Wes & Erica's vacation photo album// Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - DAY 4// March 2025

Our hotel was right next to Suria KLCC (the biggest & nicest mall in town!) and we went there every day but didn't actually walk through it and shop until our last day.

Our final day on vacation was *almost* perfect; the day started out fantastically and continued to go well until we got to the airport to prepare to fly back home. 🛫 There, we ran into a slight snafu that ruined our streak of having an ideal trip (😣but we're not going to talk about that because I'm genuinely trying to practice the "power of positivity" and optimism). 

My donut was frosted like the traditional flag/lanterns that we saw hanging everywhere.

Moving on...  🍩☕On one of our many trips to the mall, Wes noticed that there was a Dunkin' and wanted the classic coffee & donut breakfast. I got a rose mocha latte with whipping cream (which was waaaay too sweet and the rose flavor was grossly artificial; I felt like I was drinking a scented candle) and a yummy ketpat donut with pandan frosting and banana cream filling. I also went to a neighboring Indian restaurant and got chicken & potato and lamb & potato samosas. 

Our morning activity for the day was a tour of the historical Rumah Penghulu Abu Seman House. It is a traditional Malaysian house in the middle of the bustling city. It was one of the highlights of the trip for me, but its not a super popular tourist attraction. Our Grab driver actually asked if it was the right place when he dropped us off. 😬 I told him that I thought it was and we hesitantly made our way to the door. 

This historical house tour was my second favorite activity of the trip (nothing will beat the Batu Caves). 

Tours are offered at 11am and 3pm daily. We got there a couple of minutes before 11am. The receptionist was the friendliest/chattiest person we encountered in all of Kuala Lumpur.! 😄 She explained that the house is a World Heritage Site and asked where we are from and how our vacation was going. I told her it was our last day and asked if there was anything we needed to see before we left. She suggested the Kraft Komplex down the street. It is a handmade artisan market and the kitchen would be serving free porridge at 5pm to all visitors (to break the daily fast for Ramadan). That was a little late for us but we'd definitely give the market a look. 

All the gorgeous woodwork is original to the house, and done by hand. Its amazing how well how all of the old buildings throughout the entire city of Kuala Lumpur have been preserved. 

The house's website said we'd watch an informational video before our tour but we didn't see any tv's around. Instead we went to the little giftshop. Our tour guide arrived promptly at 11am and we sprayed ourselves with mosquito repellant, took a traditional straw fan, and headed out onto the grounds. We were the only two people there so we got a personal tour! 🏡 Our tour guide was a sweet young lady who was sooooo insanely knowledgeable about Malaysian history, culture, and of course, everything there is to know about the penghulu house. I imagine she must have been a history student. 

I'm adding Outdoor Kitchen to my next home's "must have" list.

The "penghulu" is the headman or chief of the town. His was the biggest house and it also served as a police station, jail, wedding venue, and community event center. We started outside in the garage area underneath the house. We were told that most of the cooking is done outside so the rest of the house wouldn't smell. 🍲 The #1 problem I currently have with cooking at home is that the entire house has begun to smell like a dirty/stale restaurant, so this outdoor cooking room spoke volumes to me. #chartrusewithjealously LOL Our tour guide also told us that having the house built on stilts prevents animals from coming in, and if a burglar came, the residents could easily push him off the very steep stairs.  

I want a vintage telephone and typewriter!

The first room is the headman's office. It looked like your typical office, but it also tripled as a police station and jail. 👮 She said that criminals would be temporarily held here, but I didn't see any doors with locks or bars. So I guess they all complied out of respect. She also said that he would bring both sides of the crime into his office for statements and conduct a small trial. 

Wes & I got to pretend to be guests of honor to be photographed in the community event room!

The next room was the wedding venue. 👰🤵 The bride and groom would sit at the end of the room while the villagers came to congratulate them. All well wishers brought (or was gifted, I can't remember which) a feather and a flower with an egg tied to it, which were symbols of fertility. Each couple staked flags with their wedding colors around town that lead to the house; everyone would know that the green couple, say me & Wes, is getting married on Thursday. After the wedding, the flags would disappear and a new color would be placed for the next wedding. 

