Travel to Texas

Never did get to finish my blog about Texas yesterday, so here goes. On our third day there we drove to Plano to visit the Heritage Farmstead Museum. It is the former home of sheep farmer Ammie Wilson. This Victorian homestead was built in 1891 & there are gardens, old barns & other out buildings along with farm animals. There are self-guided tours on Mondays, Tuesdays & Wednesdays from 10am-2pm. Docent-guided tours are Thurdays and Fridays at 10am, 11:30am & 1:30pm as well as Saturdays and Sundays at 1pm & 2:45pm. Admission is $5 for adults, $3.50 for students & seniors, and children 4 and under are free.

Front of Victorian homestead



One room schoolhouse Another home on property

Barn with old vehicles Indian camp



Some of the farm animals Smokehouse

Outbuilding with cellar View of side of house look

We went on Friday but was too late for the last guided tour at 1:30, so we called ahead of time to see if we could still do the self-guided tour. They said it was OK but when we got there we were not able to go into the Victorian home because it was locked. We were able to go into some of the outbuildings but another home on the property & the one room school house were also locked. So I suggest if you want to do the self-guided tour you need to go on the times stated above. Apparantely there is a country store with handmade crafts and gifts but we never saw that & none of the staff there ever approached us or spoke to us. Anyway, it was an inexpensive outing for the day & the kids liked running around & playing (even though they complained the whole way there "no more old stuff...nothing historical").

My friend, Flor, used to live in Dallas & her husband made her promise she would bring back some food from a local Chinese restuarant that they used to eat at. They would go there at least once a week, so it is a definite local favorite. Not sure of the exact "city" it is in, sort of North Dallas & I think it is Reynolds or Reynoldsville (starts with an R anyway). It is on the corner of 15th & Greenville & the name is First Chinese BBQ. BBQ??? Yes, & it is excellent!

When we walked in the door there were whole roasted ducks hanging by the neck in a display case (reminiscent of the Christmas Story), along with roasted chickens. Chinese woman were cleaning vegetables out in the dining room on one of the tables & the menu showed it was truly an authentic Chinese restuarant. There were items I would never dare to try, but a wide variety was available for those of us who liked safe choices. There were 8 of us & we ordered Orange Chicken, Roasted Chicken, BBQ Pork, noodles with seafood, mixed vegetables, Chinese brocolli with Oyster Sauce & several other dishes. The food is served family style in big bowls & the food is placed on a lazy susan in the middle of the table so you can easily try all of the different dishes. I was totally amazed at the speed that our food came out...I am honest when I say we had ALL of our food within 10 minutes (if not faster). It was not cooked ahead of time but was freshly prepared & it was the best Chinese I have ever had! All of the food came to around $58.00 which feed all of us plus we had plenty of leftovers to take home. So if you are ever in the Dallas area & want to find a great local Chinese, you must try this!!!

Oh, & there is a Chinese bakery next door with fresh items baked daily. We purchased big pastries filled with custards, coconut fillings, & onion & meat...all awesome! So try it out & let me know how you enjoyed it. Well, I need to go eat my breakfast...hubby is home today & he cooked sausage gravy & biscuits..yum.