Forever Friends in Dallas

Who we are: Ten women with whom I went to high school in Panama almost fifty years ago.
Why we gathered: My friends and I meet frequently. In September about 100 of us gathered for our 45th reunion. This smaller group met because one of my closest friends had just successfully completed her treatment for breast cancer. It was a celebration!
The hotel: Although three of our group live in the area, we decided staying at a hotel would be the easiest arrangement. We chose the Grand Hyatt at DFW because it was convenient (we were arriving and departing on different flights) and because we got a fabulous rate ($113 senior rate...some advantages to be old girls). It was the perfect choice. The hotel is conveniently accessible from all terminals. It is quiet (we could not hear the planes for the most part), very professionally staffed, clean, and beautiful. Our rooms were very nice and the bathrooms were fantastic. We had to request coffee machines for the room (Patty in Guest Services was always ready to help so that was no hassle) but otherwise everything we needed was in the rooms including yoga mats! The only disappointment was having to pay for the internet. I work on line and it is necessary for me to have access. $9.95 a day didn't break the bank but it annoys me at a business hotel. In the lobby of the hotel there was a chocolatier (wow!), a pastry and sandwich takeout, and a coffee bar. The bar and lounge area are comfortable and have wireless access (for a fee).

The hotel restaurant, the Grand Met, is outstanding. We had breakfast and lunch there twice. The food is excellent, the wild salmon salad nicoise is great. The servers are professional and accomodating (no one balked at separate checks or slow eaters or late arrivals or people who sat chattering away for three hours). And they accomodated our whim to have the excellent gelato for our last breakfast. The restaurant was a tremendous plus and a great surprise. We wished we had had time to check out the spa since everything at the hotel was so nice, but we were there to be together. Maybe next time....................

We had one dinner out at Rise, a new souffle restaurant. It was fun and the food was very good. I would not make it an every night stop but it is a nice change of pace. Outstanding French bread, soups and salads in addition to both sweet and savory souffles (which aren't the calorie disasters you might think) made it a good place for our meal.

We spent most of our time celebrating our good fortune in friends and happy lives. It was a wonderful trip and we started planning the next one before we left!