Nov 17, 2016

Two Cities, One Weekend





Hey babes! If you follow me on social media then you know all about my recent travels. If you don't, over on the right is a link to my Twitter and my Instagram. Be sure to follow me to keep up with my travels. Also you can follow me on Snapchat @NishaJayy if you want to watch my travels in real time. But back to the point, recently I went to Houston and Dallas, Texas. I went from a Thursday-Monday. It was probably one of my most chill trips. It was about a week and a half to two full weeks after Chicago. And if I'm being honest I was not prepared at all. I was so tired so it was nice to go there and just chill.

As always, my friend Jaz accompanied me. For the first time in a while this was actually a trip that I came up with. I was planning to go alone and some of my friends offered to go as well. But life happens, people buy houses and cars and money isn't the same as it was when they agreed to go. I'm kind of glad it didn't turn out to be a big deal of a trip because having the relaxation time and handling a little business was necessary.

Jaz and I rented a car and hit the road. We asked for places to eat, all the food was amazing. But its Texas so we knew it would be. We had some pretty good barbeque in Houston and some fried sweets in Dallas. Overall it was an amazing experience. Any time I'm back in Texas (especially Dallas) is a good time for me.

HOUSTON



 
We arrived in Houston on Thursday morning. We got everything squared away and even got to check into our hotel early. Nice hotel, there were a few things that needed fixing, but once those things were fixed we enjoyed our stay. We stayed at the Wyndham Houston West Energy Corridor. 

It was a nice distance from downtown, about 25 minutes, which to me was okay. I like to experience the parts of a city that aren't popular. It was a nice quiet area. We went the Downtown Aquarium. They have a really nice downtown area, much quieter than what I am used to in DC. 




The aquarium had an exhibit where you could pet the sting ray. Also they have a Ferris Wheel, a train that takes you through the shark exhibit and some other little attractions for kids. Also, my favorite part is they have a tiger exhibit. I've actually never seen tigers in an aquarium. So walking up on the exhibit is kind of intimidating. Its just glass(I'm assuming a very thick glass lol) separating the crowd from the tigers. Its a decent sized room, with a small pool and some running space of them. They only allow one or two tigers in the exhibit at a time. And they put on a show for the crowd. They do little tricks that the instructor, on the same side of the glass as the guests, instructs him or her to do. 

Like I said, I've never been that close to a tiger. I've only seen tigers at the National Zoo so I'm used to them being hundred of feet away from me in an enclosure. So it was nice but also a little scary to be that close. We didn't stay long. The show was only about 5-7 minutes so that was all we needed to see. I'm not fearful, I'm careful!






After the aquarium we went back to the Energy Corridor and got some Texas BBQ. It was really good. Honestly though, if I'm being honest I am not a fan of BBQ. So I can't really give you guys a good rating because I'm not a BBQ connoisseur. I did enjoy the food though,and I think it photographs well. Also we had some really good Gelato. The only other place I've had gelato was in Aruba so it was nice to have it again. 








We wanted to go to Top Golf but we weren't sure if we really wanted to golf and then we looked up the price and decided to go the next day before 12 when it was cheaper. Y'all we got caught up exploring the neighborhoods that we never made it to Top Golf. I'm so disappointed because I really wanted to go for the experience but also so that I could tell my readers about it. I really enjoy sharing things with y'all and I feel like I failed. But we have Top Golf in the DMV so I'll go there one day and share it with y'all!

Over all Houston was nice, we explored the city. Went to a lot of different locations and I imagined myself living there. Honestly I had no desire going to Houston. My dad sparked the idea, he told me to think about it. So I decided okay why not make my Texas trip a dual city trip?! It was an awesome decision. So thanks, Daddy!


DALLAS




We ate at Cracker Barrel before we left Houston. I'm sure we've all been to Cracker Barrel. And it was a second choice after we realized that we couldn't find the entrance to Waffle House. That's a story that I'd def have to tell another time, and over video because writing it wouldn't do it justice haha.

The drive from Houston to Dallas was around 3 1/2 hours. I don't know if its supposed to be that short of a trip, but yeah lol. Honestly the speed limit is much faster than what I'm used to. I believe it was 75-80mph. The fastest speed limit we have here is 65mph. I was being a bit of a speed demon. But I was keeping with the flow of traffic. They drive pretty fast down there. The road trip was pretty boring. Lots of trees and random things. Random statues in front of a school campus in the middle of nowhere, etc. 


