There's No Place Like Home

My name is Grace Vowell, I am twenty-one years old and I am from Dallas, Texas. And to answer the next question that is usually asked by most Texans "Are you from Dallas, Dallas or Dallas?" I live twenty minutes from Downtown in a suburb called Coppell, however, I consider all of DFW to be my stomping ground. While there are a million magazines and Pinterest boards that will tell you the "best way to spend 24 hours in Dallas" I will be dragging you around the city to give you the 24 hours that will make Dallas seem like home.

Home is where the heart is and that is why we will be starting our day in the heart of the city. Americano is attached to the Joule Hotel on Main St. In order to enter the restaurant, you must first pass through the 1920's Neo-gothic hotel that is known for its architecture and art collection. Walking into Americano feels like you have entered a time machine ended up in a Cafe in Milan in the 1960's. The black and white hexagonal tiles and green walls make it feel quite retro but the outdoor patio that faces the infamous eye sculpture brings you back to reality. And now, the reason for even enduring the awful Dallas traffic, the food. The egg white frittata tastes like what I can only imagine the clouds in Heaven taste like. It is incredibly light and fluffy with the perfect balance of salt from the eggs, nuts, and greens to sweet from the lemon vinaigrette, tomatoes, and currants. It also packs in enough protein to keep you energized for the rest of the day. http://americanodallas.com/

After everyone's stomachs are full and happy the next stop on The Tour de Grace is probably my favorite place in the city, The Dallas World Aquarium. Whenever anyone comes to town and wants a recommendation it is my go to. You walk in and it as if you are walking through the rainforest layer by layer. You begin in the trees and there are birds flying around and as you follow the path down you come across jaguars, otters, flamingos, and penguins. My personal favorite part is that there are trees all along the path and you look up and in the trees are Sloths, they are so close you could sneakily reach out your hand and touch them. As you travel down the path you dive deeper into the layers of the rainforest and emerge yourself in the life of the ocean where I promise you will see every member of the Finding Nemo cast and more. https://www.dwazoo.com/

Once you have had your fill oh oooing and ahhing over glow in the dark fish and ten-foot long sharks it is time to give you the best view of Dallas. The Ronald Kirk Bridge extends over the Trinity River and offers a view that will end the "Which is better? Dallas or Houston" debate. And no, I do not mean the view of Reunion Tower or Dealy Plaza. I mean the views of the Dallas people, the Highland Park moms doing yoga or boot-camp, the four quinceanera photoshoots that are somehow always simultaneously going on, or the children that are running around with their $4 Steel City Popsicles. The Dallas culture is somehow a perfect mixture of western tradition and big city glamour.

With a quick stop by the Dallas Farmers Market, we head back to Coppell to end our day. My favorite thing about living in a suburb is that is a quiet escape from the buzz of the city. And expectedly, every suburban girl has her suburban escape and mine is Grapevine Lake. Growing up this was our go-to place when we were looking for something to do. That something to do usually just ended up being a couple of lawn chairs, a picnic, and a fire pit overlooking the water and watching the sailboats pass by. It is our own personal beach and the best stories were created and told at that lake. Sitting on a blanket munching on cheese, bread, and fruit is one of my favorite pass times no matter where I am in the world and there is no better time to that than during a sunset, and you know what they say about those Texas sunsets....

Well, Y'all (and yes we really do say Y'all) I hope you enjoyed your day around Dallas and it not only gave you a good sense of the city I call home but of me as well.

#Dallas #DFW #Americano #DallasWorldAquarium