Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, December 2015

From Houston, we made our way north to Dallas and Fort Worth. I was rather taken with Fort Worth -- perhaps because it is not so overwhelming as Dallas.

On the night we arrived, we drove out to Fort Worth to Rahr and Sons Brewery to listen to the young opera singers from Fort Worth Opera. We were expecting thirty or so at the Brewery .. wrong, wrong, wrong. There was a crush of two to three hundred people, most drinking beer and talking, but some listening to the opera. It was a very difficult environment for the performers but they labored mightly against the odds. A friendly group of people gave us several hints on where to visit in Forth Worth.

Hundreds of people at the brewery, many lining up for beer (of course!)

Singing opera in a brewery? That is tough!

On the Friday afternoon after I had presented at the University of North Texas, we headed back to the Stockyards District at Fort Worth to see the running of the longhorns. This celebrates a time in Texas history -- a very short time, as it happens, of only a dozen years -- when longhorns were driven to Fort Worth for sale. Twice a day, a group of longhorns are driven down Stockyards Boulevard for the tourists. Interesting to see.

The longhorns being run down Stockyards Boulevard. Notice something wrong in this picture? Look carefully.

In the stockyards

At night, we went to see the rodeo, that is on each weekend year round. I had last been to see a rodeo in the 1990s -- actually, across town at the Mesquite Rodeo. The rodeo is down to earth -- literally. You have to take it for what it is.

At the rodeo