Our day started at 9am after a good nights sleep and after breakfast we set out to plan our day.  Google Maps has been a great help on this trip, and today was no different.  It was our last full day with the car and we figured we would make the most of it by cruising out of town one last time.

Our first stop today was Starbucks for a coffee; Triple Venti Non-Fat Latte for me and a Non-Fat Peppermint Mocha (no whip) for Wendy and a quick snack.  Starbucks isn’t our fave coffee over here, but I must admit, we have come over some “nice” Starbucks coffees on this trip.  After the coffee we cruised 2 blocks down to the local “Race Trac” gas station to pick up a T-Mobile recharge for our phone then made our way down the I-75 on our way to Fort Worth.  The reason? Adam.

Adam and I have known each other since 2006, not long after our last trip to Dallas.  He and his wife are Dallas Stars fans and over the last 3 years we’ve had some pretty detailed conversations about hockey and the Stars in particular.  There was no way we were going to come to Dallas this time and not meet up for a beer.

The drive to Fort Worth was pretty uneventful and only took about 40 minutes.  Fort Worth is a twin-city to Dallas and makes up the larger area known as the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.  We had directions to downtown Fort Worth thanks to Google Maps and found the Sundance Square parking building pretty easily.  Our destination for todays meeting was “The Flying Saucer” which is a pub known for it’s huge array of beers.  Actually, after seeing the beer menu, i guess a better name would be a beer restaurant as they had HUNDREDS of types of beers from around the world.

Adam was waiting for us when we arrived and after a shake of the hands and the regular type intro’s we settled down into the couches for what became a 5hr great chat!

About 10 weeks or so back Adam had picked up a Stars jersey we’d arranged for him and he’d gotten it signed for us, so he gave us the jersey today… we’re speechless.  Not just at the jersey, which was absolutely amazing, but that he went out of his way to go to the practices and get it signed for us.  We have no way to express our appreciation for what he did for us.  He then further shocked us, and almost bought Wendy to tears when he gave us a signed Brett Hull card from the ’91/’92 season.  While today was the day before my birthday, he also bought my birthday present with him… a signed Jere Lehtinen game used hockey stick.  I must admit, I was speechless for the 2nd time today (a record for me maybe?).  I’m blown away, even now all these hours later.  I just keep picking it up and wanting to play with it.  I know, i’m a kid, right?

So we then hit the menu.  They didn’t have any Shiner, so I opted for a Boddingtons English Pub Ale and Wendy, a Belgium fruit beer.  We also ordered lunch, Bratwurst with sour-kraut on a bun with warm potato salad.  The description might not sound that nice, but the beer and the meal was spectacular.  As a follow-up I opted for a Scottish beer; Belhaven i think it was called.  Not a bad beer at that.

We sat there talking for over 4 hours covering every topic from hockey, the Stars, politics, religion, hockey, the Stars and more hockey.  Seeing a trend there are ya?  Yep, hockey is king when we talk!  Adam also either knows or knows of Jen, Kelly etc and is coming to the party tomorrow night, which will be fantastic.

I want to thank Adam for allowing us to meet up with him today.  We had a truly fantastic time and wish we could stay longer to do it again.  Luckily, we get to meet both he and his wife tomorrow night, and can not wait!

We couldn’t come home the way our directions said as they had closed off the road, so we took a bit of a detour, which ended up actually being much shorter.  By chance we were parked at the lights that had a sign pointing to the I-30E, the road we drove from Dallas to Fort Worth on.  We didn’t really want to go back that way as traffic was going to be bad, but as we’d ended up talking until past 6pm, we figured fate was dealing us a lesson, so did a quick change and headed down the road onto the I-30 and back to Dallas.  The drive was a bit slower due to traffic but nothing really bad until we hit the I-75, which is always blocked up in the evenings.  Instead of going up the I-75 directly we stayed on the access road, and while it’s only a third of the speed of the freeway, we ended up getting to the hotel MUCH faster!

Jen came home a little after we got in and we decided to go to Maggiano’s Little Italy, a great italian restaurant.  I’d never had proper Italian before so was really keen to give it a go.  Maggiano’s is a great restaurant that back home would cost a LOT to eat there.  Over here though the prices are more than reasonable.  We all opted for cokes, stuffed mushrooms for an antree, a main each and then a desert platter.  The total prices was only $79!  I’m going to miss these well prices restaurants.  For mains, Jen and Wendy got a Chicken and Truffle dish and I got the Garlic Shrimp Linguine.  Totally delish!

After coming home from dinner we crashed Jen’s room and watched a little TV, drank some red wine and caught up on our internet stuff.

Tomorrow we have to take the car back to Enterprise and have a great watching party tomorrow night.  Another busy, but fantastic day!