By Anthony Chaney
The mission: to leave our old central Dallas neighborhood, with its feral cats and uneven sidewalks, and to travel into the spanking-new nether regions and reconnoiter the site for the October 2017 S-USIH Conference. What we expected: freeways, traffic, box stores, concrete. What we found: a comfortable and quiet new urbanist enclave offering a variety of spaces, indoors and out, for gathering, chatting, strolling, sitting and thinking, and catching a coffee, a drink, or a bite. We arrived on an early Friday afternoon and stayed till well into happy hour. The following photos follow don’t capture the lovely weather (very October-like), but let them serve as a preview of conference amenities this fall … and a reminder to get those proposals in.
Here’s ground zero for this year’s conference, the Dallas/Plano at Marriott Legacy Town Center. Our theme: “Histories of Memory, Memories of History.”
Across the street are several blocks of eateries and shops.
Turkish, sushi, New American, Thai fusion, and more … all a short walk from the conference site.
Yelp loves Kenny’s Smoke House and Kenny’s “hammered” brisket, smoked salmon tostadas, and jalapeno corn bread.
We happened to be on the patio at Mexican Sugar when Congress Republicans pulled their health care bill. That called for chips, queso, and “The Machete”: serrano-infused tequila blanco, watermelon, cucumber, agave, lime, and mint.
Buffalo grass, sage, live oak, and wrangling. Yes, we’re in Texas.
Those of us specializing in antiquity found gravesites nearby going all the way back to 1847.
Who has time to catch a movie these days? Make a getaway to the art house on the corner.
Toward the end of happy hour at the wine bar, Crú, some of us started seeing triple.
See you there in October!
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Anthony, thanks so much for this writeup. Spending a sunny Friday afternoon in this mild, gorgeous weather, alongside pleasant company, sampling a range of outdoor dining and drinking options was no doubt a tough job, but somebody had to do it!
Honestly, I think our attendees are going to love this conference setting — it’s very conducive to the cheery conviviality and spontaneous sociability that are so much a part of our annual gatherings.
Can’t wait to see all the proposals — just a few weeks left! Get ’em in!
The hardest part was holding the camera/phone straight after a couple of Machetes.