Hello, and welcome back to the blog!! Have you ever just wanted to get away?? This interesting winter weather in Wisconsin has me thinking just that….I need to get away!!
Because traveling is not my favorite thing to do, and my hubby likes to travel, when I suggested a trip, he immediately said YES!! We planned this get away around my daughter’s 4 day weekend off of school, and it was the perfect time to leave!! We had just come out of a cold spell where the real temps were -25!!
We got to the airport in Milwaukee just in time for the Marquette LaCrosse team to check in…right after we did! My daughter and her friend cringed when I took this picture…apparently I wasn’t sly enough in taking the picture! I’m an old lady…I don’t know the etiquette. #embarrassyourteens
Let’s Get Out of Here!!!
The flight was smooth as butter and we landed in sunny and hot Dallas, Texas!! Honestly, I was a little too warm, but I didn’t dare complain….I just turned up the air conditioning fan in the rental car!!
After stopping by Chick-fil-a for dinner, we headed up to Frisco thru the 5 lanes of busy traffic! We made it to our rental home….it was so great!! Lots of room to hang out and an awesome “cross” wall!! (pictured below)
Day 1 (Friday)
The first morning we slept in until almost 8:00 am!! We didn’t have the doggies in our room to wake us up early- they stayed home with a friend who watches dogs! A relaxing morning was just what we needed, and then we headed to McKinney, Texas, just a few miles up the road to visit their little town square. One of my favorite bloggers, Mix and Match Mama, lives there and always tells stories about the fun little shops and eateries on the historical town square.
She had recommended a restaurant called Spoons. It had good food, but the best part for me was getting to eat lunch outside and seeing flowers in bloom!!
Look at us, wearing short sleeves in February!!! And check out the hand squeezed lemonade!!
And the FLOWERS!!!
We found a few boutiques to shop! Check out these fun mugs! Yep, it describes my daughter and her friend pretty accurately! Ha!!
Another fun place was called Mom & Popcorn!!
Just look at all of the candy!! We might have each filled up a bag of jelly beans, gummies and other yummy sweet treats! I had no idea that they had Dr. Pepper jelly bellies!! My new fave!!
They also had an interesting flavor of popcorn…caramel with jalapeno mixed in….it’s the McKinney mix! No one was brave enough to try it though!!!
Friday night we met my hubby’s college roommate and his family for dinner. Gosh, we hadn’t seen them for about 18 years! We had dinner at a restaurant and then enjoyed chatting with them back at their beautiful home!
Day 2 (Saturday)
It wouldn’t be vacation if you didn’t sleep as long as you wanted and lounged around until noon, right?? Well, that’s what we did Saturday morning. The weather was pretty chilly and we had dueling computers going at the kitchen table!
My daughter brought her friend along, and she knew of a great BBQ place to eat! RUDY’S! Have you heard of it?? I figured that I wouldn’t enjoy it because I don’t care for BBQ sauce…well let me tell ya…It was the BOMB dot COM!!
Hubby and I split a half pound of brisket and a smoked baked potato. Maybe this vacation should have been called Foodie Vacation!!!
The girls enjoying their choices!!
After lunch we drove around and found a mall. We split up and did some shopping. It didn’t last long…it was crowded!
Later that night we played a few games of Nertz…
These crazies did a painful face mask that night….aren’t they cute?? I think they might have regretted doing this!
Sunday (Day 3)
We hit the road around noon and traveled back down to Dallas to check off something that my hubby wanted to do- visit the George W. Bush Memorial Library. The freeways and interchanges are even more Texas sized than we have in the Milwaukee Area!! WOW!!
It was about a half hour drive to get to the Library and I must admit, it was a very interesting place…and I’m not a huge history buff.
I had forgotten many of the significant events that occurred during the Bush era. We saw exhibits on Hurricane Katrina, the no child left behind initiative, 9/11, the overthrow of Saddam Hussein & the start of the great recession. We ended the tour by visiting an exact replica of the oval office as George Bush had it. (no, that’s not George Bush sitting there! LOL!)
It was so interesting to observe the girls watching the tvs as 9/11 was happening- moment by moment. It occurred to me that they weren’t even born on that date! I think most people remember where they were that day when the first plane ran into the world trade center. I was a month from giving birth to my daughter, and remembered the uncertainty of the world that I was bringing her into. Hubby and I were surprised at how much emotion was triggered by re-living these moments. You can see part of the 2nd tower in the exhibit.
This is the speech (exact papers) when the president addressed the nation.
Here was part of the Saddam Hussein exhibit. It contains some artifacts from the capture and overthrow of his reign. I found the actual pistol that he carried, parts of the statue that fell, and bricks from the compound to be especially intriguing.
This is a copy of the executive order that started Operation Iraqi Freedom.
By the time we finished at the library, we had worked up quite a hunger. Our pastor often talks about In and Out Burgers and how they are life changing, so we indulged to see if he was correct. All in all, we liked the burgers! It sure was a popular place on a Sunday afternoon at 3:00!!
Another area that we visited Sunday afternoon was in McKinney, Texas. It’s called Adriatica Village. It’s a residential area that is built to look like a European village, cobblestone streets and all!! It was beautiful!!
Sunday night, we watched the NBA All-Star game on tv and enjoyed the last night away.
We DID get some cute pics of our pups while we were away….so thankful she could take care of them!!
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Monday (Day 4)
Our flight was at noon, so we cleaned up and headed right to the airport. I might add that it was 37 degrees that day, a nice transition back to the frozen tundra of Wisconsin. We did have SOME excitement as we were in line at security. The airport fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate the airport. Wow, it was underwhelming how people reacted to the alarm….no one in line moved until they were forced to!!
Our flight home was uneventful, and we arrived 25 minutes early!! Dr. Phil’s podcast entertained me the whole flight!!
Food-fest Vacation, I mean the Dallas vacation, was sure fun, but it’s always good to be home!!!
That was fun. So many nice pics and loved the stories that went along with each one. All of your food looked delicious. And it was so nice to see flowers this time of year! The fire alarm story was interesting. I would figure people would be in a panic, but I guess not…..Thanks for sharing you vaca. It sounds as if it was relaxing and fun filled.
We enjoyed it!! Thanks for the nice comment!! Love ya!!
Sounds like a a great trip! I would love to visit the George W. Bush Library sometime. I’m sure it was very interesting! By the way, we love playing Nertz too!