Downtown Dallas

When we got to Dallas we explored the city a little.Went downtown and saw what downtown living was like. It was nice, kinda reminded me of Downtown DC, just a lot bigger. Which is amazing. After exploring we finally decided to go eat. We went to a spot called The Ranch at Las Colinas. Nice American style restaurant. The good things is that all their food is from local farms. The catfish I had seemed very fresh. Lol I actually didn't like it. I was being adventurous in trying catfish. But its not my thing. So, I'm sorry I can't really give the place that great of a review because I didn't really like what I had. We had a spinach dip appetizer. I would recommend trying it for yourself if you have the choice. 






Our hotel in Dallas was really bad. Unfortunately it wasn't up to our standards. But we only stayed for two nights so we braved it. I won't mention it because I've stayed at other locations of this franchise and they have been great. I don't want to give it a bad review. I think the hotel just needed an upgrade and that would have made for a better experience. The staff was nice so that was a plus.

Later that night we went to the Texas State Fair, hands down my favorite thing we did all trip. I would recommend going if you've never been. Make a family trip out of it, a baecation, or a girls trip. It's so much fun for people of any age. The fair has a website with all the information you need. Its over for this year but its never too late to start planning for next year. Also when you walk up to the booth to pay, if you don't purchase your tickets online, look out for some people handing out coupons. We didn't see the ladies until after but I definitely wanted to share that info with y'all. 





Seeing Big Tex in person was so cool. I've always seen my friends who live in Texas go to the state fair and I would be so jealous. I used to attend my county's fair when I was younger and it has always been good memories for me. 

Y'all I got try to a deep fried snickers. It was amazing. I've never had anything so awesome. And I don't even like fried foods that much. But you can click below to see my reaction to having a fried snickers for the first time. Priceless.





COWBOYS GAME




I'm not completely sure if I've ever admitted it here but I am a pretty big Dallas Cowboys fan. Jaz and I knew that the Cowboys were playing the Bengals(her favorite team) and we joked about getting tickets. We looked into it while we were home but the prices for good seats were outrageous. We decided that we were gonna go to a bar and watch the game. We woke up that morning, still joking about trying to find tickets. So Jaz looked them up and found some at a pretty good price and great seat location. 

We bought the tickets but never got an email with our tickets attached. So we were nervous as heck. Stayed on hold with Ticketmaster for about an hour (I totally thought at this point I was out of $200+), finally they told us that they were having an issue internally and that if we went to ticket services at the stadium they would be able to print out our tickets for us. Now funny story, Jaz and I spent our spring and summer working in the ticket services department for our local baseball team so we felt so bad having to go there. We joked with the guy helping us about how we know exactly how he feels and he thanked us for being so nice. We bonded over crazy fans




So let me walk you guys through the moment I had the ticket in my hand. I was elated. I was finally going to a Dallas Cowboys game. My Pop Pop would've been so happy if he was still alive. I had so many emotions going through my mind. I was finally able to do something that I've always wanted to do; see a Cowboys home game.

Hands down, best football experience of my life. I've been to a lot of football games, on all different levels. And I know some people think if you've been to one football game you've been to them all, but that couldn't be further from the truth. This was by far my best football experience. I've always manage to go to NFL games in freezing cold and/or rainy weather. The weather was perfect, in the high 70s. I was like a kid in a candy store.

Being at a game where you favorite team is the home team was so refreshing. Dallas won and that was the cherry on top of my "Texas is awesome" sundae. I took so many pictures but the one thing I didn't take a picture of was my food! Ugh I was so excited I forgot. I had tacos, which I've never seen offered at FedEx Field(Redskins) or M&T Bank Stadium(Ravens), so AT&T Stadium you win in Janisha's stadium food experience.

After the game we went to a bar across the street called Tailgate Tavern. We grabbed something quick to eat and had a few drinks. It was a good way to spend our last night in Dallas. I most definitely want to go back to another game. I'm already planning to go with some of my friends!




Honestly, I can't truly put into words how much fun I had in Texas. It was probably my favorite trip of the year. Wait no, I went to DR this year! It was my second favorite trip of the year. But hopefully soon I'll be back in Texas for longer than 4 days. As always there's some pictures below and I hope y'all enjoyed this post. See you next time!









































VLive in Houston. Poor place is shut down now.



 Peace & Love,
Janisha
 


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