Transit and Tiki in Dallas

 Dallas, TX

Waiting for The Red Line at Parker Rd. Station in Plano, TX

DART Dallas

Today we drove to Parker Rd. Station in Plano, TX to catch light rail into downtown Dallas.  Sadly it is a 20 minute drive to the nearest DART Station.  I am sure it is more complex than this but at some point McKinney, TX passed on the 1 cent sales tax that is required for cities to levy to get DART.  I am also reading that Arlington, TX is paying the tax and doesn't have access and I am hearing that cities between Dallas and McKinney don't want transit because the toll roads are making a mint.  It would be great if public transit was an option for more people in the area.

Anyway, there was plenty of parking at the Park and Ride at the station.  It's even broken down into reserved and unreserved so that commuters, which we saw a few, can count on parking in the morning.  I decided to buy us physical tickets rather than use our phones so I could have a souvenir.  The ticket stations were intuitive, except I couldn't figure out how to buy 2 tickets at once, but none of the ticket dispensers were taking credit cards.  I have been carrying cash because it appears to me that the more east we travel, the more cash is a thing.  It might just be a few coincidental one offs but I have needed cash multiple times to buy things or to save on a 5% credit card fee.  

When the train arrived we got on and the air conditioning was pumping.  Everyone was masked up so we took the complimentary masks that were provided.  It appeared that there were several people just riding transit to stay cool.  

The longest light rail system in the US with over 93 miles of track!

Cash only

They even recycled an old sign

Parker Rd. Station has is a bus hub too.

Incoming!

The trains were clean and comfortable

Plush seats aren't the best but I did like the material used.

The ride was quick and comfortable.  There are some rail crossings but there are also sections of elevated as well as underground track.  The route mostly follows the highway in and at points we were traveling as fast as the cars.  I am pretty sure we hit speeds of 70+ MPH.  As we entered downtown, the area was covered in clouds.  There had been thunderstorms forecasted but it looked like we were only going to get cloud coverage which was nice.  When we got off the train it was noticeably cooler.  It was a nice 85 feels like 92 degrees in downtown Dallas.  We both commented on how nice it was and then began waling to our first destination .3 miles away.

The Dallas Museum of Art

We were heading to The Dallas Museum of Art (I know, the subheading was a total spoiler, I am sorry).  This museum is free to all.  All you need to do is book a reserved ticket or wait for an open time slot.  The downtown Dallas area was a lot less crowded than I expected it to be.  It was a Thursday afternoon but still, far fewer people than I had expected.

We got to the museum and checked in and really enjoyed our visit.  When a museum is free, you can pick and choose what you want to see and how long you want to see it without the pressure of having to get value for your ticket.  It's my favorite way to explore a museum.  

We walked by what we thought was a financial institution but it tuned out to be a giant church which is a sort of financial institution I guess.

DMA, Dallas Museum of Art

This cool piece was hanging above the check in area.  Apparently we went in the back entrance

We learned about the Mississippian Culture and how corrupt western groups looted their sites in the 1930s.

Some modern pieces were on display as well

Including our 2nd Native American Skateboard Deck of the trip.  The other is here in a museum in Flagstaff.

This hallway makeover was done by an artist inspired by the lowrider community.  The museum has invited contemporary artists to rework this hallway since 2015.  Read about the installation here.

I was drawn to this piece by Jose Echave.  

This "Ice Bowl" was from 1874 and looked very modern to me

We were both reminded of watching Christine in Denver.

I really liked the artists version of the TX State Highway Sign.  The real sign is a boring square.

They had materials for people to make their own sculptures.  Kids and Adults alike were creating their best art.

As close to dressing up as I could get.

They had an area where you could use an activist template to create your own art.  They had some of the better ones on the wall.  I liked this one.

Donna is art.

I am going to have to keep track of states we have seen Chihuly in.  Washington, Colorado, Nevada, Missouri, Texas, California, and probably more.

I chose to wear my Reverend Horton Heat shirt because it says Dallas, TX on the back.  I had no idea the Pegasus was such a Dallas icon.  We saw it in quite a few places.  Read about The Dallas Pegasus here.

