We had fun, fun, fun

until Michigan took our dream away.

The fun started in a Walmart parking lot in Wichita Falls, Texas on Sunday as we watched the fightin’ Texas Aggies pull off an astounding win over University of North Carolina. Can’t imagine what folks were thinking as we strolled through Walmart in a daze with silly grins plastered on our faces. 

Monday we floated on down to Lewisville Lake near Dallas. After setting up camp in the Corps of Engineers Park,

we got together with some of our Texas friends.

(You may remember them from our Italy trip in 2016)

It goes without saying, when we are with these folks, we have fun!

You have heard us say on more than one occasion, we love the small towns we have discovered across this great country. However....we do enjoy slipping into the city from time to time. Since Dallas is where Captain began his career over four decades ago, it is always fun to return and reminisce . So we hopped on the DART (which wasn’t in existence when Captain lived there)

and headed downtown. First stop, Dallas Museum of Art.

Lady with a Red Hat, Frank Duveneck

Painting by Winston Churchill

Acrylic on Canvas

We were impressed with the museum (which had just opened when Captain worked downtown) especially the high school student exhibit. Wow, there is a lot of talent in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area!

Leaving the art museum, we strolled over to Klyde Warren Park (which was a concrete canyon of a freeway when Captain left Dallas....they decked over part of the freeway to create a green space north of downtown) where we had a choice of lunch from the food trucks.

The park is a beautiful lawn surrounded with tables and chairs, 

an innovative playground (with a really soft and squishy surface,)

a rack with magazines as well as a cart with games for folks to borrow as they relax in the park. Pretty cool! 

While eating a snack in the park we noticed a trolley

so we jumped on board and did a little touring (and Captain continued his narrative of how it used to be.) He finds it hard to believe how exponentially the city has grown over the past 25 years. 

The trolley has an interesting history.

This fun day in Dallas cost us a total of $25 ($5 each for a DART day pass, $15 for our food truck snack.) The art museum and trolley were free. What a bargain!

We had so much fun in Dallas on Tuesday, wee decided to return on Wednesday. This time we took the tandem. We started on the Cottonwood trail, riding along and under the freeways.

This may seem like a really cool ride but in reality it is somewhat risky. In cities like Dallas, homeless people tend to camp out under the freeways, leaving shattered glass along the bike paths putting the cyclist at risk for flat tires. On this particular trail, Captain was able to maneuver around the glass and we did not flat.

Following the Cottonwood Trail east, we connected to the White Rock Creek Trail and had a beautiful ride around White Rock Lake. (No photos due to our aging computer issue. Happy it held up until our last post from our Winter 2018 trip.)

Definitely plan to return and cycle more of the trails in East Dallas

We ended the week celebrating the 65th birthdays of the members of A&M Consolidated High School Class of ‘71. 

For one evening we all slipped back into the hippy days. Yes, most if not all were under the influence of drugs (for blood pressure, arthritis, asthma, etc.)

We are headed for San Antonio! That was our dream, but it was dowsed by Michigan. We will be watching the Final Four in College Station.