Big "D". little "a", Double "L", "a" "s"

Thursday, 3 July, right after work, we jumped in the car and headed west - this time to Dallas Texas where Matt (and family) is doing a rotation at the Baylor Medical Center. We got as far at Pell City, Alabama for our planned overnight stay at the Hampton Inn. (Hotel was very nice so we rate it a Target level hotel. See other hotels below for more ratings :-) )

Friday, 4th of July we got up early and continued on to Texas. We discovered that not only is Chick-fil-a closed on Sunday, but they also don't do breakfast on the 4th of July! We found an open McDonald's so we didn't starve :-) Lunch was a Subway in Monroe, La. We arrived in Big D around 3:30 pm.

The military is renting a one-bedroom "penthouse" apartment in an uptown Dallas neighborhood for their medical interns doing rotations at Baylor. In this case, penthouse just means it is on the top (7th) floor, but really isn't any different than the apartments on the lower floors.  It is in a very nice part of town, with tree-lined streets, upscale shops and sidewalk cafes. The complex has a pool, community room, a concierge and is pretty close to the hospital, so Matt generally doesn't have to fight much traffic going to and coming from work. They are living the life of sparkling urbanites in their temporary digs.

When we got to the apartment in Dallas, we were met by Matt's whole family on the street in front of the apartment building. Joshua didn't know we were coming that day and was surprised and excited to see us. We all jumped into M&V's new (very nice) Odyssey van and headed to the Texas State Fairgrounds for some Independence day fun. We got there at about 4:20 pm, only to find most of the things we wanted to do closed at 5! We did a quick free 10-minute tour of the Museum of Natural History and took some pictures around the area before heading back to the apartment area for supper.

Pizza at Grimaldi's

We decided on a "New York style" pizza place called Grimaldi's, which also happened to be just across the street from the apartment. The pizza was prepared in a coal fired brick oven and was really good, but the prices (like everywhere we tried in the uptown area) were pretty high. After supper, we went back to the apartment and visited a little while and made plans for the next day. Then we went to our hotel - a La Quinta Inn near Dallas Love Airport (see below for more about the hotel). It would be the only time we made the trip via freeway as we later discovered surface streets worked better.

Saturday morning, we got up and went down to the fitness room and Gary ran 2 miles on the treadmill and JoAnne did about 25 minutes on the elliptical thingy. The exercise room didn't have air conditioner controls and was a little warm, but we survived. We ate breakfast - which was pretty good, then headed back to the apartment.

The activity for the day was a visit to the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden. Military and retirees got in free (but we still had to pay $10 for parking.) It was pretty nice and we got there before it got too hot. (This is July in Texas after all!)

After the garden, we looked for a local place to eat and ended up at Maracas Cocina Mexicana for lunch. It was in an interesting part of town (San Francisco or Little 5 points in Atlanta come to mind) but the food was pretty good. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging around the apartment, playing with the kids and visiting. Joshua got a bubble fan that he took out on the balcony and blew bubbles to the wind. It was fast Sunday the next day so we didn't have supper.

Dallas Temple

Sunday, we all went to Sacrament meeting in the Lakewood ward. It was kind of interesting - lots of young couples with little kids. Hymns were posted in both English and Spanish, and there was a missionary farewell rather than the usual fast and testimony meeting. There was a translator up front for the Spanish speakers. She doubled as the English translator when the missionary's mother (who spoke Spanish) talked. Needless to say, Sacrament meeting ran long. We didn't stay for Sunday School or RS/Priesthood. Nathan was ready for a nap!

We went back to the apartment and had chicken salad for lunch. We got a little stir crazy mid afternoon, so we drove up to the Dallas Temple. Since it was Sunday, all the gates were locked but we were able to take some pictures through the fence. When we got back to the apartment it was decided that we would take the van and Matt our car, so we could do some fun stuff on Monday.

That evening, when we got back to the hotel, the room was pretty warm. We turned on the AC, but it was not blowing very hard and was taking forever to cool the room. JoAnne complained and they put us in the room next door, which was a little better, but still not great. The problem was they had put motion detectors in the room, so if you aren't there, the AC doesn't run. Also, the units just didn't blow very hard. Fortunately we had taken a box fan with us, so between the AC and the fan we were able to cool the room down to reasonably comfortable level. Also, the first night we were there, Gary slipped in the tub and fell down.He caught himself and didn't get hurt, but there was no "anti-skid" in the bottom of the tubs so with soap and water they could get pretty slippery. Also, we discovered the doors at the bottom of the stairwell would not open - a fire hazard. We reported both issues to the front desk. Now don't get a totally negative vibe about the place. The rooms were clean, the staff was friendly, and as mentioned before, breakfast was really good. They are also pet friendly so lots of people with dogs were staying there. Price was reasonable. So we rated it a Walmart level hotel :-) . (You will notice we don't stay and Nordstrums or Saks level hotels!)

