Cowtown

Christopher and I traveled to Dallas, Texas this weekend for the Texas State Championship/Cowtown Feis held on Saturday and Sunday. We had a fun time and there were some really good dancers in Christopher's groups! On Sunday he placed sixth coming home with a cowbell--more cowbell!

We also had some time to explore Dallas a bit. As usual, with any feis, you kind of emerge from the cocoon of the windowless hotel ballroom around 2 in the afternoon and figure out that you are starving because all you have all day is coffee and maybe the occasional Crunchie Bar (if the lady from Cork is there selling her wares). You also see what the weather is like and that the sun did, in fact, rise that day and then you realize there is still day left to be enjoyed in a new city! Chris was craving Mexican food so we found a great restaurant downtown, had a delicious lunch (with a ridiculously yummy sundae dessert) and started to explore. We just had to stop in here first...

No it was not owned by Grandpa T but he would have felt right at home in this place! Country music was playing in the background and the smell of leather hit us like a brick wall. Chris checked out the vast selection of boots and Stetsons...

He soon realized that both items were severely out of his price range (cowboy boots for $1200?!?!) and settled for trying on a kid sized hat. When in Dallas...

Nothing like a kid in an Irish dance jacket wearing a cowboy hat! Anyway, I think it looks pretty good on him... Next we visited the Sixth Floor Museum which is a museum about President John F. Kennedy. Of course it dealt a lot with his assassination but it also gave us a great historical context for everything leading up to it and also JFK's legacy. It was a fantastic museum and Chris was really interested in everything it displayed. When I was just a little older than Chris, I was so interested in the Kennedys and I read everything I could get my hands on about them. It was so crazy to be in this museum which was located in the former Texas School Book Depository, the building where Lee Harvey Oswald shot the president from. After reading so much about this place and then to finally be there was surreal. After the museum, we went out to the grassy knoll to just kind of observe that spot. It was fascinating to be in a place where such a historic, albeit tragic, event took place. I think Chris kind of appreciated the significance of the whole thing too.

On Sunday, after the dancing, we packed up and visited possibly the most crowded mall I've ever been to to have lunch and kill time before our flight. I think the people in Dallas don't know what to do when the weather gets below 50 so they all just go to the mall! Chris and I had lunch (at 2PM) at the Rainforest Cafe before heading to the airport for the flight home. We were a bit delayed and so we are running on coffee and... coffee this morning but it was a good weekend. Chris was a little disappointed in his results but the kid is very resilient and it is good to see. He has had quite a stretch of success in Irish dance so far and we talked about the fact that it is unusual to win awards every time you dance. A lot of kids go to these feisannas and don't get anything and I think Chris understands that. This weekend was someone else's time to walk away with the hardware! Now it's on to St. Patrick's season with lots of performances and parades and fun. Hopefully it will warm up above the current 2 degrees before the Martin City Parade on Sunday!