Dallas Fort Worth Trip Part 3

Monday morning we got up and made our way out for some breakfast. Of course the one meal on the menu I was dying to have was sold out. Luckily there were delicious mimosas to cheer me up. Dominique had some freelance work to do, so we attempted to get things done, but managed to find terrible wifi after terrible wife.

Dominique took me to a cool area with a beer bar that had 100s of beers on tap. We had to take some pictures, because it was super decked out for Christmas.

Tuesday was my last day in Fort Worth and while I was missing my pug and my husband, I wasn't ready to leave! We went to Grapevine to get into the holiday spirit. Grapevine is the Christmas capital of Texas and they weren't messing around.

Obviously I had to send this selfie to Kyle.

We had a nice lunch followed by a wine tasting. The wine tasting came with a beautiful wine glass with the wineries logo on it. That became my mission to not shatter it on the rest of the trip home. Challenge accepted.

Our time in Grapevine went way too quickly and before I knew it, it was time to head to the airport. Until next time Dom! Thanks for your wonderful hospitality. I had a blast. Miss you and the girls already!

Dallas Fort Worth Trip Part 2

Saturday was a girls day. Dom and I went out for a shake out run, it was pretty brisk (especially for those of us who only packed shorts) so I cut it short to 2 miles plus strides.

We got cleaned up and made our way to Fort Worth with the kiddos for, you guessed it, more Tex Mex. We ended up stopping at a local running store. I love looking at other running stores to bring some ideas back to 605 with me.

 

After lunch it was time to relax. Dominique napped and I spent some quiet time reading. And taking this obnoxiously filtered photo for Kyle to which Dom exclaimed, "You look beautiful but that doesn't even look like you!" Leave it to her to be honest. LOLZ. But also, truth. :P

For dinner, the girls headed out for pizza at Pizza Snob. I ended up with a delicious baked potato pizza and a local bock. And the waitress thought Dom's kids were mine which was entertaining for everyone. These kids are so cool, they pack up a backpack of activities anytime they go out to eat so they can keep themselves entertained without screen time. Guess Who? was my favorite game as a kid!

 

After dinner it was time to lay out all of our race day stuff to make sure I wasn't missing anything. I was really going back and forth between a long sleeve and a tank for the race. I was super annoyed I forgot to pack thin throwaway gloves as my hands are always freezing. The forecast was for a windchill of 27 at the start, followed by sun in the last 30 ish minutes of the race. I ended up opting for long sleeves so my hands wouldn't freeze. This was the right decision for the first 8 miles, fyi.

Sunday morning was the race, and all the post race beers. After the race we grabbed Chipotle to bring home. I inhaled some, showered, and fell fast asleep for a few hours. And what do you know? When I woke up it was time to eat again! I love race days.

We went to Rodeo Goat for beers and burgers. The burger was amazing. The beer was delish and the fries were meh. I had big plans to whoop it up when we got back to the house, but Dom was TIRED, so she went to bed at 9 p.m. and I stayed up until 11:30 p.m. by myself because I got a really ill timed second wind. :P

 

Boston Trip Part 1

I woke up insanely early Thursday morning to head to the airport. Like in the 2's early. And that's after not falling asleep until midnight. Uff da. It's going to be a long travel day! I threw on a hat and put contacts in my carry on. There was some confusion about my arrival time a) time zone math is hard and b) the pilot's time estimation didn't match my flight info for eastern or central time. I got to kill some time in the Boston airport and finally get a coffee since I had a 6 second layover in Mpls and almost didn't make my flight.

Kathryn picked me up and we made our way to the brewery and pizza place we visited last time. A very heavy filter was needed to make me look as awake as I do below. We got a couple of pizzas, and a few beers, all at 11:30am (which felt like 10:30 for me, but hell I'd been awake for 8 hours, so why not!).

We picked up some groceries, sipped some wine, and then it was a very early bedtime for this chica. I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed on Friday, ready to make our way into Boston. 

We stopped at a cute coffee shop in Hopkinton that featured super cool Boston Marathon themed artwork. I wanted it all.

It wasn't quite the same level as the lavender latte from Coffea that I usually like Friday mornings, but it was pretty delicious! We attempted to take the train into the city to "practice" for Monday's race, but failed to check departure times, so we ended up driving into the city. We made it to Copley Square for some fresh fish and chips and local beer. It was such a beautiful patio day. Spoiler alert: this was how much of my trip was forecasted to be. In reality, this was our one nice day.

During lunch, we asked our waitress where the expo was. I knew it was a solid mile from where we were and I didn't want to walk there if there was nothing to see or enjoy along the way. Luckily (for me) she sold us on it and Kathryn was down to hoof it with me.

Along the way, we were very distracted by an ice cream cookie truck. Despite being completely full, we still had to get one. And sweet talked the nice man into cutting it for us "which he NEVER does, so don't ask when there's a big line" (except imagine that said in a heavy Bostonian accent). to which I replied, I'm from South Dakota, so I don't think you have to worry about me asking on a regular basis. It was divine. Probably one of the best things I ate the whole trip.

Good thing this was so delicious because these pictures are terrible. Ha.

We took the scenic route and walked along the harbor. Despite the clouds, it was actually pretty toasty out!

We finally made it to the expo, which is good. I think Kathryn was close to killing me, she was so sick of walking. Oops. Somehow at the expo, I took zero photos. So here is a selfie of Kathryn. The one who could care less about being there.

I bought one t-shirt despite planning to spend some decent money at the expo. I had hoped there would be local running stores there with fun boston themed stuff without being BOSTON MARATHON 2018 specific. I could never wear that without having run and qualified for it. So it was good for my bank account, but a bummer for me.

Outside of the expo there were musical teeter totters, and we had a blast.

We stopped for a beverage after the expo to kill some time before dinner. And then somehow found our way into a Warby Parker which made me want 100 new pairs of glasses.

So much walking, and an even more impressive amount of selfies along the way. Unpictured are the photos in which I am SO OVER HAVING MY PICTURE TAKEN. Hah. Our dinner was meh, and then we went to another restaurant for dessert and drinks.