Finally - Bulkhead seats

Monday, Matt had to go to work. We got up, ran 2.25 miles and then had breakfast. (We aiming for a 2 mile run, but missed a street we were supposed to turn on and went a little farther than planned.) Vanessa called while we were getting ready and asked if we could come over early and watch the kids while she went on her 5 mile run. So we headed her direction, picking up a couple of drinks on the way at QT. Nathan was in bed for his morning nap, so we hung out with Joshua. After Vanessa came back from her run and got dressed, and Nathan got up, we headed over to the Frontiers of Flight Museam. You will never guess whose idea this was. Actually, the museum is affiliated with the Smithsonian and was pretty nice. Their collection of airplanes was somewhat limited but covered everything from the Wright Flyer (which they had a copy of) to modern airliners. This included some Vietnam era fighters, and the Apollo 7 space capsule. Southwest Airlines (which is headquartered at Dallas Love field) had donated the cockpit of a Boeing 737-200

Nathan, JoAnne, Joshua, Gary
Apollo 7 capsule

airliner, and a complete Boeing 737-300 (the first 737-300 to enter service). Biggest thing missing was World War II airplanes, but they did have an exhibit about POW camps during the war. Everyone seemed to have a good time, but I know Joshua and Gary had a great time!

In front of a T-33
Like Grandpa Ed learned to fly jets in

We had planned on going to eatZies for lunch (European specialty grocer offering prepared meals, wine, pantry items, baked goods & deli fare) but it was very crowded and Nathan was getting cranky so we settled for leftover chicken salad. The adventure for the afternoon was a trip to Albertson's for groceries. That evening when Matt came home, we all walked over to Pop Diner for supper. This is a burger joint, and the burgers and hot dogs were pretty good, but Vanessa's salad left a lot to be desired. To their credit they replaced the salad. Once again a little over priced, and I think we would have been just as happy with Smashburger or 5 Guys. 

McKinney Ave Trolley
Green Dragon

Tuesday. Time to go home, but not before our morning walk/run, and watching the boys so Vanessa could exercise. Since we didn't plan to leave until noon or 1 pm, we had time to go on one more adventure. Right downtown Dallas, they had covered over a freeway and built Klyde Warren Park. There is a children's park with water fountains you can play in, plus things you can climb on. There are food trucks offering a variety of things to eat. And even better, we could take the FREE McKinney Avenue Trolley (M-Line) to get there. This is a restored street car line that runs right outside the apartment building to the

arts area of Dallas. It was set up when they tore up McKinney Avenue for repairs and found the old street car rails still there. They have collected street cars from as far away as Australia and restored them to working order. Some have had air conditioning installed, some not. Anyway, we took the trolley (#186 Green Dragon) to the park and let the kids play for a while. We got lunch at the food trucks. It was getting pretty warm, plus it was time to start home so we jumped on #369 Matilda for the ride back to the apartment.

About 1 pm we sadly got back in the car, and

after some creative routing, headed out of Dallas on our way back to Rock Hill. Since it was also our anniversary we wanted to have something a little nicer than fast food for supper. We looked for placed in Trip Advisor, but most were too far off the freeway. We were about to settle on a Cracker Barrel in Monroe, Louisiana, when we passed by a Genghis Grill and decided to stop there for supper. Timing is everything. After we got our Mongolian BBQ, an entire girls softball team came in.

That evening we stayed at the Sleep Inn and Suites Airport at Pearl (Jackson), Mississippi. Again basic hotel. Room was clean and cool and the price was right, because we used our points to pay for it. Breakfast was so-so:  not really warm yet at the time we left. We rated it a Walmart hotel. JoAnne said maybe K-mart. Gary hates K-mart and didn't hate this place so hewas thinking maybe the hotel in Dallas was Walmart super store, and this was just a plain Walmart. It met the needs we had for the night.

Wednesday we got on the road early for a pretty uneventful drive home. Traffic wasn't bad and we made pretty good time. Even though Google showed Atlanta and I-85 traffic okay we elected to go home via I-20 through Columbia. It adds about 20 minutes to the trip but I-20 traffic is so much easier to deal with. We had lunch at a very busy Chick-fil-a in Conyers and managed to avoid most of a construction slowdown at Covington when we got off the freeway for gas. We finally got home around 6pm. There had just been a thunderstorm in Rock Hill so the temperature was about 71 compared to mid-90's in Dallas (though it was a pretty steamy 71). Kira and the animals were glad to see us and we were glad to get out of the car.

We really had to good time in Dallas. It was fun to play Urban Professional for a couple of days, and Joshua and Nathan are just a hoot to be around. We enjoyed our time with Matt and Vanessa like we always do although we are afraid we really blew Vanessa's healthy diet completely out of the water while we were there. (You mean bratwurst and double hamburgers are not health foods???)

Blowing bubbles from the penthouse balconey

Ready to go see some Southwest airliners

Best view for seeing the botanical gardens

At Frontiers of Flight museum

Nathan and PopPop ride 1st Class