The living room doubled as a community event center and was the largest room in the house. The house has very high ceilings and lots of windows for fresh air. The breeze was nice but I was still sweating profusely. Our tour guide didn't break a sweat, but she did agree that it was an unusually hot morning. 🌞 The front door of the house is much lower than the rest of the door frames so all guests would have to bow to the headman has they entered. Unless you're me... I walked through that door just fine with my 5"2' stature. 😂

The house has two bedrooms. I think I remember our tour guide telling us that the room with the red bed is the regular everyday bedroom while the other one, with the white bed, is used for guests and special occasions. The house has wide breezy hallways that lead from section to section. I was jealous at how spacious it is! 🏡 Our guide said that the entire community would club together to build a new house when needed, and if you wanted to move to a new plot of land, everyone would meet up to literally pick up your house and walk it over to the new area. 😲 But that required a petition to the headman with a really good excuse as to why you needed to move. 

The baby would be placed in a swaddle pouch that hung from the ceiling (top right). One of the toys is a little handmade beanbag; the children made those to practice their sewing (middle right). 🧵

The next room was the nursery. 👶 It is the biggest room in the house. The kids would play with toys that make noise (like the traditional marble game) while mom and the other women in the household would be in the kitchen in the next room. Our tour guide said that as soon as the noise stopped, they would suspect that the kids were up to something and could rush in the check on them. LOL The nursery is also the family's dining room. The food was kept underneath a wide basket to keep bugs away from it, and water was kept in cooling jugs. There was also an old Singer sewing machine, which I thought was super cool!  

The last room on our tour was the kitchen. 🍲 It is a lot smaller than I thought it would be. I know gathering & eating is an important part of all Asian culture, so I assumed the kitchen would be one of the biggest (most important) rooms.🍛 But, a majority of the cooking is done outdoors and then cooked food is brought into the kitchen for its final preparation. Our guide showed us some of the tools that were used, including one that was for cracking coconuts. 🥥 She said that all food was found on the land. The family would raise chickens and eat coconuts and other vegetables that grew naturally. 🌴

Our tour guide took some nice pictures of us. All of the influencers we saw turned their phones upside-down to take pictures.  That's what she did and I think it is supposed to make the angle or perspective look better 🤷

After our guide (I wish I knew her name so I could give her a shout out; she really was great!!) wrapped up the tour of the house, she seconded the receptionist's suggestion that we go to the Kraft Komplex. It was just a block down from the house and she assured us that we'd make it there and back in plenty of time for our Grab pick-up. 

The complex is just 2 little shops but it looked so cool on the outside. The buildings were modeled after traditional Malaysian houses. The first "shop" was actually for displaying sample items. It had traditional garments, fabric, jewelry, and handbags. 👚 I wanted a small basket-weaved clutch but there was no where to pay for it. We walked around until we finally found a sales employee. I told her that I wanted to make a purchase and she said that I couldn't! 😐 After some back & forth, I finally understood that everything in the first shop is just for display, and we had to walk down to the second shop to buy the items that are actually for sale there. Weird. There was as small section of handbags for sale but none looked like the one I wanted. I found some clutches in a similar basket-weaved style but there weren't the same size or color. I wanted to ask the clerk if he had any others (or if I could just buy the one from the sample shop), but it was getting close to our Grab pick-up time and I think Wes was starting to get embarrassed at all the "arguing" (I call it "asking questions for clarification") I was getting myself into on this trip. So I left souvenirless. 😔

The only thing I really wanted was a purse from Dior, but it was more expensive than duty free would allow, and I can always just order it online. 

We spent the rest of the day at the Suria KLCC--Kuala Lumpur City Center--mall. There is a nice park that wraps around the back of the mall (which was on my to-do list), but it was too hot for an afternoon walk. 🌳 The mall is enormous!! It is separated out into four stories, with each floor having it's own theme, and more importantly- it's own food court (this is how we could eat every one of our meals there. LOL). The second floor houses all of the luxury brands. I wanted a nice handbag or pair of shoes, but most stores were by appointment only and once you made your appointment, you were expected to buy. I really just wanted to look around (without the pressure to purchase), so we window shopped instead.

Those two figurines in the middle, cabbage dog & the sassy eggplant cat, were way more expensive than anyone can possibly guess. Bottom right: my spoils 😍 2 fat quarters & a Unicorno figurine.

We always go to Kinokuniya on my annual birthday trip to DFW. I go for the tokidoki merch and Wes goes for everything else. This was our first major (aka large) Kinokuniya shop; we may have gone to one in San Francisco but it was nowhere near this big. This one had all of the manga and nerd culture stuff I'm used to seeing, but it was also an actual bookshop too. And it randomly had a fabric section! Granted it was part of the arts & crafts section, and only sold fat quarters, but I was still excited to see it 💗

I got cabbage, rice, shrimp & an egg. Wes got rice, bean sprouts, and lamb & chicken for his protein options.

