Dallas in December

Dallas, Texas . . .not one of my favorite places in the world, but we did have some memorable experiences while there.

We read about this restaurant, 'Off the Bone Barbeque' in the weekend cultural edition one of the Dallas newspapers does each weekend and decided we wanted to try it.  Getting here was another story, and quite the adventure.  After being followed, repeatedly honked at, cursed at, headlights continually flashed at us for miles, and being pulled up next to we thought some crazy Texan driver was out to get us. . . and we didn't even know what we did. 
This restaurant is incredible, and probably some of the best BBQ either of us have ever had. Converted from a gas station, they offer some of the best meat, baked beans, coleslaw, potato salad and lemon cake known to mankind. 

Also in the cultural edition, we read about a sculpture center that was having a special event. . . it turns out the special event was for kids.  We decided to take advantage of the opportunity and make ourselves some music makers.

While searching for the huge (that's what the paper indicated) gingerbread display (shown below) at the Uptown Mall we saw this group playing.  They had quite a few listeners and were fun to listen to.

  We had anticipated a much larger display . . . similar to the one at, say, Festival of the Trees. . . or something along those lines.  Was this display worth trying to find a parking spot for an hour, one might ask?  Probably not. . . but we had a fun time window shopping, watching the Oregon Ducks game on big screen TV's and eating frozen yogurt while we were there and have had a number of laughs about the experience since.

The Arlington Texas stake has a nativity 'Open House' each year for anyone and everyone who would like to see nativities from all around the world. I especially liked this one.

I visited the Dallas Arboretum.  On the grounds was a home, with hundreds of Santa Claus' and Christmas trees on display.  Here were a few of my favorites . . .

 

The next few are of some of the pretty scenery  at the Arboretum.

There are actually some chipmunks or squirrels in this one . . .

Also, while in Dallas, we went to museum where Kennedy was shot.  There were no pictures allowed in the museum, however, the 'X's' on the road indicate where Kennedy's car was when he was shot.

The upper right corner of the red-brick building was where the shots were fired from.

Surrounding buildings, including the Old Post Office.

You know you're in Texas when you find a chair like this.

Texas-size meal portions, fried okra and all.

The American Airlines basketball arena. We went from being afraid of being mugged to this in a matter of moments.

We went to the Utah Jazz/Dallas Mavericks game.  Despite the Jazz coming up short in the last few minutes, it was a fun memory and a great arena.  Dan especially enjoyed it.