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Travel Log 8: Howdy Texas
Spending Christmas in Fort Worth
Howdy partners! We just wrapped up Christmas and our stay in Fort Worth, Texas. Although it was slow at times we had a merry stay there!
Table of contents
- A Texas-Sized Welcome
- Getting Ready for Christmas
- Grapevine Escape
- Fort Worth Zoo
- Date Weekend
- Red Door Escape Room
- ICE Experience
- A Week for Recovering
- Drive Thru Holiday Lights @ Light The Park
- Dinosaur Hunting
- Star Hunting
- That Time We Almost Died
- Merry Christmas!
- Six Flags Over Texas
- Arabelle’s Birthday
- Headed Further South
A Texas-Sized Welcome
When we left Oklahoma and got to Texas we had some time on our hands before we could check into our next Airbnb.
So we did the most Texas thing we could think of and went to see a rodeo!
We headed to a matinee showing at the Cowtown Coliseum at the Fort Worth Stockyards. The stockyard is an interesting place because they have the old stockyard buildings filled with restaurants and shops instead of cows.
To our surprise, the kids had a really great time. Emalyn especially liked it, which surprised us given her tender heart. Although Arabelle was a bit concerned when they were doing the calf roping 😅. We left a little early to get settled in at our Airbnb, which irritated the older kids. They were just having a great time there.
The stockyard also features an old-school cattle drive with Texas Longhorns. We didn’t get to see it that first day, but we returned another day to experience it. I think it was a little over-hyped, but we did also go through the maze in the stockyard.
Getting Ready for Christmas
Since it was only 3 weeks away from Christmas we needed to run out and buy a Christmas tree to decorate. It was a cheap little thing that we bought, but it did the job and the kids were able to make some ornaments to put on it. We also made Christmas cookies and decorated gingerbread houses.
Christmas was a little different this year, normally we have our tree up after Thanksgiving and most of the gifts bought. But we made the best of it, even when we needed to go to the post office on 3 different occasions to pick up packages. 😬
Apparently, some post offices won’t deliver anything if the name doesn’t match what they have on file. Unfortunately, we didn’t find out about this until we had multiple packages already coming to us. We didn’t have this issue back in Oklahoma, nor did we have any problems receiving UPS, FedEx, or Amazon deliveries.
The post office workers were probably sick of me by the time I had gotten all our packages and shipped out a few of our own!
Grapevine Escape
As we continue to do on our travels, we visited a local escape room. This time it was the Grapevine Escape on Main Street Grapevine.
It was a different experience because it was much more interactive. It had a “creature” that escaped and we needed to return it to it’s cage along with a talking mirror and magic spells. It had more of a storyline than other escape rooms we’ve been to.
However, the game master was a little too quick to give us clues. Sometimes without giving us enough time to figure it out for ourselves. And other times because we totally missed something obvious 🤦♂️.
Overall it was a good experience.
Fort Worth Zoo
One afternoon we decided to hit the Fort Worth Zoo. They didn’t have an issue with our AZA membership like the Tulsa zoo did.
The Fort Worth Zoo is a decent zoo, but its layout is a little strange. You walk from one end to the other and then have to trek back without much to see on your way back. I assume that’s why they have a train from one end to the other. We decided to ride the train back but ended up waiting for 20-30 minutes. We figured we should have just walked back!
Date Weekend
The first weekend we were there, Katie and I got the best gift we could have hoped for. Katie’s Aunt flew from Florida to Texas to watch our kids for the weekend. She got to enjoy their company and Katie and I got to enjoy some alone time.
We went Christmas shopping for the kids (I mean, what else would we do??), we sampled a local restaurant in Grapevine, TX, and later went out to see “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” in the movie theater. Then on the next day, we did more shopping, had lunch at Brio Italian Grille (the bruschetta sampler was amazing!), and went to an escape room with just the two of us.
We also got to go to downtown Grapevine, TX and browse the shops during their Christmas Capital of Texas celebration. Parking was crazy, but it was fun to browse the local shops and see the Christmas decorations.
Red Door Escape Room
The Red Door Escape Room that we went to on our date weekend was really good, and they offered a 20% discount if you booked another after you escaped. So we booked one with the kids for later. We did their holiday-themed escape room and just barely escaped. Some of their puzzles were pretty hard, but we still had a good time there.
ICE Experience
“Ice palace for one!” or all of us really. We went to the ICE experience at the Gaylord Texan resort. It was cool to see all the ice sculptures in frigid temperatures. It was themed after the Rudolph movie, so thankfully we had just watched it with the kids to prepare them for it.
