If you thought Lacey and I drove down to Texas just for the yarn crawl (Pictures of neat stuff and some accompanying thoughts...: Erica & Lacey's vacation photo album // North Texas Yarn Crawl // April 2024 (ragsreborn.blogspot.com), you'd be wrong... there is so much more for us to do while we were down there. 🚗 Were we exhausted from driving around all day to different yarn shops? Yes. 😅 Did that stop us from doing a scavenger hunt in an immersive art exhibit and walking around downtown Dallas? Nope.
Neither of us had breakfast and we only did a quick Starbucks stop in Ardmore, OK, so we were starving when we got to our first destination for lunch. 🍴 We had lunch at Deviled Egg Co in Denison, TX. 🥚🍸 They had the best deviled eggs that we've ever eaten. Literally. OMG!! The eggs were SO GOOD 😋 We each ordered a cocktail, Brussels sprouts for an appetizer, and three eggs to share family style. We got the smoked salmon (we both agreed it was the best by far), the jalapeño popper, and the Ceasar salad (which was a little underwhelming compared to the others). Lacey noticed that they mixed cream cheese into the egg yolk. Her husband is a bit of a home cook so she was taking notes so he could replicate the sprouts and eggs at home for dinner at a later date. I do not cook so I just had to savor everything at the restaurant. The eggs and cocktail were just what we needed to start our day of yarn shopping!
When we were mapping out our trip, I noticed a landmark labeled "Giant Eyeball" near our hotel. 👁 We took the 5minute walk to it after we checked in. I wasn't sure what to expect but I didn't think it would be so literal. LOL We ran into some other tourists and tried to figure out how to get into the lawn, but I don't think it's for the public. Still a neat photo opp.
Speaking of photo opps, strap in because there's about to be a ton of pictures! 📸 Our next stop was Sweet Tooth Hotel. It is an interactive art installation. You can buy regular tickets and just walk around, or you can buy the scavenger hunt to look for clues in each of the rooms and get a prize. We chose scavenger hunt! It was a cool experience but 1. it is set up for selfies, TikTok videos, and aimed toward influencers, which we are not, 2. the first room is amazing but the installations get less and less artistic, and 3. there is a bar connected to the "hotel" and I'm pretty sure you're supposed to enter the rooms drunk (or at least buzzed) to fully enjoy them. We were completely sober so probably didn't have as much fun as we should have.
The first room (inside of an elevator) is a crocheted bakery tea party. It is the most creative, adorable, whimsical, and well-made amigurumi I've ever seen. 😲 I've never seen anything else like it, so I have no comparison point but I'm still going to claim that this is the best crocheted room! It was also perfect for our yarn crawl. The shelves were stocked full of cookies, donuts, cakes and ice cream. 🍦🍩🍪🍰 And the table was laid out perfectly for a garden tea party. I wanted to stay in here forever!
The clue inside of the room was to count the toy mice. I was so taken in by the amigurumi that I wasn't even paying attention to the mice. Luckily, Lacey was on it. There are nine. 🐭 I loved that this was the first room we saw, but it also kind of sucked because every room after it was a letdown. It's hard to top a crocheted bakery!
We went into the second elevator and entered a neon pink bedroom. There was a phone on the desk with a fake phone book. I saw a telephone number for "Red Phone" but I didn't dial it. In hindsight I probably should have because I think we missed a room in here. There was a door behind the curtains by the Sweet Dreams bed. I tried opening it, but it was locked. 😠 I saw some streamers caught in it so there is probably something behind there, but I couldn't figure out how to get in. Lacey didn't share my curiosity, so we moved on. The clue in this room was to count the giant worms. There were 2 but they were so meh that I forgot to photograph them. 🐛
We walked into the closet and was in the bathroom. This was when I realized this entire installation is for photos and social media. It was a big room but there was hardly anything in it. Just a few items that you can pose by. The scavenger hunt clue was to count the legs, but this room had none. I saw another door, but it was "locked." We weren't sure what to do so I left to ask the front desk attendant. She said to push through the shower. I took it literally to mean the golden showerhead, so I started banging through the wall (trap door, maybe?). Much more sensible Lacey suggested that we try the locked door again. Turns out that I'm just too weak to push a door open so I thought it was locked when it was only heavy. 😖 I bet this is the same thing that happened when I tried opening the door behind the curtain in the bedroom.
