It’s Never Too Late for Flood Porn

I had thought I had posted these pictures last week when Dallas was at DefCon 4 (or is it 2, I can never remember which is worse) for the Trinity River flooding us all into oblivion.  After nearly two weeks of rain, we finally got a sunny day and so off on my bike I was.

White Rock

What better way to spend the greatest Saturday in July than biking around Dallas’ crown jewel, White Rock Lake and it’s cousin the White Rock Creek Trail.

I normally don’t like lugging my camera around while biking, especially during the hot hot heat of July.  But it was just too nice a day.  Well, except for the two flat tires.

It normally takes about two hours to make this trip.  But with all the stoppings and picture takings, it took three.  And I can say with temperatures barely reaching 80, it was the chilliest July ride in my 10 years of White Rock bike riding.

Urban Hiking: White Rock Lake

 

White Rock Lake VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

In preparation of my impending Walkabout I decided it would be a good idea to hike the nine miles around White Rock Lake and take a bunch of pictures.  Poor Zoe isn’t used to so much walking.  She’s barely moved all of Monday.

Area Dog Thinks She’s Christ-like

Great News for Dallas Cyclists

The bike path under the newly raised Northwest Highway is finally complete and we no longer have to make this annoying detour.

And I don’t know if you' noticed but this makes my 10th post of the week.  So yay me.

Snowmaggedon 2010

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Eating White Rock: Barbec's

Probably one of the most popular breakfast places in the White Rock Lake area, Barbec’s does not disappoint. Walking in to the main dining area, you are instantly greeted with the sites sounds and aromas of a classic diner.

And then it only gets better.

After being seated on the front patio, we were quickly welcomed by the quintessential grizzled diner waitress whose voice and skin have been ravaged by thousands of cartons of Marlboro Reds. Not wanting to break the illusion, we did not ask her name and merely referred to her as Flo.

As usual, I ordered Freedom Toast, which comes with eggs (I got them scrambled), bacon AND sausage. This is a nice touch. As many of you may have noticed, I have a thing for bacon. When it is available, I must have it. But I also love breakfast sausage. So it is literally a Sophie’s Choice of the highest and most painful order that I must choose at most diners. I mean, I don’t want to look like a Fatty McPhatfat by ordering a side of sausage. Luckily, Barbec’s frees me from this embarrassment and lets me have both by default.

And both were near perfect. The bacon was exquisitely thick and crispy and chock full of smoky bacony goodness. The sausage was in patty form and a sagey delight. Or is it sagy? I dunno. It was mmm mmm good. How’s that?

The eggs were good. There’s really not much you can do with eggs. They were fluffy and pretty much what they’re supposed to be. But the French Toast was a little disappointing. It was just ok. Not much was done to add flavor to it – no vanilla, no cinnamon. And really? Country Crock “butter”. Could I please get some real butter for my toast and not a yellow petroleum by-product?

Their signature item are their Beer Biscuits. This is gonna be tough for me because I love beer and I love biscuits. But, I’m sad to report, these were just OK – a bit too sweet for me. I would put my biscuits up against these any day.

The food is good diner breakfast food. It makes no strides to do otherwise. But I have a love of diners. It’s in my family’s blood. So I give Barbec’s a:

B

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More Pictures of White Rock

I wanted to test how this stuff worked before I went out on my Walkabout. I'll probably do these kinds of gallerys for the larger groups of pix. Oh, and yeah, more egrets.

Sunset at the Lake

Egrets, Nothing but Egrets

I have a sickness. I can't help but stop and take a picture of a lone egret when I'm biking around White Rock.

New Camera

Somehow last week I lost my camera. It was either stolen out of my car -- the last place I remember it being, or it was misplaced while cleaning my house for Dara's party. Either way, I needed a camera for Matt's wedding and for other blog pix. So I bought the latest version of the camera I lost: the Samsung NV11.


I'm sure now that I have the new camera, the old one will miracously show up. So if anyone out there would like a Samsung NV10 with a 1gig memory card, let me know.

One of the cool features of the NV11 is automatic redeye correction. Usually any picture of alex must be brought into PhotoImpact for redeye correction. But this picture came straight from the camera.

One Day Later

One day after the torrential rains, and the White Rock trail/lake looks much, much better. Major kudos (or "props" as the kids say these days) go to the Dallas Park Department (yay BAMF). The tree that just yesterday blocked my progress had been chopped up like so much wood that needed chopping.




Lawther, just north of NW Highway, is now dry.


And the bridge that was covered in water that came up to my knees the day before, now is just a few inches deep (mark).

White Rock after the Rains

I took my usual ride up the White Rock Creek Trail and around the lake today. Here are some pictures chronicling how this latest deluge has affected the creek and the lake.


Lawther just north of NW Highway


The water came up to my knees as i crossed this bridge.


The other side of the bridge.


A giant tree has fallen onto the trail.




The other side of the tree.


A swollen White Rock Creek.


The tennis courts at Fair Oaks.


Underneath LBJ. That's Anderson Bonner in the background.


Another creek picture.


The Forest bridge.


Debris along the lake shore.


Random geese.












Your tax dollars at work. 11" of rain this month, but we still need to water, I guess.


A map of the trail.

Picture of the Day

This is at the spillway at White Rock Lake. It's been raining so much the spillway looks like Niagra Falls.