Arlington, TX

Craig LOVES his gurls! But Jessica is “daddy’s BABY gurl.” This pic was taken when Jess was maybe a year old.  She is 31 now, but she is still and will always be “daddy’s BABY gurl.”   

Sidebar: We have the 🌈 rainbow, as in we are a blended family. Our gurls are caramel, vanilla and mocha.🤭  When Craig and I met we were both single parents with daughters, vanilla and mocha.  We got married and added caramel.😉 There is a large age gap between our three gurls.  Muneca was 12 and Athena 14 when we added  Jessica to the family. And yes, they are all daddy’s gurls and are very close.🥰🥰 (I KNOW gurls is spelled girls.🤭😉)

Our five days in Arlington.

We arrived in Arlington, Jessica’s place, Tuesday night about 10:45 p.m. We  were tired. We chatted a bit, showered and went to bed.  Jessica gave us her bedroom and she slept on the couch.

WEDNESDAY

Jessica’s place is really cute. It’s a one bedroom, one bath, on the 3rd floor, in a hugh apartment complex that houses a pool, tennis courts, volleyball court, gym and walking trails. It is perfect for her.👍🏽

After a good nights 😴 sleep waking refreshed, the three of us went for a walk in the park trails behind her apartment complex.

Pix from our morning walk at River Legacy Park.

I love Jessica’s neighborhood! These trails and the river are all walking distance from her apartment complex.  It doesn’t even feel like you are in the city when walking the trails. It is cool having them so close.

When we returned from our walk, Jessica fixed a breakfast of tea, 🥓 bacon and hard boiled eggs. 🥚 I added a sliced banana with peanut butter.  Craig and I ate and chatted while Jessica got to work. Since covid she has been working from home like many others.

While Jessica worked I repotted a plant for her, tended to her little composter and took a shower while Craig read. Having some free time on my hands, I took an afternoon nap.😴 After my nap I did some laundry. Overall it has been a pretty relaxing day.

While I was on Jessica’s balcony tending to her composter today I heard a LOUD 📢 siren. I didn’t know what the heck it was! I guess Jess saw how puzzled I was and she walked out to the balcony and said, “mom, that is just a tornado🌪 warning siren test.” She said they do that test the second Wednesday of every month at 2 p.m. It was a surprise to me! A Tornado warning siren?!😳😳 Texas is out. We won’t consider moving here. Arizona (Prescott, Prescott Valley and Dewey-Humbolt) is still our number one pick.

About 5 p.m. we decided to get some dinner.  We went to Salada, a salad place, but brought it back 🏡 home to eat.  We paired the salad with the left over ribs from Kreuz that we picked up yesterday.

Jessica had an 8 p.m. zoom meeting, so while she worked Craig and I watched the Vice Presidential debate. 🤔 🤪 After the debate we had to laugh so we watched some Dry Bar humor on You Tube.

Well, like I said, a pretty chill day. I folded the remainder of the laundry and got ready for bed. Until tomorrow.

THURSDAY

We got up and went for a walk again this morning, but instead of the park trails behind Jessica’s apt complex we walked thru a neighborhood down the street. The neighborhood was REALLY nice! I would venture to guess that these homes were in the range of 800k and up. It reminded me of Palos Verdes, CA. The homes appeared to be on about a quarter to a half an acre, nicely landscaped, HUGE yards and some even had🐎🐴 horses roaming on their lots. Most had circular driveways, lots of trees, no sidewalks and huge front yards. It is a really nice neighborhood.

We got back to the house in time for Jessica to get ready for her morning Zoom meeting.   She grabbed a quick cup of tea and I brewed some coffee for Craig and I.

We didn’t have any particular plans today while Jessica worked. We straightened up a bit, and ended up 📚 reading  and spending some time on social media.  When the time came for Jessica to report out, she introduced us to her work team; they were very friendly.👋🏼 She works with some GOOD FOLKS! 👍🏽👍🏽 Team Rubicon.

Later in the afternoon Craig and I hopped in Jessica’s car, (she was still working) and went to the grocery store for a couple of things and just to get out for a while. We ended up riding around touring the town, stopped and washed her car, and looked for a KOA RV park that was supposed to be close to her place, as a back up. Apparently it went out of business.

When we got back I fixed dinner. We had zucinni with onion, garlic and 🧀 cheese served over seasoned ground beef. Simple and Tasty.   After dinner I watched some you tube videos. Jessica had another work zoom meeting, Craig had his Thursday evening Zoom call with his sisters and nieces. I chilled and worked on this blog.

FRIDAY

We got up and went to breakfast this morning at a little local healthy food place called First Watch. It is the kind of place that has farm fresh, cage free, free range, organic eggs, 21 grain 🍞 bread, oatmeal, and organic and fresh ingredients. Good stuff!

President John F. Kennedy

We opted for some history today and headed to Dallas. After breakfast we went to the Dallas 6th floor museum. This is the famed building where Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President John F. Kennedy, from the 6th floor of this building.

