Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Dallas, TX

I just wrapped up my trip to Dallas but unlike my other trips, this one was a bit different in the sense that it was geared more toward "business" than pleasure. I linked up with yet another friend that I used to work with and she was hospitable enough to host me and drive me around. Dallas is so spread out and since I hadn't rented a car, my movements were restricted. I did get the chance to check out downtown, uptown and various other areas but the most fun I had was passing time with my friend and her family. I was feeling a bit exhausted from all the running around I had done so it felt good to just chill and enjoy good vibes with cool people. To show how chill I was, these were the only photos I took during my whole stay......it just never occurred to me to be taking photos because I was engrossed in other things.

Klyde Warren Park - this is a town square that connects the neighborhood of uptown, downtown and the arts district. Cool place to hang out especially on a nice sunny day.



Boardwalk at Granite Park - yet another cool place to hang out, grab something to eat and just people watch. 


The hosts with the most - good times! PS: appropriate social distancing was exercised, we only got close for a hot second to take a quick snap.

That's it folks! I know this is the shortest post ever but hey! it is what it is, I got to accomplish what I came to Dallas for, so not all was lost. I am back home chilling, hanging out with my husband and enjoying my time off work before taking one more trip. Do watch out for the next post which will be based on yet another city that I have always wanted to visit, LA!


Saturday, November 21, 2020

Austin, TX

What can I say about Austin? for the past few days I have been having the time of my life in this capital city of Texas and that's why I was not able to update this blog. I have a friend....as usual, who lives in Austin and she had been raving about the city so I figured why not check it out because I had heard good things about it from others as well. There was so much to do and experience and these were some of the highlights of my trip:

Climbing Mount Bonnell - Mount Bonnell is located in Covert Park and considered the highest point in Austin, getting to the top is not hard at all and it doesn't take long. The views from the top are amazing and the surrounding trails are very easy to navigate.






Getting around on a Segway - I had never ridden a Segway before so my friend and I thought it would be cool to try it out. We signed up for a Segway city tour via Airbnb and we got to ride around downtown and check out the hip South Congress neighborhood which has cool murals, local shops and boutiques. It was an interesting experience.











Skydiving - Now this is one activity that I had always thought would be cool to do but I was never really motivated to try it out. My friend actually suggested it when she came across a good deal and I decided to go for it. We went through Skydive Temple and they were amazing, I am glad I did it but I can safely say that I will not be doing it again just because I was scared out of my mind and I never want to feel that way ever again. At least we got a certificate at the end that can serve as a nice memento.




That's it folks! I ate way too much good food, had some fun experiences and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I would have loved to check out the music scene but Covid is real so that's reserved for another time. Time to move on to the next city so Dallas here I come. 

Monday, November 16, 2020

Nashville, Tennessee

What do you do when you have 3 weeks of vacation and international travel is a bit tricky due to covid restrictions? you decide to take the opportunity and visit various cities within the US that you have always wanted to visit. Nashville happened to be one of those cities so I decided to make my first stop there. A friend that I had met via a travel blog had moved to the city and the timing was perfect so I figured why not finally make that trip to Nashville. My stay here so far has been pretty good and here is a breakdown of what I have been up to:

Day One (Arrival Day):

I wanted to take it easy as I acquainted myself with the city so we ended up checking out some cool street art. We headed to a neighborhood called 12 South where some of the most popular murals in Nashville can be found. The neighborhood is pretty and has this hip small town feel to it. Besides murals you can also find several restaurants and boutiques.








After getting done with the murals we hit up Nashville's biggest farmer's market for lunch then walked around downtown where the main action is, before calling it a day. It was a pretty chill first day and I wasn't in a hurry to see everything all at once since I knew I had time.

Day Two:

We ventured outside Nashville to go hiking and we ended up at Old Stone Fort which is an archeological state park located in Manchester, Tennessee and is about an hour drive from Nashville. Native Americans had used this area for 500 years but ended up abandoning it and it's not exactly known what they used the area for but it's definitely worth a visit. It's such a pretty park and even though the day started out with rain, it eventually cleared and we were able to check out a couple more parks and do more hiking.




After the hike we got back to Nashville and made our way to Monell's, a restaurant well known for serving typical southern food. An Uber driver had recommended the restaurant so we decided to check it out and it did not disappoint! first of all the concept was pretty new to me. We showed up at the restaurant and were seated at a large dining table that already had some people occupying it and the instructions were, more people would be seated at the table and the cook would bring out the food which would be placed on one end of the table and we would be passing it amongst ourselves and eat as much as we could. Pretty much like a buffet type of dining only that you are seated with a bunch of strangers. It was weird at first but the people who occupied our table were pretty friendly so it wasn't awkward and yes there was reasonable social distancing. It actually really felt like we were having dinner at someone's house.



Day Three:

This was my last full day in Nashville so I dedicated it to seeing the main highlights of the city. My friend lives within walking distance to downtown which is pretty convenient because I was able to check out some of the main attractions along the way. In no particular order here they are:

Bicentennial Park - this is where they have the timeline of Tennessee's history, it's actually interesting walking along while reading historical tidbits from the displays. 



Tennessee State Capitol


Broadway street - where you will find numerous bars playing country music and restaurants.





Parthenon - A replica of the original one in Greece.


Skyline of downtown Nashville



Nissan Stadium - premier sports and entertainment venue.


John Seigenthelar Pedestrian Bridge - One of the longest pedestrian bridges in the world.


Lastly, what is a visit to Nashville without country music? I got to check out these two ladies who were fantastic!


That's it folks! Nashville was pretty cool but now it's time to move on to the next city so Austin, here I come! do follow me on my adventures.