Tacos In Texas

Dinner At Dallas's #1 Taco Joint

Authentic Mexican Tacos

Rami and I are the only ones up, probably because it's Saturday and why should anyone get up without work or school.  Rami is going biking with friends and wants to beat the traffic which can be horrendous around here, even on a Saturday.  It's 66º at the moment, but should get up to 88º later in the day.  Welcome to Texas spring heat.  It actually feels good to be warm.

Bottling Spring Water

We left our hotel in Hot Springs around 8:30 and stopped briefly at a spring just down the street and filled our water bottles with the miraculous, curative waters of Hot Springs (it was cold at this particular spring).  We then took a three mile loop, up through Hot Springs Park, a climb up to 1 1/2 miles, then down the same. There are all kinds of trails up and down, starting from different destinations.  We saw a number of people walking it and wished we could have stayed an extra day, walked up to the top, to the pavilion, had a picnic lunch, then walked down.  Next time and we hit the spa, too.

Pavilion At Top Of Hot Springs Park

We then started for Dallas and fortunately, our first hour was on back roads, through hills and forests before we hit Highway 30, which took us to Texarkana and on to Dallas.  Traffic was not bad until we hit the Dallas metropolitan area.  And we seemed to be doing well, on the #635 ring when we were supposed to get off at Exit 22 D.  Well, of course, there was an A,B, C but no D.  So our GPS took us around in circles twice before we turned it off and Evie turned on Waze on her iPhone.  It told us to take C and we were golden, arrived at Beth's around 2:30, as expected.  Of course, the local school was just getting out so we could not find a parking space in front of her house, so we drove in their back alley and parked until the cars cleared off.  It' going to take some getting used to Texas traffic after Chautauqua's quiet life.

The Lone Star State, Finally

Beth and Evie picked Marisa up from school (no school buses in University Park), so they were gone for 15 minutes.  Marisa was excited to see us and seemed so grown up since we saw her last in December at my niece's wedding in Washington, D.C.  Mitch, our other senior, came home just after Marisa, and he's pretty excited about finishing up a great senior year in Dallas, then matriculating to the University of Texas in Austin.  He showed us his dorm room in Austin (most of the dorms are private) on his computer and it looked like the Ritz, an apartment with separate bedrooms, bathrooms, a TV room and lounge, kitchen for four, and a huge viewing room, with a TV, swimming pool and work out center, all in a nine story building.  It makes my bunk bed and two desk dorm room look prehistoric.  As a graduation present, Beth and Rami were treating him and six friends to dinner, so we was off by 5:30.  Rami came home around 5:30, and we sat around talking, having a beer and eating chips and salsa, while the good girl, Marisa, did some of the reviewing for the big tests she will be having next week.  She is so organized, has 240 notecards that she made to help study for her tests.  A serious girl.  I am not sure who she gets this from, certainly not from my genetic pool.  We talked mostly about TV series which we liked because Beth and Rami are always up on some of the good series like us.  Even though we often have different tastes (they like Survivor, The Amazing Race; we don't), there are many we agree on like The Americans, Rita, and Happy Valley.

Las Muchachas At El Come Taco

We left University Park and drove through the more posh neighborhood of Highland Park, where some of the homes go for 30 million or more, like Shaker Heights in Ohio used to be.  We ended up in a down trodden part of town which is quickly being revitalized, with lots of construction.  And we had dinner at Dallas # 1 Taco Restaurant, El Come Taco, in a strip mall, across from a check cashing place.  Classy. We ordered at a counter, from a menu of tacos that  take up the entire wall.  It's the kind of taco we might get in Mexico, just meat, but there are all kinds of topping if you want. You can even get brain or tripe tacos.  I discovered the flavor of notales (cactus) on my three tacos.  We sat down after ordering, waited ten minutes in a practically empty place, as the meats are grilled to order so it takes time.  They place two small tacos together, place all the goodies on top, and then bring it to your table.  They also have great margaritas, the kind where you can actually taste the tequila. This is the kind of place we could go back and back and back.

La  Marisa Loca

For dessert, Beth bought 12 small cupcakes from a popular bakery called Nothing Bundt Cakes, each of the four flavors the most popular at this particular shop.  We cut them in half even though they were small and they were scrumptious, a mega sugar way to top our meal. We then plopped down in the front of the TV, very full, and watched the final episodes of Survivor.  I took Cody for a walk at dusk but his legs, either arthritis or a pulled muscle, is bothering him so he limps quite a bit yet he jumps up and seems to want to go.

We went to bed at 11:00 even though Mitch was still out with friends.  Beth and Rami are used to this, like most parents of teenagers, going to bed even though their sons are not yet home.

Not sure what today will bring other than we will be eating at home, enjoying the day.