travel

A visit to the Perot Museum

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Perot Museum Dallas

In the category “things I love to do but don’t do nearly enough:” visit museums! The history buff in me adores winding through exhibits, learning about anything and everything, and museum-hopping is usually a highlight wherever I travel. My parents also love a good museum, and so on my recent trip to Dallas we decided to check out the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.

Perot Museum Dallas architecture

Located in the heart of downtown Dallas, the museum building itself is not only gorgeous but sustainable.

Perot Museum Dallas

I personally enjoyed the mini-exhibit on animal poo, located just outside the restrooms.

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While I was never the kid into dinosaurs, I did enjoy exploring the T. Boone Pickens Life Then and Now Hall. Did you know there’s a dino called the Dallasaurus? Me neither, but it’s now officially my favorite.

Perot Museum DallasPerot Museum DallasPerot Museum DallasPerot Museum Dallas

While I’m not a science person in general, there are two specific types that get me excited. I’ve always loved meteorology and the weather – my kindergarten teacher got more than she bargained for when she asked if it was sunny or cloudy and got a five-minute lesson on the day’s barometric pressure. And I’ve also loved astronomy since our second-grade unit. As an adult, I’ve carried that over into writing about the space-shuttle program and exploring the Air and Space Museum in DC when we only had time for one museum. I was really excited to see exhibits on both meteorology and astronomy at the Perot Museum! And of course I had to pose in front of the green screen weather studio.

If you want to visit the Perot Museum (and I highly recommend you do, although maybe not on a Saturday – tiny humans everywhere!), it’s $19 for adults and you can get tickets here, although the line in person moved quickly. Info on parking is here, although we found a public lot just past Lot B on the map that was cheaper than museum parking. 

A(nother) weekend in Dallas

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By now you all know the little secret I was keeping: I spent last weekend in Dallas, surprising my mom for her birthday! Ever since I left home at 18, I’ve dreamed of someday returning and surprising a family member. I kind of always figured it’d be my sister, but the stars aligned and I was able to go for my mom’s birthday weekend without taking any vacation time and using points to pay for the flight.  And so that’s how I ended up back Allen, Texas, for three days!

Tacos in Dallas at the Company Cafe

The first order of business, as always,  was a stop for tacos: specifically, breakfast tacos at Company Cafe. Tacos are my favorite food, and it’s a bit of a game for me to see how many I can eat in any given weekend down south.

The Perot Museum in Dallas

On Saturday we played tourists (I suppose I technically was a tourist!) and ventured to the Perot Museum of Nature and Science where I channeled my inner child. More to come on this soon!

Sunset in Allen, TexasDallas, Texas skyline

Though I spent my six years living in Dallas whining about how boring it was, the more time I spend away the more impressed I become each time I visit for a weekend. You can’t argue with that stunning suburban sunset in Allen or the Dallas skyline on a cloudy day.

Another successful weekend trip in the books.

Keep up with me in real time on Instagram here!

Currently: February 2016

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Remember that time I had two posts planned last week but then Thursday brought a headache, no sleep and a phone that stopped functioning? Yeah. My bad. Also! When you read this, it will be Sunday, and I’ll be smack in the middle of my second trip of 2016 – because I’m in DALLAS, surprising my mama for her birthday. But in the meantime, it’s Thursday, and here’s what I’m currently doing…

Reading: More Tales of the City, the second in the Tales of the City series, which I started in January and unexpectedly loved. I also have All the Light We Cannot See out from the library to tackle next.

Wearing: Black jeans, striped short-sleeved t-shirt, brown ankle boots, Giving Key bracelet from my roommate (the word is ‘inspire’). The winter we were experiencing last month seems to be over, and it’s 55 here in Manhattan today.

Buying: Mostly groceries, at this point! I’m trying very very hard not to spend any extraneous money since so much is going into travel this year. I did just order a new frying pan from Amazon because I know how to party.

Listening to: My carefully curated Spotify playlist of country songs that remind me of Texas, trying to get in the right frame of mind for my flight tomorrow!

Eating: I had rice & veggies for lunch and am planning a dessert-focused outing with my best friend for tonight! It’s all about balance, right?

