After grabbing a quick bite at the hotel we went to Dealy Plaza. It was very surreal to walk around the Plaza where Kennedy had been killed. I’ve watched the Zapruder film so many times in high school, but it was bizarre to actually be there. To stand where Zapruder stood and recorded the video, to see the X on the road, to see the window on the 6th floor of the Book Depository. I’m glad we had finished watching the Kennedy documentary that the History Channel made in 2023 as it made more of an impact on the kids.

We then went to the Dallas World Aquarium which was much nicer than I had anticipated. It has a surprising number of terrestrial animals and a shockingly limited number of sea creatures for something called an aquarium. The kids loved the slots, axolotls, and the sharks. I like the crocs and the owls.

We then drove up north a tad to go to Ferris Wheeler’s BBQ. The food was outstanding. The smoked turkey had this incredible mustard-based BBQ sauce.

A quick drive back to Dealy plaza and we walked over to the Museum of Illusion. It was a decently sized set of rooms full of real-life/full-sized optical illusions. Some were better than others but honestly all of them were pretty good. Its always amazing how much power your sight has over your bodies interpretation of the world. My favorite room had you walk across a metal grate “bridge” through a spinning tunnel covered in little lights. Your first step onto the bridge caused your entire body to lurch as you felt like you were falling over. After a few repetitions you could start to mostly walk straight but the discomfort never went away.

Dinner was at the Magic Time Machine which was on the top of Little Monkey’s list. The servers all dress up as characters (mostly super heros) and they have fun “potion” drinks that bubble. The kids had a great time.

In the hotel we watched the 1963 movie, PT-109, in honor of being in Dallas. It was better than I expected and even the kids were engaged the whole way through.

Now off to bed. The forecast for tomorrow calls for partly cloudy all morning with storms in the late afternoon. With luck we’ll catch a break in the clouds. Fingers crossed!