The ICE part itself was rather short, but afterwards, they had a carousel, an ice rink, and even a tubing hill to enjoy (for an extra cost of course). The resort itself was massive and looked like a nice place to stay.
A Week for Recovering
Unfortunately, we ended up with a small round of sickness and weren’t able to go anywhere for a week. We wanted to meet up with one of my coworkers and his family, but Arabelle started throwing up the one night. Thankfully it didn’t get passed around and we only dealt with some small colds.
We had wanted to go tour the Bureau of Engraving and Printing but with the sickness, we decided to stay home. When we wanted to go back after Christmas, unfortunately, they were closed. It looked like it would have been a unique experience.
Drive Thru Holiday Lights @ Light The Park
Right across the highway from Six Flags Over Texas there was a really nice holiday drive-thru lights. The Light Park was really fantastic with the lights synchronized to the music with a wide variety of tunes to listen to. It was well worth the trip.
Dinosaur Hunting
Over the weekend we decided to travel down to the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center. It is a rather lengthy drive-thru safari. We got to feed some giraffes by hand. They stuck their heads right in the car to grab some food.
After Fossil Rim, we took a short drive over to Dinosaur Valley State Park. It was a cool experience to see some fossilized dinosaur footprints in “the wild”. We didn’t end up seeing as much as we thought we would, but we did get to see some pretty clearly.
The weather was nice so we did a short hike through the park.
Star Hunting
Since we’ve been in Texas the weather has been much better than a typical PA December. And since the days are the shortest around the winter solstice we took the opportunity to do some stargazing in the nice weather. The younger kids tired pretty quickly, but the older 3 were more interested. We used the Stellarium app to help us identify different stars, planets, constellations, and satellites. I think that helped keep their interest more than just looking at the stars.
That Time We Almost Died
It was Christmas Eve and we had tickets to Snow Day at the Galleria Dallas. But it was also raining. Like really raining.
We decided to go since it wasn’t too bad at the time, but as we progressed on the highway the rain grew heavier and heavier and the driving conditions got worse and worse. We decided to stop for a bit because a car had pulled out in front of us and we had to slam on the brakes in a huge puddle of water.
When we started going again the rain had let up a bit. But that was only temporary and we had to pull over again. Thankfully we eventually arrived in one piece, but only a bit wetter (apparently the van might have a leak in the roof somewhere as water was seeping into the air vents).
The mall that Snow Day was in was PACKED. Do people really have nothing better to do on Christmas Eve than shop? The Galleria has mostly parking garages for parking. But our giant van can’t fit standard parking garages (who decided that 6’ 8” was the height limit for cars?). After a trip around the mall, we eventually landed a parking spot and dashed inside. Then on our way out we all got soaked again because there was a puddle several inches deep as we stepped out of the mall onto the sidewalk.
Snow Day itself is a cool little place to take pictures in a variety of different, quirky scenes. They have cameras set up that sync with your wristband to send you your pictures online. I’m not sure it was worth fighting the rain and the crowds to get there, but it was a neat experience.
Merry Christmas!
It’s finally here, all that shopping, wrapping, and planning has finally paid off. All to be unwrapped in a matter of moments 😂. But it wasn’t all that different from our typical Christmas’. We unwrapped presents, hung out, played, and ate off a charcuterie board. It was a very pleasant Christmas.
Six Flags Over Texas
After Christmas, we decided to check out Six Flags Over Texas (because apparently, we didn’t have enough crowds on Christmas Eve 😅). It’s a pretty cool park and the roller coasters looked amazing (and others just nuts). Although we didn’t ride any of the more intense ones we still had a good time. They also have a decent amount of smaller rides that the younger kids could enjoy.
Arabelle’s Birthday
Smack-dab after Christmas is Arabelle’s birthday. I always feel bad for her because it’s so close to Christmas. We always strive to make sure her birthday is just as special as the other kids who have more space between their birthdays and Christmas.
She really just wanted to go to a park and have ice cream for her birthday. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate with us and it rained most of the day. We ended up going to the Sea Life aquarium instead. We’ve been to a couple of Sea Lifes and this one was less impressive.
After that, we went to the Rainforest Cafe across the mall (again, more crowds…). We informed our server that it was her 5th birthday and arranged for a special dessert to be brought out later. But while waiting for our meal we heard many other birthdays being celebrated across the restaurant. She started to get upset because they didn’t know it was her birthday. Kids can be funny that way and it almost ruined the surprise. But she ended up very happy with her birthday song and brownie-and-ice-cream volcano dessert!
Headed Further South
We had a lovely time in Fort Worth, Texas. As I write this we’ve just settled into our next Airbnb between Austin and San Antonio. We can’t wait for our continuing adventures in Texas!
