On Tuesday, April 2nd, 2002, My mother, brother (Tom), his wife (Sue), and their 2 girls (Rachel and Nicole) came to visit from Michigan during their spring break. They left on Saturday, April 6th. Pat and I took this opportunity to play tourist along with our visiting family. The weather while they were here was on the cool side, thus we did not spend as much time around the pool as what we otherwise might have. However, we did get to go and do things that we would not have done,
Tuesday evening, we took it easy and had dinner at our house. We played some cards and the girls had a 1000 piece puzzle to complete in their spare time. Tom, Sue, and my mother split the two upstairs bedrooms. Rachel and Nicole had the hide-a-bed in the family room. Rachel and Nicole also got their own pillow cases with their names stitched on the pillow cases.
On Wednesday, we head to downtown Dallas and go to Fair Park where we take in the Museum of Natural History. This is an ok museum but is not one of the elite museums in the USA. Fair Park itself is a neat place to see. It was built in the 1930's and contains many art deco buildings. In addition to the Museum, among other buildings it contains the Dallas Aquarium, Music Hall (where traveling summer musicals play their 2-4 week Dallas engagements and where other plays/musical performances are put on), Women's Pavilion building, Hall of State building, an ice rink and the Cotton Bowl. The State Fair of Texas is held here every year for four to five weeks in September and October. So it also has a midway, livestock buildings, etc. Fair Park is quite a place.
The Museum of Natural History concentrates on the DFW area as well as the state of Texas. From this perspective, it is quite an enjoyable place to visit. Displays of dinosaurs, wolf, elk, deer, coyotes, prehistoric fish, and other Texas natives are well done.
The photos from Fair Park that I took are below.
Around the Museum of Natural History
The Cotton Bowl
We then had lunch in the West End district of Dallas (just west of Downtown). To get to the West End from Fair Park, we went thru Deep Ellum (an area East of downtown Dallas undergoing a renaissance), and then thru downtown Dallas (the girls got to look up at the tall buildings lining the street. Deep Ellum contains many restaurants, clubs, tattoo parlors as well as other businesses. The West End has a lot of restaurants and shops geared toward extracting money from tourists. After lunch and shopping, we head back to the house.
Before returning to the house, I take them by Texas Stadium, home of the world famous Dallas Cowboys. We end up taking some photos.
We again have dinner at our house and play cards in the evening.
On Thursday, we decide to go to the Fort Worth Zoo. Commentary and photos are on the Ft. Worth Zoo link immediately below.
After the Zoo, we go back to our house to freshen up. We are going out to dinner tonight at the Trail Dust restaurant. This is a Texas steakhouse and is a tradition for visitors. It has both a dance floor and a two story slide for the young and the young at heart.
Before we go to dinner, my Mother, Tom and Sue give Pat and I a wedding anniversary gift. Today is our 32nd wedding anniversary. Mom and Tom also buy us dinner this evening.
On Friday, we relax around the house in the morning and in the afternoon go to a movie and see Ice Age. This was a cute movie. I do fire up the hot tub those who are interested. Here are some photos from the hot tub.
Tom, Sue, Rachel, Nicole and my mother leave early Saturday morning. It is a two day drive back to Michigan and Rachel and Nicole have school on Monday.
Pat and I enjoyed this week. It was good to see them. Now back to our daily routines.
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