1611 Indoor Golf Club

We had the honor of attending the soft opening of 1611’s new location on SW 820 and Bryant Irvin Rd. They have an existing location, about 20 minutes NW at 1305 Ranchers Legacy Trl, Fort Worth, TX 76126. We had a great time; these folks are awesome so be sure to check out one of their locations soon!

 

Hubs and I used to live in Kansas (He made his way back to TX so don’t judge :-)) and one of our favorite date nights was a golf simulation venue. When I saw signs going up at the new 1611 location, I was very excited to try it out!

Saturday January 28th we were able to attend a soft opening event. Their Grand Opening was scheduled for Monday January 30th but it likely was cancelled due to weather. Don’t take my word for their operating schedule though - go check their website , FB 1611 Indoor Golf Club | Facebook or call 817-349-0726 for all the details.

We didn’t get a great picture of the outside because it was dark, but it is easy to find and there is plenty of parking. As soon as you enter, the host is at your right and will sign you in - you have to complete a waiver before participating. From there you have options! They also offer memberships that have different perks per package.

1. You can rent a bay for a few hours and play on any number of golf courses virtually, which means you have a club and ball but no walking the course.

2. You can grab a pizza and sit at the bar. The pizzas looked delicious, they have a full bar, and there are plenty of TVs to watch your favorite sport. They stock beer from our local breweries for your enjoyment.

3. You can relax and use the putting green.

4. Sign up for lessons or league play.

5. Or you can rent the whole facility for a party!

Our experience there was absolutely wonderful. The staff was fast and friendly. We had no idea that they were doing a soft opening until we were introduced to the owner’s family. They were warm, welcoming and were very excited about the new location.

Bottom line, if you like golf or if you are interested in golf but want to try it out in a fast, fun, modern way go visit 1611 Indoor Golf Club! We think you are going to have a wonderful time.

Benbrook Tree Lighting Ceremony 2022

The City of Benbrook has a tradition of tree lighting celebrations. 2022 is their 31st year for the festivities. People begin gathering around 5 PM to get the best spots to view the fireworks display. Benbrook Lions Club and BSA Troop 95 offer hot chocolate and candy canes for the crowd to warm hands while waiting. Elves mingle, keeping spirits bright.

 

The primary parking area is the grassy field between 377 and the YMCA. The best spot to see both the tree lighting and the fireworks is from the bleachers in the North baseball field. Plenty of people show up, so make sure and bring a blanket or chairs and make yourself comfortable. Kids can play at the park playground while waiting on Santa.

If you choose not to join the traffic, you can see the fireworks from anywhere near the park.

Santa arrives at about 7 PM to countdown the tree lighting. The fireworks show follows immediately. We were able to capture a video of a part of the fireworks through Facebook Live. We also posted a full event video on YouTube with modified audio to avoid copyright issues. We will put them all here for your viewing pleasure!

If you would like a copy of the original video email us hello@firsthandadventures.com.

Yoga with Breanne

The rain cleared at just the right time on the morning of November 11th for me to make it to Stone’s Throw Farm Company and try out Yoga with Breanne.

 

Breanne is an excellent instructor. She is skilled, funny, and attuned to the student’s needs. Somehow, I managed to get a workout without breaking a sweat AND was stretched out at the same time. She had moves to stretch muscles that I didn’t even know I had.

The session was challenging, fun and relaxing. I am not a Yoga guru, but I considered it time and $10 well spent. I will be back again soon.

Breanne schedules sessions at Stone’s Throw Farm Company on Fridays at noon. Weather, holidays or other things may interrupt the schedule so be sure to check the Stone’s Throw FB page events or call the store @ 469-502-8963 before going out.

Chisolm Trail Community Center Skatepark and Playground

The Chisolm Trail Community Center has fantastic free outdoor facilities for the whole family to enjoy.

 

The website absolutely does not do it justice, and neither do my pictures. There are miles of paved trails to walk, a newly expanded skate park, a well-equipped playground and much more. We haven’t stepped foot inside the actual community center itself, but it looks lovely and well-kept from the outside. See the website for more information.

Bub and his friends enjoy spending hours at the skatepark. The crowd that gathers seems to be consistently considerate and helpful. The I’ve seen razors, bikes, roller skates, and skateboards all used in the park. The skatepark has a small shelter with some seating and tables beneath. There are also a few porta potties available if needed. Siblings can hop over to the playground if they aren’t interested in skating.

If you plan to stay at the park for some time, remember to bring water and consider bringing some chairs.

Cidercade Fort Worth

Cidercade bills itself as the best arcade in Fort Worth. We have been to a few arcades in the metroplex and we agree, this is our favorite.

 

The parking lot for the arcade is located directly across the street. There were about 40 spots, but they were all full when we arrived. Street parking is also available if you can parallel park.

