Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

The trip to Dallas went well. Thank you all for your best wishes!

This is going to be a long post, but I had a very busy weekend! My trip started off well – I had the best flight ever!  My ticket was an economy ticket, but when I found my seat, it was in business class. The plane was a Boeing 777, so the seat was one of those roomy “lie-flat” seats. The only disappointment about the flight was that it only lasted 2 hours – the one time in my life that I get to fly with one of those fancy seats, and it’s a short haul flight! Those are the kind of seats you would kill for on a flight to Europe or Australia!

I picked up my rental car at the airport, and was thrilled to discover that my car was a Camry, which is the kind of car we own, so I was completely familiar with the controls etc.

I got to my hotel at 10pm, and immediately fell asleep – I’d been up since 1:30am, as I had to be at work at 3:30 that morning for a software deployment. (Maybe that’s why I was so excited about being in business class – I was exhausted by time I boarded the plane).

On Saturday, I woke early, and drove into Fort Worth to look around. I’ve been talking about my trip to Dallas, but in actual fact, the office is located north of Fort Worth (everyone at the company refers to it as the “Dallas” office). I didn’t visit any of the tourist attractions in Fort Worth – I didn’t really have time to do those kinds of things if I wanted to see as much of the area as possible. So, I spent about an hour there before hitting the freeway, and driving to Dallas (30 miles).

Once I got to Dallas, I stopped at a local hotel, and got a map from the concierge, and got directions to the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza – it was the one thing I knew I *had* to do while I was in Dallas, in case I decided I wasn’t going to take the job – I’d be kicking myself later if I didn’t visit it.

So, I walked from the hotel to the museum (a distance of about a mile), and after visiting the museum and Dealey Plaza, I walked back to my car, which was parked near the hotel.

In the late afternoon, I headed in the direction of the office, so that I would know how to get there on Monday morning (figuring it’s easier to scope it out before hand, rather than in peak hour traffic).

I explored the area around the office, and visited a great shopping center, before heading back to the hotel for a reasonably early night.

I had made tentative plans with a fellow blogger (and online friend) for Sunday.  I caught up with Sharon by phone, and we agreed to meet at a restaurant in Irving (a city within the Dallas metropolitan area). Before I met up with Sharon and her younger daughter, I stopped at another wonderful mall – this one on the northside of Dallas.  I picked up a small souvenir for DS, and a little something for myself (it was on sale because it wasn’t in mint condition, and I couldn’t resist the price!)

It was lovely to finally meet Sharon and her daughter. Lunch was great (I ate too much!). After lunch, I headed back to the area around the office, with the idea of looking at some apartments, just to get some kind of idea on cost of rental housing.   I got lost, and ended up in a new housing subdivision, and spent the next four hours looking at model homes, and some spec. housing. The cost of housing in that area is phenomenal, compared to Chicago. Yes, you can find similarly priced housing in the Chicago suburbs, but nowhere close to Chicago itself. I kept thinking of the cost of the houses and the proximity of excellent schools, and possibly within walking distance to the office.

I had another early night on Sunday – the truth is, I didn’t want to be out at night driving by myself. My eyesight isn’t the greatest at night, so I figured it was just easier to stay in; I watched TV and did a little reading (I couldn’t stitch – my mind was racing too much.

On Monday morning, I drove into the office, and got settled into my temporary office. I talked to some of the staff, and one of my colleagues recommended a subdivision  for me to look at.   He had moved down to the area  from Chicago 4 years ago, and loves it. He raved about the cost of real estate compared to what he’d paid in Chicago.

I went out for lunch with the HR lady; we ate at a great Mexican restaurant, and after lunch, she took me for a drive through some neighborhoods. I told her I was impressed with the price of housing, but was concerned because all the houses were large, brick houses. They were beautiful, but anyone who knows me knows how much I love the “cottage” style houses. She said they had those, and took me to a place about 5 miles from the office – Perfect! She nailed it – that’s exactly what I was looking for.

On the way back, we drove through the subdivision that the other colleague had mentioned. He’d indicated that it was a “master planned”   community, made up of a number of subdivisions. As it turns out, one of the subdivisions (called “Trinity”) was also very similar in feel to the kind of house that I’m looking for. We stopped and walked through 2 of the houses, and picked up a brochure. I loved the whole subdivision – it was less than a mile to the office, and the schools were new – everyone in the office raved about the excellent school district.

I spent the afternoon in the office, talking to some more colleagues who had relocated from our Chicago office, before heading back to the airport, and my flight home.

Overall impressions? downtown Dallas and Ft.Worth aren’t Chicago. I think it’s hard to form a real impression of the cities based on such a quick visit, and I will admit to being terribly biased, since I love Chicago.  The area where the office is located, and the areas where I went shopping compare very favorably with the Chicago ‘burbs (for those people local to Chicago – think Oak Brook, Schaumburg, or Naperville).

Although the locals were complaining about the cold, I thought the weather during my stay was fantastic. Chicago was bombarded with snow while I was away, while I was enjoying the 65 – 70 degree plus temperatures. I could easily get used to warmer winters!

My decision? You’re going to have to wait…