Dallas

Yesterday we spent 6+ hours at Six Flags Fiesta in San Antonio. There weren't many guests there that day who traveled there via a personal vehicle. The vast majority came in a school bus. We had never purchased a flash pass before at a Six Flags. Paul referred to them as "insurance" to make sure the kids could ride all of the roller coasters. The park wasn't crowded. Some lines had a 45-minute wait without the flash pass, so the flash pass definitely was helpful but wasn't essential. Nadia had the flash pass on her phone, and she was the one who used it for herself and her brothers. I was going to use one of the flash passes for the white-water rapids ride, but after I got fairly wet riding the flume with Oliver, I decided I didn't need to get wet again. I knew that Ian and Nadia wouldn't go on the white-water rapids of their own initiative. Paul didn't ride any rides, and I only rode the flume. We had only purchased three flash passes so I couldn't ride a roller coaster with them if they were using the flash pass. It was very hot (high of 98 degrees). Many of the food service stations were closed, and the ones that were open almost always had very long lines. We had prepaid for a package that included two drinks, two snacks, and two meals. Paul had a Coke, and the boys shared a Powerade. Nadia and I just had (free) water all day to drink. Oliver, Ian, and Nadia shared a meal that consisted of a pulled pork sandwich and macaroni and cheese. Ian and Nadia shared a vanilla milkshake (snack). Paul had a slice of pizza and would have eaten the bag of Doritos chips that came with his pizza if they hadn't been stale. Paul and I shared some garlic knots (snack).  Ian's favorite ride was the Iron Rattler and Oliver's favorites were the flume and the Wonder Woman single rail roller coaster. Ian left his glasses at the one roller coaster, so the last part of the day was spent going to various places around the park trying to find his glasses. Thankfully, I was able to locate them. Considering Paul didn't ride any rides, and I only rode one ride, I wish more theme parks operated like Knoebels and allow non riders to enter the park for free. We only plan to go to three amusement parks this summer. We've already been to two of them - Knoebels and Six Flags Fiesta. Tomorrow will be our third and presumably last for 2025 - Six Flags over Texas, which I went to when I was a child. 

After we left the park yesterday, we drove to Culver's for dinner/ice cream. Due to traffic and a stop for gas, our trip took a little longer than anticipated, but we arrived at an Embassy Suites in Dallas around 10:15pm. The one downside of this hotel chain is they always charge for parking, but the upside is the breakfast is amazing (including made to order omelets). When choosing which hotel and which room, I usually make the decision on my own. In this case I had discussed options with Paul because this one was a little pricier than we are usually willing to pay for a night. The reason we opted to splurge a little is because this suite contains two bathrooms and what is in essence three rooms. Paul and I have a king size bed, the boys are in a room with two double beds (they typically share a bed when we're on vacation), and Nadia as usual gets the sofa, but the living room area has a door she can close. There are also sinks outside of the bathrooms. Typically, the five of us are sharing one toilet and one shower when we're on vacation. 

Our first stay at an Embassy was in February 2024 when at the last minute (due to snow) we realized we needed to drive to Baltimore the night before our flight. We also stayed at one in Virginia last year in May. Both of those times we weren't at the hotel during the "happy hour." We also were too late last night, but tonight we finally saw firsthand what it entails. At this hotel they provided drinks (adults could have two free alcoholic drinks but we passed on those), pretzels, Fritos, goldfish crackers, cheese, crackers, pineapple, and some fresh veggies and dip. In other words, they provide snacks and drinks (some members of our family had some soda) but not hot food like Drury does. What Embassy offers doesn't replace dinner in my opinion. We had already eaten dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. It was our fifth time dining at one of those restaurants as a family (once per year starting in 2021). I had a coupon for one free slice of cheesecake and a gift card to pay for the rest of the meal and tip. Nadia likes it if we go to one once a year, but I don't think we'll go to one next year given where we plan to be on vacation in 2026. 

Today we were in Dallas, Texas. I lived in a suburb of Dallas for 2.5 years while my dad was a student at Dallas Theological Seminary. He also was a pastor in Cleburne for most of that time. Neither Paul or I enjoy driving in cities, and we've been in several cities over the last week - New Orleans, Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas. We'll be leaving Dallas tomorrow morning, and I think we won't be in a large city again until we're in Phoenix at the end of our trip. None of us are a fan of the traffic! As we live in a rural area, we are not accustomed to dealing with traffic. Today we visited three sites in Dallas - the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, the Sixth Floor Museum, and the Dallas Arboretum. Our hotel is less than 4 miles from the first museum. We parked near the museum until it was time to drive to the arboretum. We walked between the Perot Museum, Subway (where we had lunch), and the Sixth Floor Museum. When the kids were young, we went to SO many children's museums and science museums, especially if we could get in for free with an ASTC membership. The kids first outgrew the children's museums and then also lost interest in science museums, so we've gone to very few of those in the last few years. I wouldn't be surprised if the one we went to today was our last one as I don't think we'll visit any in Hawaii or the places we plan to go in 2026. I used to get a membership that only gave us ASTC reciprocity, but the last couple of years I joined a different museum that gave us AZA and ASTC reciprocity. I will probably let that membership expire this summer. Thankfully, we visited the science museum today for free aside from paying for parking. It was a good science/ natural history museum. We were there a little less than 2 hours. Ross Perot's children donated 50 million dollars toward the construction of this museum. As a side note, Paul voted for Perot in 1992. My grandpa tried to convince me to vote for Perot in 1992, but I voted for the other candidate who didn't win that election.

Our second stop was the museum where Oswald shot JFK. Paul and I aren't 100% convinced he acted alone, but given the significance seemed like a worthwhile place to visit. We had to pay full price there and also at the Dallas Arboretum. I wouldn't recommend the Dallas Arboretum given the cost, especially if you've already been to Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. After dinner, the kids went swimming in the indoor pool at our hotel.