lost in exploration | dallas

an 11-day road trip starting in Indianapolis, visiting 10 cities in five states

end of day three:

4 | 23 | 2023 (Sunday)

Good evening, Dallas! I don’t remember which lake this was that we crossed over, but I managed to capture the pretty sunset as we were getting closer to the city. (I also just realized that the moon snuck in the photo, too!) We arrived in Dallas and to our Airbnb around 8:30PM, which meant we were having a late dinner by the time we unloaded the car and decided where to go. With the Airbnb located near the Bishop Arts District, we found some great places to check out; howeverrrr, with it being a Sunday, quite a few places closed at 9PM. We (mainly me) were starting to get hangy because every place we looked at wasn’t open or was about to close. So, we finished walking around, taking in the sights at nighttime, and eventually decided to eat some random leftovers in our cooler.

day four:

4 | 24 | 2023 (Monday)

We slept in because I told Tabs I was tired of getting up early on vacation, which we had to do because of travel times, sightseeing, etc. Told her I needed to sleep until at least 8:30AM, and she was good with me getting some beauty sleep. :)

Once we got ourselves up and ready, our first stop was breakfast at Tribal All Day Cafe. We kept it within walking distance in order to check out more of the Bishop Arts District when we were done. At Tribal we ordered another breakfast burrito as well as The Classic - scrambled eggs, potatoes and toast or sub biscuit with jam, which of course I had to try said biscuit. It was smaller than expected but still tasty, and the breakfast burrito was delicious!

After eating we packed up the car, checked out of our Airbnb, and explored more of the arts district.

T-I-L-E. We saw so many different patterns, textures, and colors of beautiful tile everywhere! I would’ve taken more pictures but that would’ve been excessive! Haha!

We saw the pink style tile in so many different cities and states - all different colors and sizes!

On the southeast side of the district is Bishop North, an apartment complex with a very playful and fun leasing office that we had to check out. It even has a pink felt pool table, which Tabs absolutely loved. I really enjoyed the hand chairs!

We saw a large mural by artist John Bramblitt, who happens to be blind as I've learned reading through the “About Us” section of his website. I am in awe. The human brain and body are absolutely amazing.

Of course took a mural selfie in front of the Go Easy: Smoke Shop n’ Snack Store. And down an alley were these colorful papel picado (pierced papers) blowing in the wind, and I’m assuming leftover from the last Dia de los Muertos. A bit of a cooler, windier day, but still beautiful to walk around and enjoy the sights! Highly recommend checking out the Bishop Arts District!

Eventually, we made it to The Salty - our Dallas donut stop! Loved the mural and overall vibes of the shop.

There were quite a few drool-worthy options, but I ultimately chose the Brown Butter + Salt: vanilla bean cake donut, brown butter glaze, topped with maldon sea salt. Tabs tried the GF PB+J, which she enjoyed but wasn’t quite my taste. Very happy with my choice as it was one of the better donuts we had on the trip! Would absolutely recommend hanging out at The Salty with some friends sippin’ coffee and eatin’ yummy donuts!

Definitely enjoyed the vibes!

A great selection of donuts and kolaches!

Brown Butter + Salt Donut

After exploring as many of the shops as we could in the Bishop Arts District, we packed ourselves back into the car to head north towards our additional stops: coffee and furniture! Unfortunately, we were going to stop at The Plant Project, but it’s closed on Mondays. Instead, we went straight to one of the few La La Land Kind Cafe locations, off Oak Lawn Ave. I came across one of their reels on Instagram - Drive By Kindness - and immediately wrote it down for us to visit! It was a hoppin’ place! We both tried the cold brew with oat milk as well as a couple of baked goods. It was nice to sit down to enjoy our treats as well as the surroundings.

Next on our list was a real-life Blu Dot retail store! Tabs and I work for Business Furniture, an Indianapolis-based Steelcase dealer, and Blu Dot (based in MN) is a Steelcase partner. We’re usually specifying Blu Dot products in some form or fashion for projects. It was very exciting to be able to see, touch, feel, and try all of the products in person! We also just have a love and appreciation for beautiful and functional furniture.

Blu Dot retail store off McKinney Ave

The Field Lounge Chair (top right) is my absolute favorite, oversized chair! It’s super comfortable with the perfect recline.

Across the street from Blu Dot is CB2, which I’d never been in before. Naturally, we had to peruse.

CB2 retail store off McKinney Ave

On our way to NorthPark Center (a large shopping mall), we made a couple of impromptu stops: Warby Parker because of the awesome mural by Kyle Steed and then Favor the Kind, across the street from Warby. These stops are what made our road trip even more special - just enjoying each day, each stop, not always knowing where it might lead! I bought a super cute, colorful dress from Favor the Kind, which will be a great reminder of the trip.

We made our way to NorthPark Center so I could smell some of the Byredo perfume fragrances I’ve seen online as well as stop in to the Faherty store. Dallas was a good time even though we saw about 12 waking hours of it! By the time we left the mall, it was about 4PM local time which meant traffic. However, we were on our way to Waco, just 1.5 hours south!

Have suggestions for Dallas that you don’t see listed below? Drop them in the comments so I can add them to my list!

mapping the details:

For reference, pink pin is our Airbnb. Otherwise, all locations listed from left to right.

on our list for next time:

  • Hypnotic Donuts + Biscuits

  • Fairgrounds Coffee & Tea

  • Museum of Art

  • The Plant Project

  • Tipsy Elf

Lost in Exploration 2023Jen Scherr DesignsRoad trip, bestie road trip, dallas, texas road tripComment