Heather does Dallas.

Our 4 days in Dallas was very busy and filled with lots of sightseeing, this involved getting familiar with the public transport system of Dallas. We chose to stay in a gorgeous B & B, Corinthian House in Dallas. On our arrival at midday Friday, we were greeted by Dan, the owner, who made us feel very welcome and  was also very knowledgeable about bus routes, light rail etc. The bus stop was located one street away from Corinthian House to Downtown Dallas and a short walk from the house. At first I thought the location and choice of accomodation was not a wise choice as we were on foot and had to rely on public transport, but after a few days of using taxi's, buses and trains we became quite familiar with the  public transport system, which was pretty efficient and we became a little more at ease at using  this system around Dallas. Corinthian House was a delight to come back to after a day of sightseeing. Laurel, our host who lives in Corintian House, looked after us very well, and was only to happy to help when needed, we had the most amazing breakfasts. laurel cooked breakfast each morning and breakfast was served in the dining room at 9am.  All the guests staying attended and great conversation was had by all. As well as breakfast, there was always tea, coffee and homebaked  biscuits readily available.

Corinthian House

Our bedroom, Edith Roosevelts room.

Dining room set up for breakfast 

Our gorgeous host " Laurel"

The sitting room.

In the afternoon we went into Downtown Dallas to see the JFK memorial.

We also visited the Holocaust museum and JFK a, 6th floor museum, the later took us 4 hours to get around, a tribute to JFK's life and death. This is were Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK from the 6th floor of the book depository.

Entry to the museum.

Elm Place

Elm place, is where the motorcade with JFK was proceeding, when assasinated and this is the view and window from where he was shot.

Saturday saw us travel by train to Dallas Fort Worth, where we spent the day at the stockyards.

Great bar stools at one of the many bars in Fort Worth.

Walk of fame!

Stockyards where the stock is kept.

Stagecoach ride.

Tourist information centre

$5 to sit on the bull and have your photo taken !

The stockyards are a great place to have a steak.

Sunday we visited the Arboretum, the botanical gardens of Dallas.

On display was 12 enclosed pagoda's with the 12 days of Christmas depicted, as well as a pumpkin village display.

  5 Golden rings!

 2 turtle doves!

Eight maids a milking, not all the exhibits were opened.

Enjoy the lovel gardens

DH in the poetry garden

Pumpkin Village

Cinderella carriage.

A wonderful day had by all. OhI forgot to mention Dh made me walk 2 1/2 miles from the Arboretum to Dixie House for dinner....not happy!

Whilst in Dallas I had the opportunity to go to an"yard sale", never say never when you can grab a bargain, all this for $14, never mind the expense of a new suitcase for excess luggage!

Time to get home and plan for our next adventure. Goodbye Texas, been nice visiting.

Fredricksburg, a wonderful town, in the Gillespie County, Texas, San Antonio

Monday saw us catch the greyhound bus to Fredricksburg from San Antonio, this in itself was an experience, some very interesting characters seen, whilst waiting at the bus depot. The travel time was  approximately 2 hours and on arrival we were dropped at a service station on the edge of town, not sure what to do from here as no visible cabs were seen, we entered the service station and chatted to two lovely ladies who were very helpful and called us a cab. The cab driver was quite delightful and apparently multi- talented as we found out over the next few days. He gave us his business card and we used him to ferry us around town, the cab ride was a fixed rate of $6 anywhere within the town limits. We booked into our guest house Hoffman Haus, this gorgeous accomadation is spread over a few acres and has lovely cottages sprawled all over the grounds, the reception area is quite lavish and we were greeted warmly by the friendly staff.

After we booked in, we took a walk downtown which was only a few blocks away and visited the shops. Of course I headed to one that said "quilts", this shop only sold quilts, no supplies.

One of the cottages in Hoffman Haus complex.

DH outside our cottage.

Our room, kitchen and ensuite to both sides, own verandah as well.

The reception area

Leads to a library 

Sadly this shop only sold quilts, over 600 on display.

Streets of Fredricksburg.

The shops closed at 5.30 pm, upon walking down some back streets, to have dinner at "Otto's, we saw a quilt and pie shop, opening hours were Thursday to Sunday, not open Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. This shop looked very interesting and there were lights on so I knocked, said I was from Sydney, Australia and this wonderful lady let me into have a browse. I was delighted to find out that she was the sister of Jodie  Barrows, who was at quilt festival in Houston and designs civil war quilts, as well as a square in a squre ruler, also has her own fabric range, I bought some great red fabric.

Just love the metal Turkey displayed in front yard.

Otto's for dinner

Foie Gras! yummy

Tuesday, was a bit cloudy and a whole lot of rain has been forecasted for the next few days, so after our breakfast was delivered, we called our top dog cab and went to visit a quilt shop just on the edge of town.

Our breakfast basket with a hot meal inside.

One quilt place, has just been open for 1 year, quite a large cottage filled with great fabrics.

After some retail therapy we walked from one end of town to the other and saw some great shops, if only we had them at home and what great prices as well.

These 5 amigos would look great in my garden!

We visited the Amish market, who had a great number of quilts for sale.

Browsing in a number of antique shops I was finally rewarded,  look what I found and bought, a 1920-30's queen size appliqué quilt in very good condition, all hand quilted as well, it now has a new home in Sydney. This is my second quilt purchase, my first being a 1920's red work quilt from the Houston quilt show.

The building below is a museum of the Pacific war and depicting Admiral Nimitz who is from Fredricksburg, well worth a visit.

I also visited "Haberdashery" who features "Magnolia Pearl fashion range, a must look store.

Magnolia Pearl fashion!

That concludes our few days in Fredricksburg, back to San Antonio, and our greyhound adventure on entry into San Antonio, police dogs were on guard to check for drugs!

Rain greeted us as well, but we braved it, visited the mission conception and The Alamo!

Mission Concepcion

Inside the church at Mission Concepcion

The Alamo

Davy Crocketts hair, rifle and General Sam Houston shaving mug, a well presented museum which is looked after by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas

The Menger hotel, where all the troops assembled in the Spanish war.

I also got to visit an amazing quilt shop called Los Colchas, this shop is in an old Sears house bought from a catalogue, a number of years ago, there are 6 filled rooms full of fabric, books, patterns ,projects and wool to delight every creative mind.

Inside the store, staff were friendly and very helpful.

DH, sat and read a book whist I shopped.

Rooms packed with goodies.

That concludes my visit with San Antonio, off to Dallas.