Goodbye Texas!

 

We had spent 5.5 days in Texas and only saw the Dallas Fort Worth area!  Other places in the state that we would like to see are 2 to 10 hours from this area.  Such a big state!

On our last day, we slept in and went out for breakfast at a place called Breakfast Brothers.  They are more known for chicken and waffles and catfish and waffles, but the boys got plain waffles, eggs and bacon; and I got French toast and bacon.  They drizzled caramel over the French toast.  Super yummy!

Camden and I also got donuts nearby for an airport snack.  The donut shop name was so close to Shirley that we could not resist them!

We then went back to Cavender's boot shop and Camden bought his cowboy hat.  He had to wear it on the plane.

Our last stop of the trip was to see the Mustangs of Las Colinas Sculpture.  It was a really cool sculpture of mustangs.  I had remembered seeing it on Walker Texas Ranger and was excited to see it in person.

 

We had had a big trip to Texas and now it was time to head home to our smaller state of South Carolina.  But we had a Texas size pile of laundry to do when we got home!

The Cowboys and the Rangers

 

Monday was our last full Texas day!  This was the day we went to Frisco to tour the Dallas Cowboy training facility-The Star in Frisco.  It was a very interesting tour led by a very dedicated Cowboy fan.  We also saw a player in the weight room.  No one we recognized, but still a Cowboy.  

Outdoor training field

The far goal post in narrower than normal to help the kicker with accuracy

The indoor practice field.  Local high schools take turns using the field for Friday night games, and some schools have graduation here.

The Cowboys first Superbowl trophy won in 1972

All five Cowboy Superbowl trophies

The team meeting room 

It includes a basketball net

Camden at the media table

Across the street from the Star was a boot store that sold the same boots that the Cowboy cheerleaders wear.  They were almost $1000!  

After our tour, we went to eat at Sidecar Social.  It was a cool restaurant with games like basketball, darts and skeeball.  There was also a karaoke area.  The food was good too!  

We also drove by Dud Perfect headquarters.  You can't go in, but we saw the outside.

We had a little pool time, before the storm hit.

Fortunately, the storm ended before we headed to the Rangers game.  We did take our raincoats in case of rain, however, the stadium is enclosed so we felt a little silly.  They have some interesting traditions.  They sing along with then National Anthem and yell the word "Star" when it comes up in the song.  They also sing God Bless America before they sing the 7th inning stretch song.  And they have one more song they sing later that we didn't recognize.  The popular thing that guys are doing now with taking their shirts off was joined by the horse mascot.  At first I thought the mascot only had a horse head and furry arms with the rest of him just wearing a baseball uniform.  But when he tore his shirt off, we found out he also has a furry chest!

 

The horse mascot coming out on the field

We split a brisket meal for dinner and a boot full of popcorn

Since Dave drives a Tundra, he had to take a picture of the Rangers Tundra 

Unfortunately, the Rangers lost to the Houston Astros.  But it was an historic game, according to Nathan, because the Astros had a no hitter.  And it was the first night of pitching for one of the Astros pitchers.  What a way to begin a career!  They stormed the field after the game.

It was a fun night to watch the Texas Rangers, and Camden has collected one more ice cream helmet bowl for his collection!

Moving slow on race day

 

Sunday was our race day which I have already blogged about.  I recently received pictures from the race photographer.  They show how we were working hard!

After we cleaned up from our run, and we definitely needed to clean up, we headed to the Dallas Zoo.  Although it was crowded, we were able to see the animals.  The elephants were our favorite, especially the one who threw mud on himself.  

The gorilla really liked his stick...he even got into a fight with another gorilla over it!

The gorilla giving us the look!

The elephant that was throwing mud on himself

What a cute baby elephant!

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The baby giraffe was super cute

The lions were having a nap outside a restaurant

This vulture was showing off! 

We stayed at the zoo for a couple of hours and then were getting very hungry and were slowing down.  We wanted Tex Mex, so we headed to El Fenix.  This place was recommended to us twice; once because of its history of being around since 1918 and the other because the chips were good.  Well the food was good, but the chips were phenomenal.  We had an enjoyable meal and then headed to the hotel to rest before the evening and dinner.    

But by dinner time, I wasn't feeling like eating or leaving the room.  So Dave and Camden went to dinner at burger joint.  They came back without rave reviews and we all just rested and relaxed for the evening.  We had had a long day and a lazy evening was what we needed!