Hillsboro Day Trip!

Yesterday we took a mid-day trip out to Hillsboro, Texas. Which is about an hour outside of town from where we now live. The big draw of Hillsboro are the outlet stores. There's a Nike Outlet store that beckons Brad every 6 months or so. There's a Nike Outlet store in Grapevine too. But according to my husband the one in Hillsboro is better. This was my first trip out to Hillsboro with him, in previous times he's gone with his dad or tennis buddies. Finally I would get to see the Hillsboro outlets that my husband raves about.

On our way to Hillsboro, Brad asks if I want to stop and eat anywhere or wait until we arrive in Hillsboro. I was good with waiting. As we're nearing the Hillsboro area Brad starts pointing out restaurants. Which were mostly fast food type, which is fine with me but I was thinking there would be stuff like that at the outlet mall too. I happen to mention why not just eat at something at the outlet mall? To which Brad informs me there's no food places at the outlets. Huh, no food places in a large area of outlet stores? Since the beginning of time restaurants and shopping have gone together, right? Like peanut butter and jelly go together. Cue my confusion! Needless to say we stop to get something to eat just down the road from the outlet mall. We stopped at an IHOP. Oh dear, where to begin with IHOP? Sorry folks not a fan of IHOP for lunch. If it's passed breakfast time then no thanks...can we go to McDonald's or Wendy's? Seriously, it would be cheaper and quicker.

Here's the thing...I like food places that stay in their lane, dance with the one that brought you type of thing. Do you get my drift? IHOP does breakfast, that's their claim to fame. I get nervous when going there not in search of breakfast food. It's my own weirdness. Kind of like going to Red Lobster and ordering a chicken cobb salad, not Red Lobster's forte. Or going to Bennigan's and getting a quesadilla...been there, done that, it wasn't good. Never again will I trust an Irish pub-style restaurant to make a proper quesadilla, honestly what was I thinking?

Anyway, after lunch we head down the street to the outlet mall. We drive into the parking lot, I quickly glance around with my eyes big and bright as I'm excited to finally get to the outlet stores. I scan the stores and then zero in on the Nike store that Brad is already heading for. Brad says, "Nike store first, okay?" I'm thinking to myself, "what else is there?". I then say, "this is it?" Brad responds, "There's more on the other side of that section over there(as he points)". Well that's good news since this is not impressive. I was expecting something more "thriving". This is like a dead zone with a few stores barely hanging on. We found nothing at the Nike store and then went on to the Levi outlet and Under Armour. No luck at either place. We went to a couple other stores that were less than impressive too. We ended our afternoon in the Hillsboro area at the Ralph Lauren outlet. I came across a shirt that was perfect for Brad. It was a steal of a deal because Ralph Lauren polo's that Brad loves to wear to work are not cheap. The one I came across was a third of the regular price, like I said, steal of a deal. That was the one and only thing we got after spending so much time on the road to get to Hillsboro.

On the way home Brad mentions that I'm right, that it's not that exciting of an outlet mall. LOL!  Oh man, boys! I honestly believe he is gone to the outlet mall for one, maybe two reasons: Nike and Under Armour stores. Beyond those two attractions he's never looked around much. Never realized there isn't much beyond those two stores. But wifey goes along and can't help but point out, this is not worth it. Driving an hour outside of town for this is not worth it! In the future I will gladly stay home from the Hillsboro outlets. It's not a googly-eyed attraction for me!

Below is Piper's souvenir from our trip to Hillsboro! Husband got a shirt and Piper got a new bag so I can call her "Bag-Pipe"...so it wasn't a total waste! She curled up in this bag late last night in such a precious manner I didn't have the heart to move her to her bed. She slept in the bag.