Next was a library with legs hanging from the ceiling. There are five. I love going to these types of immersive art installations, so I know the gimmick is to touch, crawl into, and open everything. 📖 One of the books had a safe inside and the code was mice, worms, legs (9-2-5). Inside was another code for the next room.
Before we got to the next room, we took a detour into a surveillance room. It was just a room with red lights and lots of CCTV and mirrors for walls. Kinda creepy, kinda boring. Then we went to the bathroom (an actual working one), down a hallway and to the gym. The gym was kind of neat, but we were both dressed up and couldn't play on the equipment. Of the four areas we saw, the public restroom was the coolest. LOL
The last room was a living room. This time we did dial the phones. 🖁 The telephone number for the yellow phone didn't do anything, but the blue phone had a message for us! Half of the living room was normal, and the other half was painted black with neon green trim -- how did I forget to take a picture of this! The message told us to explore the bookshelf for another dimension. There was another safe in a book and we needed the code from the previous safe (242). That lead to a code word (it was either doorways or bookshelf). Then you open the fireplace and enter a neon desert. 🌵
It was in the desert that I realized this exhibit is better experienced with an alcoholic beverage in hand... and with a group of friends (especially an outgoing one to get the party started). There were lights, mirrors, and loud music. 🎵 Perfect for dancing and posing for silly pictures. Sober me and mellow Lacey just stood around unimpressed. LOL In our defense, we're almost 40 and I'm pretty sure the core demographic of Sweet Tooth Hotel is aged 14 - 27.
There was one last room, but it was definitely a throwaway room. It was a gigantic advertisement for Topo Chico. The only good part of that room was the bed ... because I was wearing heels and I needed to lay down for a bit. My poor feet! 😭 After our rest, we headed back to the front desk to collect our prize for completing the hunt. It was a motel keychain, actually pretty rad. The front desk area had some merch but I didn't enjoy my experience enough to buy something to commemorate it with.
Our last activity for the day was dinner. I wanted to have dinner at the fancy restaurant in the hotel since we were both dressed up. We stood around for a while, but the hostess never showed up. 😑 There were other diners enjoying their meal, so we knew the place was still open. Losing patience, we left and walked to a late-night taco place. Uno Más was good, but I think I was still so in love with the deviled eggs we had at lunch that I was making a harsh comparison. Our waiter was extremely soft spoken but spoke super fast. I had to ask him to repeat literally everything he said at least twice. When I was talking to Lacey the next morning, I decided that my shrimp tacos were actually really yummy, and the elotes were, too. 🌮 The rice was weird, though, it tasted like it was either cooked in coconut oil or was flavored with an unfamiliar spice.
I picked out a place for us to go to for breakfast the next morning (Starship Bagels) but it was closed. 😞 We roamed a bit around our hotel and decided to get Starbucks and skip breakfast. ☕ Lunch wasn't far off, and we needed to start day two of the yarn crawl. Before we left, we walked through Thanksgiving Garden. I thought it was Thanksgiving like the holiday, but it was thanks giving, like praising the lord. It was a serene garden but had entirely too many Bible verses littered about. Too in your face and could have been more subtle.
On the Lamb was in the same shopping center as a couple of restaurants, and we settled on LA Burgers for lunch. It was really tasty. 🍔 My only complaint is that I guess the owner was trying to save money so he didn't have the air conditioning on. It was already 80℉ and very humid so it made our dining experience uncomfortable. It's so hard to photograph a hamburger because all you see is the top bun, but I promise it was yummy. 😋 The curly fries were good, too, extra crispy like I like them! I got the Texas burger, which came on Texas toast with bacon, steak sauce and jalapeños. The jalapeños were all clustered to one bit so that bite was a doozy! LOL
We had to stop in Buc-ee's on our way out, but the one in Denton was too far out of the way. Instead, we went to a new (to us) one in Melissa. It was just as nice as the ones in Fort Worth & Denton. The only thing that threw us off was that the sides of the store where the food and non-food merchandise is was switched. We got snacks, t-shirts, and gifts for our spouses & dogs, gas & bathroom breaks, and then journeyed home. It was a mega fun trip, but in hindsight, I should have given us more time to rest. I'm too old for non-stop activities. By the middle of the second day, we were already getting burned out; and by the end of the day, we were pooped. We just sat in silence in the car trying not to doze off on the way home. We paid for a nice hotel and we should have used it more. I admit defeat now, but will that stop me from overplanning me & Wes's vacation this summer? Probably not. 😅 LOL
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