After walking around two floors of the mall (I don't remember what the fourth floor is, but the third was children's stuff and sporting goods), it was lunch time. Malaysia has Malay, Chinese, and Indian cuisine. We ate plenty of Malaysian food and had a great Chinese meal at Din Tai Fung, so it was time for Indian food. 🦐 I walked around the food court and picked the restaurant that had the longest line; that one would have to be the tastiest, right? 😋 I ordered a combo plate with the BIGGEST shrimp I've ever seen! It looked straight out of an ocean documentary. LOL It was spiced, deep friend and delicious!

I ordered a peach yogurt tea drink to go with my meal (because no one serves water here 😠). It wasn't the best tea but at least it came with cute stickers. We spent the rest of the day on the first floor, which had a mix of stores and was more accessible (cheap 😅) to regular consumers. I listen to a lot of British podcasts and they're always talking about Marks & Spencer so I was excited to go in one, but I was not impressed. Wes wanted to go into Japan's UNIQLO for novelty t-shirts. He didn't find any but I picked up some cute things. 👕🎀 And, then came my handbag. 👜 I had decided I wasn't going to spring for a luxury brand but I still wanted something. We came across the Vincci store, which is a prominent Malaysian brand. Perfect!! A Malaysian handbag from my Malaysian trip 😍

Vincci was awesome and I wanted one of everything. 😍All the of handbags, accessories, and shoes are so cute!💛

We wrapped up shopping and headed back to the hotel for a quick nap and to pack. I'm glad I didn't go too crazy at the mall because we had just enough room in our luggage for everything. Our Grab driver to the airport was the only one who made small talk with us. 🚦 He said rush hour traffic that Friday wasn't as bad as it usually is. He then said that he got to the hotel early for us because the traffic and time of our flight was stressing him out. LOL He got us there in plenty of time! 

Goodbye Kuala Kumpur!! 👋 Durian is the fruit to eat here; I hate how it smells & tastes but I told myself I'd try it if there was a yummy way of preparing it. There wasn't so I skipped. There is a store with all durian based foods at the airport (bottom left).

✈ We had a long journey home ahead of us! As mentioned previously... airport drama... getting our boarding passes was a bit (okay, it was EXTREMELY) stressful, and we had to skip going to the "secret" rainforest in the airport, but we made it and we were soon seated on our comfy seats on the Korean Air flight back home. It was kind of a good thing that we didn't have time for dinner at the airport because we were served another million meals on our flight.

Our first flight was from Kuala Lumpur to Seoul Incheon. We had breakfast 🍚, which started with a shrimp & ricotta cheese crepe (not my favorite). The main was delicious beef congee, and fruit for dessert. The grapes weren't as large this time around. Surprisingly, this was the only meal were got. But, it was only 6-hours to Seoul. We had a little more time at the Incheon airport this time so I tried to get us on a tour or to see the airport's Korean Cultural Center/Museum, but we were too early for the tours and the museum was too far away. By the time we walked & bused to the terminal it was at, we'd barely have any time to look around before it was time to fly out again. 

Korean Air is doing it right with their 5-course meals!! 

I was more exhausted (physically and emotionally) than I thought I was, so I literally slept through the entire flight from Seoul to Atlanta, GA. 😴 We had terrible turbulence on this flight but I even slept through that! I remember waking up a few times to flight announcements and feeling kind of bounced around, but I really only woke up to eat. We had two main meals and a snack. I slept through the snack, which is fine because I was not hungry, but I was also kind of sad because Wes said the snack options were pretty good. Our first meal was lunch:

* we started with crab salad and champagne🥂 (these flights must go through absolute barrels of champagne!!) top left

* our soup & salad course was seared scallop 🍥 with assorted banchan (since I got the Korean meal option). Wes got the Western meal option which came with an actual salad, I think. Our menu said we'd be getting cream of green pea soup, which I was so excited for (split pea is one of my faves!), but the Korean meal came with a spicy soup that I didn't like. top right

* my main course was Korean Nutritious Octopus Rice.🐙 I thought it would be like a poke bowl or clay pot, but it was neither and I didn't really like it, either. I picked out the octopus bits and ate them with the banchan. My suggested white wine for the meal was Jan-Marc Brocard Chablis Premier Cru.  middle right

