", where Frisco, Mckinney, Allen, and Plano, Texas meet, and south a little is the home of Allen High School. The city of Allen has chosen to have one High School with upwards of 10,000 students, instead of dividing the student population into smaller segments. One advantage of this strategy is that one capital investment serves a lot of people. The school is famous for having an $80 million football stadium. This is still Texas!
Eagle Stadium is indeed impressive!
This part of Texas has been enjoying a huge building boom. Most likely due to the favorable business (read tax) climate, more and more companies are moving their headquarters/facilities to Texas. Toyota is moving its operation from California to Frisco, as an example, and the entire state benefits. Local contractors are crazy busy, Frisco is building its ninth high school, and most roads are at least four lanes being enlarged to six, or six being modified to handle all the traffic. As far as the eye can see, the flat landscape is covered with big Texas-sized homes, or the dirt work in preparation for homes, or road work to get ready for next years' projects!
Prices seem to be……reasonable….
A dinner at Aw Shucks Oyster Bar completed our day.
Of course, we had to have Oysters, along with Shrimp, Onion Rings, and bowls of Gumbo. Delicious!
We're leaving Frisco tomorrow, heading West toward California. It's always a sad day to leave good friends after spending some quality time with them, but we must move on.
We've thoroughly enjoyed our time with Roger and Mary. Their hospitality is much appreciated.
Thank you.
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