What Did You Do Saturday?
by Pete WannI had possibly the greatest, most “Fort Worth-y” day I’ve had in a LONG time yesterday. It had all of the elements necessary to make it legendary: people you love, places you love, a road trip, charity events, and beer.
I took pictures nearly everywhere we went. Here are some of the best, and also the best stories from the day. (But first, a cute picture of my dog! Don’t worry, it relates to the story.)
We started the day in Trinity Park for the Texas Tree Climbing Championship. Before you get silly ideas about kids scrambling up trees or whatever, let me just say that I doubt you’ve ever seen tree climbing like this. The championship is put on by the Texas Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture, and these folks are serious. I haven’t seen so many ropes since my last sailing trip. Essentially, from what I understand, the competition is an opportunity for professional arborists to show off their skills in a series of activities that simulate situations they’d encounter while on the job. The goal is to be fast, accurate, and above all, safe.
As we walked up to the main area, there was a climber already in the tree, completing the requirements to become certified as a tree worker. As it turns out, the climber was Ramona Embry, the first woman ever to compete in the Texas Tree Climbing Championship.
Ramona has been working in trees for less than a year. Originally from Kentucky, the former Marine (OOh-Rah!) is now working for the City of College Station in the Forestry Division. She completed her qualification climb with the assistance of her teammate, Richard Ryan. Apparently she had some problems during the actual competition on Friday. One of her knots came undone, and she was disqualified. I’m sure that was disappointing, but hopefully the successful completion of her certification climb the next day means she still had a good time in Fort Worth.
I’ve posted a lot more pictures of Ramona and other sights from the day at Trinity Park on my Flickr page. (What was the actual event like? It was fun! It’s always nice to see people celebrating their livelihood and love of their work.)
Leaving Trinity Park, we hooked up with Steve-O and his clan and went antiquing. Seriously. After driving all the way to Weatherford for a sale that has to win the award for most completely UNLIKE what was advertised in the paper, we stopped at Roger Williams Airstream to gawk at the pretty aluminum tubes. There we found this awesome one-of-a-kind Airstream doghouse. (Sorry for the poor quality, took it with my phone.)
Unfortunately it was neither for sale, nor big enough for Barley, so it stayed at the dealership.
Remembering that we had a 5:30 appointment at Tandy Hills Nature Area for a Prairie Fest preview with Don Young, we thanked the nice volunteers at the Airstream store and high-tailed it back to our respective houses to change into hiking gear.
Don valiantly led our rag-tag bunch around the nature area, doing his best to wear us out. Along the way he pointed out native plants and told stories of how the park looked when he was young, back in the 70’s.
Don promises me that the flowers are going to be even more spectacular in a couple of weeks, just in time for Prairie Fest. I thought there were plenty of beautiful things blooming, and of course I took pictures of them!
MANY more pictures in this photoset on my flickr page.
Ever the gluttons for punishment and apparently unable to call it quits, Jenna and I bid our adieus to Don and the crew and rushed back to the house to change (again) and drop off the dog, then head over to the Rahr Brewery for the MS150 fundraiser that I posted about earlier in the week.
Next week, these four guys will be riding from Houston to Austin to raise funds and awareness for Multiple Sclerosis.
Turnout for the fundraiser was awesome! Thanks so much to all of you who came out!
After the brewery we were feeling peckish, so we headed over to Perrotti’s for a pizza and a couple more beers. We spent the rest of the evening talking baseball with my friend Perry over a cold schooner of beer and some slices of the best pizza in Fort Worth. A perfect end to the best day I’ve had in a long time.
Tags: Don Young, perrotti's, pioneering women, Rahr Brewery, Tandy Hills, texas tree climbing championship, trinity park
6 Comments, Comments or Pings
Jim Wilson
Went to the Dallas Auto Show this weekend.
Nice to see show’s website had a link to the DART page…
… ride the train to the auto show.
Good show as always but obvious the auto makers are out of the touch. Over-all, the miles-per-gallon ratings for the show were even lower than last year!! Maybe that’s why there’s a 18 month waiting period for the “Smart Car.” It was one of only 3 (Honda & Toyota Hybrids) with any real gas mileage ratings.
Really scary, I asked the Kia folks for their best mileage vehicle. They responded, “25 city & 31 highway”… What?! And then there’s the Toyotas… what kind of impact have us American car buyers had on this company? Almost all of their floor space was covered with giant Toyota Tundra trucks
Well, the DART & TRE connections were good. Maybe everyone can buy a giant Tundra, leave it in the driveway and ride the train
Apr 7th, 2008
Kyle Carr
Participated in the Benbrook Trash Bash. The LMRA Bicycle Club has adopted a 1-mile stretch of Winscot Rd in Benbrook and we had over 20 club members come out and collect a pickup load of trash along the road/bicycle route.
Some brought their children along to help them understand the importance of community involvement. Others got together after the clean up for a ride around Benbrook Lake.
Weather was perfect this weekend for anything outdoors.
Apr 7th, 2008
Pete Wann
@Kyle - Thanks for doing your part to help!
You’re right, it was a great weekend weather-wise. I hope we get a few more before the summer comes!
Apr 7th, 2008
Ann
Sat. was not that interesting but Sunday my younger son (6 years old) and I went to yogi’s for breakfast followed by a visit to The Modern finshing out the day at the Japanese Garden in the Botanic Gardens for the annual festival. Awesome day! Just let me tell you how fun it is to see the Modern exibits with comments and questions from a 6 year old!
Apr 7th, 2008
Suzette
Went to Crawfish in the Park that you guys told us about. I took my 9 year old godchild, she and I both had a great time. Evidently the Tarrant County Trial Lawyers Association sponsors this event the first week in April so I hope W&C reminds us of it next April. Face painting, balloon stretching, fly fishing practice, jump houses, hot dogs, kool aid (not from Washington) for the kiddos. Made a donation and everything was free. It was awesome!! Live music. Great event. Not enough crawfish boils in Ft. Worth — so much fun.
Apr 7th, 2008
Jonathan
I went sailing on Lake Grapevine Sunday in the first race of the Grapevine Sailing Club spring series. It was an absolutely perfect day for it.
Apr 8th, 2008
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