Monday, June 8, 2009

VIsit to "Big D"

Nick and I took a weekend trip to Dallas for a family wedding this past weekend. It was a nice getaway just the two of us. Trey stayed at Mimi & Poppy's, and had fun going to the museum, riding bikes, building fires in the chiminea, and making smores!

We left on Friday morning and got there around 4pm. We stayed with the family at The Adolphus Hotel, right in downtown and it was fabulous! The rehearsal dinner was at 7pm. My husbands cousin was getting married, lemme give you a little background and this will all make sense! Nick's cousin (the Groom's father) owns a Budweiser distributorship in Brenham, he was a wholesale beer distributor lobbyist for 15 years. The bride's father owns one of the largest construction companies in the country, you'll see why this was such an extravagant weekend! ;)
The dinner was at a place in the West End district called YO Ranch Steakhouse (check out the website, it's awesome). This place has so much memorabilia and fantastic photos from the 20's. We sat by the owner and his family and they told great stories from way back when. It was one of the best steaks I've ever had. The whole place was awesome, and we were there a while, from about 7pm to 2 am! We had a 5 course meal and dessert you wouldn't believe! There was umlimited amounts of beer (Bud of course!) and wine, actually whatever you wanted, all you had to do was ask. The staff was amazing dealing with all 200 of us, serving our drinks cold and our food hot! Lots Aggies roaming around, plenty of stories, photos of the bride and groom, lots of love and well-wishes! Most of the groomsmen work in DC for various lobbyists and congressmen, so imagine the schmoozing going on! I think out of all the festivities thru the weekend, this was the most fun! Mike's Mom, Aunt Bibby, even showed up, she was really sick and they didn't think she'd make it (as in live) much less come to the wedding, but she promised Michael she'd be there and she was. She was a trooper too, she was there until almost midnight, and stayed awake too! Bless her heart!


Saturday Nick and I had the day to be tourists, it had been about 20 years since I'd been in Dallas. I had a list of things I wanted to do... if you know me, lists are friends!! Nick's best friend Patrick works in N. Richland Hills, so we took a drive. He works at Cabela's and we spent 2 hours there, it is HUGE! Then we plugged in Simone (GPS) and off we went to play tourist! I wanted to go to the Sixth Floor Museum, it was a gorgeous day, so we parked there and visited the Grassy Knoll, the Book Depository, and the reflection pool and memorials. It was very surreal to realize what had taken place there (since we weren't born when JFK was assassinated)and see all the memories, photos, newspapers, Jackie's jewelry, etc. We wandered around town and found Pioneer Park, there were lifesize bronze statues of a cattle drive, pictures don't do it justice, they were down a hill, across a stream, everywhere!!


standing on the "X"
on the grassy knoll

pioneer park

The wedding was at a church on the campus of SMU, Highland Park United Methodist. It was a huge gorgeous old church, made for a beautiful wedding! It was a short and sweet wedding, my favorite kind! We didn't hang there long, headed back to the hotel where the reception was. When we got there, in the foyer of the Grand Ballroom they had an ice sculpture and a table with goodies, cheeses, breads and fruit. Good thing because we were both starving! Oh and the first of many bars we'd see! The ballroom was gorgeous, the cakes; incredible and the band was awesome! We grabbed a table and enjoyed the music for a while, then got some dinner. Everything was great, the wedding party showed up and started the dances. By now my feet were killing me, and I saw alot of bare feet, so I joined in! By the time midnight rolled around and the carriage arrived for the bride and groom, I was more then ready to go up to our room.




the groom's cake!
my aching feet!

The next morning we had a brunch to attend and it too was wonderful, but I was ready to get home and sit still for a bit. I was pooped! Trey was ready to be at his own home too, nothing like home after a trip. Thanks for reading this far, hope you enjoyed it!


2 comments:

Forgetfulone said...

Pioneer park! I didn't see those pics on FB. How'd I miss that? All of it looks so fun! I'm glad you had a great time.

D... said...

Yeah, I don't think the Pioneer Park pics were on FB. That looks like something my daughter would really enjoy.

Loved the cakes, too.