The bright decorations are welcoming and carry on throughout the arcade. Once inside the foyer, you are greeted by a friendly cashier who takes your entrance fee of $10 per person plus tax.

You walk through the second set of double doors and are greeted by a large bar to your left and a separate group seating area to the right. Shuffleboard and many arcade games are available straight away and there are large hallways leading farther forward to the left and right.

We went through the left hallway and found a small room with skeeball and several sit down arcade games. Continuing through the hallway opens up into the very large main room that has arcade games, pinball, pool tables, air hockey, and a fooseball table. At the far side of the room there are several seating areas, another bar, and you can see the artesian brick ovens for the pizzas.

Cidercade’s menu has pizzas, salads, and desserts. They offer all you can drink fountain drinks for $4 each. They brew their own hard ciders and have a wide variety available. You order all your food and beverages at the bar. When you order pizza, it takes about 15 minutes to make and they serve it hot from the window marked with your name.

If the weather is nice you can eat in the outdoor courtyard. There are several tables that have little swings or hammock chairs for you to chill out in. The courtyard can also be used as a passthrough to the final small room filled with more arcade games and is connected back to the front room.

The arcade is family friendly before 8 PM. After that time they limit the building to 21+.

We all had a great time for several hours for a reasonable price. The outing cost us about $60. We will absolutely be back again.

Topgolf

I went to Topgolf a few weeks ago as a late afternoon corporate event. Just so you know - I did not personally book or pay for the event.

I pulled into the large parking lot, easily found a parking space and noticed that they had several charging stations for electric vehicles. The building is a large three-story building with an impressive entrance and a staircase leading up to the doors. There was an outside ramp and an elevator for access, but I wouldn’t recommend the venue to someone who has difficulty walking for a distance.

 

I was excited to join my friends as I was the last one to the party. I went to the desk and told them the company I was there for, the person who booked the event, the time it was slated to start and my name. They looked at the list, looked back at me confused and said they didn’t see anything related to any of that information. They didn’t offer any help to find out where I needed to go. Luckily, I had contact information for my friends and one of them came to escort me back to our bay which was ironically just a few steps away from the entrance desk.

The remaining time was fun for the whole group, no matter our individual skill level. They allowed 6 golfers to be in each bay and our party was in two facing bays allowing interaction for the whole group. There are individual heaters and air conditioners to help climate control. Even with the sudden cool weather, everyone was warm and dry.

Each bay is open to the field to let the golfers hit the balls as far as they can to the various targets. If you make it to a target your ball is automatically scored depending on how close it is to the flag. There are some targets that are fairly close for easier scoring. We had and overall leaderboard for the group and a leaderboard for the bay. With that many people, we were able to complete one full game and one half game in the 2 hour time allotment but we all felt like we had plenty of play time.

Topgolf has safety precautions in place for participants. They only allow one person to be in front of a line to hit the ball at a time. When you are in this area you are closest to the open edge of the balcony. There is a net off the edge in case someone accidentally stepped off. I don’t know if anyone in our group is afraid of heights but the vantage from our bay on the 2nd floor wasn’t an issue.

The pleasant waitress continued to bring us food and drinks. The macaroni and cheese appetizer was the group favorite. Overall, I would recommend this for a group event as we were treated well and we had a good time.

I looked at the website for pricing and it looks like you can rent a bay for $30-40 per hour. For a date night you could reasonably expect to spend $150 for a few hours to include food and drink. For a family outing I think it would be at least $200. A group of friends could split the cost for a more budget friendly outing.

Heaven’s Gate Restaurant

The Hubs has been looking for a good breakfast buffet for the last several years. I did a recent search and found Heaven’s Gate Restaurant which is located near Mecham airport, just north of the stockyards area. We ventured out on Sunday to try it. It is a little over 30 minutes from us and we weren’t moving very quickly. We managed to arrive at a very awkward time – approximately 30 minutes before changing from the breakfast to the lunch buffet.

 

The parking lot is a good size (40 spots or so) but it was fairly full. We were able to get one of about 4 open spaces. The restaurant was busy, but we went in and were quickly instructed to seat ourselves at one of the large tables. We didn’t immediately see our waitress, so we set our things down and went straight to the buffet. The restaurant was pleasantly decked out in Christmas décor.

They had many food options, although they were running a little low due the difficulties of changing foods out. The options included breakfast staples such as bacon, sausage, various types of scrambled eggs, French toast, pancakes, hashbrowns and biscuits & gravy. There were a few niche items as well: Menudo, fried chicken, pork chops, pinto beans, and tortillas.

We collected our food and were greeted by our attentive waitress when we returned to our table. We had our fill, paid our waitress and left. We were in, fed, and out in a reasonable amount of time which is important to us. The Hubs always wakes up hungry for breakfast.

Expect to pay about $16 a plate for the breakfast buffet or you can order by the plate for about $12. A la carte items are also available. The menus are available on the website.

