The RJG is dead! Long live the RJG!

Just when you thought the RJG had stabilized into a routine – he goes off and…. moves! Well folks, what can I tell you? This has been in the works for some time, but for one reason or another – primarily work/career - we couldn’t leave DFW. As we entered into 2018 it appeared we were going to stay put for at least another year, as I needed to be in Baltimore every 3 to 4 weeks, and the job had become more routine. But then my boss suggested I really only needed to be in Baltimore every 2 months or so. Opportunity struck. We decided to sell our home – and it sold in ONE DAY. Which caught us by surprise naturally enough. We needed a new home! Of course we knew where we wanted to go – it was just a matter of flying there and buying one. It’s a place the RJG lived from the winter of 1993 to the spring of 1995. I had always wanted to stay but job/personal circumstances did not allow for it. It’s a place where we hope to be our final home. And that place is… Colorado Springs. Mrs. RJG and I have always loved the weather and the scenery. For those that have followed the RJG, you will have noted we lived in Denver for many years in the past, and even had a summer place there for a few years (2009 – 2011). But Denver was not where we wanted to permanently live again. The city has become too crowded, and it doesn’t have the natural beauty of Colorado Springs, not to mention the cooler summers the Springs has (let’s put it this way – air conditioning is optional). And for those that don’t know the area, it also gets far less snow, which is contrary to what one might initially think. Anyway, to say April was a chaotic month would be to understate the matter considerably.

So we say goodbye to DFW, and to Northeast Tarrant County specifically. Will we be back? The RJG’s official Mom is still in NE Tarrant, but she claims she’s following us when her lease is up in the fall. If that’s the case, of course I need to help her move here. After that, it could very well be the end of the line - at least on any kind of regular basis. I’ve been to DFW at least once every year since my parents moved to Dallas in 1967. I was 2. But there’s nothing really left for us to visit. The few local friends we have remaining all want to visit us in Colorado! Mr. Music is spending more time in Long Beach, California then he is in the Denton area (that story may emerge sometime soon as well). He’s committed to more reviews from both DFW and Orange County, but he’s been extremely busy. If for whatever reason we need to relocate back to DFW – we’re bee lining for NE Tarrant County. Without a doubt, we loved the area. Having grown up in the city of Dallas made me only appreciate more the rolling, and slightly dryer, terrain near Fort Worth. It just felt so much more… comfortable.

I had given serious thought to just shuttering this blog. But then an old friend from Denver appeared on the scene. He was in DFW for business and dropped by on our final week there before the move. He was inspired by our recommendations in the area, and asked to contribute. He had just returned from a business trip to Montreal, and wanted to share his experiences from that visit. And I have those reviews sitting here ready to publish. He has appeared in this blog prior – never as an author, but rather a character – and has rechristened himself as Rude Dante. This name choice will become apparent after reading his Montreal reviews.

Well heck, if I have a new contributor, I might as well get off my lazy butt and get going as well. Where does that leave us? OK, Colorado Springs is now the primary city obviously. We’re in the north part of town, on the way to Monument and across I-25 from the Air Force Academy. Colorado Springs isn’t that large, so entire city coverage is very possible. All the same, we’re likely to stay north at least for routine purposes. There’s a few chains that are following us here, and I’ll probably move those forward first as I revisit each one. Those reviews are written already, and I’ll denote any variations to our new primary location. Baltimore remains the second city. I’m typing this while flying over there now – ironically through DFW. I had already written a few reviews that remain unpublished, so maybe I can get those out shortly as well. Now that we live in Colorado Springs, of course Denver and Castle Rock will get plenty of coverage, as that’s where Mrs. RJG has a strong family presence – and I have many old friends in the area. And you know how the RJG loves Santa Fe. That now is a relatively short drive south, so expect more frequent trips down there (and Albuquerque of course). We will also explore all of Colorado – especially the mountain towns – and another RJG favorite: Durango. Many will be revisits of restaurants that we never published here prior. And what of NE Tarrant? Well, there are a couple of new (to us) places I’d like to write about before leaving the topic. As is often the case, we discovered a couple of new favorites within the last couple of months! Of course we will miss our favorite restaurants, some we grew up within the confines of the RJG, like Sea Siam in Keller and Mi Pueblo in North Richland Hills.

Tomorrow, with any luck at all, will appear some (or all) of Rude Dante's reviews. This will be followed by a barrage of Baltimore reviews, some written today in fact.