One of the neatest places to go visit during the Christmas season is Grapevine, Texas. This self-proclaimed Christmas Capitol of Texas has lots of activities going on during the month of December.
Grapevine is only about a twenty-minute drive from where we live, so we decided to drive on over there last Wednesday. It can get a little crowded over there on the weekends, and we thought we might be able enjoy it more without all of the crowds.
Our first stop was Main street in downtown Grapevine. They had several neat displays set up for photo ops.
We had taken our tripod with us so that we could take some pictures together. I set up the camera, hit the timer, and ran to get into place for the pictures. I’m sure we looked like total dorks, but we didn’t care. 😀
I really wanted to get more pictures of the downtown area itself, but the light was fading, and it was beginning to get quite chilly.
I also would have liked to have gone into a few of the local shops, but we had to move on to our next stop, which was the Gaylord Texan hotel.
Christmas at the Gaylord Texan
The cost of staying at the Gaylord Texan can be pretty pricey, but the good news is that you don’t have to be a hotel guest to enjoy everything that this hotel offers at Christmastime. If you just want to come to see the decorations, then you are welcome to do so. There is a fee for parking in the private garage (about $13 bucks), but I think that it is well worth it. If you have a family, this can be a neat activity that doesn’t have to cost a fortune.
The Gaylord Texan has an indoor atrium that is gorgeously decorated at Christmastime. They really do pull out all the stops for the holidays.
Fun Fact: 1.5 million lights, 12,000 ornaments are used to transform this hotel into a magical wonderland at Christmas
Several model trains run on tracks throughout the atrium.
The Gaylord Texan hotel features some famous Texas landmarks in its design, such as the front facade of the Alamo and the San Antonio Riverwalk. We couldn’t get down to the Riverwalk area this year because there was a private event going on down in that area of the hotel. 🙁
By this point, we were both in need of a caffeine fix, so we stopped in at the Java Coast coffee shop.
This 24 hour coffee shop sells pastries, gourmet sandwiches, in addition to premium coffee drinks. I decided on a Cappuccino, and my husband had a Caffe Mocha.
We sat on the indoor patio, and sipped our coffee while enjoying the “view”. Not too shabby, eh? My Cappuccino wasn’t as good as Starbucks, but it got the job done. 🙂
Located right next to the coffee shop was Gingy’s Gingerbread decorating shop. Here, visitors can decorate gingerbread cookies, or even an entire gingerbread house. The sweet smell of fresh gingerbread cookies coming from inside was intoxicating. How cute is this little shop?
Speaking of gingerbread, check out this neat life-size Gingerbread house. It is made out of 5,000 square feet of gingerbread. That’s a lot of gingerbread!
The ICE! exhibit is a very popular attraction here at the Gaylord Texan, but not being a fan of Shrek, I really didn’t want to pay to see it.
There was no line to see the man in the big red suit while we were there, and I was a little tempted to go sit on his lap. I have a few things that I wouldn’t mind seeing under the tree on Christmas morning. 😉
If you are ever in the DFW area during the holidays, I highly recommend spending some time in Grapevine. You won’t be disappointed.