Our first post-COVID trip: weekend in Fort Worth

Hello loyal blog readers, and may I just say it is SO nice to chat with you once again! After the suckiness of 2020, 2021 was threatening to bring more of the same, until I flipped the script with some big life changes. So far in the first few months of 2021, I’ve gotten vaccinated, changed jobs, and (with the help of Dry January) managed to lose my “quarantine 15”. But the #1 thing I was looking forward to coming back in 2021 was travel – and we kicked it off with a short trip to nearby Fort Worth, Texas at the end of March.

Thanks (?) to pre-existing conditions and a well-run vaccine effort by our local health department, the hubby and I were able to get our COVID vaccines (both Moderna) in late January (first shot) and mid February (second shot). By the end of the month, we were two-weeks past our second dose and ready to get out and explore! But after a year of being cooped up and seeing essentially no one, we weren’t sure we were quite ready for a “big” trip. So we kept it small and local — a one night stay in Downtown Fort Worth, where, if things started to feel overwhelming, we could simply drive home and be there within an hour.

Fort Worth (the “FW” in DFW, in case you forgot) is only about 40 minutes away from Dallas, but because of it’s cow-town heritage somehow manages to feel a lot different than the Big D. While we’d made day trips there before to take in the Kimbell Museum or a show at Bass Hall, this was our first time ever staying in the city proper.

For this trip, I used 34,000 Hilton points to book a one-night stay at the Embassy Suites Downtown Fort Worth, which was conveniently located just a few blocks from nearly everything we wanted to see. With an average price of around $250 a night, that breaks down to roughly $0.07 per point; a decent value for Hilton redemptions. The hotel was a standard Embassy Suites, meaning we got a two-room suite (bedroom and living area) and free daily breakfast and evening reception, if we wanted it. However, we didn’t actually take advantage of either free food option at the hotel, because we were there to EAT!

We started off on Saturday for lunch at Heim on the River. Heim Barbecue has quickly become a household name in Texas barbecue circles, largely because of their famed burnt ends. We tried their burnt ends (one came atop my bloody mary, in fact) but for us the star of the show there was the beef rib – one of the better ones we’d come across. In fact, the beef rib was so good that we didn’t even mind that the brisket and sides were somewhat middle of the road; we were still happy we’d made the trek. The river location is also great for post-Covid times, with tons of outdoor seating shaded by large oak trees.

After lunch, we headed to the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, which were surprisingly green after the recent Big Freeze, and as you can see by the photo, the tulips were in full bloom. The gardens were a perfect size to explore in about an hour and a half, and we also happened to be there during their annual Japanese Festival, so we also got to take in some dance and martial arts demonstrations, as well as tour the offerings from the local bonsai club.

However, at this point, despite the fact that everything in the state had been frozen just a few weeks earlier, the sun was beating down and we were HOT. We needed a refreshment, so we headed over to the West 7th Bar District to see what was on tap. While there’s no shortage of bars around there, we ended up settling down on the outdoor patio of the Trinity College Irish Pub for a few cold ones before heading back to the hotel to change for dinner.

In the early evening, after the sun had mellowed a bit, we also had a chance to walk around some of the historical sites in downtown Fort Worth. We ventured over to the Water Gardens (interesting, but crowded and very skippable), and then made our way back along Main Street in order to see the JFK Tribute.

For dinner in downtown, one restaurant kept popping up in all the “top” lists we saw: Reata. And as they offered outdoor dining and reservations, it seemed like a fit. There, we sat atop their downtown rooftop and I ordered the Carne Asada topped with Reata’s Cheese Enchiladas, which was indeed very tasty, but was easily enough for two people if not three. One thing we learned this trip was that after a year of me cooking literally every single day, we just weren’t used to restaurant portion sizes anymore — we’ve since learned to split things!

After our massive dinner, we headed over to Bird & Branch, a rooftop watering hole perched atop the Frost Bank Tower in downtown. There, we shared some desserts while also enjoying live music — until the wind picked up like CRAZY and forced everyone inside. Rather than get swept away, we headed over to nearby Flying Saucer, where their live music continued late into the night.

The next morning, we hopped up early to grab a couple of the hubby’s favorite breakfast item – doughnuts – from Funkytown Donuts and Drafts. Properly sugared, we drove out to the Airfield Falls, which is a lovely little waterfall along the Tarrant Regional Water District trail system. A 15-minute paved trail from the parking area took us straight to the naturally occuring water feature, which is named for the nearby Naval Air Station base.

But of course, no trip to Fort Worth could really be complete without a trip to the Fort Worth Stockyards. So after our morning hike, we headed off to the Stockyard district to take in a bit of history. We enjoyed exploring the shops in the new Mule Alley portion of the Stockyards, including ogling the beautiful high-priced leather goods at Lucchese, before settling in for a spot on the “cattle drive”.

While many in the crowd opted to stick around for the promised “old west gun fight” that was coming up next, we headed to brunch instead. Nearby Atico is Chef Tim Love’s first tapas themed restaurant, and the scene-y open-air restaurant made the perfect final stop on our Fort Worth Staycation weekend.

With full bellies, we headed home, happy to have once again been able to venture into the land of the living, and excited to make travel once again part of our lives! Thanks for joining me on this trip recap, and tell me in the comments if I missed any of your favorite Fort Worth spots.