* we got a cheese course after our main dish, which was good (I love cheese🧀 so I am happy to eat it at any time) but it was kind of out of place in my Korean menu. The bread was a weird texture, so I ate my cheese with the grapes and nuts. bottom right

* I could NOT fit another morsel of food into my stomach but the flight attendant came by with dessert and who was I to turn down ice cream with assorted cakes? 🍨 bottom left

Our second meal was dinner, another multi-coursed meal.🍴 It was good, all of our fancy first class meals were, but there is just something off about airplane food. 😕 Maybe it's the altitude (I have read that does affect your taste buds) or maybe because it's not freshly prepared, but I didn't really like anything. I mean, I ate it and enjoyed it well enough, but it wasn't anything I'd request again. Anyway, for dinner we had:

* salad with cabbage, edamame, salmon skin and some other stuff thrown in, with miso ginger dressing. 🥗 The best part of the meal, for me. top left I think Wes said the main course was his favorite dish. 

* my main course was beef bulgogi with glass noodles. The beef was great but the onions kind of ruined it for me. bottom left Once again, my soup was too spicy. Eating soup during active turbulence (they call it "rough air" now. LOL) is so stressful! 😫 Wes got the Thai chicken curry.

* we got fruit for dessert. I ate the orange, skipped the pear and gave Wes the watermelon. right

Korean Air is my new favorite airline and I will only be vacationing to Asian countries from now on because I refuse to fly with anyone else. 🙆LOL Our Graff toiletry kit is so cute & I love all our lotions and stuff. Even Wes was impressed with it!

After 13 hours, we were back in the states. 🛬 We landed in that the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. We had a 3-hour layover so I tried to find us something to do. The airport's website boasted a bunch of "best airport" awards but I couldn't find a single thing for passengers to do (besides eat & drink). Oh well, we'd be home soon. We landed safe & sound, and about an hour early, at Will Rogers International Airport and were greeted by my mom & stepdad. Another trip in the books! Also, HAPPY 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!! 👫 #ericaandwes 💖 Our actual anniversary is this week and we plan to go out for a nice meal, but I'm not sure if anything will beat all the great food we had in Kuala Lumpur. I've already decided that we need a big international trip for each milestone anniversary... come on silver anniversary! 💍

Wes & Erica's vacation photo album// Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - DAY 1// March 2025

Last month, Wes & I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary 💕 with a trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ✈ We flew out on a Monday, arrived late Tuesday evening, and had Wednesday thru Friday to enjoy ourselves as tourists. Then headed home at midnight on Friday, getting back to Oklahoma City on Saturday. Since we'd be spending as much time flying as we would actually be in Kuala Lumpur, I decided that we should splurge on first class seats, so we could start our vacation as soon as we stepped on the plane. We chose Delta and Korean Air; both were amazing and I probably can't ever go back to economy. LOL 

The first leg was a short flight from OKC to Minneapolis/St. Paul. We got breakfast from Elemental Coffee in OKC ☕ and a second breakfast at MSP. 🥨 Then came the long haul flight: +13 hours from MSP to Seoul (Incheon airport). Our Delta plane (airbus?) had individual pods with sliding doors for added privacy. It was SO spacious!! Each section of first class had a dedicated flight attendant; I got Dan (who was a little too dedicated and attentive -- I felt like I could sense him watching & anticipating my every move), and Kenneth as back up. There were also Korean speaking flight attendants who we could request. Our pods came with a fresh pillow, blanket, sleeping mat, toiletry kit (that included an awesome pen made from recycled materials, that I dropped in between my seat & the console to never be seen again 😑), slippers, and earphones.

6,245 miles over Canada and around to the other side!

Since there is literally nothing to do on a thirteen hour flight, the flight attendants make sure everyone is well fed and full of alcohol. The rest of the post will be everything I ate (which is like 5x more than I would eat on a regular day!)  🍴

* As soon as we sat down, we were presented with champagne and snacks. Top Left
*Our first meal (lunch, I guess) was a choice between various entrees off the Korean menu by Chef Peter Cho or the Western menu. I got the beef & pepper galbi. They ran out of Korean options, so Wes got the roasted chicken breast off the Western menu. The cured salmon, and green beans & tofu from the banchan were my favorite part. My soup was way spicy and the galbi had more onions than I wanted. Top Right
*For dessert, I chose an ice cream sundae with vanilla ice cream that tasted like coconut (weird) Bottom Left
*We were offered various chips, crackers, granola bars and more wine for the next hour or so. I turned it all down because I was still full from lunch.
*At snack time ("mid-flight snack"), I got a not very crisp/kinda soggy margherita pizza - I should have chosen the other meal option, a delicious salad, and a surprisingly tasty vegan brownie.  Middle Right
*At second snack time ("pre-arrival snack"), I got the three cheese quiche, which was full of onions and not any cheese. 😒 Wes got the French toast. I only ate the parfait, which was plenty enough since I just ate a full meal less than two hours ago.  Bottom Right

The Incheon airport was so cute (and no busy at all; reminded me of our Will Rogers Airport)!! And customs & security was a breeze. We didn't need the K-ETA travelers' pass that was recommended.

