We drove into Dallas this  morning and stopped at Pioneer Park  for a photo shot and then checked out Klyde Warren Park—a park over the interstate.  

We walked from there to the Perot Museum of Science and History where we spent six hours.  Ben enjoyed the robot arena where he was able to race through a maze, pick up objects and fight other robots.  He also put on a lab coat and used bone models and rocks to solve an anthropology mystery, explored wheat DNA under a microscope and examine electricity within a living worm and in his body.  Other favorites were the earthquake stimulator, the bird flight simulators, and exploring drilling for oil 6,500 feet below the earth, in addition to the dinosaur skeletons.  My favorite was the natural gem displays from all over the world.

We ate dinner and spent the evening with Monty and Renee Vickers, lifelong friends from Montgomery, WV who now live in Lewisville.

    Day 1 -  Yesterday we drove to Hammond, LA to visit with Tom’s dad and Connie.  On the way we enjoyed lunch at Chimes in Baton Rouge with Stephen, Erin, Jonathan and Claire, and then picked up our grandson Ben in Walker to bring him back to Lake Charles to begin our vacation. This morning at 9:24 we pulled out of the driveway heading for our first stop of Lewisville, TX (outside of Dallas)  Before we left, I designed  two different t-shirts—one for Ben’s part of the trip with us (in both short and long sleeve) and one for the main theme of our trip:  The best way to enjoy a summer in Louisiana... is to head north to Alaska!  

     After making the photo frame for our wall at home with all the 50 states, I took a print screen on the computer  to make a vinyl print for our motorhome windshield with the words “ The best things in life are the people we love…the places we’ve been..and the memories we’ve made along the way."'

    We arrived in Lewisville, TX just in time for rush hour traffic, so we didn't get to campground until almost 5:00. The Lake

Lake Park Campground is very nice and the price is right at just $8 per night for us senior citizens!  Ben rode over the play area on his bike and then up and down the streets while Tom grilled the Cajun Chicken and made the pasta and salads.The weather was clear and sunny and the temperature was 96 degrees at 7:00pm.  Right I went to Walmart, Tom and Ben played chess.  When I came back from Walmart I played the digital Monopoly game and then burnt a few marshmallows for s’mores.  It felt great to come inside and sit in the A/C. 

My photo frame arrived today! After uploading each photo to the appropriate state template and getting the pictures printed at Sam’s, I used my ScanNCut to cut out each state. All done, but too much glare to take a full wall photo🙁

Spent DAYS creating this photo memory of the 50 States we’ve visited over the years. This is a screen shot of the actual creation I created that will go in the mat I purchased from Etsy’s Thunderbunnylabs. Their software makes a template for each state and I cut them out with my ScanNCut. I can’t wait for the mat to arrive on Monday!