Dallas/Ft. Worth

Dallas/Ft. Worth 

 

M 7/14 night

T 7/15

W 7/16 morning

We left New Orleans Monday morning, and decided to skip Austin, TX and drive straight to Dallas/Ft. Worth.  This was another long ride, and we expected it to take between 7-8 hours.  Heading Northwest out of New Orleans was pretty uneventful.  Once you get 10 or so miles out of New Orleans it feels like you're back in the Midwest, with tall green trees.  On the way out of New Orleans, I called my friend Trent who grew up in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, to ask him for ideas of things to do in Dallas/Ft. Worth.  Trent, being Trent, said he'd send me an email in 15 minutes and follow up with a call.  In that 15 minutes, he made a google map of what we should do, called his parents who then offered to let us stay with them, and sent back an itinerary for what to do while there.  We declined the gracious invite to his parent's house, as we were really in our own little world and having a good time there.  We really appreciated Trent's southern hospitality, and his parents gracious offer to park our RV at their hose and stay there.  

We did our usual hands and legs up scream crossing over the Texas state line.  It began to get really hot once we made our way further into Texas.  It was 100 degrees and the car air conditioner could barely keep us cool enough.  The kids have become accustomed to the drive now.  Arden lays there under a blanket and watches shows and palys games on her Ipad or reads, Tracy sits up front with me, and Davis bugs Tracy and I.  I swear he spoke for a few hours straight.  

We planned to stay at the Arlington KOA which is between Dallas and Ft. Worth.  We've had good luck with KOAs.  As we got 20 miles from Dallas it started storming really bad.  Staying in the RV while it's raining is a bad idea, as it's really loud and the vents leak in a few spots, one right onto our bed.  We audibled and decided to go to the Hyatt Place which is dog friendly.  As we were audibling I said "good audible babe" to Tracy and she said, "what's an audible?"  I explained to her how Payton Manning says "Omaha" at the line and then a bunch of other words that are usually audibles changing the play at the line of scrimmage, and she ignored me.  We got to the Hyatt Place pretty late, and checked in and got our two adjoining rooms.  I wrote the blog post for New Orleans, while Tracy watched TV.  The kids went to sleep right away.  

7/14 favorite part of the day

Arden - when we got to eat dinner because she's starving

Daddy - when Davis lied about winning old maid 

Davis - when we left New Orleans and drove a lot of hours 

Mom - everyone slept in really well at hotel 

In the morning we woke up and had the free breakfast downstiars.  Living the way we've been leaving the last 5 weeks, makes a free breakfast downstairs taste really good.  After breakfast we checked the weather, which looked ok, so we decided to go the KOA for tonight.  We drove the RV over there and got settled.  This KOA was pretty nice.  It had a pool and a decent playground for the kids.  While Tracy played with the kids, I got the rental car set up, and we decided to go to Six Flags theme park in Arlington.   

On the way to Six Flags we stopped at the gas station to buy a coke product to get $15 off our admission.  They did this when I was a kid at the Six Flags in Gurnee, IL and it makes no sense to me.  If you buy a $1 pop you get $15 off your admission?  When we got to the park, I parked in the last parking spot.  You could not have parked farther from the entrance than I did.  The kids and Tracy all asked why we parked so far away and I responded "because at the end of the day when everyone's fighting to get out of here we'll be the first ones out right!?"  They didn't get it and started walking.  For those of you that don't get it watch National Lampoon's Vacation.  

Let me start by sharing I hate roller coasters, tea cups, and other than carnival games theme parks in general.  Oh, except for water rides.  I get sick on all of the rides and refuse to not go, because I think it's important to go with the kids.  As soon as we walked in we went on the ride that is a spaceship or sometimes a pirate ship, AKA the vomit comit, that goes back and forth swinging like a pendulum until it finally reaches the point where it tips over and makes a complete cirlce.  After this ride I felt sick the rest of the day.  Then we went on the swings where you go around in a circle.  I felt even sicker.  The next ride was a mini roller coaster that didn't make me that sick but was really lame.  At this point I was done with all the rides, and Tracy could tell. We stopped for a snack and a fresh squeezeed lemonade to try and make me feel better.  The kids and her went on a few other rides while I relaxed.  It was getting pretty hot out so, the kids wanted to go on a water ride.  I was happy to switch with Tracy and go with them while she watched.  Ironically, she hates water rides.  This water ride was a big boat that went down a big drop, splashed water on everyone and that was it.  Arden hates getting wet like Tracy, and asked in line if we'd get wet.  I told her probably a little, but not much, even though everyone leaving the ride was clearly soaked.  Arden was fine once we got to the end, and after the ride when we were completely soaked, she wanted to do it again.  

After the water ride we came back to a basketball carnival game Davis and Arden played earlier.  Davis really wanted me to play and try to win him a toy.  I had played earlier and didn't make 4 baskets from behind the three point line.  I'm not much of a basketball guy, but when your son wants you to win him a crappy basketball in a carnival, you mortgage the house to do it.  I went and only got three baskets.  There was no way I was missing out on a $2 prize from China by one point.  I went again and on the last ball made my 4th point and Davis got his basketball.  It cost me $40.  I was a proud Dad.  

This is a $40 basketball 

We still had time for one more activity so we took Trent's advice and took the kids to the Ft. Worth Stockyards.  Decades, maybe a century ago, this was the trading post for cattle and farmers, but now it's a tourist trap.  We went to Billy Bob's Texas which is the world's largest honkey tonk.  They had recent concert and had 6,000 guests to show how huge this place is.  At 3pm on a Tuesday there are about 20 people there, including the employees.  We ate some BBQ, took some pictures with the bull, and played some video games.  The kids and we were hitting a wall, so we hopped in the car to go back to the RV park, swim and hangout.  It was nice to hang out and take it easy for a few hours in the pool.  Eventually we forced the kids to shower up, and we all went to bed.  

7/15 Fave part of day 

Arden - going to six flags and the water ride and sitting on the bull at billy bobs Texas 

Mom - free breakfast at hotel

Davis - when daddy won bball for me and when they stood on bridge and got soaked 

Dad - winning the $40 bball for d 

Wednesday morning we woke up and drove to get breakfast down the street. After breakfast the kids insisted on playing baseball, so I pitched to them while Tracy showered.  We planned to drive to Amarillo, which Tracy kept calling Armadillo, which is about a 6 hour drive.  We left around 10 am.