The distance is a drawback for us, we may not go back just because of that. If you are in the area - I recommend that you try it out. Breakfast is served all day.

Another perk of this restaurant is they are open on the holidays. If you need a place to eat on Thanksgiving or Christmas, go see these friendly folks. Be sure to call ahead for the hours.

Their normal hours are Monday through Friday 5:30am - 3pm, Saturday 6am - 3pm, and Sunday 6:30am - 3pm.

Mainstay Farm Park and Winery

Mainstay Farm’s tagline is “The biggest backyard in Texas” it is not wrong. The farm is a live Christmas tree farm in Cleburne that has expanded into a destination worthy of several seasons. They have all kinds of activities for the littles and things that even older kids will enjoy. When you decide to go, don’t forget comfortable walking shoes, the activities are so big it can take all day to explore. The farm has a large hill in that can be difficult to climb, especially with a stroller or wagon. At the top of the hill you will find an amazing treehouse and all the farm’s mazes so it is well worth the effort.

 

Tickets are only available online. Fall activities tickets are $33.71 each including fees. Children 3 and under are free. Parking is free. There are a few activities that are available at an additional cost. Food, beverages, pumpkins, and farm related treats and trinkets are also available at an additional cost. Season passes are available that include access to Fall and Christmas season fun.

The close proximity and the numerous activities have kept my family going back several years in a row.

Treehouse

Jump Pilow

Shadow Creek Pumpkin Farm

Midlothian is about 45 minutes away from Fort Worth, but if you are looking for a day of fall fun complete with plenty of photo opportunities Shadow Creek Farm is your go to destination. They have concerts, hayrides, corn mazes, and the list goes on. Tickets can be purchased in advance or on site for $15.87. Children 3 and under are free and they offer Senior and Military / First Responder discounts. Parking is free.

 

We went to this beautiful farm several years ago after they were first opened. We had a wonderful time and it looks like they have only improved since then.

Note: This weekend is they are only open on Sunday due to the recent rain.

Stock Pond

Pumpkin Patch at Clearfork

Well, here I go… Going back on something I promised and posting about a destination that I have not been to. Here is the thing, I was in the area and I wanted to go. I know that doesn’t count, but here are my thoughts even though I didn’t make it inside.

The place is very cute but small. The whole patch is smaller than a square block. I could see it all while driving around it trying to find parking. There isn’t a lot of parking close. There were parking spaces all around but they were all occupied. There are a few parking garages at Clearfork, but I didn’t bother after I saw signs that said “tickets must be purchased online, in advance”.

The sun was setting. I wouldn’t have had time to get my ticket, park my car, and walk back - and I only wanted to enter so I could say I had been there…

 

Here is the kicker - tickets for this dainty spot are $17 each for all ages except 3 and under are free. I was a little surprised at the ticket cost, given you can get in and out in probably about 15 minutes. That being said, there are several areas for photo opportunities so it is a great spot for fall pictures. You can get your advance tickets at lonestaragventures.com.

There are lots of restaurants and shopping in Clearfork. If you are planning a day in the area it would be a good opportunity to check it out for yourself!

Windmill Sculpture at Clearfork

Kincaid’s Hamburgers

A few weeks ago we went to the Kincaid’s on Overton Ridge Blvd and Bub was hooked. He considers himself a bit of a hamburger expert and this is his new favorite. He asked if we could go this evening and I said sure! When I suggested that we go to the ORIGINAL location he jumped at the opportunity.

 

Different locale, same great food and good service.

It takes a second to orient yourself once you get inside. Most of the tables are set up “community” style to accommodate large groups and meeting new friends. You stroll right up to the counter and put in your custom order from a variety of chicken, hamburgers, hotdogs and grilled cheese. Each item comes separate, so don’t forget to order your fries or other sides. You can get your drink and relax; the staff will call your name when your order is ready.

If the weather is nice there is outdoor seating or you can opt for some shaded benches across the street. The dedicated benches are a sweet location to stop and watch a few moments pass by. Drop in to Kincaid’s Hamburgers at 4901 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth, Texas 76107 while it is still “in costume” for Haloween.

Autumn at the Dallas Arboretum

It was a beautiful but cloudy and humid day at the Dallas Arboretum. We were drawn in by the Autumn at the Dallas Arboretum exhibit. We wanted to see the pumpkins and gourds made into structures. We experienced so much more… The gardens were wonderful. We may not go back to see the pumpkins but we would like to revisit the gardens!

 

When you go, the easiest parking is in the parking garage across from the Gate 4 entrance. The garage has a tunnel leading under the street to the garden gates. Tickets are available online or at the gate (they do sell out). Admission is $20 each for adults, $12 for 12 and under. Parking in the garage is an extra $11.

Gate 4 is the farthest from the Autumn at the Arboretum exhibit. The gardens are large, with lots of paved paths for easy walking. If you are planning to spend time in the gardens, the admission is well worth the cost.