Going Through the Big D...and We Do Mean Dallas (and Austin)

Our original post Christmas plan was to head back to St. Louis the day after Christmas. That would put us home late in the day with just enough time to re-pack, get a little sleep and be up early Thursday to catch our flight to Texas.  That didn't quite go as planned.  With an impending snow storm hitting Indiana early Wednesday morning we were worried we might get stuck in Ohio so we decided to leave late in the day on Christmas.  We ended up getting home around midnight which gave us a good 24 hours plus to un-pack, do laundry, and get ready for Texas.  We felt rested and ready to go.  Then we got to the airport and it was busier than I have ever seen it.  We ended up waiting in line for over an hour to get through security and missed our flight- not a great way to start a vacation-trust me!  Luckily we got the last two seats on the next flight out of St. Louis to Dallas and landed in Dallas only a few hours behind schedule.  After that little hiccup luckily the rest of our trip was a blast.

Our first stop was the Fort Worth Stockyards (http://www.fortworthstockyards.org/).  The stockyards is the old part of town where the livestock industry did business turned tourist trap.  Even though it was oozing with tourist traps (think cheap t-shirt and shot glass kinda stores, and old time photo kinda places) we had a great time wondering around and checking out the sites.  That night we enjoyed some music and dancing at Billy Bob's Texas: The World's Largest Honky Tonk.

Cute vintage train that runs through the Stockyards 

Daily long horn cattle drive

World's Largest Belt Buckle at Billy Bob's

The next morning we headed to Austin.  We had nowhere we had to be until the rehearsal dinner latter that night so we decided to stop at the Lydon Baines Johnson Presidential Museum on our way into town.  You know we can't pass up a good presidential museum!  As always I learned lots of interesting things and the obligatory picture with Mr. President:

After the museum we decided it was time for some good Texas BBQ.  My aunt, Hildy, who used to live in Austin recommended we check out The Salt Lick (http://www.saltlickbbq.com/).  Not only was the food out of this world we also got to drive a little ways into the Texas country and it was beautiful.  The food was so good we couldn't resist a picture. If you were ever in Austin this is well worth the drive.

That evening we had another amazing meal and a great time celebrating Sara and Will's last night before their wedding and somehow I ended up with zero pictures from that evening.

The next morning we woke up and headed out early to hit up some more Austin sights.  We started the morning at the Texas State Museum and then headed to the Texas State Capitol.

Nick and the Star at the Museum

At the capitol with the dome

Nick and Governor George Bush

After our educational adventure we met our friend Katie for lunch and wondered around town before it was time to get ready for the big wedding.   It was a beautiful wedding and we had a great time celebrating Will and Sara!

We had a great time in Austin celebrating the newlyweds and the next day it was back to Dallas, but this post is getting a little long so I will share that fun in another post.