Delightful DFW

We made it to Plano where we were going to stay around 5:30pm. I couldn’t believe it! I was in Dallas again, to see all my friends! After bringing in some of our stuff, our thoughts turned to food. Michelle and Aaron took us to Cafe Brazil, one of my favorite restaurants during my college years. Kristen also joined us. Of course I ordered frozen hot chocolate. Mmm! My chorizo crepes and Travis’ chicken fried steak we’re also tasty. 

Saturday morning brought a trip to Ikea with Michelle, Melissa and Justin. I’d been to Ikea once and Travis never. We don’t have one near home so I thought it would be a cool thing to check out. We wandered the whole store, checking out all the cool and weird ideas before eating the famous swedish meatballs. I’d never had linden berries before. Travis and I felt certain our food had a sleep aid as we became super sleepy. I felt guilty taking a nap because I certainly didn’t come through Dallas to sleep. But I knew I wouldn’t be any fun without proper rest. 

We made it to Kristen and Charles’ apartment, ate delicious fro-yo (frozen yogurt), checked out the Love Sac store in Stonebriar mall, then the Nebraska furniture Mart. Travis had seen a large fluffy bean bag type chair and thought it would be perfect for me. I informed him that that was a Love Sac and I’d seen them in Dallas. We just wanted to sit in them and ponder what it would be like to have one in our house. The Nebraska furniture Mart was more impressive than Ikea. It had its own parking garage and was certainly twice the size if not more. I recommend not checking out two furniture places in one day…it’s a little overwhelming. I enjoyed sitting in and pouncing on all the soft chairs and beds. But eventually the massage recliner won out, forcing me into its fluffy soft folds. Eventually we left to get pizza and watch Moana. Such a great movie! 

We slept in some Sunday morning before meeting Mary at Buzzbrews, another one of my favorite restaurants. We walked around our Alma mater, the University of Texas at Dallas, bought new sunglasses at REI (I’d left them in Little Rock), shopped at Walmart, explored a free samurai museum, ate delicious Mexican food and cookies. As we spend all afternoon and evening together, I felt relieved. I’d wondered if 2years since the last time I’d seen my friends would make our time together awkward or just out of touch. But we picked up right where our friendship had never changed. We picked up Lacie, Mary’s dog, and went to White Rock lake. So many doggies and puppers!! I loved them all, telling them to send these vibes back to my dog. I watched Mary interact with Lacie, knowing it wasn’t Mary that had done the rescuing of a stray in need of love. We watched the sun set over the lake, taking pictures and making fun of the gen Y’ers next to us that spent all their time smelling their screens, hardly noticing His glorious display behind them. 

We decided to stay all day Monday because we’d been delayed a day and everyone had off work Memorial day. Kristen, Travis and I went to the ft Worth stockyards and Billy Bob’s just to see it. The stockyards smelled great, with wafts of cow mingling with steak and fries. We became tourists and meandered through many knick knack shops. The cattle drive was only about 60seconds long. I had come before for a parade apparently and remembered it wrong. We spotted Blue Bell ice cream and dove in. We made our way to Billy Bob’s, the world’s largest honky tonk. It was hot by the time we got back to the car so we put the fort Worth water gardens into the GPS. The first fountain was okay and it didn’t inspire great expectation for the others. However, we approached the second one and it stunned us. This one you were able to walk down​ into on cement floating blocks. The roar of the water once we descended was too great to even hear each other speak. Descending and ascending was a little difficult with so many people and kids everywhere. I stood at the bottom smiling for a picture with Kristen; it didn’t even seem like we were in Texas at the moment with waterfalls surrounding us and trees above. Next we climbed the dry “mountain.” It was a bunch of cement blocks rising up above. We spotted another water design so we raced down to it. It was a quiet reflection pool with walls overflowing with water. It didn’t take long for us to get our feet wet and start playing in the water. The kids around us got in and tried not to get their clothes wet. Soon they were splashing and swimming. 

We headed back to Dallas to pack and maybe get together with another friend Liz. After we got out laundry started, Travis and I headed to dinner with Liz and Caleb. It was a short time filled with laughter. I was so glad to have stayed another day than planned so I could see Liz. I left Texas about 5years ago and it’s been hard to maintain friendships. It was so wonderful that I got to see my best buddies from college again and catch up, reminsce about old times and make new memories.