Last Valentine’s Day, David and I wanted to have some sort of shared experience instead of the traditional chocolates and flowers. We wanted something close (within a 1-2 hour drive), inexpensive, and possibly outdoors, if weather permitted. In Texas, the weather in February could be freezing with ice all over the road or 80 degrees. The weather that week turned out to be fantastic 55-75, so we knew something outdoors was an option. I went to my Texas Monthly Outdoors App which has list of hikes, swimming holes, parks and campgrounds which helped us narrow our search to trails in Mineral Wells, Possum Kingdom, Fort Worth, or Denton. We had not explored much of Denton, so we started making plans. We filled up our water bottles, grabbed our Valentine’s cards, and as a treat, stopped by Central Market to get our picnic eats. After an easy trip up I-35, we arrived at the Ray Roberts Lake State Park.

After our day of picnicking, hiking and watching some armadillos, we needed some sustenance and recalled a great ice cream shop on the Denton Square. Some may not consider ice cream as sustenance, but I beg to differ. As we were headed there, I also wanted to drive through the Texas Woman’s University campus because a few of my students were considering this school for college. While there, we saw a sign for Little Chapel in the Woods and made a detour. This chapel, on the TWU campus was simple, elegant, and a peaceful sanctuary. Just perfect.

After some relaxing and picture taking, we continued on our way to the main courthouse square. It was booming! Tons of people were enjoying the evening, couples on blankets under the large pecan trees with twinkle lights, friends laughing and eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and children playing hide and go seek. As we were walking, yet again, we got distracted, this time by the smell of pizza and ended up at J&Js Pizza. I guess we needed a little more than ice cream. SO delicious! After supper, we meandered through the square grounds, hearing live music from the roof of LSA Burger Co, to Atomic Candy and then at last, Beth Marie’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream. We too found our spot on the courthouse grounds against a pecan tree where we enjoyed our ice cream, watched people, and enjoyed the last part of our fun day trip to Denton.

Check out reviews and more details in the posts to come.

Wednesday, August 12 – Hiking at Ray Roberts Lake State Park

Monday, August 17 – An Evening at the Denton Square

Wednesday, August 19 – J&J’s Pizza on the Square

Thursday, August 20 – Beth Marie’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream

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