Category: Movies

My Final Morning In The DFW

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 22, 2026
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Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about the start of my last full day in North Texas from November 26TH to December 06TH. (It was another movie and another lunch out for me and my brother.) We saw the movie in the longtime movie theatre building that we saw many movies from the Summer of 2007 to the Summer of 2013 – Cinemark Legacy in north Plano along U.S. 75. It’s been there since the late-1990s. My brother used to live in neighboring Allen, and that’s where we enjoyed our West Philly-style cheesesteak lunch after.

Fun Facts: Over 400,000 residents live in Plano and Allen combined. They are located about 25 miles NNE of Downtown Dallas – a straight shot down U.S. 75 (also known as the North Central Expressway). The frequently congested freeway was built in the 1950s and 1960s from south to north. It greatly contributed to suburban sprawl northeastward from Dallas into Collin County. About 1.3 million residents call Collin County home. In 1960 the population was a little over 41,000.

On that Friday December 05TH I spent much of the rest of the day packing and preparing for my return trip back home to Florida the next day.

My last morning was the start of yet another cold, cloudy, and foggy day in the #DFW. Hopefully incoming and outgoing flights wouldn’t be affected by the low ceiling. No need for me to worry about things I can’t control.

My brother went out early in the fog to his favorite local family-owned donut shop. (There are lots of them all around the area – most of them in strip shopping centers. They all seem to have a nondescript sign in front of their space that simply says “DONUT” or “DONUTS”.)

My brother got me a cronut and an apple fritter. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a cronut before, and my brother wanted me to try one. Mine was like an extra-thick honey-glazed donut, or two such donuts fried together as one. (It’s essentially a croissant-donut hybrid that’s made with croissant dough and then deep-fried like a donut.) I would eat another one if my brother got me another one on my next visit to Texas. The apple fritter is just a personal favorite pastry of mine.

After short hugs and goodbyes to my best canine friend, my two nieces, and my sister-in-law – me and my brother headed to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (#DFW). The fog continued the entire way, but it wasn’t too thick.

I checked-in at Terminal B. My checked suitcase was a few pounds heavier than it was 10 days earlier when I flew into Texas. (I think it was up to 36½ pounds.) TSA PreCheck was a bit weird. It had its own dedicated line, but it ended up at the exact same CT X-ray bag scanner line for everyone else. The TSA agent simply took turns with both lines asking the next person to step forward. So – it was weird, but I only had to wait an extra minute or two to place my carry-on bags in the bins to be scanned. I did receive a card that identified me as TSA PreCheck. I gave that card to the next agent, and I went through a dedicated body scanner.

I had to wait awhile on the other (secure) side, as the bag scanner was “hiccupping” as my bag was being scanned – as well as the bag ahead of mine (belonging to someone else). So – they had to pick-up those bags / bins and rescan them. All was good after that.

I headed to my gate after that, and then when the gate changed to a few gates away – I moved there too. (It actually changed from B18 to B17 to B14 to B11 in less than 2½ hours that morning.)

And then it changed to a completely different terminal (D) just 38 minutes before boarding would begin. That annoyed those of us who were sitting comfortably at Gate B11 – including a pilot. Now we had to walk fast to pick-up the Skylink to reach the new terminal and gate. I’ll let you know how that went – next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Cronut, Dallas, DFW, Texas, Thanksgiving, Wylie

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Coffee & Food

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about me and my brother’s fun visit to the historic (built in 1905) “Thomas And Mattie Brown House Welcome Center” (known more commonly as “Welcome Center At Brown House”). I’ll continue to follow them on their Facebook page, and it’ll be a regular visit (I hope) every time I visit my family in Wylie Texas. After all – it’s the official Welcome Center for the city of Wylie. It also sounds like they rotate and swap out displays on a regular basis, so it’ll be fun to see what’s different with each new visit.

It’s on Ballard Avenue in the historic downtown district. Another regular visit along Ballard is Ballard Street Cafe – a popular one-location family-owned restaurant that serves breakfast and lunch from 6 AM to 2 PM every day (7 AM to 2 PM on Sundays). It’s really good food. Somehow – someway – we didn’t make it there for breakfast like we usually do. That’s high on the docket for my next visit to Wylie.

