Originally this was a Dallas is this way and here is how Austin is different with a short trip recap at the beginning, however the recap went long and I decided to just incorporate differences in the story.
We left around 7 on Sat morning, I had made us coffee for the road, and we made it to the czech stop in West around 8.30. If you are ever driving on I35 south out of Dallas, I highly recommend stopping by. It's a 24 hr bakery that makes some of the best things I have ever tasted. We stick to the fruit kolaches, of which there are about 16 varieties. Personal fave is the peach with the apricot a very close second. If you are coming up from Austin it is a must stop since you will be hitting traffic in Hillsboro in 10 miles. Why would there be traffic in a little freeway town 60 miles south of Dallas? Well, because the town has passed a local law which requires the freeway to be under construction for the next 300 years. No I'm serious, they have been working on this 8 mile stretch of highway for at least 15 years. It also happens to be the town where I35 splits into 2 legs, one going to Fort Worth and the other to the big D. So get ready to wait.
We got to Dallas around 10 and started our day antique shopping in south Dallas. There is a great strip on N Riverfront Blvd with a handful of must see stores. Lula B's West, White Elephant, and Lost Antiques all have large showrooms full of hours worth of stuff to wander through and wonder at. At White Elephant we found some great floral prints that Linds will be framing and hanging around the house. If you are in to vintage motorcycles then check out Lost which has a small 60's and 70's European bike museum. After a couple hours of antiqe'ing we started to get pretty hungry. We ended up at Coal Vines a pizza and wine bar that has brunch on the weekends. Brick oven style pizzas with that perfect bubbly and chewy crust, services was a little slow but everything we had was really good.
I'm taking a quick break from the recap to give you a big difference in Dallas and Austin...... the roads. Wow! Dallas roads are so bad, everything is being re-striped and the lanes are always closing and shifting. We have ZERO areas in Austin where the roads are mis-striped or the stripes are just missing. In Dallas it is the rule not the exception. As a normal driver I would slow down when the road lost all its stripes as two freeways merged, the locals think this is the best place to hit the gas and drive 15,20,25 over the speed limit. I am not just complaining we missed being rear-ended by 2 seconds, literally a truck didn't see my blinker, threw on his brakes, he got rear-ended and got pushed right into the place we were turning from.
After lunch we ended up driving by the old Texas Stadium site. It was really strange for it not to be there. Then we drove by El Chico's. Not just any El Chico's but the one in Irving. The place where Log has his greatest story. Some time in 96 or 97 Dad took the fam up to see a Cowboys pre-season game. The boys had just re-acquired Hershel Walker and Dad really wanted to go (The parents were living in Georgia during Hershel's college days and I guess he was a big fan). We had lunch at the El Chico since that was our favorite place to eat as kids. After the meal, Logan just had to have dessert. He begged and he pleaded and finally he was able to order the brownie al a mode. The brownie is served on a smoking hot fajita skillet that you can hear hissing and steaming as they bring it out to you. Logan requested that it be placed in front of him, and as the waitress sat it on the table she looked right at him and said "be careful the plate is really hot." Well..... it wasn't sitting quite close enough to Logie so he reached out and grabbed the plate to scoot it closer. At which time at the top of his lungs he yells
"AAAAAAAAAAAWE!!!!! IT'S HOT!"
The waitress gives him a "what did you expect look" and Log crams his burnt hand into the coldest thing he can find...... a Dr. Pepper, which goes everywhere. At this point he is crying out and the whole restaurant is watching us. Ty and I are dying of laughter, in hindsight kind of cruel, and we proceed to replay the scene over and over. The Cowboy game wasn't any different. Logan kept ordering Lemon Chills to put his hand in, I kept scolding him as to the cost of 7 Lemon Chills at a sporting event, Ty kept saying "don't touch it, it's hot........ oooooooo! it's hot", mom was getting upset that we wouldn't leave him alone, Blake was mad that he wasn't getting his own Lemon Chill, and Dad just wanted to watch Herschel return a few kicks.
We spent the afternoon checking out North Park Mall(Linz' fave), which is so much better than any of the malls here in the ATX. Its wide open, has every store you could want, and is built in a square around a nice park area which allows you to see the sun and take shortcuts to the other sides. I couldn't help but notice that I was not wearing the accepted Dallas bro attire. Me: khaki shorts, solid polo, flip flops, old Timex watch, silly bands, short but un-styled hair. Dallas bro: loud shorts- plaid, stripes, cammo; "affliction" or ed hardy t-shirt; running shoes; huge blinged up watch; heavy and I mean plastered hair (possible Jersey Shore stunt doubles????). In Austin, a guy dressed like that would be laughed at, in Dallas that was 90% of the guys my age. The girls..... well, I have no clue. But, I did over hear a classic line that I hope to work into a conversation soon. Ok, here is the scene: 3 cute to fairly cute blond teenager girls followed by 2 equally cute but frumpy dressed brunets about 10 ft behind them. As they walk by I hear one brunet say to the other in reference to the blonds, "well, I guess anorexia is still in season" totally loud enough for the other girls to hear. Whoa!
We finished the day at pinkberry, Linz' little slice of heaven. Then made the 3 hour drive back home. We had a lot of fun in Dallas and can't wait to go back. Funny thing is.... I think I have been to Nashville more times in the last 2 years than Dallas and it is only 3 hrs away (drive-throughs on the way somewhere else don't count). But I think we will/should make it a few times a year kind of thing, it's really a neat city.
Hope to get some pics of the the floral prints up soon.
Thanks for the read.
This was my weekend post, I started on Sunday morning, but it has since taken me 4 different sittings and it is now Tuesday, oh well.
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