deep in the heart of texas

Just got back from an amazing weekend in Dallas! Megan and Stephanie are living there right now and Anna and Chelsea and I drove out there to visit them. I was lucky enough to bum a ride with Anna and Chelsea on their way to Nashville.

The car ride was long (about 17 hours with stops) but so fun! Along the way we bought fireworks, ate some delicious Mexican food, played a card game for old women and at one point drove for seven hours straight without ever stopping (which was apparently my fault... even though I told them we could stop at Starbucks). Oh, and I got to stop and see the house I grew up in in Allen, Texas. I haven't been there since I was 8 so it brought back a lot of memories.

My Childhood Home in TX

After two days of driving we arrived in Dallas and met up with Megan and Stephanie. First of all I love Dallas and where they live (Uptown Dallas) is just sooo adorable!! Megan lives in this beautiful skyscraper building that has amazing views of downtown Dallas and Steph lives in this adorable complex with brick brownstones just down the street (literally you can walk to it). For dinner we went to a delicious burger place and then went out dancing afterward. We met up with Alice who Anna and I had met in Panama on a medical mission trip last summer. We have been pen pals with her the past year and it was so great to see her again! We all had such a fun time!!

Day 2
The next day we went to downtown Dallas to walk around the Taste of Dallas festival. There was music, food, art and everything. But boy was it hot!!! I think I prefer dry 112 degree Arizona weather to the humid Dallas weather any day. It wasn't even that humid that day but it felt awful. We ended up eating lunch at a place called Gator's, which we all agreed we wouldn't eat at again. Steph got COLD wings and they forgot the avocado on Megan's sandwich (mind you, that was the second day in a row that had happended to her). And... the nachos were strange because they had lots of lettuce on it (I think there was more salad than chips).

That night was the perfect end to an amazing weekend. Megan and Steph have a list of things that they want to do in Dallas and on their list was a place called Pete's Dueling Piano Bar. We decided to go there and it ended up being such a FUN night. A dueling piano bar is literally just a big bar with tables with a stage and two pianos. And from 8pm until 2am they have two people "duel" and play pianos all night. You can throw requests up to the front by writing them down on a napkin and they will literally play you ANYTHING that you request (from rap to country to 80s rock). We requested "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and I'm pretty sure the five of us were the only people in the entire place singing at the top of our lungs. It was so much fun and we stayed for about 4 hours but we could have easily stayed till 2 am. Oh, and it did help that Anna used "gold coins" (they are real and are actual dollar bills but I swear they look like chuckie cheese coins). Apparently the owner's son collects the "gold coins" so we got a table right up front (in Vegas you have to have lots of bills to get a table but in Texas all it takes is a few gold coins haha). So front row seats, lots of singing & laughing made for one of the most fun nights ever.

The Bouncer who Loved Anna and Her Gold Coins

Day 3
In the morning we had brunch at an amazing restaurant right next door to Megan's place called Breadwinners. Let me just say that this place definitely has the word "winners" in their name for a reason. I think this was the best breakfast I have ever had and for me, because breaskfast is my absolutely favorite, that is a big deal. I had this decadent banana bread french toast. It was literally freshly baked slices of banana bread that had been turned into french toast... aka 4 slices of heaven! Megan was right, Dallas is like the restaurant capital of the US or something because there are restaurants everywhere. All I can say is that she is lucky to live right next door to that place.

After seeing Anna, Chelsea and Anna's fish Cappy off to Nashville, Megan took me to the airport. Now, I have one piece of advice to anyone who travels: Do NOT leave your car keys anywhere. I definitely left them in Dallas at Steph's place so for now I am carless. If my head wasn't attached to my body...

To be continued...
So after a FABULOUS weekend of feeling so grown up visiting friends in their grown-up apartments we have all decided we are going to repeat this in the future. Every year we're gonna get together for a weekend somewhere to visit someone or to just go somewhere. I don't know if we actually named this event/group but I think the name "Escapade Brigade" was tossed around. I know it's cheesy, but I'll take the blame. So.. this fun will be repeated!