We did make it to Shoemaker & Hardt – or – as my brother and I have referred to it for the past 6 years now – “Hardcastle & McCormick”. It’s also on Ballard, and it’s a hybrid gourmet coffee shop and gift shop that’s been open for almost 30 years. I always walk around looking at the various items for sale as I await the creation of my delicious hot (or iced) beverage. It smells really good in there with a hybrid of coffee and candles.

Thursday December 04TH 2025 – the same day that this current #TravelThursday series from Texas began – was a mostly stay-at-home day. It was also another cold, dark, dreary, and drizzly day in the low-40s. Me and my brother went out during the lunch hour, and we made two stops.

The first stop was to Dutch Bros. It’s a drive-thru coffee chain that was born in Oregon in 1992. It’s approaching 1,100 locations nationwide with a goal of 4,000 locations soon. (Sebring is one of the potential new locations as suggested by a recent Facebook post. It would be located almost directly across the street from our existing Starbucks and Panera.)

After that we went back to Cotton Patch Cafe (which I wrote about a couple of weeks ago). This time me and my brother each selected a dessert from their menu, and my brother ordered them in advance via their web site. I selected the Bread Pudding (classic southern style, cinnamon custard, caramel drizzle). My brother ordered the Mama’s Special Butter Cake (butter cake with a cheesecake layer, whipped cream, caramel sauce). My brother picked them up at the special pick-up entrance. We took our desserts home, and we enjoyed them with our fancy coffees.

Later that same night my sister-in-law cooked dinner for us – baked steak (one of her specialties) and mashed potatoes with gravy. And of course the gravy is also for the baked steak.

T.G.I.F. It’s my last full day in North Texas. After another movie (our 4TH in a week) – me and my brother ate more delicious food. For lunch we went to Big Tony’s West Philly Cheesesteaks in Allen Texas. The guy running the restaurant at the time got my order mixed up with the guy who ordered right after me. I think we ordered the same daily special (double-meat cheesesteak with fries), but I ordered mine with no onions, and the other guy ordered his with onions. He got no onions. I got all the onions. But it actually wasn’t that bad, and I ate most of the onions. (It would’ve been tastier minus the onions.)

On the next #TravelThursday – I eat a cronut, an apple fritter, two pop-tarts, two cookies, a small bag of pretzels, and two more pop-tarts as I make my way back home to Sebring Florida. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Dallas, Texas, Thanksgiving, Victorian, Wylie

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A December To Remember

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. And Happy New Year 2026 ! I hope that this year is greater for you than last year. May you enjoy great travels in this new year.

I’m still looking back at my late-November / early-December trip to visit family in the Dallas Texas area. I’m up to the new month of December – Monday December 01ST 2025. This may be the first time ever that I’m in Texas in December. It was back-to-school time for my two nieces following the Thanksgiving Week break.

On that cold, dark, and dreary December day – stuck in the 30s with low clouds and mist all day long – me and my brother headed over to Starwood Cafe for brunch. He had breakfast, and I had lunch. I had their Monte Cristo with fries. I think I discovered the Monte Cristo at the old Bennigan’s during the 2000s. Nowadays whenever I can make it to a Cheddar’s (which is not very often) – I get it there. The Monte Cristo at Starwood is good. I’ve had it before. I enjoyed it via fork and knife. (It can get quite messy.)

After Starwood we went to a local coffeehouse called Armor Coffee. They have just 2 locations – the original one in Allen (where my family once lived and where my two nieces were born), and the newer one in Wylie (where my family currently lives – since 2019). Armor Coffee is owned by U.S. Army Veteran and West Point Graduate Mike Todryk and his wife – HGTV star Jenn Todryk (“No Demo Reno”).

After another Target run – we stayed in for the rest of the day.

There’s a diner in Wylie that I’ve always wanted to eat at ever since my family moved there. It’s known throughout Texas (with 45 locations) as Cotton Patch Cafe. I kind of relate it to Bob Evans serving Ohio comfort food. It serves Texas comfort food. My brother finally agreed to eat there, and we enjoyed a big lunch for $9.99 (not including drink and gratuity). I think we’ll return the next time I’m in town. My brother was impressed with the size portions for such a low price.

Later on that 2ND day of December – with the sun shining brightly and the temperature finally breaking-out of the 30s for the first time in almost 42 hours – we went back to the theatres to see our 3RD movie in 5 days. We saw “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” – the continuing story of the first two movies from 2013 and 2016 respectively.

After the movie and a Starbucks run we ventured over to my oldest niece’s high school. She’s a cheerleader in the 10TH grade, and their high school varsity basketball team was taking on a rival team from 38 miles away in the Denton Texas area. It was my first high school basketball game of my life, and it may have actually been my first basketball game overall of my life. (I don’t recall ever seeing the Washington Bullets growing up in the D.C. area, or the Miami Heat living down in South Florida.) Spoiler: The home team won in a come-from-behind victory !

On the next #TravelThursday I step inside a historic house that serves as the official museum and welcome center for Wylie Texas. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Dallas, Texas, Thanksgiving, Wylie

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Church, Beef, & Eternity

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 18, 2025

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week’s post covered my holiday weekend time-period from Thanksgiving Eve – through Thanksgiving Day, and Black Friday, and Small Business Saturday.

We’re up to Museum Store Sunday now; although, this post has nothing to do with any museum stores. (Well since I mentioned it – back home – my Sebring Historical Society observed Museum Store Sunday by having our museum open for 6 hours to try to ~~get rid of~~ [sell] as much of our gift shop merchandise as possible to make room for new inventory.)

OK – let’s get back on track here. And let’s go to church – as a family. That’s what we did for the first time ever at their new non-denominational church in nearby Sachse Texas. (I wrote more about that experience on #SundayScripture a couple of weeks ago.)

After church me and my brother went to a busy Best Buy, and then we went to see our 2ND movie in 3 days. It seems as if every trip – either me visiting in Texas or my brother visiting in Florida – we end up seeing a movie that neither one of us was talking about in the hours or days leading up to it. Our “under the radar” movie for this trip was “Eternity”. I knew about it, but I never mentioned it because I didn’t think that he’d want to see it. And my brother knew about it, and he didn’t think that I’d want to see it. We decided about 90 minutes before the next showing at a nearby movie theatre to see it. We both enjoyed the premise of the movie. It’s one of my favorite movies of the year (out of 20+ so far), and my brother wants to see it again with his wife once it’s streamable. It was a fun movie with (surprisingly) lots of sight gags.

Fun Fact: “Eternity” and “Rental Family” (seen 2 days earlier) were the # 6 and # 7 movies of the 5-day Thanksgiving Weekend. Both played in far fewer theatres than the Top 5 movies above it.

Where’s The Beef ?: I almost forgot about it. Before the movie we ate lunch at a popular place called Portillo’s. It’s a Chicago-based fast-casual restaurant with almost 100 locations nationwide (and rapidly expanding). They specialize in Chicago beef. And I had some for lunch. I had the Beef & Cheddar Croissant. It’s a variation of the classic Italian beef sandwich that uses a croissant instead of French bread. It features thin-sliced, slow-roasted, rich, and seasoned Italian beef and melted cheddar cheese. It was pretty good. Very juicy !

And finally – I ended my favorite month of the year – November – with a great Sunday Night Football game on NBC – the Denver Broncos (a team I like) at my original hometown Washington Commanders. It was surprisingly an exciting and close back-and-forth game that extended well into overtime. My Commanders had a chance to win it by a point if they had converted on a 2-point conversion following a touchdown, but the conversion was blocked, the game ended – Broncos 27 Commanders 26 – and November ended.

Next #TravelThursday is in 2 weeks on New Year’s Day, and I’ll cover the experiences and events of the first few days of the new month of December in the Dallas Texas area. Let’s keep traveling together.