The Michael W Travels family departed on our last trip of 2016 last night on Christmas Eve. This trip will be Theo’s first foray into international travel.
Getting to our destination comes with an annoying stop in Dallas where we had to spend the night. (Thanks Club Carlson points for the free stay!)
When we arrived in Dallas at 8:20 pm, we were all hungry and tired. Being that it was Christmas Eve it was slim pickings regarding what our choices might be.
We had read that there was a McDonald’s and Jack in the Box close-by to walk to but we weren’t really so interested in those options. I had jokingly asked the guy at the front desk of our hotel if there was a Whataburger (Texas-based burger chain) close by.
It turns out there was (one an exit back)!
That didn’t sound like it would work but he then mentioned that the shuttle driver could take us anywhere within 5 miles of the hotel. He checked online and said Whataburger was open. He then called our room and said he tried calling the restaurant but nobody was answering.
The plan was to drive by Whataburger. If it was closed, we could then be brought to the McDonald’s close to the hotel.
Sure enough, Whataburger was dark. Nobody was home on this Christmas Eve holiday.
We then drove by McDonald’s. Lucas was psyched since there was a huge play area in the front of the building. As we got closer, it turned out that McDonald’s had closed for the evening already!
Options were running out. Kim and I were fine with just grabbing some things at a 7-11 gas station and calling it a night but the driver mentioned a couple of other options.
A few minutes down the road we saw tons of cars in a couple of parking lots. Applebees and IHOP were both surprisingly open. I’m not really a fan of either but one of them would do at this point.
I didn’t really care which place we went to but the end results did bring a smile to Lucas’s face!
I hope that most of you spent your holiday, whether it was Christmas Eve or the first night of Hanukkah enjoying a better meal than at IHOP! 🙂
