I went a travelin' to Texas!

YEE HAW COWBOY!  :)

I was able to travel for the first time to Texas on Memorial Day!  I have never been to Texas and this year's Foursquare Convention was right in downtown Dallas and featured a speaker that I really enjoy.  I thought it would be fantastic to visit somewhere new while hearing great speakers!

My traveling buddies, Luke and Dianne from Oshkosh, met up with me in Milwaukee at the airport.  We flew from Milwaukee to Minneapolis and then down to Dallas.  The flights were on time and everything ran smoothly.  How fantastic!

We stayed from Monday, May 25 - Thursday, May 29th at the Sheraton Downtown Dallas:

The view from our room on the 10th floor.  The Convention Center was located directly across the street, we just used the skywalk!  (Can you spot the dude swimming laps in the rooftop pool?)

While we were in the convention center for most of the time, we did get out and walk around within a mile of the hotel.  We came across this cute little cafe the first morning when we went searching for breakfast.  We didn't stop, but it was called La Madeleine.  Had to take a picture for Mads!

I was totally fascinated by the DART trains downtown.  (Probably more fascinated than an adult should be, but - oh well!)  As someone who lived in Chicago and rode the elevated trains it was blowing my mind that the tracks went down the middle of the street!  Where's the safety checks on that?!  :)

I could just walk right across the tracks if I wanted to!

As for the convention we had "general" morning, afternoon, and evening sessions.  We didn't know who would be speaking ahead of time.  I was totally excited when Francis Chan was the speaker on Tuesday night!

 On the big screen -  You can watch his message online here until June 6th.

Wednesday had the breakout sessions.  The first session I went to the speaker was Jack Hayford, and his topic was Spiritual Life.  Dr. Hayford is a church founder, college chancellor, and pastor who is working to turn believers into disciples.  

On Wednesday afternoon we had another breakout session and this was time for Francis Chan!  His message was so amazing.  He's working to multiply churches by using a simply discipleship method of keeping groups small and working to empower others to form their own groups and continue discipling and multiplying outward.

Yes, I realize this is a bit lame, but it's the best I could do for a "picture with Francis Chan."  Photobomb courtesy of a member of a Madison Foursquare church!  :)

Not zoomed!  Second row!

After the breakout sessions were done we had a few free hours.  Luke, Dianne and I took a walk to do some sightseeing. 

First we came across the "Ring of Thanks" in Thanksgiving Square.  

Then we continued on to Dealy Plaza, the Book Depository, and the Grassy Knoll.

A view of the Texas School Book Depository from Elm and Houston Streets:

The sixth floor window where Lee Harvey Oswald fired his shots:

Luke is pointing to the 6th floor window:

You can view a Live Webcam from Oswald's point of view from that infamous window.

National Landmark: Dealy Plaza

Luke and Dianne standing on an "X" that supposedly marks the spot of where the limo was when JFK was hit.

Standing next to the spot in which Abraham Zapruder shot his film with his 8mm camera.

A new plaque was placed recently on the knoll with an excerpt of the speech that JFK was to give that day in Dallas:

Some say that there was a second shooter other than Oswald.  They say that he was located behind the fence atop the grassy knoll and that he used the hole in the fence to either look through or shoot through.

Dianne took a few blades of grass home to Wisconsin:

Looking towards the knoll.  The group of people is standing by the sewer grate that some people say the second shooter could have been hiding in.

On our way back to the hotel we took a different route.  We came upon this lovely bit of artwork on Main Street.  It's entitled "Eye" by Tony Tasset and it's apparently based on his own eye.  

I'm not the Optometrist in the family, but there's a bit of something near the iris....  

One last photo op...  I kept noticing these "No Standing" areas painted on curbs.  I just had to stop and stand for a moment!  :)

We finished out the trip with the general morning session on Thursday.  We weren't able to stay to the close of the convention as we needed to be on the shuttle to the airport by 11:30 so that we could be to our gate for our flight home without rushing.  We enjoyed some yummy barbeque and sweet tea (FINALLY!) in the airport before leaving.  The flights home were full to the brim, but we made it back right on the dot and I was home to Monroe around 9PM.

It was a wonderful trip filled with fun and good times.  Thanks Texas!