Today started sad, as we awoke and prepared to depart San Antonio for the final time on this trip. We have had the best time ever with our family in San Antonio and have nothing but thanks to every single one of them for taking us into their hearts and home. Who would have thought 12 years ago that our friendship with Amber would become a whole new family as close to our hearts as any. To the Short family, thank you. We love you all, and promise to be back at some point in time.
We had originally planned to be on the road at 8am, and as Wendy was writing a note to Vicki Short to put with the thank you gifts we bought for her and the family she came home from work. It worked out well as this way we got to thank her personally, and after talking, hugs and sad farewells, we finally got on the road at 9:30am for the lengthy 5-hour drive up to Dallas. Wendy took the first shift, and took us through to just north of Waco, a about half the way home. I took over from there and drove the remainder of the trip, which was uneventful for the most part other than the rain that plagued us for the last hour going into and through Dallas.
Finally arriving back at the hotel we unloaded all our bags and got ourselves settled in. Jen had finished work for the day and came up and we ended up chatting for a bit before deciding on a plan; drive to Frisco and see if Rob was available, then head to the store to grab some groceries. Unfortunately, Rob was in a meeting so we never got a chance to talk to him this time. Not to worry, we’re there for an entire week, so anything is possible.
We then walked to the Stars Stuff Store. AKA the Official Merchandise Store of the Dallas Stars Ice Hockey Club. A mouthful eh? This store is huge… the size of a large home, this single room has everything Dallas Stars, and is a sight that is beathtaking, mouthwatering and awe-inspiring all at the same times. Authentic and replica jerseys, t-shirts, polo shirts, hoodies, track pants, pucks, sticks, skates, hockey gear, trinkets, toys… if you can think it, they mighth have it! We spent a good 40 minutes just looking at all the amazing products available before finally dragging ourselves away.
Jen had messaged Kelly and Jesse to see what they were doing, but unfortunately Kelly was working late and Jesse had a game of “drop-in” hockey. After a bit of back-and-forth banter between Wendy and Jesse he finally gave in and said he’d come over to Jen’s and hang with us. Go Wendy! So, our plans to visit the store went AWOL as we headed back to the hotel to catch up with Jessebean, as Wendy calls him. You wouldn’t believe it… Jen, who lives in this area and drives it often… got lost! So typical with us in the car, eh?
We finally got back and gave Jesse big hugs and had a chat and then after a bit of “what do you want” discussions, Jesse and Jen decided that we’d go to Uncle Julio’s, a mexican restaurant here in Dallas, for dinner. Dinner itself was really nice. Wendy went with the Chicken Fajitas while I opted for the “Juanita Platter”, which was a Taco, Enchiladas and something else (can’t remember). After a good meal, loads of laughs and an hour or 2 later, Wendy and I paid the bill and we left, with a new plan; pick up Stellina (Jen’s dog) and then go see Rhonda at school where she works as a drama teacher.
The rain sure didn’t make the drive easy, but we quickly found the pet place and picked up the dog, a toy Schnauzer. She’s a beautiful dog, with the most amazing personality. Apparently she normally barks at everybody new she meets, but with Wendy and I she was quiet and came right up to us. Pretty cool huh? Anyway, we picked her up then headed down the 635 (big look freeway around Dallas) and then onto the I-30 over to the school where Rhonda works. We met the kids and saw them doing the curtain call practice.
Did you know they even practice that? I can’t say i’d even thought about it in the past to be honest, but it’s really pretty cool that they do. We then got introduced as the friends from Australia and then the show was stolen by Stellina… who decided to relieve herself right there in the room. Unfortunately, the floor was sloped, so everything started running! While we’re literally cracking up laughing, Jen and Rhonda are busy getting it it cleaned up. The funniest part of the entire thing was Jen’s face when she saw what was happening… absolutely brilliant! A load of laughs later, we headed out for Rhondas house to pick up our boxes of goods we’d had mailed to her.
We handed out goodies to Jen (shot glasses for her collection), Rhonda (small books to appeal to her humour) and Jesse (a Moro chocolate bar and Canberra Raiders blanket to replace the Stars blanket he gave Wendy in 2006), and decided we’d all like some Braums Ice Cream… which apparently is “to die for”. Turns out… oh hell yes, that it is! I’m an ice cream elitist… sad to say, but it’s true. Ice cream is my #1 weakness, just ask anybody who knows me. This ice cream was truly amazing, rivaling anything else i can think of right now. So we had that then went back to Rhondas place, said our good-nights then drove back to drop off the dog at the hotel.
One of the best things about Dallas, and the US in general is Walmart. We’re talking about a huge store that sells groceries, pharmacy goods, clothes and other items.. think a huge supermarks and huge department store in one. Best thing about Walmart is that its open 24hrs a day, and at almost midnight, there were a LOT of people out shopping. Apparently it’s even busy at 4am. Wiggy eh? So anyway, we picked up groceries; high fibre cereal, low fat milk, earl grey tea, splenda, apples and bananas and also a few things from the pharmacy section; pain killers and sinus cold-and-flu tablets. By chance i was looking at the DVD section and found “My Bloody Valentine 3D” which came with 4 sets of 3D glasses for only $20, so picked that up also.
That done, we loaded up the car with our new goods and drop back to the hotel to settle down watching “Hoarders”, “How i met your mother” and a bit of “Big bang theory”, me working on my laptop while Wendy snuggled on the couch with Jen and Jesse – a truly adorable site! Gawd i wish i’d taken a photo of it!
Tonight we’re turning the alarms off. We don’t have any major plans, so we’re hoping for a good night of good quality sleep. After the last few nights, it shouldn’t be too hard.
