TRAVEL || IT WAS GREAT BEING A “TEXAS RANGER”

Hello Royalty.

It’s another Travel and Lifestyle Friday. I hope your week was splendid, and that you’re in high spirits for the weekend! Last week, I told you about my visit to the aquarium and how fun it was. Today, I’m telling you about the other places I went to while in Texas. Yes, I left the place and I miss it already.

I visited, mainly, three other places while I was there including the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden, the Reunion Tower and then Hawaiian Falls.

My Experiences 

Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden 

Talk about green everywhere!  When we got there, I didn’t even know exactly where to start from or how to walk through such beauty. The flowers, the water, the sun…it was all beautiful. I was fascinated by some of the structures like this fruit “stand” and I saw about three of that.

I also noticed that most of the flowers, statues and almost everything in between were planted/built for certain people by others who loved them. I remember a particular flower bed that was dedicated by a girl to her late mum who passed in, I think, early 2000s. There was also a place called “A Woman’s Garden”. It was so beautiful; it had a large expanse of water and a statue of a woman.  It was presented by The Women’s Council of The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden in 1997.

And yes, I met Shakespeare in another part of the botanical garden! You bet we talked about Lady Macbeth, Romeo and the truth about love in Sonnet 116.

The Reunion Tower 

The GeO-Deck  (that round thing you see above) is 470 ft high! I’m naturally not afraid of heights so it was a wonderful experience. We took the elevator up there and as we climbed, the other side of the elevator is made of glass, so you can view the city as it takes you up.  While you’re up there, you get a 360 degree view of Dallas and it such a beautiful view. It is also very, very breezy.  I was so thankful I wasn’t wearing a wig (or it would have been another tale to tell ?).

I also took a picture that they made into a key chain for me  (upon request) and it has been attached to my wallet ever since.

Hawaiian Falls 

This was a super lovely experience that I did not even prepare for! Some family friends were kind to come take us out and at first, I thought we were going car racing so I just dressed in jeans. But plans changed and we ended up in  Hawaiian Falls. And I’m like, “Wow…this is the definition of fun in the water and I left my swimwear at the suite ?”. I’m pretty much hydrophobic so I didn’t even know how to react at first…but you bet I let my guard down, in the name of “it’s okay to try something new“. One of the friends that came along packed some extra clothes and was kind to let me wear her skirt and then, she had a pashmina that I turned into a swim top. (Gotta think fast ?) And the fun began!

I put up a picture of this slide below because it almost took the breath out of me. So I got to the top and I was actually doubting whether to go in or not. Skepticism and fear were written all over my face. The life guard and the other people wanting to slide were like, “Go, you can do it“. I was just still, thinking of the worst that could happen. Then I quietly walked up to the life guard and said, “I want the slow one…it’s my first time. Please, which is the slow one?” He smiled and said, “Nahh, the slow one is boring”. Within me, I’m like it’s my boring, just let me slide in peace. I saw that the green one was quite long, so I didn’t want that. He told me to go on the red/yellow one….and my dear, that’s how I went in. The lifeguard tricked me o….I found out it was the fastest! I was just spiraling down in a super fast pace, laying on top of water and then, splash! My butt hit the ground and water came all over my face. I had to shake my head and blink my eyes to be sure I was still alive. I’m definitely not doing it again. ?

But it was a good way to end my stay in Dallas on Tuesday and I’m currently in Maryland….so there are more travel posts coming our way!

And about my Texas Ranger badge,  I got it from Texas Treasures. They have customised badges with different names from A to Z, and I was pleased to find one with my name on it.

Thank you so much for reading and have a great weekend.

Goodbye Royalty,

With Overflowing Love,

Alexandra Zion.