Hillsboro, TX (USA)

Katie wanted to visit Dealey Plaza in Dallas (to see site of the JFK shooting). We got a pretty late start (1100) and had to stop at the Stockyards to pick up some last minute gifts that the girls had missed on Thursday (while I was at work). On our way towards Dallas (finally) by noon. Spent around two hours on the "grassy knoll" and in the gift shops nearby. Ate lunch at Subway (a block away). I figured the ladies would want to do some shoppping, so I took them down I-35E to Hillsboro, where we've (previously) seen an outlet mall. The drive was OK - but I think our side of the city (I-35W) is actually a better way to get to the merge... The outlet mall was a big disappointment: there were many, many closed stores and a limited selection (especially compared to the San Marcos outlets we saw earlier in the month...). Still, it appeared everyone enjoyed shopping at the available stores (bags appeared in the car for the drive home, anyway!). Used I-35W to drive back towards Fort Worth. We stopped to take pictures of HUGE fields of sunflowers on the side of the interstate. One of my co-workers has been recommending we go out to dinner in Burleson, especially to try their version of Babe's Chicken restaurant [see MAY 2009]. Convinced by his suggestions, we stopped there at 1700 and discovered that the ambiance was much like being in a small German town after dark. They had a lot more entree selections, too (including smoked chicken). Everyone had a great meal and we enjoyed the entertainment for a while. Afterwards, we xplored the small town and then took our time driving back to the Interstate (we even visited an Army-Navy surplus store). Got back to our house around 2030 and spent a good bit of time visiting. Katie actually dusted off our sewing machine and showed the girls some of her sewing tricks. It was fun to watch, but I ended up going to bed early (tired)...