I remember being in the second grade playing outside during recess. When all of a sudden all of the teachers ran outside of the classrooms crying😭; female and male teachers alike. The principal and office workers flooded the school yard as well, all in tears. Then all of us kids started crying. We didn’t know why, but it had to be something really bad because all of the adults were crying!😭😭 Then some of them started yelling “President Kennedy is dead!!” It was a day I will never forget. The day was filled with chaos and utter sadness. We were all sent home for the day. I don’t even remember going to school the next day. When we did go back to school, it was very somber. Such a sad, sad day in history. There was so much hope for this young president. By the way he was our youngest president in history, he took office at the age of 35. The museum offered loads of well documented information, photos and artifacts. Here is a snippet of what we experienced.

After all of these years, many still believe it was a government conspiracy because it was believed that President Kennedy was going to make some real changes for the American people. I for one have believed it was a government conspiracy; and after touring this museum, I am more convinced than ever, that it was. 😑

I was feeling a bit somber and teary eyed when we left the museum. All of those feelings as a second grader came flooding back.😪

We walked across the street to view the grassy knoll and “X” marks in the street indicating the exact spot where the President was shot.

Well, we left Dallas and headed back to Arlington. Jessica took us on a tour of various neighborhoods in her area. There are some REALLY NICE reasonably priced homes! We got back to her place and settled in. Her friend Jackie delivers food via door dash and brought us some chicken for dinner.

This BBQ chicken was DELICIOUS! The locals call it “crack chicken” I see why! OMG! Jess ordered soy sauce/garlic and sweet and spicy wings for us to try. I have to say it was the TASTIEST chicken I have ever eaten. Yes, THE BEST EVER! Perfectly seasoned. Perfectly fried wings. Tender and juicy. If you are ever in Arlington, Texas and like chicken wings, this establishment is a MUST! The sides were basic, we didn’t get any but rather paired the wings with a home made salad. But those wings!!🤪👍🏽👍🏽 DELISH!

After dinner we watched The Social Dilemma on Netflix! Wow what an eye opening documentary! AI is already here people. This is a MUST see documentary. In a nutshell, our devices and social media track and influence our daily lives. The former top personnel urge us to stop using social media because we are being manipulated. INTERESTING AND QUITE INFORMATIVE! A MUST SEE!

SATURDAY

We slept in this morning. Jessica had to work today from 10 a.m. to 4 pm. Craig listened to his usual Kangen call. Me? I brewed a pot of coffee and I went through my pix deciding which ones to use for this blog and repaired my main map of the U.S. that I use and mark up when we travel.

I use this US map ALL THE TIME. I’m old school and I just love maps and exploring. I do use navigation when we travel, but I always follow along on a paper map so I can see EXACTLY where we are.🙃

Craig did a couple of “To Dos” for Jessica. One, hanging her chair on the patio and Two putting up a hanging screen door for her.

That magnetic screen was a bit tricky. It was a little to wide and long, so we had to finagle it a bit to fit just right. It took us a good 45 minutes to get it just right. Now she can open her glass sliding door without 🦟  mosquitos invading her apartment. 😁

We finally went to get some dinner about 5 p.m. Craig wanted to go to Babe’s; a fried chicken place.

Babe’s is known for its fried 🍗  chicken.  The way this establishment works is you order your meat, fried or baked chicken, fish, or chicken fried steak. The sides are automatic, you don’t order or select them. They will continue to bring side dishes to your table; as much as you want. Good food for a reasonable price.

Sidebar: About two weeks before this roadtrip Craig and I started eating low carb; we stopped eating bread, pasta and sugar, (for the most part.) We always check labels and opt for items with LOW or no sugar. Well, we have slipped a bit on this trip, allowing a little leeway. We will have to get back on track sooner than later.

GOLD POPS  is a Popsicle store that Jessica will visit occasionally; she took us there after dinner. 🤫🤭  This  store is a small family run business that specializes in speciality popsicles; made with fresh fruit and cream. Some flavors include: fudge, banana chocolate, raspberry cantaloupe, coconut pistachio, 🍑 peach, 🥑 avocado, lemon basil, jackfruit, coconut🥥 black bean, citrus matcha, sweet and spicy pineapple 🍍 and many other truly unique combinations.  If you are ever in Arlington, TX, Gold Pops is a MUST stop for a tasty sweet treat made with fresh ingredients.  You can purchase them individually or get a box of five for $15. I enjoyed the fudge pop; it took me back to my childhood. It was tastier, richer and more chocolaty than the fudgesicle I ate as a child.  Jessica enjoyed the  sweet and spicy pineapple pop; she let me taste it; it tasted like fresh 🍍 pineapple with spicy Tajin, (a Mexican seasoning.) It was different, but tasty with a little kick; Unique. I highly recommend this little family run business.👍🏽👍🏽😁

After we enjoyed our pops, as dusk approached, we took a walk in Legacy Park.

During our visit we have watched and listened to Jessica prepare and conduct her Zoom meetings. She is a dedicated, hard working individual. She has grown into such a beautiful, responsible, caring, productive human being. 🥰 We are so proud of her!🤗

We have truly enjoyed our time here with Jessica, “daddy’s BABY gurl.” It will be difficult to say farewell tomorrow, but it is time for us to move on. Next stop is Tulsa, Oklahoma to see Black Wall Street.

✌🏽 Peace and Love 💞