This was the first time I could sleep on a flight! 😴 The sleeping pods were so comfy!! I went back & forth between listening to my audiobook (Conclave by Robert Harris) while crocheting, and napping throughout our journey. Wes watched a bunch of movies. There was a bit of drama on the plane... it was announced that there was a medical emergency on board. We were seated right outside of the flight attendants' quarters, and I later overheard that the emergency resulted in a death. But besides that, the flight went smoothly and before we knew it, we were landing in Seoul. 🛬 Our original layover was pretty tight, but we got to Seoul early and ended up with over an hour at the airport. The airport offered Transit Tours in & around Seoul. The shortest tour was 3 hours so we couldn't go. But, next time!!

The sleeping pods on the Korean Air plane were a little smaller but just as nice, with fresh blanket, pillow, slippers and earphones. I opted for tea this time... I can only drink so much champagne. LOL

Our flight from Seoul to Kuala Lumpur was a much shorter 6 hours, but it seemed like we ate just as much! 😋 I liked the food on this flight way better. Our assigned flight attendant this time was Lee, who recommended the best green tea! He also handed us snack mix and champagne as soon as we sat down.

*Dinner started with a delicious and gigantic scallop, paired with a fancy red wine (Speri Valpolicella Classico Superiore Sant'urbano 🍷). Top Right
*Our salad course was cream of broccoli soup with a smoked salmon salad Middle Right
*Wes & I both chose the Western entrée of beef tenderloin. It came with a mustard sauce that I actually liked. The entire 4-course dinner was really good, I would say this one meal was better than all the meals we had on the Delta flight combined. Top Left
*I went with fruit instead of ice cream for dessert. *gasp* The grapes were enormous and they tasted so authentically "grapey." 🍇Bottom Left
*Snack time consisted of a pesto chicken sandwich that was really good but I literally could NOT eat anymore (I just picked at the sandwich and ate the pickled salad). I never thought I'd not eat a yummy meal when presented to me, but seriously... I was absolutely stuffed. Bottom Right
     When he first introduced himself, Lee asked if we'd like to be woken up at meal times. We both agreed. I wondered how he would manage that since I assumed they wouldn't be shouting at us or physically shaking us awake. 💤 I was fast asleep when he came by at snack time; he woke me up by gently whispering "ma'am?" until I stirred and then he immediately shoved the plate of food in front of me. LOL 

The Mandarin Oriental hotel was sooooo fancy!!

The flight went smoothly and the landing was much easier than our one coming into Seoul. ✈ Toward the end of the flight, the attendants walked up & down the aisle spraying disinfectant. Kinda weird but anyway, we had made it to Malaysia!! 🙌 Going through the Kuala Lumpur International Airport was a million times easier than I expected. They had airport guides dressed in cultural uniforms & sashes that ushered us down corridors and onto buses. All we had to do to get through customs was scan our passport. We were told we'd need a digital travelers' arrival pass but no one even asked for it. It took a minute to get used to the Grab app (southeast Asia's Uber), but it was fairly intuitive and easy to use once we got the hang of it. It even provided pictorial directions and landmarks in the airport that lead to the rideshare pickup. 

Our home for the rest of the week would be room #1502 at the Mandarin Oriental luxury hotel. Checking in was fast & easy; the porter insisted that he bring our bags to the room even though we only had carry-on luggage. LOL All of the hotel staff was extremely friendly and polite. The hotel really leaned into the old oriental style of decor and dress... think The King & I sultan vibes. They had traditional musicians playing in the evening! We had a lovely surprise waiting in our room - Wes told the receptionist that it was our anniversary when he booked the room, so there was cake and soda laid out for us on the table. 💝 And some pretty flowers that I got a vase for and kept throughout our stay. 🌸 Our room was immaculate. There was morning and evening room service; they thoroughly cleaned the room. Our phone cords were tidied up in Mandarin Oriental branded Velcro wraps (and, yes, I took mine home with me), our clothes folded & put away, and our shoes were placed underneath the ottoman in a designated shoe spot. The hotel also offered a daily morning poolside yoga class that I had full intentions of taking... but it didn't happen. #irathersleepin We're usually really thrifty travelers but I am so so so glad we pulled out all the stops to fly first class and spend our vacation at a luxury 5-star hotel. It was 100% worth it!!!

