Big D

View from the tower at the Hyatt Reunion Center.

Every year in October I get to attend the Texas Council for the Social Studies Conference which rotates among areas of the state. This year Lovejoy ISD is hosting the conference at the Hyatt Reunion Center in downtown Dallas. (The rack rate on the back of the door in my room is $600, which is about $475 more than it is worth. Well…maybe $450 more. The bed is very comfy and the sheets are 300 thread count. Ha!)

It is within walking distance to the West End, the museums, the aquarium, and the original Neiman Marcus. I am also seeing a side of Dallas that I have not seen before. There are a lot of little areas close to downtown that have been redeveloped into little districts with shops and restaurants.

Tonight we ate at a restaurant called Hattie’s. It was billed by the concierge at the hotel as down home fusion. I’m not really sure what that means, except maybe that I had fried green tomatoes on top of my trout which was covered with shrimp sauce. This was served on a bed of wilted greens. I guess that the tomatoes and wilted greens were the nod to down home cooking. One of my dinner companions said that when he thought of down home he was thinking chicken fried steak. He ordered a wedge of lettuce with a buttermilk dressing. I believe he left hungry!

I enjoyed my meal and the company. The area we were in is called Bishop Arts District. There were some cute shops, but they were closed by the time we finished eating.

In addition to the social studies people conferencing here, the Air Force JAG group is having a conference. In fact, they have been here for over a week. There are a lot of them here from all over the country – the Pentagon and numerous Air Force bases. We told them that we can go to sleep knowing that we are in good hands! When we got back from dinner, they were in their formal attire. They must be having a formal dance to end their conference. There is nothing like a military man dressed in his formal uniform...reminds me of An Officer and a Gentleman (when I still liked Tom C.) Very impressive!