The Journey to the Dallas Pen Show 2017

I have not posted in some time and I do apologize for that. My wife and I spent a week traveling to the Dallas Pen show from Iowa and turned it into a road trip of sorts. I packed the wrong power adapter for my laptop and well, I couldn't post. 

Days 1 and 2

Chicago is not a terribly far distance to go from central Iowa. We like visiting Chicago but had never explored downtown, until now. We stayed in a hotel adjacent to Michigan Ave and had a wonderful time. I had never realized how amazing the architecture is here. 

Stunning views. During our time here, we took a bus tour of the area and made stops at Soldier Field and Navy Pier. 

While on Navy Pier, we had to ride the big Ferris wheel and also took a boat ride on Lake Michigan where I got to see this lighthouse and I just love lighthouses.

A great start to the pen show journey.

Day 3

Mainly a travel day from Chicago, IL to Memphis, TN. Wow, Illinois is one damn long state but we reached our destination in 8 hours and we were both in no mood to go anywhere. 

Day 4 

Memphis is most notable for Elvis and Graceland. I am not a fan of Elvis but my wife is so we went to this attraction and spent a few hours. I am so glad that the style trends in fashion and home decor are no longer popular. 

After Graceland, we got back in the car and traveled to our next stop which was Branson, MO. We both were curious as to what was here so we needed to see for ourselves as to what all of the hype is about.

Day 5

Branson is quite the tourist trap type of place, much like the Wisconsin Dells and the Ozarks. The views are quite breathtaking beyond all of the ad signs for country music shows, tattoo shops, old timey photos and Vape shops. We took a ride on a DUKW (pronounced Duck) which is a WWII era vehicle that drives on land but is also amphibious. We had a nice tour and saw some amazing sites. 

After the tour we did some shopping for the kids and took a ride on a train, which happened to be the most disappointing part of the trip.

Day 6

Travel to the Dallas Pen show. We left Branson and headed down to Dallas, TX which was around 6 hours long. Once we got checked in, I was down to the show to see the goodies which will be in my next post.

Day 7 saw more pen show activity but we took a break to explore the plaza where President John F Kennedy was assassinated at in 1963. The museum and tour was very well put together and photos were not allowed. So after the tour, we went outside for a couple of pics.

It was humbling to be in the same building where the shots occurred but definitely worth the trip to visit history.

Day 8 was the trip back home which is roughly 11 hours in the car. It was a great getaway trip and we saw some wonderful sights as well as met some great people. I may need to do this again but with different stops along the way.