Room service came to check on us a few minutes after we checked in. He asked if there was anything we needed so I showed him our flowers and mentioned I wanted to keep them. He quickly returned with a nice vase. 

We had originally planned to head out to a night market for some street food for dinner upon arrival, but we ate entirely too much on the flight and the room was so cozy & inviting that we changed our minds and stayed in the first night. Days 2, 3 and 4 of our trip to come!!🌞🌆Our days (and nights!) were jam packed with touristy activities and adventure. 

Erica & Wes go to Ft. Worth, TX, pt.2

Ahhh Sunday, day 2 in Fort Worth (if you missed day 1, you can read about it here- http://ragsreborn.blogspot.com/2017/11/erica-wes-go-to-ft-worth-tx-pt1.html.) Sunday was art museum day because the Modern Art Museum is free on Sundays... and we're a frugal pair. LOL I am not the biggest fan of contemporary art (mostly because I don't "get" it and, honestly, while I understand that art is supposed to provoke you and start a conversation, I really just rather enjoy it), but I took to The Modern a lot more than I anticipated I would. I actually would recommend going, even if modern art isn't your "thing" because the museum housed a large variety of art and I'm sure you can find one exhibit you'll enjoy. My favorite part was the Sculpture Garden. There weren't too many sculptures (as Wes pointed out) but the ones they had were very unique. There was a larger-than-life horse made from tree branches and two life-sized metal trees that were shaped as if the wind was blowing them into each other. The trees were positioned near the reflective pool that surrounded the museum so you could see their mirror image from the second floor.

Also at the museum was the Haunt exhibit. Its a collection of photographs taken at various haunted houses throughout the nation. I wouldn't say the photographs were scary (there were little children present and they didn't seem frightened) but the photographs were definitely disturbing. I think they were meant to be more jarring than "scary" in the traditional sense, but if I had seen the images in person at a haunted house, I would have been creeped out. Wes says they weren't scary (frightening, jarring, disturbing, etc.) at all, so it could just be me. He said he just saw it as any other art form; an artist's expression. I am more of a wimp than he is and this is probably also another reason why I don't fully appreciate contemporary art. LOL Anyway...since the gift shop didn't offer any replicas of the entangled trees, I bought a gradient puzzle. It is literally a 500 puzzle piece puzzle that is nothing but green fading into blue color. Its going to be awesome. 

After the art museum, we headed to Buc-ee's... the greatest gas station in the entire universe. This was our third time visiting Buc-ee's and I'm officially making it a tradition to stop here every time we are in or drive through Texas. Buc-ee's is large (a bazillion gas pumps!), clean, friendly, reasonably priced and has both convenient store type snacks and a hot food deli. I mean seriously, there is so much food at Buc-ee's! There is a beef jerky bar, fudge stand, walls and walls of snacks, tons of drinks, sandwiches, salads and cheese plates, the list goes on and on. And there are souvenirs galore!

While at Buc-ee's, I noticed that Texans love hitching stuff to their trucks... RVs, boats, go karts, other trucks...

We had lunch at Buc-ee's and then did some shopping. For lunch, I ordered the Signature Spicy burrito with added guacamole and Wes ordered the chicken tenders plate. My burrito was probably the size of my face. LOL The food was good. I would say it is comparable to sit-down restaurant quality food and surpasses any other gas station food I've ever eaten. The only downside is that there is not an area to sit down and eat; no tables inside or outside. Wes hypothesized that it was to deter loiters and panhandlers. We ended up eating in my car, which was fine because there was plenty of parking. After lunch, I bought some Beaver Nuggets (puffed caramel corn) and Beaver Nug-ee's (spicy puffed corn cheese balls) for the ride back and we headed home. There was a football game in Texas that weekend so the drive back into Oklahoma was slow going. Although it was a slow drive, I preferred it over the insanity of the construction and Texas traffic. All in all, a good trip.

Sadie & Athena loved their Buc-ee's souvenirs! 

Erica & Wes go to Ft. Worth, TX, pt.1

At the Active Pool at the Fort Worth Water Gardens.

