If You Wait...They Will Come

Michael and Hayden came for a visit—this marks the first time my family has come to Texas since we've moved here. I was VERY excited.

FIRST NIGHT

Our first stop, by the wishes of Hayden, we had Texas BBQ at Hard Eight...

...where your food is cooked and smoked in these huge oven/smokers. (I feel bad for those who man these ovens during our summers.)

Here, your eyes are always bigger than your stomach.

DAY ONE: FORT WORTH TEXAS THINGS

When visiting the metroplex for the first time, one must watch the longhorn cattle walk down main street by the stock yards in Fort Worth. So naturally, we did and then explored some of the old buildings, like the Stock Exchange building.

Below: Various brands stamped into a large flat panel of wood. (I am surprised at how poorly designed they are.)

Hayden found a vault. Unfortunately she was denied entry.

Every Friday night a rodeo takes place down town. (Adam and I have never been.) But it was interesting to be inside the old building. It stank.

There are several Trail of Fame stars in the sidewalks—None of which I know any history about.
Who is Clara Driscoll that she would be the savior of the Alamo? Did she do something brave?
Take a bullet for someone? Alas, I looked her up and my imagination was a little too colorful.

We then drove across town to Rodeo Goat where Hayden said she ate the best burger she's EVER had. She chose the Sugar Burger which features grilled peaches. (Below, the Chaxa Oaxaca. Hayden's is the blurry one on the top right.)

Then a short walk around the block brought us to another favorite, Steel City Pops.

Naturally we needed to burn off our lunch so we climbed around the Fort Worth Water Gardens. This particular feature is amazing. It's loud and enormous...you can climb down into the middle too. I could probably hyper focus while sitting here for hours.

After the water gardens we ended our day at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens

Best grass ever. We parked ourselves here while Adam brought the car to us—simply couldn't get off this lovely green carpet.

DAY 2 SPA DAY

We did breakfast big and cheap. That sounds like a perfect Texas experience to me! Old West Café.

Then Hayden got exposed to Sam Moon where we spent about 2 hours picking out jewelry.

Then off to a giant home goods store, At Home. After a while, Michael started making himself at home as well.

Then to the spa! Both our guests were totally up for the wet spa area and enjoyed it. I KNEW they would. Who doesn't like being naked in the water? You? Oh. Maybe you should give it another try. It's glorious.

Michael tried a "different" dish for dinner....Looks like he enjoyed the main course anyway.

This is the entrance to the sudatorium—a vaulted sweat room, heated by fire every day. The moment  you enter it's difficult to breath and the heat hurts your face. But if you can relax long enough and allow yourself to sweat, it's quite the experience. You can literally watch the sweat beading up on your skin. It usually becomes a contest to see who can last the longest and who can sweat the most.

DAY THREE: TEXAS GUN POWER

I asked a friend to put together a shooting day with some members of our ward during the days Michael and Hayden would be here. It was a success. Many people showed up with a lot of gun power so it was fun.

We also blew up a few trees. Below: The fun stuff—Tannerite. Just do a little mixing and voila...you have an explosive. Shoot it and BOOM! (Go watch some YouTube featuring this stuff.)

Above: setting up to take the shot. Can't miss with this SWEET scope. Below: !!!!

One CANNOT drive through Texas and skip a pit stop at Buc-ee's. (Buckees) The bathrooms are amazing. (Hand sanitizers, and toilet seat wet wipes are in each walled off stall and there are NEVER any lines.) The food too is unique to Buc-ee's and totally worth spending a buck or seven on.

I mean, have you ever seen a gas station with a vanishing point?

So famous...it doesn't even need its name in writing. Just...a Beaver. What? Yeah.

After a day of shooting and driving, Hayden decided she liked Rodeo Goat so much that she wanted to go back for dinner. I couldn't have agreed more. I'd had one of the best burgers there too—The Bad Hombre. It wasn't going to be on the menu long so I was glad to have another go at it.

LAST DAY: DALLAS THINGS

The airport is in Dallas, so the next morning we loaded up bags and headed into the city to play until M and H's flight.

I think Breadwinners is quickly becoming one of my favorite restaurants. Everything so far has been the kind of delicious that makes your eyes roll back and drives you to tell everyone about your experience while also trying to chew. I also prefer this Dallas location. The service and the unique interior are superior to their other two locations—so I'm always going to make the trip to Dallas for this treat, even though there is one a little closer.

The chicken and waffles are a favorite. Hayden had stuffed french toast, which was so delicious she went home and recreated it.

Then we headed to the Reunion Tower. You'll recognize it in the Night time Dallas skyline as the round ball that's lit up.

Because Texas is FLAT, you can see miles from up top.

Also, if you set things up just right...you can see the window through which Kennedy was shot.

Bellow is the building where the shooter stood (light pinkish, center) and the street where Kennedy was riding in the car.

After leaving the tower we walked down toward the grassy knoll to see history up close. (Below: A wall along the way.)

This X in the middle of the road marks the first shot, the shot that missed Kennedy. A little further to the left (not shown) is another X where he was struck.

Next we walked to the Dallas World Aquarium. It's an open atrium kind of zoo. It's really quite lovely and large.

Sharks smile for photos too.

I wasn't able to find out what this fish below is. How does one even do a search for this?
"Google: Search for........REALLY ugly gray fish with wrinkled face and a double top lip???" Uhhhhh.

Lastly we took our carnivore family members to another BBQ joint where you order by the pound, they wrap it in paper wich you then unwrap and spread out on the table to enjoy.

We then purchased pies to go from Emporium pie and left Michael and Hayden at the airport with pies in hand and I hope a lot of fun memories.

Saying goodbye was hard. The drive home without them was hard. I LOVED having them here. Family is everything.