Watching: Not much. Brooklyn Nine-Nine is the only show i keep up with, since Mindy Project doesn’t seem to be coming back anytime soon. I finished Veep during my snow day and haven’t started anything addicting since (although I did watch an episode of Grace & Frankie and enjoyed that).

Planning: How to surprise Mom tomorrow! Dad and I have some ideas up our sleeves but we’ll probably just end up playing it by ear.

Excited for: This weekend in Dallas, immediately followed by three days in NYC with two dear friends from Phoenix! Nicole and Parisa are coming to town (it’s Nicole’s second annual visit) and we’re ready for some serious girl time.

Hoping: That I can cherish and enjoy these three days with Mom and Dad, and all the other adventures I have planned this winter! (Side note: Last month I put here that I hoped spring weather would come, and it has! Yay!)

Books read: 5/52

Trips taken: 2/12

This month’s challenge: A new French lesson on DuoLingo every day. If I make it, I’ll only have four left at the end of the month!

And how is YOUR February going?

Looking back: Paris

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When I was a preteen, my dad went to Paris.

The Eiffel Tower, Paris

Well, that’s not quite how the story goes.

When I was a preteen, my dad had a layover in Paris. Before he left, I begged and begged him to bring me back a miniature figure of the Eiffel Tower from an airport gift shop. As an Olsen-obsessed ’90s kid who watched Passport to Paris on a loop, it was basically all I had ever wanted. Over the phone, Dad regaled me with stories of spotting the Eiffel Tower out the airplane window and listening to everyone speaking French while he waited for his next flight. He assured me he had picked me up a Parisian gift, and I waited not-so-patiently for his return.

After a week or so, he walked into the house and pulled a tiny Eiffel Tower out of his bag… and handed it to my younger sister.

He had mixed us up in his head. I got a postcard. (My mom did kindly frame it for me in an attempt to lessen the blow).

And thus my obsession with the City of Lights only intensified.

The Arc de Triomphe, ParisMacarons at Ladurée in Paris

When I took my first trip to Europe, in 2010, I chose a program that visited Italy instead of one that went to France. Italy, another country I’d always dreamed of visiting, was a bit of a letdown, and that fueled me to make my Paris dream come true – to not only visit, but to love it in a way that I hadn’t quite loved Italy. I had to do it right.

When I was planning my Europe trip for 2014 – the same trip that took me to Switzerland – I was deliberate about making sure I’d have a couple days in Paris. I looked forward to that trip for months, but along with excitement I felt some dread. What if it didn’t live up to my expectations? What if I left with the same tinge of regret I’d felt after visiting Rome?

The Eiffel Tower, ParisLove locks on the Pont de Arts bridge, paris

Luckily, that was not the case. My love for France only intensified during that visit and in the years that have followed. That trip inspired me to start learning to speak French, so I can one day return independently, without a guide to translate. So that I can experience Paris as it’s meant to be experienced: As a local, someone who visits the coffeshops instead of the tourist sites.

Sacre Coeur, paris

I am now looking forward to my next, unplanned visit to Paris. I suspect the rest of my life may be spent constantly anticipating my next arrival. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The Eiffel Tower, Paris, at sunset

A delightful guide to Washington, D.C.

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I am so excited to bring you my SECOND delightful city guide! As travel becomes a bigger part of my life I hope to bring you more tips and advice in addition to stories and pretty pictures, starting with Washington, D.C.!

Of course, the three days I spent in the District weren’t nearly enough to scratch the surface, so I brought in some reinforcements when compiling this guide: Courtney, Kathryn, Danielle and Julia are all good friends of mine whose taste I completely trust, and they all live or have lived in D.C.! I know that this guide will certainly shape my own future visits to the District, and I hope it will help you plan yours as well.

Bold indicates I have been there

Asterisks* indicate that this spot comes recommended by multiple people

Coffee

Real good coffee at Compass, Washington D.C.

Real good coffee at Compass

Breakfast

Brunch

Lunch

Chicken and chips at Nando's Peri-Peri, Washington D.C.

Chicken and chips at Nando’s

Dinner

Roasted duck breast at Urbana, Washington D.C.

Roasted duck breast at Urbana

Dessert

Drinks

Parks

Do/See

Museums