Zac and Lori Do Dallas

Zac had a lot of business trips in the Spring.  And I was really starting to miss that guy.  Usually, several times a year an opportunity will arise when he is traveling by himself, that it is feasible for him to take me along.  And even though we had about a million things happening as the end of the school year approached, we also had a flight voucher that was going to expire by the end of May if I didn't use it... so Zac talked me into a trip.  And of course, as per usual this trip ended up not meeting the requirements of the flight voucher and we had to use flight miles, but my heart was already set on going with Zac, so we went anyways.  Little did I know he would talk me into ANOTHER trip just a few weeks down the road to Florida to finally use that flight voucher.  We were so grateful that Ashlyn was home from college and could help us get the kids where they needed to go!

This pic is actually from a trip the previous week that Zac took down the East Coast... maybe Myrtle Beach?

While we were gone in Texas a small moose decided to move in to the yard and hung around all week eating our trees and taking naps in the yard!

The dogs were not happy, but the moose made sure the dogs knew who was boss!

Dallas is pretty and gross and interesting all at the same time.  We stayed right in the heart of downtown so that while Zac was in meetings I could walk around and take in the tourist sites.

Right in the middle of downtown just across from the JFK monument is this little cabin that talks about the original settlement that has now become Dallas.  It was interesting to read the plaques and learn about the townsite.

And since Dallas is the city where JFK got shot, they erected a monument in his honor not far from his assassination site.

It was a really bizarre monument.  It really caught me off guard, as I had expected a statue or beautiful water feature or something.  Instead, it was these really tall, unornamented concrete walls.

And when you walk inside there is just a small rectangular pedestal that says John Fitzgerald Kennedy.  It looked like a place a statue could have gone, but perhaps no one thought even a statue of JFK would want to reside there after being shot down the road.  Someone had left some Taco Bell by the pedestal.  Not sure if it was left as a tribute to JFK or just litter from someone who sat down to eat their lunch.  Such a weird vibe there.

Right next to the monument however was this beautiful structure which is no longer in use?  Which I believe used to be a municipal building.  It was far more interesting to look at that the JFK monument.

Before I ever knew I would be going to Dallas, I had recently finished Stephen King's 11/22/63.  Which is a book that is basically historical fiction... thrown in with some science fiction that really chronicles the life of Lee Harvey Oswald.  I had also read Killing Kennedy by Bill O'Reilly which was a biography of JFK.  So, I felt pretty knowledgeable about the assassination and the lives of both men.  So it was pretty interesting to me to walk the route that JFK's car took past this book depository and see where history had unfolded.

The X's on the road mark the spot where the gun shots entered JFK's body.  That night, I made Zac watch Killing Kennedy with me on Amazon Prime, so that he could appreciate the history of where we were too.

But Zac much preferred touring the Dallas Cowboys stadium, because that place has lots of cool history too!  Unfortunately, the turf wasn't down when we toured it due to another event, but it was still cool to see how they laid it down and pulled it up.

College helmets hanging in the Hall of Fame in AT&T Stadium.  These are the teams that won the Cotton Bowl.  Go BYU 1997!

In the locker room, they had staged Leighton Vander Esch's locker.  We love Vander Esch because he is a small-town Idaho boy from Riggins Idaho, who was a walk-on pick for Boise State and ended up playing for the Dallas Cowboys.  He is pretty cool!

After Zac was done doing business in Dallas, he needed to head to Houston to check on a project and then over to Port Arthur.  I made him take the "scenic" route and go through Waco so that we could stop at Magnolia Market.  Zac described the Magnolia complex as a Disneyland for middle-aged women!  Yep!  And I loved it!  Can't afford the pretty things there, but still loved it.

They even had a courtyard with every kind of food truck.  But all of the food trucks were darling and sold the most delicious food.  Since we were in the South, I got chicken and waffles.  It was so good and Zac got the most amazing Mac and Cheese!  Even the water bottles were fancy!

We had to buy plant name stands for Ashlyn.  She has become such a plant mama ever since she went to college and we knew she needed these.  There was a whole store dedicated to people obsessed with plants!

I had Zac deposit me on the beach in Galveston.  I have been there now about four times and I just love it.  There is something so historic and unassuming and beautiful.  The weather is pleasant and I really enjoy being there.

And Zac headed to Port Arthur the next morning.  He loved seeing the colorful beach houses on stilts!

What he didn't realize was that Google Maps took him on a route that required him to ride a ferry.  Neither of us have ever done that before and he was a little out of his element.  He had to park for about an hour waiting for his turn to board the ferry and take him across the inlet to Galveston.  It was frustrating to have to wait so long to go a couple of miles.  But cool to say he now did it!

If I keep traveling this much with Zac to job sites, I should probably invest in some cuter hardhats and safety gear.  Do they come in pink?