our golden days - empty nester edition : random destination 2014/15

just before the holidays began, paul came up with the idea that since our time altogether as a family is so sadly rare these days, for new years we should all go on a trip

somewhere.........anywhere!

"let's find the cheapest flights from denver to any american city," he exclaimed with his

familiar impulsive and energetic adventurousness.

he quickly got to work............done............dallas it is, y'all!

so after Christmas, we headed south to dallas for five, fun days.

unfortunately, nicole was unable to join us as she had to return to l.a. for work. we'll just have to try this idea again sometime with her along as well. nicole, you were missed.

none of us had really been to dallas before. we just know the inside of the airport.

so, collecting brochures, suggestions and preferences, we had a wonderful, fantastic time!

so.....much.....to.....do.

a noticeable factor for us all was that we kept commenting on how kind, friendly and happy texans are. it was an added plus!

another advantage for heading to dallas was that ben's friend, kensey lives there. she was home for Christmas and was able to join us for most of the visit also cluing us in on "what to do."

where we went and what we highly recommend visiting:

- the sixth floor museum at dealey plaza - it is located at and chronicles the assasination

as well as the legacy of JFK, not to be missed!

- dallas arboretum and botanical garden

- dallas museum of art

- perot museum of nature and science - morphosis, the architectural firm nicole works for,

designed the beautiful building the perot museum is housed in

- dallas world aquarium - the star there is an amazing three-toed sloth

- ft. worth stock yards and national historic district

- billy bob's texas - world's largest country and western nightclub

where we ate and would highly recommend:

- torchy's tacos - the democrat was our hands down favorite

- whataburger - the whataburger ketchup is delicious, you can buy it at the grocery store and

take it home as a souvenir!

- joe t. garcias - in ft. worth

kensey's mom and dad very graciously and generously invited all of us to their

home for an authentic texas bar-b-q. i get it now, the renown texas bar-b-q! whoa, this was the highlight food feast of the trip! thank you again, carla and bill.

dealey plaza

dallas trolley heading towards the yellow x in the road where the first

bullet hit president kennedy.

dallas arboretum and botanical gardens

a special and new exhibit of the 12 days of Christmas was still on display while we were visiting the arboretum. throughout the gardens, twelve glassed in victorian gazebos featured whimsical animals and life-sized characters of the Christmas carol. what a treat! we took numerous photos at each of the gazebos but will spare you and just share a few of them :)