I’ll be visiting the DFW area in the near future, and I have a day to kill. I was thinking it would be cool to visit part of the defunct superconducting supercollider in Waxahachie, of which they built 14 miles. You would think someone must be doing something cool with this that a person could visit.
But that is obviously too good to be true. Not that it isn’t a great idea. So are there any other bizarre or unique things in the greater DFW area I should check out? I’m willing to drive an hour and a half to get there, if it’s good. But I don’t want to hear about the usual art museums, or the book depository, or the other humdrum tourist stuff. Indoor or hybrid indoor/outdoor attractions a plus.
I don’t know about Dallas, but in Fort Worth we have a great zoo, the Botanic Gardens, and the Water Gardens. I haven’t been down to the Water Gardens in ages, though, so I don’t know how they’ve held up. They used to be great, they were in the movie Logan’s Run as a backdrop. Oh, and we have the Log Cabin Village. Real log cabins that have been lived in, moved to the Village, and with docents in them to give lectures on various things about pioneer life (candle dipping, grinding grain, spinning, etc.). If by “near future” you mean within the next month or so, though…skip ALL outdoor activities. Texas in the dog days of summer is VERY hot, and people do get heat stroke.
Is there anything further out, say toward Wichita Falls, or Abilene, or Waco?
The Water Gardens were cool when I visited a few years back. But if I go this time, it’ll be brief due to the heat. Lest I get inspired to dive in and liberate the people in the Logan’s Run city underground - I hear some folks unfortunately had a similar idea last year.
Unfortunately, the superconducting supercollider site is abandoned, and last I heard, slowly flooding. If, however, you are looking to do things that skirt under the radar of the average visitor to Texas, I am the man to come to.
First on my list of suggestions is the (almost) world famous Cockroach Hall of Fame in Plano. This wonderfully bizarre museum features cockroaches dressed as famous people in detailed dioramas. And best of all…it’s free!
As Lynn Bodoni mentioned, the water gardens are worth a look in Fort Worth. However, I don’t know if they are going. Awhile back some people fell in the fountains and were drowned. The powers that be shut down the water gardens for investigation and inspection, and I had not heard that they had reopened.
If paleontology is your thing, head over to Glen Rose, and from there to nearby Dinosaur Valley State Park. You can see and marvel at dinosaur tracks preserved in the cretaceous limestone in the Paluxy River. The Blue Hole on the river is the quintessential “ol’ swimmin’ hole” and is mighty refreshing on a scorching Texas afternoon.
After your visit to the park, you can stop at the Creation Evidenences Museum, and rile-up the “intelligent designers.” They have a “human” footprint in the same limestone as a dinosaur’s, which “proves” that giants walked the earth as told in the book of Genesis.
Have a good trip, and if I can think of others, I will post them.
EvilAsh, that’s exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. Although I think it may be a bit too hot to frolick around the dinosaur tracks, swimming hole or no.
As for the Water Gardens, I rang them up today, and was told that they are open. There are apparently three “water features,” and the main one is closed.