However, in my experience visiting the heart of Texas, it is a shopper’s paradise. With a very wide stretch of shopping plazas including malls and stores of every kind imaginable, Texas was looking better than I’d ever expected. Though I was a little low on cash, I was excited to go exploring the city. After attending the wedding I had originally traveled there for, the city was just waiting to be explored.

Coming from a small town in New York, I hadn’t really experienced a city as large and full of life as this (that is, except New York). In Poughkeepsie, the town I was born and raised in, there was no Dave and Buster’s, no Sonic, no choice of shopping malls. In Poughkeepsie, there are only two malls, one of which is a dead mall that is about to be shut down. But in Texas, about four to five malls, each of which are ten times larger than our one mall, filled to capacity with Macy’s, Sears, Forever 21, Charlotte Russe, and not to mention a Coach Outlet store, which my sister begged to go to.

The city would not only be a great place to visit, but a quiet place to live as well. With numerous gorgeous apartment complexes, seemingly built for the upper class, but surprisingly affordable for the upper and lower middle class, the place is a safe haven for raising a family. So, if you’ve got any family in Texas, it would be a great place to move.

As for its population of 1,880,000 in Dallas and 534,000 in Fort Worth, the city’s metro area is the ninth largest in the country. The glitz and glamour of the city is revealed through its nightlife and shopping (as mentioned above). Travel into Garland city will bring about more shopping opportunities for those who are looking to empty their wallets or feed their stomachs.

Though I didn’t get to spend as much time exploring the city as I would’ve liked, there were a few places I did get a chance to hit up on the last day of my trip to one of the fastest growing metro areas in the country. One being the Kimball Art Museum, known as “America’s best small museum.” The museum is an array of world-class art, including the work of El Greco, Cezanne, Rembrandt, Picasso, and Matisse.

I also got the chance to fly through the Sundance Square and catch a glimpse all of its exciting and attractive highlights. The previous day, my aunt had taken us shopping at the Grapevine Mills Mall, where we strolled along mostly for the perks of seeing the different stores, some of which were outrageous and overly exciting to my little brother. There was a display of a fake crocodile in a foggy swamp, which looked too real not to take a gander. There was a huge wrap around of various shoes stores, clothing stores, picture places, media stores, and children’s corners. Not to mention, a carousel in the middle of the food court. The food court offered so many varieties of food to eat. From chicken and pizza, to Chinese and Italian, the food court was more of a half square, which was separated from the shopping traffic.

After my cousin found a $100 bill on the floor, I kept my eyes peeled, but knew it was only lucky enough to happen once in a day. Nevertheless, we finished our meals and quickly headed to finish the second half of the wrap-around display of stores. Afterwards, my mother stopped at a neat cart in the middle of the mall that sold CDs of Elmo singing. The fascinating thing was that you could get Elmo to say your child’s name throughout the entirety of the CD. Once we got home and listened to it, my brother was pleasantly surprised and tickled pink to hear Elmo saying his name. It would be a great birthday gift for any child over the age of four.

Overall, Fort-Worth-Dallas, is a city full of history, full of magic and would be the perfect place for a short vacation full of shopping, historic discoveries and family fun.