The run down:

Let me start out by saying this was not our normal style of trip. If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that my husband and I travel fast and furiously - covering a large swath of space in a short amount of time. We went to Texas to visit Kyle’s brother who moved to Grand Prairie to work for Lockheed Martin in their high speed wind tunnel. So, sight seeing wasn’t exactly at the top of our list. I only took about 130 photos during the entire trip.

Annnnnnnd… I was really sick. I had been fighting off a cold and a dry cough for a few days before we left so I loaded up on zinc tablets, elderberry and Airborne but not long after we landed it hit me, HARD. Traveling sick isn’t uhm… the most pleasant experience… to put it nicely.

It was also COLD. I mean, hell froze over in Texas C.O.L.D. Listen, we went to ICELAND in May and there were times that Texas was colder!! When we landed at DFW, it was 30 degrees and flurrying.

The kicker is, I packed about 3 days before we left and the weather was forecasted to be high 60’s - low 70’s and overcast. I checked before we went to bed the night before and it had dropped slightly but was still hanging out in the 60’s which, consider it was high 30’s at home, it sounded lovely. I’m not an idiot either… I was checking the weather frequently so I have no idea how I screwed this one up. But it ended up being colder in Texas than it was in Pennsylvania and I bought a deliciously thick sweatshirt from Magnolia Market and then found an REI to buy myself a Patagonia jacket.

I don’t have photos of it because we weren’t allowed to take our phones inside, but my brother-in-law arranged a tour of Lockheed’s United States Air Force Plant 4 for us to see the F-35 being built for both the United States military and many other countries! It was third shift when we visited so it was very quiet (which was lovely to be able to really take everything in) but the assembly line runs around the clock.

The building itself (and the assembly line within) is over a mile long and it’s completely indescribable. Seeing the F-35 being built was one thing, but taking in the building itself is another! We totally loved the massive horizontal cranes that move the planes and parts to different sections of the assembly line up near the ceiling. It was very cool to see the plane go from just composite pieces to wings, to frames to frames filled with tubing and electrical, to something that resembles a plane to an actual finished plane!

In Fort Worth, we got a little touristy and visited the Fort Worth Stockyards and then the Fort Worth Water Gardens (where you can literally walk down inside this massive fountain and I cannot understand how that’s not a huge liability!!).

The most laidback and spontaneous thing we did was ending up at Martin House Brewing Company. WIN, WIN, WIN! We went for their Saturday Open House and got 4 beers for $10. Alex was the sweetest, most helpful bartender! Even though that place got super packed she still remembered my name, took the time to answer my annoying questions and made this exhausted and sick traveler feel at home. This non-beer-drinker loved all four beers because of her! And I discovered that I really like sours!

I was totally in awe to walk around the Magnolia Market and Silos grounds and it was very surreal to stand where Lee Harvey Oswald forever changed the course of our nation. One is pretty - one is powerful. Both were amazing! I was completely obsessing over the different cameras on display at the Sixth Floor Museum (inside what was the Texas Schoolbook Depository building). And while exploring the silos in Waco, I was fan-girling and taking notes for my next DIY project.