
I’m back from Dallas an engaged man! I asked my fiancée Kara to marry me on Friday night, she said yes and we celebrated the weekend in Dallas, Texas. It was a great trip highlighted by the Washington Redskins falling to my Dallas Cowboys on Sunday afternoon. The game would have been boring to watch on television (with the final score 7-6), but it was an unreal experience being in the stadium. I highly recommend checking out Cowboys Stadium even if you are just a casual football fan. The building is the nicest sports complex I’ve ever visited and is absolutely massive.
We arrived at Dallas Ft. Worth International Airport on Saturday and took the cab ride to the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek in downtown Dallas. The Mansion is the only five star, five diamond hotel in Texas and is a really nice place. The staff-to-guest ratio is two to one and the service was immaculate. I’d heard a lot of people say The Mansion was one of the nicest, if not the nicest hotel in the country but I wouldn’t go that far. The place was well decorated, clean and highlighted by excellent service but their hot tub and pool facility left a lot to be desired.
Saturday night Kara and I had a wonderful fine dining experience at The Mansion Restaurant in our hotel. The place wasn’t easy on the wallet and they didn’t hook us up with any freebies even though we were celebrating our engagement. Nonetheless I highly recommend the food, especially the shrimp cocktail which was one of the best I’ve ever had. We capped the night off in the Mansion Bar with live entertainment and a champagne celebration. The third bottle was a bad idea, but it was a very special night!
On Sunday we made the trip to Arlington to Cowboys Stadium. Our taxi cab driver was not much of a fan as he explained to me why he thought “Tony Romo was bullshit.” It was hilarious listening to why he didn’t like our quarterback. Prior to the game we visited the Dallas Cowboys Pro Shop which was packed full of people with 18 cash registers going nonstop. We had great seats for the game, only six rows up from the field right in front of Emmitt Smith’s box. I didn’t see number 22 but was told by a season ticket holder that’s where he normally sits. I got chills during the pre-game stuff; it was surreal watching Cowboys cornerback Mike Jenkins pray on the star in the endzone in front of us. There’s not much to say about the game other than we eked out a win at the last minute.
Monday was our most relaxing day as we slept late and took a trip to the Northpark Mall in Dallas. We spent the entire afternoon there and I experienced an order of cheeseburger tacos for the first time. The Northpark Mall was beautiful and one of the nicest malls I’ve ever visited. They had every store you could imagine from Burberry and Tiffany’s to American Eagle and Aéropostale. I didn’t do much shopping, but Kara bought some nice things to wear to upcoming parties relating to our forthcoming wedding.
The Monday afternoon highlight was randomly seeing Dallas Mavericks Power Forward Dirk Nowitzki in traffic driving his Cadillac Escalade. We were heading back to our hotel from the mall and I randomly looked out the window at a red light to see this:

Our best dinner of the trip was Monday night where we went to Nick & Sam’s in Dallas. I told the restaurant we were celebrating our engagement and they went all out to accommodate us for a very romantic experience. They covered our table in roses and brought us two free glasses of champagne to celebrate. I ordered the gourmet deviled eggs as our appetizer which were topped with variations of caviar, avocado and tuna tartar. The ones with tuna tartar were my favorite, but Kara didn’t care much for them. The restaurant offers complimentary caviar and toast points to all their guests which was very good. Next up was their award winning Caesar salad and bread which was delicious. For my entrée I had their rib eye cooked medium-rare with a crab stuffed potato. Kara had their filet minion and a regular baked potato. We ordered a bottle of white wine with our dinner but they brought us complimentary glasses of red wine with our red meat. I can honestly say it was one of the best steaks I’ve ever had, ranking right up there with Porterhouse in New York. We didn’t want dessert, but they brought us out a complimentary dessert liquor to cap off the evening. I was shocked with all the free stuff we got because we were celebrating our engagement. If you are ever in the Dallas area, go out of your way to eat and Nick & Sam’s. Great atmosphere for a romantic date and outstanding food; it’s also not as expensive as you would think and well worth the price.
After dinner our hotel limousine was running a little late so we went to a hotel across the street to have a drink and enjoy the city. We capped the night off at the Mansion Bar with just one drink and called it an early night. Overall it was a wonderful trip with great memories. I couldn’t have asked for more for an engagement celebration. I arrived back home in West Virginia yesterday evening and went right back to work. Once I finish typing this, it’s off to spend time with our families for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Have a great holiday everyone!