In the midst of craft show madness, I was still able to sneak in a weekend getaway last month. Wes & I took a short trip to Fort Worth, Texas for our annual El-versary. (If you don't know what that is, it is the anniversary of when we drove to Las Vegas to have our wedding vows renewed by an Elvis impersonator. Read about it here http://ragsreborn.blogspot.com/2015/11/erica-wes-do-las-vegas.html). We chose Fort Worth because we had originally just planned to drive to Pauls Valley, OK to eat a meal at Punkin's. But since Texas was so close, we drove the extra hour and a half to do some touristy stuff after lunch (which turned into a weekend's worth of activities).

You might be asking, why did we drive so dang far just to eat lunch? Well, because Elvis supposedly ate at Punkin's! And the food was really good. I got the catfish plate; the catfish and tarter sauce was amazing. Sadly, the fries were a bit bland and the hush puppies were too sweet for my liking. But the fish was so good, I really didn't want any sides to fill up on anyway. Wes got the sliced brisket bar-b-que sandwich, which he said was good except the bun wasn't baked all the way. I think his favorite part was the bar-b-que sauce. He praised it for being tangy instead of sweet. I had a few house potato chips off of his plate and thought they were way better than my fries. I will probably substitute poato chips for fries the next time we eat there. They also had a house pickle bar that I was pretty excited for. I actually love trying restaurant "house" anything just to taste their version of it.

Traffic into Texas was crazy, as usual, but we made it safely to our hotel at the 3pm check in time. Yay, a chance to relax. NOT! The night before, Wes booked us a room at the La Qunita through Travelocity. Unbeknownst to us, rather than simply removing availability from Travelocity, the La Qunita continued to accept reservations but on the following day, started kicking out reservations made through third party travel sites because they were over booked. So when we arrived, an incredibly unenthused clerk told us that our reservation was one of the unlucky ones that was kicked out and there is nothing she could do. We drove around in more crazy traffic (and construction!) and ended up at a Hampton Inn, which was probably a better choice anyway.

After de-stressing a bit (and venting about how much we hate La Qunita), we headed out for our evening's activities. Our first stop was the Fort Worth Water Gardens. The gardens represent a "cooling oasis in the concrete jungle." The area expanded a pretty large section of downtown Fort Worth and consisted of three pools and a large concrete mountain. Wes enjoyed climbing up the gigantic concrete slabs to the top of the mountain. On a normal day, I would have enjoyed it as well but on this particular evening, I was wearing a sundress and my fear of exposing myself got the better of me. I slowly ascended and descended the mountain taking extra care to maintain my dress in proper position. LOL The three pools are the Active Pool (which was a gigantic water fall), the Quiet Pool (which was a shallow meditation pool) and the Aerating Pool (which was a bunch of color-changing spray fountains). Both mine and Wes' favorite was the Active Pool. The pool is made up of several concrete steps of various sizes that are unevenly spaced and lead down to a large pool at the bottom. Completely surrounding the steps is a loud rushing waterfall. The loudness of the waterfall was probably my favorite part. We both thought the Active Pool would be an accident waiting to happen but, surprisingly, only one family has been killed there. And after their tragedy, the city reconstructed the pool to make it safer. Standing at the bottom of the pool and watching the water cascading almost 40 feet down terraces and steps all around me was a pretty neat experience. I would recommend this as a destination if you're ever in Fort Worth (and the best part is that its free!)

We stayed downtown and walked (almost a mile! Wes says it was 0.8 miles.) to dinner at Rodeo Goat (a trendy beer & burger joint). I was surprised by how dark it was downtown. There were barely any street lamps and none of the establishments were well lit. We got to Rodeo Goat at the traditional dinner time and most people would expect a wait time. I say most people because the patrons behind us (two douchey-looking frat boys) were aghast that they had to wait to be seated. Their exact words were, "This restaurant has a wait?" The hostess confirmed and asked how many would be at their table. They gave her more attitude and walked away. Rude. The wait was only about five minutes before Wes & I were seated. Rodeo Goat was another delicious meal. I got the Nanny Goat and Wes got the Olivia Darlin'. I was in love with my burger... seriously soooooo good. The patty was cooked just right (nice n' juicy!) and it was topped with plenty of fragrant goat cheese. It also paired well with my Rahr & Sons Pumpkin Ale.  

