Travel Log Day 6 - 11/20/11

When you have an infant, a terrible nights sleep is to be expected.  The baby is tiny, needs a lot of food, and I can't blame a kid for being uncomfortable it was a lot more cozy in their previous environment.  When you have a nearly 5 year old child, waking every two hours is about the most miserable thing I can think of.  But, none the less, Drew decided sleeping was not in his cards and we were treated to his presence every two hours.

Two things happen when I am tired, and I mean really tired.  I have no patience and thus yell at my kids, and I feel like crap.  My wife I have no doubt feels the same way, but she is able to hide it better or some special mommy juju overcomes this.  The mommy juju sounds better so I go with that because then it isn't my shortcoming but rather I wasn't given the same tools as my wife to be an awesome parent.

After a brief breakfast that was nice, but rather old since it was the same style of breakfast 3 days in a row, we planned our day.  I attempted to get some lunch supplies at the Superwalmart, but was unsuccessful due to not having ANY sandwich supplies.  We still fed the kids their favorite Mac and Cheese and were off to my big idea for Dallas, The Lego Discover Center.

My kids and I are Lego fans, well I sorta indoctrinated them, but none the less they love Lego.  So last winter I took them to Legoland, and Legoland is just that, a LAND dedicated to the awesomeness that is Lego.  This was a natural step for us, going to what I thought was a "museum" built around Lego.

My boys were ready to go

Now once I got inside I came to discover that unlike Legoland which only sort appeals strictly to children still had some charm for adults like me.  Well any attempt to appeal to adults was gone here.  The opening tour was slightly intriguing to my kids, and bored me to tears, the first ride (which I knew with Legoland) was slow and methodical and boring to me, my kids adored.  The actual center is small, like think less than half the size of a normal grocery store, and while the movies they had were a tad different than Legoland were so-so to me, but they were amazing to my kids (even Eva).  Little did I know that the highlight of the entire afternoon there would be the Duplo area.  While this area was small it had Duplo (meh) but it had GIANT Lego Blocks.  Now if I could get some righteous Lego blocks like this I'd be in heaven.

Eva got her own Lego Chair

Drew helped me build a tree

In the end I can't deny that the kids had a blast at Lego Discovery Center.  I have been spoiled with the quality and refinement of Disneyland's ability to appeal to kids and adults alike, and while LDC (Lego Discovery Center) and Legoland do a top notch job appealing to kids they lack so severely in appealing to adults it is rather remarkable; considering I really love Lego a lot.

After this we discovered the mall (where LDC was located) and I remembered why I hate the mall from November to the end of December.  But not to be discouraged we had planned a dinner with Cristina's Cousins who were locals to Dallas and wanted to meet up with us at a restaurant for dinner.  

Two nights in a row meeting with family/friends was great.  We went to La Hacienda Ranch.  A little history I guess the owner of the place invented the frozen margarita machine which is now on display at the Smithsonian.  Having dinner with adults again at a fantastic TexMex restaurant was a blast.  The fajita platter was through the roof good and my wife enjoyed her margarita.  The boys got to play on "horse" and they even had saddle bar stools.

The boys loved the 25 cent horse

Our trip has 4 multi-night stops, Santa Fe, Dallas, Lake Charles and San Antonio.  If the latter two can get close to equalling the first two this trip will be an overwhelming success.  We loved Dallas and I would come back in a heartbeat, but next time I will have to hit up a football game.

Travel Log Day 5 - 11/19/11

The Falls

Well, a good nights sleep does wonders for you, and a pretty good breakfast for free doesn't hurt either.  We left the hotel later than planned since breakfast on the weekend isn't served until 7:00am.  We stopped for a cup of coffee at Rooster's Coffee and Tea, and I really wish I didn't eat at the hotel, because the food looked incredible and the prices were very reasonable.  With that we were off to Dallas.

A funny thing happened the night before as we watched Lion King, but first a quick back story.  Over the summer the Disney Channel released a TV movie of Phineas and Ferb.  This show happens to be hilarious for kids and adults, and while shopping at Costco a few months ago we bought the movie for this trip and hid it.

For some reason Sean (he must of seen us packing it) became convinced the movie was with us and wanted to watch it.  We had to really carefully talk him down after Lion King finished the night before saying he could pick anything he wanted to watch in the car the next day.  Drew kept telling him we didn't have the Phineas and Ferb movie, but Sean was steadfast.  In the morning he looked through the folder and was very proud and said "see I told you we have Phineas and Ferb across the second dimension."  Drew was blown away and Sean was proud of himself.  Eva whined, and I can't blame her the drive is boring, but we managed to do well cruising through Texas.

By about Witchita Falls we were ready for food, we had packed a lunch and were looking for somewhere to stop when off the freeway we saw some beautiful water falls (pictured above) from the freeway.  I suggested we stop "There" pointing at the falls, and Cristina said "Let's Do It."  Without having a clue how to get to the falls or the park that must be near, we started driving in the general direction.  By the time we had the GPS looking we saw a sign for Lucy Park.  We stopped and I made our sandwiches.  The kids didn't really eat, they just wanted to play, but Cristina and I enjoyed our roast beef and provolone sandwiches.  The boys and Eva ran around, climbed a BIG old school slide, and Eva kept taking her shoes off.  This park is incredible, huge, lush, green and covered in trees, lots and lots of pecan trees.  We had a pleasant surprise stopping here and were glad we did.  My only word of warning, the bathrooms are more like old school camping bathrooms (no doors.)

Just like me, Eva loves bare feet

As we got closer to Dallas out of nowhere the freeway we were on turned into a parking lot.  With a little of my wife's encouragement we hit the "off road" button on the van and were following a few cars jumping curbs to get off the freeway;  like Cristina said, "when in Texas."  The hotel, a Homewood Suite again, was perfect. 

Cristina and I had a few family friends we wanted to see here and fortunately Luisa was close by and up for our Triple D adventure (Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.)  Luisa is a very old Family friend of mine, I have known her as long as she has been alive and her Dad was in my wedding.  Luisa works for a two local colleges as a Campus Minister and I really looked forward to the conversation and chance to catch up.  

We went to Downtown Dallas which surprised me, not just by size but by how incredibly gorgeous it was.  Of all the downtowns I've seen, Dallas topped even San Diego in my opinion for sheer niceness of streets and buildings, and while San Diego has the beauty of the environment, Dallas was clean and stunning, I'd go back in a heartbeat for that alone.  We decided on a burger joint, Twisted Root Burger Co., and the fare was just as I expected, tasty.  The Fried Ride, while WAY over the top bad for you wise was great, and the burgers were awesome; I had "The Spicy Goat".  We ended up moving outside because the restaurant is a seat yourself LOUD place and definitely not kid friendly (Drew was covering his ears), once we were outside away from the one table with smokers were able to talk with Luisa.

Drew though was tired and whining and I was not very patient so back to the hotel we went, he was asleep in minutes. Luisa graciously was able to stay and the three of us were able to talk about life; over a cup of coffee, I found that very apropos.  We were able to talk about faith, being catholic, reaching college students and the different needs we had as Catholic College students, versus her students which are at secular schools.  We talked about our families and hobbies.  It was good adult conversation about life, and we didn't rush.  When Cristina and I finally tapped out it was late, but even with the long drive, long day and even later night the day felt perfect, and I was glad that we where able to meet up with life long friends over dinner and coffee.