Last week we visited Dallas, TX. We primarily visited to go to the state fair, but also to go to the George W. Bush Presidential Library, and eat In-N-Out. We filled out the trip with a visit to Meow Wolf, Fort Worth Water Gardens, The Modern Art Museum of Wort Worth, and the Dallas Arboretum & Botanical Garden.

The day we arrived, we set out to see all of the sights downtown. We saw Dealey Plaza, the Grassy Knoll, and the JFK Memorial Plaza. We also saw the Giant Eyeball, the John Neely Bryan Cabin, and The Old Red Courthouse.

We visited Deep Ellum for some Pecan Lodge BBQ for lunch, a little window shopping, Emporium Pies, and coffee from Merit Coffee Co.

For dinner, we had pizza from Cane Rosso, which was really nice.

Day two, we started with breakfast at Norma’s Cafe before heading to the fair. You can read more about our day at the State Fair of Texas here.

After the fair, we were tired and hot, so we rode the train back to the hotel and cooled down for a bit. For dinner, we had Fusion Mediterranean Grill & Bar, and it was delicious. I was so tired from the fair that I took zero pictures. Oops.

On Chris’s birthday, we had dinner at the cutest soufflé restaurant called Rise Soufflé. We started with their marshmallow soup, which is tomato bisque with goat cheese “marshmallows”. They puff up cheese and egg whites to make these cheesy “marshmallows” that go on top of the soup. Then Chris got an artichoke and a smoked salmon soufflé, and I had the jambon and gruyère soufflé, and for dessert we shared a bananas foster soufflé with chocolate sauce. It was all incredible. I wish we had one of these in Orlando. I’d even drive to the touristy parts to go there.

One of our favorite Tex-Mex places is Lupe Tortilla, and we have to get their fajitas every time we visit Texas.

We made our first visit to a Meow Wolf Exhibit, and WHOA. Now I kind of want to go see them all. We spent about two hours exploring the one in Dallas, and I cannot recommend visiting one highly enough. It was like being transported into another universe in the best way.

An unexpected little gem I just happened to see on Google Maps was the Fort Worth Water Gardens. Such a cool park in the middle of the city. We went after work, so it wasn’t too busy. It would be a great place to take a little treat and sit and listen to the water.

We became big fans of Cowboy Chicken while we were in Dallas. I especially loved their twice baked potato casserole.

We tried Cindy’s NY Style Deli for breakfast and lunch. We liked breakfast slightly better, but lunch was good too. We had omelets for breakfast, and at lunch, I had a club, and Christopher had a corned beef, turkey, and swiss on rye.

We went to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, which is open late and free on Fridays. They have a nice collection.

Terry Black’s Barbrcue was a really cool place, but the most expensive bbq we had on the trip. Including a tip, we spent almost $85 for the two of us to eat brisket and a few sides. I don’t know about you, but that feels too expensive to me. It was cool to see the outdoor space full of smokers though.

We had the most delicious pumpkin pancakes from The Original Pancake House. I will likely be comparing all future pumpkin pancakes to the ones here for the rest of my life.

After our pancakes, we went to the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden, which was PACKED. There were so many people there. It was also expensive as hell. We had to pay $18 to park, plus a little over $50 for the two of us to get in. I am all for supporting trees and flowers, but damn.

It was a beautiful park, and we really liked the pumpkin displays, but it wasn’t anything overly special. We’ve been to nicer botanical gardens.

On our last day in Dallas, we visited the George W. Bush Presidential Library. This was our fifth Presidential Library, in our effort to visit them all (14).

Thanks to the internet I found the most unhinged “museum” that we just had to visit. The Toilet Seat Museum at Truck Yard is a room full of decorated toilet seats, and it does not disappoint.

Then we walked around Bishop Arts District, grabbed lunch at Hunky’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers and did a little shopping.

We had pizza for dinner at Zoli’s Pizza, delicious! We got their October pizza of the month, which had double pepperoni and pepperoni ranch on it. So freaking good.