Texas 2023:
Day 22 - Cooper Lake State Park


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Texas 2023: [Day 1 - Tulsa] [Day 2 - Lawton] [Day 3-4 - Lubbock] [Day 5 - El Paso] [Day 6-7 - Davis Mountains SP] [Day 8 - Big Bend NP] [Day 9 - Seminole Canyon SP] [Day 10 - Falcon SP] [Day 11-14 - South Padre Island] [Day 15-16 - Goose Island SP] [Day 17 - Houston] [Day 18 - Stephen F. Austin SP] [Day 19-20 - McKinney Falls SP] [Day 21 - Arlington] [Day 22 - Cooper Lake SP] [Day 23 - Crater of Diamonds SP] [Day 24 - Nashville] [Day 25 - Heading Home]


Saturday, February 11, 2023: We took advantage of the fact that the KOA was in an urban area and fetched McDonald's for breakfast.
Tom took this picture of Debbie crossing the footbridge from the tent area to the bathrooms, ...
... just before Debbie took this picture looking back at our awesome tent and the KOA tent area.
Here's a good shot showing how close the KOA was to the other buildings in the area. They were actually doing construction on this apartment building, and we woke up to the sound of large trucks beeping as they backed up.
We were heading out of the complex right at 11:00 AM, ...
... and had no choice but to stop at the Krispy Kreme just up the street. The "Hot Now" light was on, and it is a Bundlings Rule that we have to stop when that happens. It's a rule!
Did we get any of the Valentine's Day special doughnuts?
Of course not! They would have taken up valuable stomach space, and all space must be reserved for these beauties.
Even though we had gotten a car wash a few days ago, our van was filthy again, so we decided to get another wash. We got the cheapest wash this place offered, and left with soap still on our vehicle. But hey, the dirt was gone.
We passed this beautiful building as we headed north, ...
... past the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, where this billboard was right at the entrance to the airport.
Our first stop today was the Stonebriar Center Mall.
We entered the mall near the Cheesecake Factory, ...
... and went directly to the LEGO Store.
As usual, Debbie headed immediately to the Pick & Build wall, ...
... filling a small cup before heading to ...
... the Build-a-Minifig station to look for any parts that she hadn't previously seen. Not finding anything that she had to have there, ...
... she looked at a nearby rack and saw pre-identified bags of Series 24 minifigs. Pre-identified! No feeling the bags and guessing which minifigs were inside, they were labeled with what was inside. Score! She grabbed two of the spaceman minifig that she wanted, ...
... and two flower sets, a wildflower bouquet set, and a piƱata set to round out her order. She bought enough to qualify for the VIP free-with-purchase 4x4 Off-road Ambulance Rescue set.
She had to open one of the Series 24 minifig packages right away and assemble it. It was indeed the spaceman and space baby minifigs! Adorbs!
We slogged our way south through Dallas traffic, past the iconic gold buildings, headed toward the Amesbury apartment complex where Debbie used to live, ...
... only to find out that it was no longer there, which was heartbreaking.
From there, we headed deeper into Dallas, passing this former location of the Dr. Pepper bottling plant. The shopping complex was named Dr. Pepper Station, and there was a 10-2-4 clock to mark what had once been.
Check out the 10-2-4 logo in this mural on this nearby apartment complex, which stands where the bottling plant used to be.
We were right on the edge of the Southern Methodist University campus. In fact, in 2009, the city had renamed Yale Boulevard to SMU Boulevard.
We finally arrived at our next stop, the Kalita Humphreys Theater.
This is the only theater designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and was completed nine months after his death.
It is a beautiful building.
As we got back into traffic headed north, we could see the building where Debbie used to work when she lived here in the late 80s.
Back then, the address of the building was Yale Boulevard. The overpass right in front of it still shows traces of the old name before it was changed to SMU.
There was some comfort in the fact that at least Northpark Center hadn't changed, ...
... although Debbie wasn't certain that it used to have two floors.
We headed to the LEGO Store.
Did Debbie get some Dots? Nah, she decided to fill a small Pick & Build cup with random handfuls of pieces.
It was the final LEGO Store in Texas. We had visited all eight of them on this trip. When Debbie was checking out, the staff was really excited to see her LEGO passport and all of its stamps. She mentioned that she'd gotten a stamp at every store in Texas, so they gave her this gold "Passport Complete" sticker. Debbie squealed in delight when they gave it to her.
This is the very McDonald's where 24-year-old Debbie realized she was a grown-up and could just have a chocolate shake and French fries whenever she wanted.
We headed down Greenville Avenue, passing the Granada Theater, ...
... and the Aw Shucks Oyster Bar, which had been very popular on Beach Day when Debbie worked at Intran.
We were headed to the Blue Goose Cantina, and after finding street parking a few blocks away, ...
... we got a table in the bar area and ordered two very well-deserved drinks. Tom got a Modelo Especial draft and Debbie ordered a frozen margarita.
We had more drinks and dinner when our dear friend John and his friend Cindy arrived from the hockey game they attended earlier. We caught up on old times and got to know Cindy and had a really great time.
Between the bar area and the bathroom was this tortilla making machine. There were several completed tortillas in the pan on the right. This was something Debbie fondly remembered from when she lived here.
After dinner, we walked down the street and headed to Terilli's, ...
... where they are apparently famous for their espresso martinis. Cheers!
All too soon, we had to leave. We said our goodbyes and left Terilli's, ...
... admiring all the beautiful lights in the bar district.
The Blue Goose was especially striking with its lights on.
Across the street, Stan's Blue Note had a variety of college logos on their windows. Among the local Texas schools, we were surprised to see logos for Ohio State University and the University of Minnesota.
As we headed out of Dallas, we decided that we needed Dr. Pepper milkshakes from Whataburger. We stopped in Mesquite, Texas, and waited in line for more than 30 minutes only to get shakes that were not made correctly. We got back on the road, and stopped at the Whataburger in Garland, Texas. We got two delicious shakes this time and drove away very happy.
We crossed Lake Hubbard as we left the city, and made our way to Cooper Lake State Park near Sulphur Springs, Texas.
As we turned onto the road for the state park, we encountered four or five deer just frolicking alongside the road. We saw them with plenty of time to come to a complete stop as several of them ran across the road before joining the group and disappearing into the darkness.
We had already booked a campsite, so we drove right past the closed registration station and made our way to the Bright Star campground.
After getting everything set up, we relaxed in the tent and took advantage of a strong cellular signal to stream a Falcon 9 launch.
Shortly after the launch coverage ended, we got ready for bed and settled in for a good night's sleep. 

Day 23 >


Texas 2023: [Day 1 - Tulsa] [Day 2 - Lawton] [Day 3-4 - Lubbock] [Day 5 - El Paso] [Day 6-7 - Davis Mountains SP] [Day 8 - Big Bend NP] [Day 9 - Seminole Canyon SP] [Day 10 - Falcon SP] [Day 11-14 - South Padre Island] [Day 15-16 - Goose Island SP] [Day 17 - Houston] [Day 18 - Stephen F. Austin SP] [Day 19-20 - McKinney Falls SP] [Day 21 - Arlington] [Day 22 - Cooper Lake SP] [Day 23 - Crater of Diamonds SP] [Day 24 - Nashville] [Day 25 - Heading Home]

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