2024 eclipse mini trip report:
After seeing the 2017 eclipse in Nashville, I was hooked and set a seven year reminder for this one. Going south seemed like a better move than north weather-wise, so as soon as the schedule opened last year I booked flights to Dallas. AA from JFK to Dallas, nothing notable.
Once we were flying out there, we decided to extend a bit on both ends and spend some time there. The timing didn't work out for things like the Fort Worth rodeo, but we were just in time for the
Dallas Kosher Chili Cookoff on Sunday.
This was a lot of fun. The Jewish community in Dallas is so varied and that was reflected in the chili. There were lots of great options, but our votes went to the Sephardic Torah Center's, which was sweet and warm instead of spicy. And I met an old college friend I hadn't seen in 20 years! To save time later, we ordered dinner from Tokyo Bar (poke bowl salad, dim sum, and general tso chicken) and the next day's lunch from Aderet (schnitzel pita, pad thai, and spaghetti bolognese). The food wasn't spectacular, but attribute that to it being carried all over Dallas and refrigerated and reheated. The portions were generous.
From the cookout we trekked to the Residence Inn Dallas Downtown, which shares a building with an AC Hotels and a Hampton Inn. Points for a suite with a fridge and full kitchen, separate bedroom (but no door), desk, and pullout couch. Again, nothing to write home about. Check-in was very delayed, though, because no rooms were ready until after 4pm. They gave us drinks to compensate.
From there we went to
Medieval Times, a themed horse show. This was much more fun than I expected. Most of the choreography was silly, but it wasn't too campy.
The show is basically a recreation of a medieval jousting tournament. They paraded horses, the horses performed tricks, a hawk flew around, that kind of thing to start. Then some contests (who can hit a target while riding on horseback, who can catch the most golden rings on the top of a lance, etc). Then they brought out knights, who jousted on horseback and then fought with swords, lances, and other weapons. There's a storyline to tie it all together but the fighting is the real fun.
There's (not kosher) dinner with the show. We asked for plain fruits and vegetables, and the server was able to get apples, oranges, carrots, and celery for us. Still worth the price of admission.
The next day was eclipse day. Breakfast at the hotel is free, parking is $45/day (plus $10 for electric vehicles). There were very few kosher items at breakfast, for what it's worth.
The Residence Inn is around the corner from the
Main Street Garden Park, so we went there. Dallas is basically a ghost town, and even on eclipse day in the middle of a centrally located park we had no trouble finding a place to camp out.
Once it got full.
The cloud cover was pretty depressing until about noon, when it just started to break up.
The sky continued to clear as we approached totality. There were still plenty of five-minute periods where clouds completely obscured the sun, but b"h the 15 minutes before and after totality were perfect. I didn't take photos during, but it was as spectacular as 2017 and as everyone has already said. This is definitely an event where you want to be surrounded by people. The cheering, the shared astonishment, the complete surreality of the moment. Jupiter was clearly visible even with all the city light pollution. The kids went wild and there was magic all around.
With the rest of the afternoon available, we headed to [ur-https://www.cidercade.com/dallas/l]Cidercade[/url]. It's fantastic for retro gamers. There's a row of pinball machines, classic arcades, some emulated NES machines, and the usual shooters. $12 for unlimited play. It's also a brewery, but we're not drinkers so we didn't bother to see if they have anything kosher. It's 21+ only after 8pm.
The next morning it was back to JFK. Our scheduled plane went mechanical, then our new plane didn't have flight attendants, etc, so it took extra time to get home. Now to plan for 2026...
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