Texas - Thanksgiving - November 2020

Dodds Clan - Elm and Good

We alternate holidays between Texas and Louisiana every year, and this year was Texas-time for Thanksgiving.  To keep the family safe, we quarantined in Chicago for a couple of weeks prior and then drove down to Texas on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.  It was 14 hours door to door and we made it in exactly 14 hours, including 4 stops for gas and stretching our legs.  The trip was mostly uneventful other than a "welcome to Missouri" stop by the state's finest - but Keith lucked out with just a warning and we were on our way only a few minutes later.  We were welcomed at Chez Dodds with wine and cheese (part of the annual Zabars collection Keith sends for Christmas) for dinner, then we quickly feel asleep after a long day.

Dodds Clan - Stonehouse Restaurant

A few of the activities while we were in town:

• Walks: We did a loop around White Rock with Keith's parents (3:10) and also walked the Colleyville rail tracks most days, getting in a nice ~ 2 hours most days.
• Work:  Both of us had conference calls all day on the Monday and Tuesday but were able to mostly be free the Wed-Sun.
• Family Dinner: We went to the Stonehouse restaurant in Colleyville for a full family dinner in a private dining room.  We shared a tasty steak for dinner.  It was good to have Graham with us as he had to work on Thanksgiving day.
• Ernie Dinner:  Keith was able to meet up with his old CFO Ernie at Al Bernat's one night which was a lot of fun.
• Arboretum:  The whole family less Graham and Boone went to the Dallas Arboretum on the Wednesday night to see the lights and the 12 days of Christmas display.  We had the best (and most expensive!) hot chocolate of our lives there.  
• Thanksgiving:  All but Boone went to Graham's restaurant Elm and Good for Thanksgiving lunch.  Graham was serving the traditional meal which we were able to enjoy in a socially-distanced private dining room.  Which also kept other guests distanced from the kids....
• Peter/Jen/kids: We were able to see the family for a short visit on Thanksgiving morning.
• Naps:  Both of us were pretty exhausted from work so spent most afternoons catching up on our missed sleep from the last month!

After a fun week, Keith's dad dropped us off at Love Field on the Sunday for our mid-day flight home.  Much better travel that the 14 hour drive - especially knowing we had a 3500 mile road trip in front of us less than two weeks later!