After dinner, we were faced with another stressful drive home (well, mostly I was faced with it since I did all of the driving). There is construction on literally every freeway in Fort Worth. Normal construction isn't bad but this construction was insane. The signs signaling lane and exit closures were incorrect, the lanes were not properly marked and even if they were, I couldn't see them because nothing (NOTHING!) was lit. Fort Worth is the darkest city I have ever driven in. Someone, please petition your senator to use tax money to put in some street lights! Besides the roads, we had a very enjoyable Saturday. Sunday adventures to come in next week's blog! 

Here's a preview... we got to the Modern Art Museum. 

Wes & Erica's trip to Kansas City, KS. (pt.2)

When I was initially planning this trip, I wanted us to have lunch in Wichita on the way to Kansas City and then have dinner later that night at Joe's Kansas City BBQ. Then we were going to have lunch again at Joe's Kansas City BBQ on our way home the next day (that way we could try multiple items on their menu). The night before our trip, Wes found out online that the burnt ends were only served as a lunch special...and that they were closed on Sundays. So instead of stopping half way for lunch, we drove all the way to Kansas City Saturday morning to make it to lunch at the bar-b-que restaurant. That left us nothing to do on Sunday besides drive home.

Okay... there was one touristy thing to do but it would only take five minutes. When I was researching sightseeing in Kansas City, KS, the Sauer Castle came up. It is an allegedly haunted castle in an old neighborhood. It is abandoned and not open for visitors. But, I still wanted to go. Originally, we were going to go Saturday night (I wanted to see ghosts!) but completely forgot about it until the next morning.

I wish it was open for visitors because I bet it would be interesting to tour on the inside (and I could have witnessed some of those ghosts). I at least wanted to be able to walk on the castle grounds but it was completely fenced off. We parked on the sidewalk and I got out and attempted to look around. No luck, I guess ghosts like to sleep in on Sundays. Anyway, off to lunch!

Top right- the diner randomly had samples of ice cream from Rita's. The flavor of the day was pumpkin spice. It had more of a sherbet consistency than ice cream but still pretty good.

I didn't want to not do anything on day two of El-versary, so we decided to spend a day in Wichita. We drove to where I initially wanted to have lunch on Saturday - the Doo-Dah Diner. They only served their brunch buffet on Sundays. We didn't know that Sunday was brunch day so on the drive there, we browsed--Wes read it to me--their menu online. I couldn't decide if I wanted the corned beef hash (featured breakfast item) or the meatloaf (featured lunch item). Well, I was in for a treat. The brunch buffet had literally EVERYTHING on their menu. There was so.much.food. So Much Food!!!! So, I got the corned beef hash AND the meatloaf and a ton of other stuff.

The more expensive items weren't in the buffet line, but were made to order. Wes got steak & eggs and I got the crab cakes Benedict.

We got to the diner at 1pm and it closed at 2pm. We ate for that entire hour! It was soooo good. I know our main reason for going out of town was to eat BBQ but I honestly enjoyed the food at Doo-Dah Diner more than Joe's Kansas City BBQ. Shhh...don't tell Joe. Hahaha! We sat at the bar so we could see the kitchen staff work their magic. We could also see when they were bringing our order out. The crab cakes Benedict were delicious. I think I've only had eggs Benedict once before and wasn't a fan. This completely changed my mind. Meatloaf is one of my favorite foods and theirs was heavenly. They also had a hatch green chili gravy for biscuits. It tasted more like a unique warm salsa. I ate that entire overflowing plate of food below and wanted desperately to go back for seconds but my stomach wouldn't let me. I did manage to get some fruit for dessert. Needless to say, we were full the rest of the day.

. 

After Doo-Dah Diner, we went to Old Town Wichita. It is a little shopping district just outside of Downtown. It could have been because we went on a Sunday but Old Town was not impressive at all. : ( It was a bust and probably shouldn't have been labeled as a tourist attraction. It wasn't even old. There wasn't any historical architecture and most of the buildings looked newly built. It looked like a sorrier version of Bricktown in Oklahoma City (it was basically buildings built with brick, a movie theater and some restaurants). There were a handful of local boutiques but only one was open for us to go into. There was another neat little shop named The Space Station that we both wanted to go browse in but we were confused. There were items on display in the window but there was also a For Lease sign outside. I walked up to the door and it was locked. The For Lease sale sign won. After spending 10 minutes in Old Town, we left for home.

The most interesting thing Old Town had to offer was this trashcan (top right) that advised me to "work like a farmer and party like a rock star."

We had another easy drive on the way back to Oklahoma City. Sadie & Athena loved their ribs flavored biscuits. Another fun and successful road trip in the books!