deep in the heart of texas

because the hub manages to find clients or colleagues pretty much wherever he goes, we left the girls with the ILs for an evening while we headed off to see a hockey playoff game between the ducks and the stars.  i personally thought it was pretty funny that we'd gone all the way to dallas to watch our local hockey team play, but hey - why not?

we started the evening off with a casual dinner here:

and since i was being on my best behavior and not snapping away at everything in sight, i have no photos of our meal.  we all shared a fresh mozzarella/prosciutto appetizer and a thin-crust pizza - nothing particularly outstanding, but it was delicious and light and perfect.

then it was a short walk across the street to the american airlines-sponsored arena.

while our seats were pretty high up, that was okay with me.  we had a great view from up there, and everyone in attendance got one of these towels:

happy campers.

i damn near jumped out of my skin when the entire crowd yelled out "STARS!" both times during the singing of the national anthem.  i thought i was gonna shit myself.

game time!

i was amused to be rooting for the other team amongst a sea of very rabid dallas stars fans.  like, this guy off to the left brought a homemade stanley cup.  hilarious.

the group we were with hooted and hollered and high-fived each other whenever their team scored a goal, and when one of the guys turned to me with his hand up, i just grinned and waved.  "hey, how you doin'?" i shouted.

he looked really puzzled, with that puppy-dog-side-head-tilt, until someone whispered in his ear:  "they're from l.a."  and then the light bulb went on, and he smiled back and nodded.  yup.

alas, we never got the chance to do any cheering of our own.  the ducks were completely shut out, and when the final seconds ticked away, there was much rejoicing in the arena.

oh well.  it'd been a fun night, anyway.