After months of anticipation we are finally on our way! We flew from Sydney non-stop to Dallas on QF7. It was a long flight but fairly painless and I have to say the food was really very good. Beef with artichokes and pine nuts for dinner that tasted like beef with artichokes and pine nuts – who would have expected that?

We landed at Dallas – Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) 2 hours before we left Sydney (technically 15 hours later) to be greeted by our good friend Mary Browder, who is the main reason we decided to spend a couple of days in Dallas on the way to the Galapagos. It was lovely to see her and very nice to be met at the airport. I’m embarrassed to admit to a rookie error  – I tried to get into the car on the driver’s side. Oops!

Mary has an action packed itinerary planned for our 48 hours here, but she kindly allowed us to recover from the flight and we spent the afternoon chilling at her lovely house. We had dinner with Mary and her husband Rick at a local cafe called Spoons (I had a Reuben sandwich and Keith had something called sliders which are mini-burgers – both yummy) and we tried valiantly to stay awake but we were tucked up in bed by 8 pm. Of course jet lag set in and we were awake from midnight to 2 am but we are feeling almost human today.

This morning we were up bright and early. Mary fed us a breakfast “casserole” which was seriously delicious – a kind of French Bread and fruit concoction, and we were in the car by 8 am headed for an exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was very well done with lots of background about the area the scrolls were found in and the history of the Bible itself. No photos allowed of course. We were surprised to learn that the South Western Baptist Theological Seminary, which hosted the exhibition, owns several original fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls. There were also facsimile copies of some of the main pieces. Although they were copies they are indistinguishable from the real thing, and we tried to forget they were not actually 2000 years old. There were also coins, pottery, glass and other ancient relics. It’s hard to grasp how ancient these things are!

After lunch at a “Barbecue” restaurant called Sonny Bryan’s, we headed for the so-called “Sixth Floor Museum”. This is a museum about the assassination of John F Kennedy. It was on the sixth floor of the famous book depository where Lee Harvey Oswald (allegedly) fired the fatal shots. We saw lots of photographic displays, archival footage, and listened to an audio guide by a reporter who was there at the time. Fascinating to see and a bit chilling to be in the actual location. We saw the grassy knoll, and there’s even an X on the road at the spot where JFK was shot. You can’t help wondering what the future would have held had he lived. Next year it will be the 50th anniversary of JFK’s death.

Mary wasn’t going to allow us to escape without sampling her favourite food – Mexican. So dinner tonight was at Christina’s Fine Mexican Restaurant. Delicious food, no chili overload (for me anyway, Mary likes it hot!), and Margaritas all round.