Daniel, Saint Murse, and I drove three hours to Six Flags in Arlington this morning only to discover the park was closed.
I laughed in disbelief when I saw the sign, but it was really, horribly true. Their summer schedule ended yesterday.
We thought maybe we could salvage the day by visiting the museums in Fort Worth, but it was a Monday. No museums for us.
We ended up at the Fort Worth Stockyards, where we got really good steaks for lunch and little else. It was hot and full of kountry kitsch. We went to the candy store and looked at the railroad tracks and the cattle chutes. I stood outside the Cattlepen Maze and died laughing as the shrill, aggrieved voice of a little boy floated over the walls every thirty seconds or so: "This sucks!" "This is retarded!" "Are we done yet?"
We went to Billy Bob's, which was empty and impressively vast. I played pinball and did okay. I tried to take pictures of the mirrored disco saddle over the dance floor and failed completely.
Finally, we admitted defeat and drove home.
On the way back, we saw lots of cotton and a grass fire. If I'd been a little quicker with my camera, you'd see that the fire was burning right in front of a fireworks outlet. Yikes.
A disappointing day, but also kind of fun and funny. We made it home alive; that's the important thing.