A Trip to Dallas

Last Friday Bob decided on the spur of the moment to drive up to Fort Worth to take a look at a Bombi he was thinking about bidding on.  I thought that was a great idea and we could go visit Erin in Dallas at the same time.  Bob said no, she was going to be in California so we were just going up and coming back.  Well, just before we left I tried to call Erin "just in case" but she didn't answer so we figured she had left already.

Bob looks over the Bombi and decides it won't work in the snow

We were taking the scenic route up to Fort Worth and it truly was very beautiful!  The wildflowers were at their height of blooming and Texas is very proud of them.  Kim (or Micah?) was telling me that the city of San Antonio discourages mowing the right of ways of all highways so we can all enjoy the beauty.  Right now the yellow daisies, black eyed Susans and several other types of flowers are covering the sides and center of I-10 a few blocks from here.  The Bluebonnets were great last week and are still pretty much around but the yellow is overshadowing them!  I haven't got any pictures of them because of traffic and Bob's idea of travel which is go from point A to point B as quickly as possible without any stops.  Alyssa wants to walk over to the interstate to try to catch some butterflies for her butterfly house but I'm not going to get that near to the traffic!  On the way home on Sunday I did see people in the barrow pits with their cameras, but now I'm ahead of my story.  (As I was writing this, I decided to drive down to McDonalds and take some pictures from there so here they are).

I-10 right of way covered with wildflowers!

 Just off the I-10 exit going to Micah and Kim's house

  More I-10 wildflowers!

Back to my story.  We were on our way for less than an hour when I got a call from Erin and she not only was in Dallas but had all afternoon and all day Saturday off!  So we decided to stay up there until Sunday.  We were driving on a highway we had been on a year ago when we got lost coming home from Dallas.  I remembered a town I had fallen in love with, called Hico.  I talked Bob into stopping there for lunch.  We had been driving through the hill country of Texas which is very beautiful and great ranching country as well.  We also saw plenty of fancy horse ranches closer in to San Antonio and several goat ranches(??) too.  Around Johnson City they have huge wildflower seed farms.  I really would have liked to take a little detour and drive around where those were since it is wildflower season but the point A to point B was in full swing by then!  By the time we reached Hico the hills were still there but not quite as big and it is definitely cattle ranching and deer hunting country!  We pulled into a cafe called the Koffee Kup that looked like it was very popular and had a really good meal.  The best onion rings I've ever had (even better than Sonics!) and great pies were their specialties.  Many locals were taking whole pies home with them.  I still love that town.  It's not quite as small as Walden but I think the same kind of people live in it.  (you know, ranchers and just small town folk).

We made it up to Fort Worth, looked at the Bombi (not in very good shape) and gave Erin a call.  She got out the Garmin and gave directions for getting to her house.  Things went OK until we got on I-820 on the eastern outskirts of Fort Worth at about 3:30 PM.  A big wreck had occurred and traffic began to back up.  About 1 hour later moving an inch at a time we finally got by the wreck and were on our way again.  Next we got caught in rush hour traffic on I-635 in the middle of Dallas (due to our delay) and it was inching along again.  We finally got off and following Erin's directions we were going again.  And going, and going, and going...... and not finding the street we were supposed to turn on.  Finally we called her, told her where we were and discovered she had told us to turn right instead of left!  Soooo we turned around and followed her directions to make it there in a quicker way on the Dallas toll road.  However, she forgot it was rush hour so we were back in snail paced traffic!  We finally made it to her house around 6PM!  So much for her direction giving, must have inherited it from her mother.

 Erin is chillin' with the grandparents at our extended stay hotel at a very good price and very near her apartment

 Bob is also chillin'

We had a great weekend visiting, looking at apartments, eating, sitting by the pool and going to a movie (The Book of Eli--gory but I liked it.  Bob hated it), and driving by Carla's former house in Carrolton.  I even took a couple pictures of the house because it is so different from when we were there about 15 years ago!  The trees have all grown up and the street is very different with grown trees lining it!

 Carla and Jim's house when they lived in Carrolton (a suburb of Dallas)

Sorry about the blur

 
On Sunday we drove home with no problems.  We ate lunch in Lampassas which is an historic old town with the old stone buildings on the main drag!  Lots of picturesque towns on this route between Dallas and San Antonio. 
 

These are pictures  of more wildflowers along the road to Kim and Micah's house

Look at these huge thistles, but aren't they pretty?