A Little Vacation: Went To Texas, Got Wet, Came Home

/ Ally Bean

:: Late last week we went to Texas to visit Austin, TX, but our little extended weekend vacay took a different turn, and we ended up in Dallas, TX.

Perhaps you heard about Hurricane Patricia?

While both cities were soaked by this unprecedented storm, after getting to Texas, driving to Austin & finding ourselves in the moldiest suburban Hilton Garden Inn room ever, we reconsidered our plans & decided to focus on Dallas instead of messing around with Austin, which was more directly in the path of the storm.

And had unbelievably expensive hotel rooms.  [$200.00 per night for a downtown budget Motel 6 room. That’s without taxes. And, of course, no room service available in the place.]

DSCN6053

Photo of bleak wet world as seen from room window in Marriott Hotel at Legacy Town Center in Plano, TX, October 2015.

:: I’m glad that we made a change in our plans and chose to goof-off in Dallas, even though the whole region had the most amazingly consistent gray sky that I’ve ever seen.

A sky that some might be tempted to say was gloomy and foreboding.

A sky that seemed to hover over us as we drove around Dallas on about seventy hundred thousand different highways, toll roads, expressways + freeways, in the rain, while Siri told us how to reroute ourselves to avoid flash flooding.

:: So what did we do?  Activities that kept us dry, of course.

  • We visited the Dallas Museum of Art [fascinating American silver collection, Islamic art + Inca artifacts].
  • We visited the Museum of Geometric and MADI Art [art displayed partly in museum and partly in law firm that shares the building with the museum].
  • We drove to, but were unable to see, the Heritage Farmstead Museum in Plano, TX, because it was closed due to flooding.
  • Then, despite my dislike of malls, we went to NorthPark Center, an upscale 50-year-old mall, incredibly clean– and about as soulless as a mall can get.
  • Continuing on went to another mall, The Shops at Willow Bend, which for a mall wasn’t so bad. I guess.  Zen-Den bought a few shirts at Dillard’s, so not a total waste of time.

:: Do I have a conclusion?  Well, I don’t know. Sort of.

All I can tell you, gentle readers, is that I am not unfamiliar with vacations not going as planned.  I am nothing if not adaptable.  Meaning that while I didn’t return from our vacation rejuvenated by local cuisine, music and artsy-fartsy Austin stuff, I’m happy that I got to see a little bit of Dallas, TX.

Which is massive, affluent, with lots of new buildings, friendly people and, in my experience, incredibly wet.  😉

21 thoughts on “A Little Vacation: Went To Texas, Got Wet, Came Home”

  1. Glad you got to see a few museums while visiting Dallas. That was an excellent idea for a rainy day. Then you felt like you weren’t wasting good weather while being inside. I remember living outside of Houston. It only rained a handful of times the year we lived there, and every time there was flooding. The ground was hard clay and there was nowhere for the water to go. I can’t imagine getting a ton of rain like they’ve been having lately! You always make the best of things!

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    • Beth, the Dallas museums were wonderful, but not at all what we’d planned to be doing. I was looking forward to being outside in Austin one last warm weekend before winter. HOWEVER, the torrential rain changed that. So. Much. Rain.

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  2. I’m glad you found some things to entertain yourselves despite the hurricane. Unfortunate timing but an adventure that you can embellish in years to come. As a matter of minor interest, your hurricane has been interfering with my friend calling me from Australia.

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    • Zazzy, I like your idea! Within five years I’ll tell the tale of how during Hurricane Patricia our rental car floated away from its parking space while we clung to a cottonwood tree for dear life, after spending thousands of dollars on new shoes & accessories at the most wonderful mall on earth. How’s that for a story? 😉

      Not surprised that your phone call hasn’t come through. This weather was wicked.

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  5. It’s raining here too, but we don’t get the torrential kind(usually); being Washingtonians, we are always outside in it anyway. 🙂 I’ve never been to Texas and don’t intend to ever visit, unless one of my kids ends up there. That would figure.

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    • Margaret, I’ve been to TX a few times and overall liked it. This hurricane was an unexpected fluke. Coming from a cramped, hilly part of the country there’s so much more space everywhere in TX, both outside and in the stores. You can actually shop without bumping into another person. Imagine that!

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    • Andra, I liked Dallas, but the rain from the hurricane caused so many problems. The museums were wonderful to see. And after being rerouted around the flooded streets, the fancy upscale neighborhoods we drove through were astounding to see, too.

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