I contemporary mixed medial piece was in with the Silver work.  I was hoping to see another Paul Revere but didn't.  We have seen Paul Revere in 2 states.

I don't have a list of all of the states we have seen Georgia O'Keeffe in.

This is by Ruth Pershing.  She was a Texas Artist, Teacher, and Curator.  She was the first curator of education at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston from 1941 to 1967.

A Thomas Hart Benton piece.

This has a bird in it so I like it.  It's by Otis Dozer, a Texan Artist. 

Leon Polk Smith's homage to Piet Mondrian.  You have to be there and change the angle in which you look at it to really appreciate it. We saw actual Piet Mondrian in Los Angeles here as well as another homage to him by Roy Lichtenstein at The Broad here.  You can see that entire day's adventure here.

Oil Derricks at Night by George Grammer, a local artist.

After our American Contemporary art experience we dipped into Asian Art for a bit.

One of the most painted mountains in the world!

To Tiki!

After the museum we walked to the bus (route 3) and took it to the Lowest Greenville neighborhood in Dallas to go to our first Texas Tiki Bar.  The bus ride was pleasant and we got to the area a little early so we walked around to check it out.  The Tiki Bar opened at 4pm and it appeared everything else did too.  

Here comes The 3!

More Dallas Pegasus.  This one is on a sticker stuck to a light pole.

Lowest Greenville seemed pretty hip.  

This place looked like they had food and drinks.  Their motto was, "Expect Nothing Less".

Swizzle Dallas!  Our destination.

They had merch too!

The entire bar was glass over Vintage Swizzle Sticks.  We looked for places we had been.

There was Tiki art all over.  Turns out one of our friends made a piece for the men's restroom (not pictured).  You can see some of her work here.

They had a selection of Happy Hour Cocktails for $5.  This Daiquiri was one of them.

And this Mai Tai was another.

Tiki Selfie!

The Spam Masubi Rice Bowl was fantastic

These King Hawaiian Bread Rolls were deep fried and dipped in cinnamon sugar. Crazy good!

When you go to bars you never know what your interactions with the other patrons will be.  It is usually very good.  While we were there three middle aged men came in together.  They all had thick "Texas" accents and it looked like one of the men was leading the other two on a Dallas adventure.  It seemed as though the other two men hadn't been to a Tiki Bar because they asked if it was a "Themed" bar and said, "this place is fancy, they even put in orchid in my drink!".  Enough back story, on to the real story.  They ordered a Scorpion Bowl with 3 straws.  This is a large drink that comes in a large bowl and is intended for 4ish people.  The bowl has a center well that usually houses garnish and fire.  Here is one if you can't picture what I am describing.  Flaming garnishes are usually made of croutons dipped in over proof spirit.  They burn like a candle and you usually let them burn out.  These guys were in a hurry to down their drink with their plastic straws and didn't want to melt the straws so they tried a few techniques to put the flame out. None of them were working so one of the guys had the bright idea to use the straw to blow the flame out.  Since the flame wasn't entirely contained in a solid medium like a crouton, his blow blew over proof spirit onto the bar and lit the bar on fire.  It wasn't as bad as it sounds because the bar is glass but it was in our direction and if he had blown a little harder there would have been a chance he could have lit us on fire.  He immediate realized his error and put it out and made a joke about it.  I jokingly yelled to the bartender to eject the guy with the flamethrower.  We all laughed and it was all good.  On our way out the guy stopped me and said something like, "I am sorry, I really didn't intend to flame throw you".  I responded, "I know, I could see it in your eyes" and they all laughed and continued to have a good evening.  

After Tiki we continued on the same bus to a different light rail station.  Our train arrived right after we go there and we were on our way back to the park and ride and then home.

We got to ride The Orange line this time which shared tracks with the Red Line for this part of its route.

This was taken back at Parker Rd. Station.  I thought it was cool that they provided covered bike locks for commuters.

It was a great adventure day and we got to check off two checklist items in Texas, Tiki and Transit.  

If you didn't read yesterday's blog you can see it here.  Donna took a cute photo of a squirrel.