One of my childhood best friends recently moved to Dallas, TX from Philadelphia and for part of her birthday present, her dad flew me out to spend the weekend with her and celebrate.
(pause for a moment of gratitude for being so blessed and having these opportunities to travel)
It was my first time in Dallas (and really first time hanging out in the South) so I was super excited to explore a place I otherwise wouldn’t have any reason to visit!
I was struck by how much Dallas is like Los Angeles. The weather – hot and dry (a nice change from the humidity I’ve endured all summer) the freeways (wide, busy, and all over the place) and the general feel of the city vibrant with Mexican influence (hello, tacos anyone?)
I was also pleasantly surprised to see a California staple – In N Out Burger all over Dallas and definitely ate it like 3 days in a row because you can’t get it on the East Coast!
Dallas was also super cool because it consists of a lot of different, but cute neighborhoods. Every section was unique in it’s own way and had really cute and trendy food shops, boutiques, etc.
Below is a guide of most of the things we did/food we ate/places we saw.
Deep Ellum
Deep Ellum is known for being one of the largest “entertainment” districts in Dallas, meaning it was lined with so many different bars and clubs. We went out here on a Friday night to celebrate my bffs birthday and ended up at a club called The Deep Ellum Candy Company which looks like one of those typical, old-fashioned candy stores, but surprise! It opens up to quite popping (and quite crowded) club. It’s set up like a speakeasy in this way and you even have to use a password to get in.
I wish we went back to Deep Ellum during the day because they had a lot of cool murals, but perhaps next time.
Lowest Greenville District
We went to this little neighborhood to find Joy Macaron’s to get birthday macarons for the birthday girl. This ended up being such a cute neighborhood where we enjoyed Paletas to cure our slight hangovers, a stop in Trader Joe’s, and discovered this unique chocolate shop called Dude, Sweet Chocolate that sold stuff like chocolate sausage, chocolate flavored tea, and chocolate covered nuts called “chubby nuts” which I definitely bought as a souvenir to bring back for my boyfriend.
Rooftop Pools
If you know me, you know I love a good rooftop. City views are everything to me. We found a rooftop pool on the top of a hotel called Nylo South Side Dallas. It didn’t cost anything to come and use the pool and they had a bar so you could sip your cocktail, while submerged in cool water, with the most incredible view of the city.
As we were approaching the hotel, we saw people up on the roof and suddenly heard cheering. When we got up to the roof, we realized a proposal had just taken place and there was this whole group of people taking pictures with the soon-to-be bride and groom. She was crying and honestly it was all too sweet, I almost did too. I didn’t even know these people, but I am a sucker for love and romance.
Bishop Arts District
Bishop Arts was one of the neighborhoods I had looked up and definitely wanted to hit up because I had seen they had amazing art murals. We ended up having brunch at a place called Hattie’s and they had the most delicious fried green tomatoes. It was my first time having fried green tomatoes and I have to say, I wish they were more popular out here on the East Coast!
The district was surrounded by art murals, and of course, little adorable boutiques that we had the most fun of shopping around and exploring.
I also hit up another paletas place which also became one of my favorite staples during my short Dallas trip. I am a sucker for popsicles and all the paletas shops had so many unique and fun flavors!
Throughout my trip, we also had great tacos at Torchy’s Tacos but there were honestly so many interesting and delicious looking restaurants, taco places, bars, etc that I will definitely have to come back to Dallas to fit all of that in!
And it definitely made me miss Southern California a lot since it reminded me so much of it ❤
Stay tuned for a post about how my flight got delayed and then cancelled on the way back to CT so I had to unexpectedly spend a night in Charlotte, North Carolina!
Mermaid Musings 