Two of my best friends from college came to visit the first weekend in May. It was so great to see them since I hadn't seen them since December, & it felt so nice taking a long weekend from work.
I picked them up from the airport around 1:30 on Friday afternoon & dropped them off again around 4:30 Monday afternoon. We managed to pack a lot into our 75 hours. If I was still working on my 101 in 1001 list their visit definitely would have counted as "be a tourist in DFW."
Friday night we went out in the Stockyards. We of course went to Star Cafe for supper because Steak Salad. Not only would that have been where we went because Sonja had never been & I feel the need to bring anyone, but Kayla asked before I could even suggest it. I took her when she visited last year. I'm telling you, it leaves an impression! After supper we just hit up a couple of different bars down there & made friends with various people at each new place.
We went to brunch at Johnathon's in Oak Cliff. I had been wanting to go there for awhile, & pretty sure I even suggested it as an option when Kayla was visiting last year when we met up with my friends Helen & Caleb. We all got The Kure for breakfast & it was SO good! Sonja & I did the build your own bloody bar while Kayla got a mimosa. It was such a nice day out for the patio & despite being busy, our waiter was super awesome!
After brunch we wandered around Bishop Arts. I love each of the different areas of Dallas, well I'm not really an Uptown Girl (cue Billy Joel), but I love how unique each area is. I definitely like each of them for different occasions. Anyway, Bishop Arts was Sonja's request. So we spent the afternoon wandering up & down Bishop Ave in & out of different little boutiques. At the end I made them take a detour down a side road so that we could go to Wild Detectives for coffee because I needed to be caffeinated. We had been out super late the night before & still had a night ahead of us.
We went home, changed, hung out for a bit, & then headed to Deep Ellum. Deep Ellum was Kayla's request & probably my favorite of the Dallas areas. We had plans of mural hunting, & did see a couple, but hunger won out. First stop, the Green Room because I am obsessed with their bacon wrapped jalapenos. We hung out on the rooftop there for a bit sharing some appetizers & having some drinks before heading to Mama Tried. Mama Tried is fairly new so I had never been there before. It wasn't quite what I was expecting but the outdoor area was cool. We played a few rounds of giant Jenga & my friend Raeann stopped by to say hi on the way to a concert. We all decided that we were hungry though so I took the to Deep Ellum Brewing for some loaded tots. We called it a night around 10-10:30 & headed back home.
Sunday we headed 2 hours east to Lindale so we could go to Miranda Lambert's Pink Pistol. Sonja had never been, Kayla loved it last time, & I've managed to find cute stuff there every single time I've gone. Which really isn't a ton because it's 2 hours away, but I've been a handful of times. This time I walked away with a dress & a skirt. Still trying to find tops & shoes to wear with the skirt. I am open to suggestions! We of course also got some of Miranda's wine while we were there. Love & War in Texas used to be attached to the store & it wasn't until writing this post that I learned that in the last year it has changed it's name to Texas Music City. The food was the same, the decor was the same, I would have never have guessed. The food there is really good & it was obviously in a convenient location so we had lunch there before heading back to Dallas.
We had accomplished pretty much everything on our to see list by that point except for a few items. I really wanted to go to a winery or wine bar near me, any winery/wine bar, because there are quite a few by me & I've never been to any of them. We went to Umbra. It was a fairly random selection. We just went to Main St in Grapevine & wandered into the first one we saw that was open.
I also really wanted to go to Cauldron Ice Cream. I would 100% be lying if I said I wanted to go for any reason other than Instagram. However, the ice cream really is amazing & the Belgian waffle puff cone...YUM! I just got salted caramel this time around, but now that I've done my Instagram thing I want to go back & try some other flavors. They had one called Rose H2O & I'm really interested in that one!
I also really wanted to go to Cauldron Ice Cream. I would 100% be lying if I said I wanted to go for any reason other than Instagram. However, the ice cream really is amazing & the Belgian waffle puff cone...YUM! I just got salted caramel this time around, but now that I've done my Instagram thing I want to go back & try some other flavors. They had one called Rose H2O & I'm really interested in that one!
On their last day in Dallas there was only one thing left on the list to do. But first brunch! We went to Ellen's in downtown Dallas & of course sat on the patio. I got shrimp & grits which I have been craving for approximately a year & a half. The fact that I haven't just gotten them at some point in the last year & a half while living in the south is 100% on me. But I did it. I got them. They were good, not as good as the ones I had a year & a half ago in Deep Ellum, but still good. I think I'm going to tackle my own this summer...
After brunch it was onto the last thing on our list, The Sixth Floor Museum. The fact that I've lived in the DFW are for 4 years now, am a history teacher, & have never been there before is a little weird. I blame it on the fact that you almost never do the touristy things in your own town though. It was really well done. You get your own headset with a handheld device that lets you go through the museum at your own pace.
That museum is one of the 5 places you can visit if you get a CityPass. However with the pass you can only choose 3 of them. But now that I've done that one, I'm thinking that when I get back from MN this summer I'm going to buy the pass & visit 3 of the other ones (Reunion Tower, Perot Musuem, & Dallas Zoo) before school gets started again.
Because we still had some time to kill before they had to be at the airport & the weather was nice, we ended our busy weekend by just relaxing by the pool listening to some 90s & 2000s hip hop.
