Travel to Dallas, Texas!

Our great Dallas adventure began after showering and packing our things. We took to the road from Lawton, Ok and stopped at Buc-cees. I enjoyed each flavor of cake ball, a bag or merengues, and a very delicious smoked brisket sandwich. Jon enjoyed a pineapple cream soda, but I'm not a fan of tropical flavors myself.

After sleeping we got dressed and hurried over to the Dallas Aquarium. There we saw birds of paradise, giant crocodiles, reptiles, and a whole score of fish! It looked like an Amazonian rainforest inside, and you can even buy mixed drinks.

After cooing over the manatees at the Dallas Aquarium, we made our way to the Perot Museum of Science. We were able to get up close to massive skeletal remains of dinosaurs and even a couple of mammoths! The museum is 4 stories of activities and fun for people of all ages. It's a great place to take your kids, however, it is also a fun date for two.

We made a stop at the mall and spent too much money, but boy did we leave like bandits. The malls in Dallas are huge and there are a couple of very nice western stores here that are only available in Texas like "Pinto Ranch".

At the end of the night, Jon and I decided to try to check out the bar scene. We went to a country dancing bar called, "Cowboys Red River" or just "Cowboys" for short. It was incredible! The scene was very nice and it was possibly the nicest bar I had ever been inside. There is a disco saddle hanging from the ceiling and I thought that was pretty cool. It's almost as cool as the mechanical bull. We danced down the racetrack and had a couple of drinks and headed back to the hotel to sleep.

On Saturday, Jon and I started our morning eating cookies and ventured to Waxahachie, Texas to see the Scarborough Renaissance Festival. We had a total blast. The highlight of my experience was certainly getting to one-up my own skills as an equestrian. I rode an elephant

There was no shortage of happy families and artistic expression. The costumes ranged from Chinese immigrants, to Knights in Armor, to druids, fairies, and we even spotted several Vikings! Personally, my favorite was the woman who smeared mud on our noses during the parade. I'm not sure what it was supposed to represent, but it was silly enough that it got a laugh out of me.

We hurried off to the Ft. Worth Stockyards and found a very nice plaza full of western stores, foods, lots of saloons, and pieces of Texas history that are deeply rooted in American Values.

You can make stops at places like the Ariat Store, the rodeo shop, or buy a fancy pair of boots at Lucchese. This is the best place to go if you want to spend money on unique clothes you can't find in other places.

Perhaps the highlight of our visit was the John Wayne experience. Narrated by his son, this walk-through museum is full of memorabilia from classic John Wayne Westerns and even some of his most popular films like, "True Grit" and his military movies. We saw his real costumes and his entire hat collection to include really interesting letters from people like President Ronald Reagan and Gene Autry.

My favorite part of the entire day spent at the Stockyards was certainly being able to see Trigger. When Trigger the horse died, Roy Rogers famously had him mounted along with his dog, Bullet. It was an amazing surprise to see him rearing in the gift shop of the John Wayne Museum. I didn't need to read the sign, I knew exactly what I was seeing from across the room

If you are still wondering whether Dallas/ Ft. Worth is worth the family trip, the food everywhere we went was incredible. It is definitely a must to stop at Cooper's Old Time Pit Barbecue. The museums in the area are so fun and interesting, and the history of this area is a beautiful reminder of our American heritage and culture. You'll enjoy yourself plenty, and that's straight from the horse's mouth!