I had some simple goals for our first full day in Dallas. Eat Texas BBQ and have fun. The former I had been dreaming about for over a year – a return to Hutchins BBQ in McKinney, TX.We met a friend there just after noon and the line was nearly out the door. That doesn’t mean that the wait there is going to be crazy, since you get your food cafeteria-style, pay, and then find an open table to eat your grub. While I looked over the options from the menu on the wall and started to explain them to Yay-Yay, Megan spotted the family pack which included two pounds of meat, three pints of sides, and six rolls. Well, this just made ordering a whole lot easier! We got a 50-50 split of beef brisket and pulled pork. My mouth is watering just writing about it…

Everyone loved it and it was just as I had remembered it. Not only is their meat perfectly cooked, but I really like both their regular and spicy BBQ sauces. Sorry, no photos of lunch but trust me – it was awesome.

After lunch, and the hour ride back to the campground, we got the bikes out for the kids and they rode around for a bit, then followed Megan and I around the campground while we explored. When we returned to the campsite we decided that we would do a little shopping, since Yay-yay really wanted to get a real cowboy hat in Texas. Yay-Yay, Dooder, and Cake had a great time trying on boots and hats. They settled on hats that they all liked and then decided it was time to go to the rodeo!

It was about a half-hour drive to the Fort Worth Stockyards. We quickly found parking right across from the Cowtown Coliseum where the rodeo is held every Friday and Saturday night at 8pm.

                  

The rodeo was fantastic; we watched bull riding, single and team calf roping, and barrel racing. Kids in the audience participated in the calf and mutton scrambles too. It was a long day and the kids all crashed in the car on the ride back ‘home’.