2008 Road Trip (Day 2) - Shreveport/Monroe, Louisiana

21st Dec, 2008

We had a very nice sleep and got a bit early, today. We had our breakfast and left hotel by 9 am. We first went to the Gardens of the American Rose Center. But it was also closed for the winter :)

We then went to Barnwell Memorial Garden. We spent nearly 2 hours in that area. We went to the Eldorado Casino and spent sometime there (Hey! I made $1.50). There was a Riverview Park near to the memorial garden. It was a bit cold, there. It looks like there will be cruise ships during the regular season. We had our breakfast also in that area.

We then went to see "The Duck Pond". The Duck pond wasn't that attractive. But, there were lots of play structures for the kids. My daughter had an amazing time there. She almost climbed on all the play structures. There were also lots of picnic tables. It is a nice place to spend the afternoon.

On the way to Jackson, Mississippi, we stopped at Monroe. We went to Biedenharn Museum & Gardens. This place was beautiful. It looks like people will visit this place for taking professional wedding photos. We spent about an hour and a half in this place.

We visited the Aviation Historical Museum of Louisiana. It is a small-renovated musuem that houses lots of World War II aviation pieces. There were no huge aircrafts, so we were a bit disappointed.

We had our Starbucks coffee in Pecan Land Shopping Mall. My daughter went on the carousel and she enjoyed it.

We drove to Jackson, Mississippi and reached there by 8 pm.

2008 Road Trip (Day 3) - Jackson, Mississippi

22nd Dec, 2008

We got up early and left hotel by 8.30 am. We went to the Jackson Zoo. We realized that all the animals were also celebrating their Christmas holidays. Yes... they were all gone on vacation. We saw a few Ostriches, a couple of Zebras, a Deer. There were some peacocks too. We had to leave early because it was VERY cold and there were not much animals to see.

We then headed to the downtown. We visited the City Hall, State Capitol Building and the War Memorial Building - all by walk. Since it was very cold, we decided to go to some museum.

We visited the Nature and Science Museum in Jackson. It is a must-to-see place, especially if you have kids. They have Dinosaur miniatures and they look very real. We spent about an hour there.

We then went to Mississippi Petrified Forest. It is a privately owned property and they had a small walking trail. There is nothing significant about this forest. But, you can walk around the trail to see some of the petrified trees.

We left Mississippi at around 5 p.m and reached Birmingham, Alabama in the night.

2008 Road Trip (Day 1) - Dallas, Texas

19th & 20th Dec, 2008

We reached SJC by 2 pm to catch the 3.15 pm American Airlines flight to Dallas, Texas. The flight was delayed by 2 hours and departed only at 5.30 pm. No wonder why these airlines are in a deep mess. AA charges you for even the check-in of the first bag and doesn't even provide a snack during the flight. We reached Dallas at around 10.30 pm. We rented a car, purchased some groceries on the way and reached our hotel by 12.30 pm.

We had our breakfast and left hotel by 9.30 am. Our first sight seeing place was Ft Worth Water Gardens. It was in the Ft Worth downtown area. The Water Gardens was unique and awesome. We spent about 30 minutes there and left to the Ft Worth Botanical Garden. The Botanical Garden was almost deserted. I believe Winter is not the right time to visit this place. My kid was sleeping and so, my wife stayed in the car. My brother and I went inside. They didn't charge us inside the Botanical Garden. They charged $1 for the conservatory. The conservatory was maintained well - it had mostly tropical plants.

We then went to Reunion Tower. The tower was closed for maintenance. We had our lunch in that area and then went to Fair Park. Fair Park had all sorts of recreational activities. Some of them were closed for winter. We went to the Planetarium and to the IMAX movie theatre. The IMAX movie theatre was the best that I've ever seen. It had a half-dome screen. They showed an inspiring movie (Amazing Caves) about folks who go out on cave exploration. It was wonderful.

We started from there and drove to Shreveport, Louisiana for our night stay. We reached Shreveport by around 9 pm.