Road Trip!

ROAD TRIP 2014 – SPRING BREAK

Today we set out on a road trip, to celebrate our 35^th wedding anniversary.  Road trips are the best!  We chose lots of small towns and printed out places to see, walking tours, shops to visit, and food to eat, and somewhere to stay along the way. 

This trip we headed north, with our first stop being in Waxahachie, Texas.  We arrived just in time for lunch at The Dove’s Nest, a restaurant only open for lunch, at the back of a fancy vintage store.  Little did we know we would taste the best dessert ever – chocolate bourbon pie!  Our lunch wasn’t bad either, mine being a turkey wrap and homemade chips, with a jalapeno corn salsa on the side.  We ended up purchasing the restaurant’s cookbook just so I can recreate that pie!

We walked through the store, and crossed the street to the visitor’s bureau where we got a brochure for a walking tour (there was a driving one, too, but we opted for a nice walk).  We love architecture and history, which is a must if you enjoy walking tours.  Walking the blocks, we read of the intricate columns and facades, as well as what was housed in the buildings almost 100 years ago.  Super fun.

Driving around, we went down Wyatt Street where shotgun houses were lined up.  These were built in the early 1900’s and they are just one long room, wooden houses, sort of a rectangular shape.  My dad told me he lived in one when he was a boy!  We also saw a private residence that is built as an exact replica of the Munster House from the TV show The Munsters.  Odd, I know.

As we left the town, we drove up farther north to our next destination – McKinney, Texas! We pulled up to our hotel and rested a bit, before parking downtown on one of the cutest squares in small town Texas, ever.  Lined with shops and restaurants, this was a place we couldn’t wait to explore.  But for this night, we just ate at Rick’s Chophouse.  It was crowded, so we ate in the lounge where two guys were playing and singing, Nickel & Dime Duo – they were great.  We ate at the bar and I enjoyed a chopped salad that was circular in shape (it must have been placed in a mold) and Jon had prime rib.  It was rich, but delicious.  We stayed and listened to the music, and then returned to the hotel for the night.

The next morning we had breakfast in our hotel (it was free) and then coffee at Snug on the Square Coffeehouse – super cute place – while we waited for stores to open. I caught up on my magazine reading J.  When the ticket office opened, we purchased our theater tickets for the evening, then began our exploration of the historic downtown area which took us several fun hours.  We stopped in antique stores (Jon got an old tool), a farm to market store (I bought pickles and he got coffee) and numerous other clothing and home stores, along with foodie type places.  We had lunch on the patio at Spoons – a huge amount of guacamole and chips, and we shared sliders.  It was a cute place, with okay food.  We finished our fun walk around the square and down the streets. 

We then drove by Heard-Craig House (but didn’t tour) then Chestnut Square Village – an area of town where old houses were brought in – and saw a wedding being prepared there.  Markers were being placed in the ground for the farmers market the next morning (we planned to go!).  We ended the afternoon at Towne Lake, walking by the fountain and bridge, sitting on a bench watching two guys with model speedboats.  It was quite lovely!

For our evening, we went to the McKinney Reparatory Theater and saw Worldwide Widow – a comedy about a couple that gets their elderly mom interested in the computer, in order to keep her occupied and out of their hair, only to have it all backfire on them.  It was a play written by contestants who entered a writing competition to have their play performed live on stage.  The play was funny, but the acting lacked luster.  The theater was in an old courtroom in what used to be the courthouse on the square, so that was pretty cool.

Our third day, we visited the Snug Coffee Shop again, this time for breakfast.  It’s such a cute, cozy, place and I really enjoyed my ‘everything’ bagel – delicious – with a bowl of fruit.  The Chestnut Square had a farmer’s market, with vendors set up across the lawn between the historic houses, which made for a fun shopping experience. We bought pickles, soap, pasta, and more, from the locals. 

We left out of McKinney and headed to Farmersville, where we walked the few shops downtown – everyone was super friendly and talkative.  One store was a catchall type of store where I found some magnets for my bracelet.  Another elderly gentleman talked to us a long time about his world winning poker son who actually is building a huge place in Pflugerville!   On to Greenville, but it was old , run down, and there wasn’t much to see.  We did find a Mexican food restaurant TaMolly’s (ha) – which was okay. 

From there we reached our destination for the evening – Sulphur Springs.  The downtown square is really pretty and new, with a huge impressive courthouse, glass, free-standing bathrooms on the square (which you can see out of – but people can’t see in!), giant chess and checker games, and lots of shops and eateries.  We walked around the town and then drove out to see Coleman Park.   We were going to walk the trail there (waterfalls and a tunnel?) but it was about to rain, so we didn’t.

Sulphur Springs has a small 6-screen theater, so we opted for a movie.  The ticket prices were so much cheaper than those at home!  We saw The Need for Speed – super action-packed and an interesting story – but crazy.  It was entertaining…yet disturbing. 

There was a small VF outlet, among a few other stores, and Jon needed Lee jeans, his favorite, so we stopped and got two pair exactly like he wanted.  A Good News Christian bookstore was in this same small mall, so we stopped in to purchase Kim Walker’s  CD which we had heard about, and we drove down to the square at night (all lit up) and listened to a little of the music in the car.  We fell in love with the couple who owned the store, and visited with them a good while before we left!

Back to the hotel, we purchased a small pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey ice cream and enjoyed it in our room. 

Our fourth and last day, we had a slow trip back home planned out, through several more towns.  We headed south to Emory, Terrell, Kaufman, Kemp, Kerens, Fairfield, Buffalo and more tiny towns off the beaten path.  Lunch was in Terrell at Dos Aces, another Mexican food place recommended by locals.  I can’t say any meal we had compares to all the good food in Austin, but they weren’t bad.  Also in Terrell and other towns, we noticed the stores on the square are closed on Sundays! (What do these people do on Sunday afternoons?).  We did find a cute, small outlet center in Terrell with about 20 stores and found some good buys at Old Navy!  I got two new dresses! 

The drive was pretty on the way back, and we crossed a huge lake, Lake Tawakoni, as well as viewed lots of cute ponds by country houses.  We stopped and took a few photos of courthouses, parks, and just cool sightings one doesn’t see in larger cities. 

The best part of the trip, of course, was meeting all of our kids as we returned to Pflugerville this evening, before coming home.

I’m ready to go again!  So we will be planning the next road trip soon.  Thanks for “traveling” with me.

Where we stayed:  Comfort Inn Suites in McKinney, Holiday Inn in Sulphur Springs – both very nice and affordable.

What we enjoyed the most:  McKinney, TX for sure – we’d go back there!

What it cost:  Gas, three hotel nights, eating out (but breakfast was free in the hotels), and just a little spending money for shopping, as well as one night out at theater, and a movie night too!

Road Trips are super fun because there’s the planning of it (get a good atlas with all the back roads) and then the surprises along the way, as well as laughs and friendly people who just want to talk and share their story or their town.