Traipsing through Texas

Our fun, funky hotel!

Back in October, I had a super-fun, super-educational trip to Williamsburg, Virginia, planned for our little family. We were going to learn about the birth of America, zipline through the treetops, and eat tons of good food.

BUT, at the last moment, Hurricane Nate was spotted in the Gulf. Due to work, I had to cancel my trip just two days before departure. When it became clear a day or two later that we'd side-stepped any serious impacts from Nate, I was looking at a week of vacation time, but no flights, hotels, or car rentals. (In addition, re-booking the flights to Virginia was now cost-prohibitive. Plus, a full week of rain was in the forecast for Williamsburg.)

What to do? We decided to prop our vacation back up, but instead of going to Williamsburg, we set our sights on Dallas, Texas. It was close enough to drive, and I booked us a hotel room at literally the last minute. We piled our bags in the car, and we were off!

We typically fly to our vacation destinations, so it was interesting to drive for a change. We saw tons of wide, open spaces and lots of cows! We made one stop for lunch along the way, at a little Greek place call Athena Restaurant in Monroe, Louisiana. We ordered sampler plates and dug in to grape leaves, hummus, spinach pies, pita bread, and more. The food was delicious, the service was quick, and prices were reasonable. Recommended.

A study in leadership . . . !

When we arrived at the hotel after hours on the road, we were beat! We'd found the Lorenzo Hotel on Instagram. It looked fun, the location was close to downtown (though not as walkable as my usual choices - but, hey, we had the car this time), and most importantly, they had availability at the 11th hour! As we checked in, we discovered one of the nice staffers at the front desk was from our area! She gave us tons of tips and ideas for our unexpected week in Dallas, and then we went up to our room.

The Lorenzo Hotel is super-arty and really gorgeous. It has a fun, funky vibe (We were easily the least-hipster people there.), comfy rooms, and a nice on-site restaurant. (The restaurant serves good - but pricey - food. Service is friendly but slow. Go there when you're hungry, but not when you're on a tight schedule.)

Father and son at the George W. Bush
Presidential Library and Museum

We checked into our room, which had fantastic views of the Dallas skyline. We could see Reunion Tower and all the tall hotels/office buildings. We were pretty beat that first night, so we dinnered in the on-site restaurant and turned in early.

The next morning was a rare experience. Generally, when we take family vacations, I've done a lot of pre-planning. I have an itinerary, I've purchased tickets in advance, etc. But due to the unique circumstances of this trip, we awoke with no real plans. After a quick check on the internet, we decided to purchase a Dallas City Pass for each of us and let it help us decide what the must-see attractions were. It ended up being a GREAT idea! We purchased them online, and we were ready to go!

It was a warm, pretty day, so we decided to head out to the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.  This would make the third presidential library I'd had the opportunity to visit, having toured both the Clinton and Carter ones previously.

Before stopping in, we had a huge, indulgent breakfast nearby at The Knife. It's a steak house, but I'm thrilled to report that their Brioche French toast, their pancakes, and their bacon are all out of this world! Spendy, but fantastic, and the portions are HUGE!

Sated, we headed to the library. As this was our first City Pass attraction, we picked up our booklets here at the visitors' desk. The library is a large, beautiful facility. In the entryway atrium, there's a gorgeous show that's projected on the ceiling, showing beautiful panoramas of Texas. Also during our visit, they had a stirring exhibit of Bush's portraits of veterans on display. Incredibly moving. As you walked through, the audio guide featured the stories of the portrait subjects, read by Bush himself.

Other exhibits included a section on No Child Left Behind, an amazing 9/11 multimedia experience, and an Oval Office in which little man got to sit in the important chair and pretend he was in charge! There was also a really cool interactive section where you got to step through different crisis scenarios to discover how difficult it can be to make important decisions.

We ended our visit in the courtyard with a quick snack before heading to Pioneer Plaza to gape at the larger-than-life cattle drive statues, situated dramatically in a small park. Little man hopped up on a steer or two, and we followed the huge bronze sculptures all the way up the hill for a more complete view. Then, we poked around the adjacent cemetery for a while. Some of the graves there date back to the 1800s! After exploring a bit, it was back to the hotel for a break.

That night, we ventured out to City Hall Bistro for an early dinner. The beautiful blonde dining room and tasty small plates hit the spot! We tried the paella, the prawns, and a few other dishes, washed down with some yummy cocktails. This place was a little spendier, but the food was really good, and the service was so friendly and knowledgeable. After dinner, it was back to the hotel for some shut-eye.

The next morning was positively chilly! Searching for an indoor activity, we fell upon the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. What a mind-blowing attraction! We spent the next several hours learning about birds (and "creating" our own - complete with a custom song), ogling dinosaur bones, playing games of predator vs. prey, watching cool 3D movies, exploring space, feeling the shake of a major earthquake, seeing how a snake sheds its skin, running experiments on our own cheek cells, and programming robots to perform simple actions. Honestly, we did not want to leave. I can't recommend this place highly enough. You can easily spend a whole day here, and you still won't do everything. Just an amazing, amazing place.

When we finally left, we were starving. We decided to walk the scant two blocks to El Fenix for some yummy Mexican food. We weren't disappointed! We were seated as soon as we arrived, and then the deliciousness began. Chips and salsa, margaritas, quesadillas and more. Service was incredibly quick, and we gratefully filled our tummies. Prices were very reasonable, and soon, we were on our way back to the hotel for a lazy afternoon.

More to come . . .