Wes & Erica's vacation photo album// Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - DAY 3// March 2025

We headed back to the Malaysia Food Village for breakfast before our busy day. Wes got the breakfast set again and I went with a shrimp omelet this morning. I really wanted a pork & rice bowl, or some fried eggplant & dumplings, but neither of those stalls were open, yet. 😠 My omelet was really good with lots of shrimp so it wasn't a bad choice.

We spent the rest of the morning & early-afternoon at the Batu Caves. 🌄 If you look up things to do in Kuala Lumpur, the top 2 are the Petronas Twin Towers and the Batu Caves. The caves ah-mazing 😲 and hands down the best part of the trip for me. 

How utterly cool is this?? 😮 I've never seen anything like it, obviously in not real life, but I also haven't seen anything like it in movies or travel shows.

The caves are a religious site with statues and temples throughout. There are 272 colorful stairs to climb to get up to the cave. We got there before it got busy so there wasn't too much congestion on the stairs. They were a lot steeper than I thought they'd be from the pictures I saw online. But, there are handrails and platforms where you can stop to rest (and take pictures📷), so everyone was managing just fine up & down the steps. The weather was somewhat nice. It was still really humid but at least it was cloudy that day with a slight breeze. ⛅

Monkey enjoying his snacks, bottom right.

There are monkeys EVERYWHERE! 🐒 They are used to people so they were just going about their day while everyone was trying to photograph, feed & touch them. Some of them interacted with humans but most of them couldn't care less about us. One of them tried to take my sunglasses. LOL And we saw one snatch some snacks out of a guy's hand. The monkeys roam freely but chickens and a peacock & peahens were kept in a cage inside of the cave. We also saw one solitary squirrel and a stray cat.  

Chickens, peacocks & hens inside of the green railing. The lone squirrel is somewhere in the mountains; I got a picture of him but you really gotta zoom in. LOL

After sweating up all the stairs and dodging monkeys, we entered into the limestone cave. It was probably only a couple of degrees cooler inside but it felt great! The cave is gigantic. I wasn't sure what to expect but I was completely blown away. 👀 It was like its own little village in there. There were souvenir booths at the entrance, a few temples throughout, a lot of statues & religious symbols scattered around, and other things we could walk around and look at. And yes, more pigeons & monkeys!🐵

I think it's so impressive that indigenous peoples felt so strongly about their gods that they not only discovered a cave in the center of a mountain to use as a place of worship, but then also built numerous temples and monuments inside of it. 

You'll have to super zoom in but the mountain (largest picture) is covered in monkeys. They were all out and watching us, hoping someone would drop their lunch.😆

The view going downstairs.

Our descent down the stairs was a bit more difficult (in my opinion) because the sun had come out by then, there were a lot more people, and I kept worrying I'd trip and come tumbling down. Luckily, we made it back to the base in one piece. 😁 The suggested time for visiting the caves is 1-2 hours. We gave ourselves 2 1/2 hours before the next Grab pick up. I think we only spent 1 to maybe 1 1/2 hours at the caves proper. But, there are shops, restaurants, and smaller caves & statues in the surrounding area so we spent the entire 2 1/2 hours looking around. 

The best grass jelly I've ever had; partly because it was the only cold/refreshing food I could find and partly because it wasn't out of a can like what I usually get at the Asian grocery store. The other refreshing meal option is whole coconuts.

It was lunchtime but, once again, we were too hot to have any appetite. I really wanted to eat something cold and was SO EXCITED when I saw a picture of grass jelly in the window of one of the restaurants. I got the herbal jelly with rice balls and white sugar syrup. 😋 Wes just got some water and a soda.

There were nature "artistic" walks, more temples & smaller caves, and a "snow cave" in the area but they all cost money to go in, so we skipped. I was pretty curious about the snowy one, though.

We slowly headed toward the Grab pick up location after eating. We stopped to peer in some of the smaller caves but didn't go in because they cost money.
   *an aside - We didn't think we'd need cash on this trip (assuming a credit card would suffice); another thing we got wrong from yesterday. The most common way to pay is with a digital wallet, but not any of the ones I have -- no CashApp and no PayPal. 😩 Wes attempted to download one via QR code but it was weird so we just got cash from the money exchange center (which are everywhere so it wasn't too much of a hassle). We also needed cash to use the public restrooms.*
Anyway, we walked along the path to the Grab station, taking more pictures of statues, saw some more monkeys, passed an ear piecing booth and other souvenir stalls, found our ride and headed back to the hotel. 

Last picture from the Batu Caves - shops and restaurants.

Our Grab driver was watching Indonesian Idol (I hope Angie won; she was really good!🎤) on his second phone as he drove (while his first phone pinged more pick ups and text messages). Normally, I would think this is unsafe but this guy knew what he was doing! He was our youngest and most efficient Grab driver. 🚘 He skillfully navigated the rush hour traffic by weaving in & out of lanes, flashing his lights at other cars that were in his way, and honking at all the right times. 🚗 The traffic in Kuala Lumpur is always busy and the motorcycles zigzag in between cars without abandon. 

Its hard to tell in the picture but the top left is a rainy view from our hotel room.

We saw a couple of American fast food chains around the hotel and decided that for lunch, we'd go see if they had any Malaysian versions of hamburgers & pizza on the menu.  It started raining when we were on our way back from the caves so I was going to order take-out... but the quickest a Grab could deliver was almost an hour. Thanks, rain and rush hour 😩 The closest restaurant to the hotel was a KFC. 🍗The rain was spotty so it didn't rain on us the entire walk. And, luckily, this was the only time it rained on our entire trip. I got popcorn chicken (that tasted exactly like the American recipe of 11 herbs & spices) and a bowl of rice, spicy peanuts, cucumber, and a hard boiled egg that was sort of sweet. Wes got the classic chicken nugget meal with fries and a Coke.🍟

After lunch, we headed out again. 🎨 Immersify KL is a new immersive art museum that opened about a month before we visited.  Wes said he's not a fan of AI generated art, but I've never been to a digital art museum so I was excited to see it. I was a bit worried that it would be crowded since it's still a new attraction in town, but we went on a weeknight and it wasn't busy at all. 😀 The museum is divided into 11 zones; each zone has it's own immersive theme. Some of the zones are small rooms with capacity limits, but we didn't have to wait in line for any of them.

Zone 1: we were greeted by a beautiful color-changing garden when we first walked in. I think all of the flowers are native to Malaysia but I can't fully remember the zone's artist statement. This was one of my favorite rooms 🌺 and great way to start our immersive experience. 

Zone 2: we left the peaceful flower fields for a thundering waterfall. I did not like the second room at all! 😖 The change from tranquil music to loud rushing water felt really jarring to me.🐘 A baby elephant emerged from the waterfall and tried to climb up a rock. 🐘The mother elephant came out to help it and blew it's trunk, which was also super loud & unsettling.

I don't make a very convincing angel or astronaut. 😅

Zone 3: next was a small room dedicated to selfies. 📷 This was the first of 4 rooms that had a capacity limit. The screen showed a moon, angel wings, and flower with instructions to stand in front of the projections to take pictures of your silhouette. We were to pose as the projections changed to a new picture every few seconds. I think I did it right. LOL 

Zone 4: was one of my favorites!! It was a small room made of mirrors that had lanterns hanging from the ceiling. 🏮 The lanterns hung at different heights and changed colors. It reminded me of the Kusama exhibit we saw at the Bentonville art museum a few years ago. I loved walking around in the darkness with the neon colors brightly shining around me 😄

Zone 5: was a pretty boring one. We walked into what reminded me of the old Microsoft screen savers from the 90's. 💻 I think there was some music, too, but I don't remember. We just quickly walked in & out of this one.  

Zone 6: the next "room" was a tiny triangular closet that was made of mirrors. We stood in the middle as the art changed around us. 💥 There was a neon splatter painting (my favorite), one that looked like we were in outer space, and a techy one that made it look like we were inside of fiber optics.

This room was giving mega Lisa Frank vibes!

Zone 7: found us leaving the small rooms and going back out into a large space. We were in the middle of the Malaysian jungle! 🌴 We were surrounded by plants, birds, and snakes. A tiger walked up to greet us. 🐯 Then a large curious gorilla walked up. He looked & sniffed at us, and decided he didn't like us! So, he started beating on the glass and shattered it to break out. 🐵 Then the scene ended and warped around again. I think we stayed to watch it twice, but I forgot to take a picture of the gorilla both times. LOL 

You have to squint but me, Wes, Athena and Zephyr's names are floating around on one of those stingrays.

Zone 8: this was a room for children but I participated anyway. 🐋🐙 The room was a large aquarium made up of sea creatures that we colored. 🐟🐠 I dedicated a stingray to our little family, but you can't really our names on it. After coloring our art, we gave it to an attendant to be scanned in and projected onto the screen. All of the children were writing their names on their sea creatures, which looked so much better! 🐡

I showed my coworkers and they said my DDOK lobster was cool even if you can't see it. It's great to have a supportive team who always nod & smile at your silly ideas. LOL 

Wes bought thoughtful souvenirs for his team at work when we were in Chinatown. I didn't get anything for my coworkers (ooops 😬), so I decided to make art for them instead! I colored the top and sides of a lobster but you can't see my writing when it was projected. 🦞 All you can read is a small blurry version of "Oklahoma." Maybe I should have written on a larger whale instead. LOL 

In hindsight, I wish we had taken a selfie in this room. But at the time, all I could do was stand in awe.

Zone 9: this was both me & Wes's favorite room!! 💛😁 Wes claims that it is the only room that is truly immersive. A giant lantern hung from the ceiling and the light & shadow made it seem like we were in the middle of a revolving mandala drawing. It was also the only room that didn't have any white noise or music. We simply stood in silence as the drawing moved around us. It felt much cooler than I can describe!

This was the most immersive room because it had the giant projections, surround sound, and gusts of air blowing out to mimic wind.

Zone 10: I think this was supposed to be one of the highlights of the exhibit but I didn't really like it. We sat on the floor while a "movie" played around us. It started with a small tree and followed it's growth throughout the four seasons. 🌳 Then somehow we were in the sky, and the constellations came to life as whales started floating around us. 🌟 I'm sure there is a deep allegory within the movie, but I didn't get it and thought it was weird. 

Zone 11: the last room was an art museum. 🎨 I'm not a huge fan of the Impressionists (which is why I hadn't gone to any of the Van Gogh immersive exhibits when they were the hot thing to do), but I enjoyed it. I think being "inside" of the painting makes it more fun, even if you aren't a huge fan of the style. Wes begged to differ and said that the fact that all of the renditions of the paintings being so obviously AI generated took away from the experience. 

My favorite paintings in the "art museum" room.

Van Gogh's Starry Night and Monet's Waterlilies were obvious choices, but I liked that they included other artists, too. My favorite series was Klimt's gold paintings. We came into this room in the middle of the slideshow and I wanted to watch the entire thing. So we stayed to watch it one and half times, which made us a little late coming out for our Grab. But luckily, the driver will wait up to 15 minutes for us before charging an extra fee and/or driving off to their next pick-up without us. 

We headed back to the mall for dinner after the museum (it turns out that all of the restaurants we wanted to try were conveniently located inside of Suria KLCC 👍). I've been wanting to try the famous Din Tai Fung soup dumplings forever! There are a few Din Tai Fungs in California but we didn't get to go when we were in San Francisco. 🥟 I am so glad we went here because the dumplings lived up to all of their hype. 😋 It was my favorite meal on this trip!! And, I think Din Tai Fung was the only restaurant in the mall that was properly air conditioned. It was super busy during dinner but we got seated & served pretty quickly. The soup dumplings were obviously delicious, but I also really liked our cold noodles and spicy green beans. 🍜 We got peanut dessert dumplings, which I may have liked more than the renowned soup dumplings. 

My new travel goal is to eat at all the Din Tai Fungs.

And for the last activity of the day (is anyone still reading this, and if so, how much time have you wasted 😅) ... we headed outside to the Suria water fountains for their nightly show. The fountains lit up as the water danced & swayed to music. I would have liked to watch a bit more of the show but it was hot outside and we were tired from our extremely packed day (it was getting close to midnight by now), so we only stayed for one song.

Tomorrow is day 4 and ends our vacation. How have we already finished our once-in-a-lifetime anniversary trip?? 😱 It feels like we just got to Kuala Lumpur!? 

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. 

Wes & Erica's vacation photo album // Disney Archives: Heroes & Villains and Crown Jewels costume exhibits Arlington, TX // December 2024

There are two things I like to do when Wes & I go on vacation: 1. eat 🍣☕🍖🌽🍤🍸(we did plenty of that here (https://ragsreborn.blogspot.com/2024/12/wes-ericas-vacation-photo-album-dfw-tx.html), and 2. go to a fashion or sewing themed museum.

The Arlington Art Museum hosted a special costume exhibit from the Disney archives (okay, not hosted, past tense; I think the exhibit is open until March 2025). 👗 The first part is a gigantic room filled with costumes and accompanying pictures of the actors in scenes wearing the costume and a note from the designer about their process or the inspiration for the piece. The second part is a series of rooms with more costumes (but no photos or design notes 😔), jewelry and other props used in various movies. I'm not a big Disney fan so I haven't seen a lot of the movies, but it was still really neat to read about the costumes and props. I kind of want to go watch all the movies now! LOL The Heroes & Villians costume room was a lot better than the Crown Jewels prop/jewelry section, in my opinion. 

The polka dotted outfits in the top left were worn by Cinderella's step-sisters, who are loud and tacky, and that is what the dresses are supposed to reflect. I LOVE those outfits... I guess I'm loud & tacky, too 😂

I spent ages in the first room. I read each & every design note and examined the tailoring on every piece. 🤓 I wish I had the creative mind and skill of a costume designer (aside- the most prolific designer for Disney has got to be Colleen Atwood; I think every other dress was hers!). I loved that a lot of the unique elements in the pieces came from specific requests from the actors. Since the costumes were actually worn on screen, it was neat to see the height and build of the actors (James Franco is very tall and Danny DeVito is very short.) A majority of the dresses were like a size 000, but they did pad out the mannequins for some of the more average sized actresses. It was weird that they only padded the mannequins for the dresses. None of the male costumes were on larger mannequin's so some of them looked baggy & ill-fitting. 

The only normal sized dresses in the entire exhibit. The Sanderson sisters and the women in A Wrinkle in Time. The mannequins looked so overweight (even though they're not) after seeing all the really skinny dresses. 

I took a ton of pictures so the rest of this will be my pictures and what I learned about each costume. 📷  First up - the dress H.E.R wore for Beauty and the Beast. 💛 She is half Filipina and wanted her culture reflected in the costume. The red decorative edging around the apron is actually Filipino script. I don't remember what it read. The traditional yellow ballgown that Emma Watson wore in her Beauty and the Beast adaptation was also very beautiful. 

My absolute favorite dress in the entire exhibit was Regina's Evil Queen from Once Upon a Time. I love the collar and the sleeves and the color! 💓 The designer wanted to dye it black but the fabric didn't take to the ink so it turned pink. Captain Hook's outfit is pretty cool, too. 

My second favorite is the jacket Emily Blunt wore in Mary Poppins. Nothing fancy or special about it (that I can remember, but I'm sure the designer's note mentioned something), its just a coat I would totally wear. 😊 It looks simple enough that I could probably sew it, but when you look closer, it has so many cute design elements like the pockets, ruffled shoulders and belt. 

I live for those ruffled shoulders ! *swoon*

Both Johnny Depp and Meryl Streep didn't want to use animal fur in their respective costumes. 🐺 The designer embroidered the lines on the Big Bad Wolf suit to make it look like it was fur, and I think the tail and lapel are made from thread, too. For the Witch dress, the designer used pieces of leather and string to make it look like the dress was made from feathers. 

How cool are those shoes!! I've seen Into the Woods but I do not remember this awesome suit.

Also for the Witch dress, the designer knew that the character would be hunched over throughout the movie, so she designed the dress to be worn in a crouched position. Most people think rules & restrictions are bad, and garments should be designed without abandon [maybe for some designers that is true], but I actually really like rules. I think they make you think outside of the box; more creatively. That's why I love my sewing club's monthly challenges so much. 💗 Almost every one of them is something that I would never do in my regular sewing, but it makes me try new things and think differently. 

The following are dresses I really liked but I don't remember anything interesting about them. LOL

Mila Kunis was a witch in this movie. The witch rides in on a fireball and is supposed to be rock n' roll so this was the designer's interpretation of a "rock n' roll witch". I adore the sleeves! 

The Evil Queen from Enchanted. 

These were the main focal point costumes placed in the center of the exhibit, but I wasn't super impressed with them. I think it's because they actually look like costumes (aka Halloween and gimmicky).

From The Prince of Persia. I saw the movie but I don't remember this- there were a lot of fight scenes that zoomed in on the footwork. To distinguish the characters, the designer made Prince Dastan's shoes different.

Helena Bonham Carter's Fairy Godmother. I don't remember who played Cinderella. This is one of the movies I haven't seen. 

Glenn Close's Cruella de Vil. I love the sketches and wish more of her costumes from the movie were on display. 

Emma Stone's Cruella. I thought I would really like that movie, since it is a fashion heavy film, but I sadly didn't. I do love this half leather, half fur checkered pattern ❤

After the first room, there was a hallway with more costumes (but no design notes), that lead into the second part with all the props and jewelry. 

It could be because I spent sooooo much time in the first part of the exhibit that my attention span was waning, but I couldn't really get into the second half. Its crazy because I love accessories. 💍 I think any other time, I would have enjoyed reading about jewelry and how its made, but I was just too overwhelmed and fatigued. 😫 A cool thing I did learn - each piece is made a bunch of times and each replica has a different purpose. The one worn by the stunt double is lighter than the actual piece. Some pieces get weathered or broken throughout the movie, so they need to create a more worn looking version. 

The Disney Archives: Heroes & Villains and Crown Jewels costume exhibit is totally worth going to. The ticket prices are a bit hefty ($37/adult) but there is so much stuff jam packed into the galleries that you'll get your money's worth. The museum attendants are super nice, so I would suggest looking at the Heroes & Villians part first, then taking a break to get a coffee or lunch, then coming back for Crown Jewels (the attendants will give you a stamp if you ask... they'll also show you a secret door to the bathroom if you're too engrossed in the exhibit and forget that you have to pee and have been holding it for hours. 😅). There is a scavenger hunt that goes along with the jewelry/props. I saw a bunch of teens running around with paper and yelling, I found Troy's class ring!, but we didn't know what they were doing. The attendant asked us if we wanted to do the hunt as we were leaving but we declined. She still gave us the prize (a Prince and Princess sticker) for finishing it. 

Wes & Erica's vacation photo album // DFW, TX // December 2024

 

Another year, another trip to eat & shop at Carrollton Town Center. 🍴 Although this year, we branched out and ate & played all throughout the DFW area. The hotel we usually stay at in Carrollton was full so Wes found us a place in Farmers Branch. I was a bit worried at first but it turned out to be a more central location for all of our activities. I did so much driving 🚗(which I was also dreading but the traffic was surprisingly not violent nor overly congested). Our first stop was an errand for one of Wes's friends. He ordered a computer part from Micro Center and charged us with picking it up. I assumed Micro Center would be a small shop in a strip mall but is gigantic. Should be called Mega Macro Center!! It was like the size of two Best Buys or one very large Circuit City (remember those from back in the day?) 

Vegan tuna rice cakes (top left picture) was the best part of lunch!!

Our first actual vacation stop was lunch. We went to Blue Sushi Sake Grill for dinner a few years ago. I wasn't impressed and Wes said it was just okay, but he actually loved it. When we were planning all the restaurants we'd try this year, I mentioned sushi and he suggested giving this place another go. 🍣 He said the roll he got was really good & unique, and that he liked the Godzilla theme and vibe of the restaurant. I was hoping that we'd get to sit by the Godzilla mural this time, but our hostess sat us at almost the same table as our last visit. We came during happy hour and our waitress talked us into getting all the specials. LOL Wes ordered the same roll as last time and said it was just as delicious, but I again, wasn't super impressed with my meal. 😕 I thought the shishito peppers had too much shallot and my spicy octopus roll was entirely too spicy 🔥 (like it overwhelmed the octopus). One thing saved my meal and that was the vegan tuna. Wes refused to try it but it was SO GOOD; like a thousand times tastier than I expected! Blue Sushi Sake Grill is known for its vegan sushi options. I didn't try any last time, but I was really curious about their Vegan Tuna Rice Cakes. Their vegan tuna had the same texture and taste of actual tuna. Now I know that if we got back (which I probably will veto next time), I should only get the vegan options.

I got my first hole-in-one with the bonus on the Connect 4 hole.

We went to play crazy golf next. 🏌 We've played putt putt a few times (Wes is a huge mini golf fan) but never crazy golf. It is so much better! Each hole had an added game attached to it, like it was ski ball and you had to hit the ball into the highest slot, or it was Tetris and you had to maneuver the ball around the blocks. There was the Diamond, Emerald, Ruby (our course), Amber, and Sapphire courses. I had a lot of fun even though my shots were so dismal that the automated tv screen displayed a depressing message after each shot. I kept getting the message that read, What a string of bad luck!, literally after every stroke. LOL 😅 I know & admit that I am terrible at sports (and basically any activity that has a game element to it) so I wasn't mad about it. I actually had a ton of fun! In the end, I did end up with two hole-in-ones, and one of them included the special bonus shot. 👍 My final score was 330 and I was #61 for the day (I think only 70 players had come in so far). Wes managed a 410 and was in third place for the day. I would totally come back every year and try to play on a different course (they're automatically assigned when you come in, so I think its completely random which one you'll get on any given day). My score most likely won't improve, but each course has a set of different games, and I'd like to get the opportunity to fail at all of them. 😆

So much Hello Kitty merch for her 50th anniversary. I loved the Texas kitties and almost bought one for me & Lacey.

We went "home" to the Doubletree by Hilton Near the Galleria (the hotel was seriously called that but it was in Farmers Branch instead of Dallas) to rest a bit before our shopping at Daiso, Teso, and Kinokuniya. Shopping wasn't all that this year 😔; there wasn't that much cute washi tape or pen pal supplies, and I think there is less and less tokidoki stuff each time we go. Kinokuniya was actually closed for the day, so we went back tomorrow.

Those noodles changed my life.

We had dinner at Fat Ni BBQ. 😋 It is a skewer restaurant; you order off a sheet of paper, like at sushi restaurants but they're all types of meats on skewers. 🍖 I wanted one of everything but had to practice restraint. LOL We weren't sure how big the pieces of meat were so we only ordered a few. They're pretty small portions so I would 100% opt for more next time. Each skewer can be made spicy or not spicy. We got a few of each. They're all flavored with Asian 5-spice blend. Everything we got was amazing, but the Oil Spill Noodles were the super star of the meal. It is flat noodles drenched in chili oil with bok choy and roasted garlic & scallions. It was just the right amount of spicy. 

The next morning, we had breakfast at the Grand Prairie location of 85℃. It's a smaller location with less options than the Carrollton one (and the guy at the counter wouldn't heat up my pastry like they do in Carrollton 😢), but it was also much closer to our next activity. I wanted to try the new toffee latte that was on special but they were out of toffee 😑 I got a Matcha Oat Pumpkin Spice Latte instead. I thought it might be too many flavors but it all blended together really well, and it was the perfect hot drink for a chilly morning (it was actually cold in December in TX this year! ❅). Everything was delicious, as always.

The bakery was next to an Asian "mall," so we took a walk around after we finished breakfast. It was bringing back flashbacks of the Asian malls I went to when we visited my dad's side of the family in Houston & Dallas when I was younger; herbal shops that smelled awful, gold & jewelry stores, and all the slippers, fuzzy blankets and silly imported fashions. Most of the shops that I was interested in were still closed so there wasn't too much to see. The food court looked amazing and I almost wished we came hungry for lunch. We did our grocery shopping at Hong Kong market since it was there, and we figured we might not have much time tomorrow to shop at 99 Ranch. It is smaller but still had all the stuff we needed. There were flyers advertising a dragon dance competition at Asia Times Square later in December; I wish we could have come back for it. 🐉 I wonder who won.  

Didn't like much of the art, but here are a few pieces I thought was cool. 

We went to the Arlington Art Museum next to see the Disney costume exhibit. (I took soooooo many pictures so we'll save that experience for tomorrow's blog post. 💻) The "museum" is an itty bitty section of a much larger event space. The event space had a giant E-sports arena, which seemed to be the main attraction of the center. Parking at the museum was a total rip off. 😡 There was no street parking so we were forced to pay $10 to park in a deserted lot that was at least two blocks away. There was zero security or even a sidewalk for us to walk back to the main entrance. The museum's permanent collection was a small gallery of amateur student art. It was very obviously student art. Every single piece was purposefully woke and aggressively thought provoking, i.e. there was a section of unnecessarily graphic abortion art. I prefer to view art and then come to my own conclusions about it, but everything in this gallery was screaming, look at how horrible people like you have made the world, and now it's up to me, a righteous artist, to save all of humanity with my opinions. Just so gross and pretentious. At least the permanent collection was free with our Disney ticket so I didn't waste any money on it.

Next was lunch. We ate at Hurtado BBQ--another good pick. 😋 [I think we choose good really good restaurants on this trip. I usually look on Instagram for places to try but sometimes the food isn't as good as portrayed in the pictures, but not this time. Every place was so yummy!] Hurtado is one of those small barbeque joints that is open until they're sold out of meat smoked for the day. It was really busy even after the lunch rush (I think it was around 2:30 or 3pm when we went). My eloté brisket bowl was perfectly balanced. Not too much sauce or too much lime, like I've had at other places. Wes said his Spanish rice was amazing because it was cooked in the meats' drippings.

After lunch, we stopped in White Rhino coffee for an afternoon snack before driving back to the hotel. ☕ I got a Whole Latte Love, which is a lavender honey coffee. It had a very strong and distinctive flavor. Wes said his cold brew was a little on the weak side, but still good. The café advertised a local vendor market the following weekend, which makes me want to consider doing smaller café shows here. Any recommendations? Hurtado and White Rhino made Arlington worth visiting, but I didn't really like the city much. It's definitely not as nice as other Dallas suburbs. 

How cool is this place? There are bird cages hanging from the ceiling and flying saucers printed on the dinnerware! 

We had dinner at Ida Claire. I 100% recommend this place! The Southern voodoo/tarot, ancient vibe is so cool! 😎 It just had the best atmosphere as soon as we walked in. The food & drinks was also really good. There were whole pieces of lobster in my seafood pasta 🦞 Wes got the chicken and waffles. He doesn't like his food touching, and usually chicken and waffles is served with the chicken on top of the waffles and then a bunch of toppings. But, Ida Claire had the chicken on the side of the waffles and all the different syrups & butter in their own separate ramakins. There was a Thunder game on at the bar. We sat close enough to where we could watch it. It felt weird rooting for the Thunder when literally everyone else was rooting for the Dallas Mavericks. The Thunder won so they can all suck it. LOL

Our last meal before we left town was my customary black egg congee at 99 Ranch. I look forward to it every year. 😊 I got a side of taro cakes this year (they didn't have my eggplant). We already did our grocery shopping yesterday so we didn't really need to walk around the ranch. The cosmetics shop where I always get my face masks changed their hours from 10am to 11am so I couldn't get any this year. 😥 I guess we could have waited around for an hour, but we were both pretty anxious to get back to Athena & Zephyr. 🐕 We stopped in Buc-ee's on our way home and bought a ton of stuff, but I didn't take any pictures. It was fun to do activities and try restaurants outside of Carrollton this year. I already spotted some new places I want to try next time while we were driving around. Everything we ate was good, but to recreate the perfect meal I would choose: oil spill noodles from Fat Ni and the brisket eloté from Hurtado. With a side of the vegan tuna rice cakes from Blue Sushi and the fried oysters from Ida Claire, and the cocktail from Ida Claire for my drink. 🍹 And the matcha oat pumpkin spice latte from 85℃ for my dessert. 

Preview of the Heroes & Villians Disney costume exhibit.

The main reason why we spent so much time outside of Carrollton was because I wanted to see the Disney costume exhibit. 👗 The costumes are from the Disney archives so they're the actual pieces that the actors wore on screen. I knew it would be fantastic, but it was a thousand times more awesome than I thought it would be. I'm not even a Disney fan, just a massive lover of clothes & fashion. More on that to come...