So I got on the The Old Gentleman (my Raleigh DL-1 Tourist) and started touring through Fort Worth. I followed a route north along Trail Lake, cutting through my favorite "wormhole" in Fort Worth, Foster Park, which has a path that takes you from Trail Lake & South Drive to Overton Park East without having to climb the big ol' hill between if you stick to the roads. And it's scenic.
Then a nice mellow ride through Tanglewood on the way to the Colonial Country Club area
...and out to the Trinity Trail. The section under University Drive was rebuilt and opened this spring. In this shot, the University bridge in the background. This picture really brings it to light, but May is the most verdant month in North Texas. I think the fact that it was mostly cloudy only enhanced the green tones of the pics I took on this ride.
After crossing under University the trail swings north toward Trinity Park. Just before entering the park, there is a spot to get off on Old University which takes you right to Ol' South Pancake House.
Give points for being so easy to get to by bike, but subtract points for bike parking; the best I could do was lock my bike to a handicap sign.
If you've never been to Ol' South, the deal is this: They do all the standard breakfast fare well. Waffles? You bet. French toast? Yum. But they have something I haven't seen anywhere else. It's called a German Pancake, which seems to be made from half egg and half pancake batter, producing something like either a very thin, fluffy omelet or an eggy pancake. They finish it off at your table by squeezing the juice of a lemon on it, sprinkling powder sugar on it and mixing it in to make a kind of sauce, then folding the pancake over on itself so the lemon-sugar mixture is contained inside like a filling. One pancake is too much for a lot of people, but they sell a smaller portion called a Dutch Baby. Another favorite of mine is the Greek Omelet.
This time, though, I went for the Dutch Baby with a side of sausage. After mixing in the powder sugar and lemon and folding it all up it looks like this-
It was, as always, delicious. Then I hopped on the trail,
And headed into Trinity Park
I got on the western part of the Loop Trail and enjoyed one of my favorite parks. (Click below to see my first EVAR bike film.)
At the north end of Trinity Park I got on West 7th Street and headed downtown. That route goes right by Burnett Park which is called downtown Fort Worth's backyard.
The park features a sculpture called Man With Briefcase
See that little thing on the lower left of the sculpture? That's my bike! I put that in there to give a sense of the scale of this sculpture.
It wasn't particularly warm but it was humid. Time for one more stop, this time at one of the downtown Starbucks. A bottle of water was all I needed though.
Then it was time to high-tail it home, since the rain was coming. After I got home, this swept over the area (I live near FWS+).
I got home with about 20 minutes to spare.
