If there's one thing you need to know about me, its that if I have an opportunity for a trip/travel I'm going to take it. With that being said, when we got an invite in the mail for a wedding for one of Keith's family members in a small town outside of Dallas, Texas, it was an immediate yes. Since it was a family wedding my inlaws also planned to come and we made a weekend out of it! Here's what we did, where we stayed, and more!
What We Did:
Day 1-
We had a super early morning flight out of Chicago O'Hare (a nearby airport to us but not our home airport) because of this we were on the road at 3:00am. EW. Anyways once we were on the ground in Dallas, we picked up our rental car and made it a day of exploring the Fort Worth Stockyards. This was something that was top of the list when I was researching and planning for this trip and it did not disappoint. It was only about 20 minute ride from the DFW airport.
First up was lunch at Cooper's Barbecue. The brisket was to die for and the pulled pork was equally delicious! From there we went into the main avenue of the Stockyards. We saw part of the Fort Worth Herd longhorn cattle on the way in. We strolled the street, did some shopping, and also enjoyed a glass of wine at the Cowtown Winery. We finally ended our day at Second Rodeo Brewing where the atmosphere was great and there was live music too! I enjoyed a Sidewalk Flower (which is a lemon cucumber sour style beer) with a Taijin rim. SO Yummy!
We were going to watch the cattle drive at 4pm (which they do twice daily 1130am and 4pm) however we wanted to get on the road to head to our Airbnb which we knew was going to be a bit of a drive. I'm glad we did leave when we did because the Dallas traffic is no joke! We also stopped at one more local brewery Hop Fusion which was high on Keith's list to try. He is a beer lover and even brews his own home brews- so one of our favorite things to do when we travel together is to find good local breweries and try different beers!
We stayed in a super small town called Canton which is where the wedding took place and why we booked there. (more to come on the Airbnb...) So once we arrived and checked in at our Airbnb we walked to grab a pizza dinner at Val's Italian.
Day 2-
We woke up and walked next door to grab breakfast at Latham Bakery. Everything had so much fall decor and flavoring so naturally I ordered the pumpkin pecan coffee cake and YUM! The weekend we were there was Canton's Fall Festival so we spent the day exploring this darling small town, shopping local farmer's market style booths, and shopping. It was also much colder than the weather called for so I had to make a stop at a consignment store to pickup another sweater!
There was some live music and local food trucks at the fair so it was fun trying local barbeque and feeling like a local in this darling quaint town! If you've ever seen the Virgin River TV show it felt so much like that to me!
We spent the afternoon playing a few games and just hanging out together before we got ready for the wedding and headed there. It was a beautiful celebration of love and we spent the night dancing and enjoying family.
One thing about people from the Midwest (like us!) is that once were out we want the drinks and fun to keep going all night. We laughed because as we left the wedding, we figured we'd go for one more drink at a local bar. What we didn't know and expect is that not everywhere has bars open so late like Wisconsin! The only thing open locally was an Applebee's; yes we were fancy like Applebee's on a date night...ha! you know the rest. This is one part of travel that always surprises- how different every city, state, country, etc is when it comes to certain activities and openness of cities at certain hours or on certain days of the week.
Day 3-
We slept in just a bit and had a slower start to our morning. Once we were up and going we opted for a quick donut breakfast at Donut Corner before hitting the road to Dallas. We wanted to spend the day in the city exploring. Once we arrived (it was about 1.5 hour drive from Canton) we parked and got to explore a bit of downtown Dallas. We checked out sights like the Dallas Giant Eyeball and AT&T Discovery District. This was especially cool to see on a Sunday in the fall because they had NFL football games playing on the screens. It was a very fun environment!
Ironically my Dad was also in Dallas that weekend and so we wanted to visit him and say "hi!" We met him for lunch at his hotel since he was a bit tight on time. For hotel food, it was pretty good.
After a quick visit with him, we drove over to Dealey Plaza which if you're not familiar with is where JFK was assassinated. There was a lot of history to take in here and if was surreal to be in a place with such impactful history. There is a full museum too called The Sixth Floor Museum at the former Texas School Book Depository Building too if you're interested. We did not visit as we wanted to get a few more things checked off our list in our one day in Dallas.
We did a bit of shopping in the West End for cowboy hats for Keith and my father in law and of course did an obligatory photo op before heading to the Deep Ellum neighborhood to check that out. Its a vibrant and trendy newer area of Dallas also called the Entertainment district. Finally we ended with a local beer at Deep Ellum Brewery.
Lastly we left the city and stopped to say goodbye to family on the way back to our Airbnb and have dinner in Canton.
Day 4-
Before heading back home we were planning on spending one more morning in Dallas (downtown) to grab lunch and finish up seeing anything else we missed the day prior before traveling home and flying out of DAL. Unfortunately due to some medical needs and scares- without going into too much detail- this didn't happen and instead we spend the night/morning in the ER. Everyone is okay and for that we are thankful.
This is just a reminder however to always be prepared for the unknown and know that travels can go very differently than how you may have first envisioned your trip. Nothing is perfect and no matter how much planning or prep you do for a trip sometimes things are just hard. It's important to stay flexible and be able to roll with the punches or challenges that may come on certain trips or adventures because they're bound to happen...
Of course not all trips have rocky ending or challenges along the way and this was in fact a great drip despite the not so great ending!
Where We Stayed:
We stayed at the Dragonfly Inn airbnb in Canton, Texas. Our hosts had the cutest little boutique hotel where there was a hallway of rooms all private with a lock pad on the door and at the end of the hall, bathrooms that were specific to the rooms you rented- again locked with a keypad.
They had cute farmhouse style decor and nice extras like TV and games in the common area along with a fridge, microwave, coffee and tea options and a variety of snacks and treats. I would definitely recommend staying here. It's located in a tiny town but they are well known for their First Mondays huge flea market.
Outfit Details:
(click on each image for specific links and details)
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Maria Elizabeth
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