Tally Ho!

When one of your best buds gets a new Porche 911 and wants you to drive his 'old' Audi R8 to a few car shows over the weekend, you jump in Joy and take a quick trip to Dallas to hang out and drive, drive, drive!!

Yes, he has a Tesla Plaid, too.  It's a small fleet of beautiful exotic cars! 

We called the R8 our 'weekend rental' and I'm telling y'all, it's a beautiful car, inside and out!

Saturday we all went to the gym, then drove around for a bit, getting comfy with the cars before the Sunday car shows.  The plan was to drive up to Alma for one in the early morning, then take backroads back down towards downtown Dallas for another show outside the Scottish Rite Children's Hospital.  I'm not sure who had more fun - the little kids climbing in the cars and revving the engines, or the big kids (adults) smiling about being able to share these 'toys' with them. 

This one wasn't a toy run, but you could always check out the hospital's Amazon Wish List and send a donation that way.  We learned that every child who has surgery at Scottish Rite has a doll given to them to go thru the process with them so they're not alone; and we were kinda impressed with the world's largest leaded stained glass kaleidoscope tucked into a corner of the main lobby.

Driving around, you certainly can work up an appetite, and Ran-D's girlfriend knew of a great place to keep the car-show theme going, so we drove over to The Shop for lunch at the Derby.  I almost don't want to share any photos, because I'd love for you to be just as in awe as I was when you walk in the door.  This is not some hole in the wall dive, but a serious showroom of all kinds of cars, along with some really incredible home cookin' food!  Read my Yelp review here, and do yourself a favor - if you're within driving distance, GO! 

And the awesome part about The Shop? They're opening another one down here in Tomball next year!! Hello, Miata Club meet-ups, here we come!

As much fun as we had in the R8 (and the 911, we switched back and forth with Ran-D all weekend), we were glad to get back in our humble little MX5 and hit the road home to Houston Sunday afternoon.  It was a great mini-adventure and we'd do it again in a heartbeat!

Till next time: