You might devote part of a day to exploring Dallas by light rail. DART has information on various sites of interest you can visit without fighting traffic. In the ongoing War Between Houston & Dallas, I’m afraid our neighbor to the North is ahead in mass transit.
But Houston is ahead of Dallas in museums–even Fort Worth is far ahead of Dallas. Back in 1980, when the Amon Carter was still The Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, I first saw the works of Jose Guadalupe Posada. Other good ones have already been mentioned.
I disagree with this. My wife & I took the train from Grapevine to Ft Worth Stockyards and had a very enjoyable time there. If you like old trains, you can find more information here.
If you like Lebanese food, there is Byblos, near (but not in) the stockyards. They also have a hookah bar. Definitely avoid the improbably named Campisi’s Egyptian, which is a red-sauce Italian/pizza place, where Ruby or Oswald or somebody ate before the assassination, the food is not good and there is nothing of historical interest. If you need a high-end supermarket for some reason, try Central Market, they are like a better, cheaper Whole Foods without the snootiness and pretense. Plus they have pretty good gelato. I don’t know if you have any Latin-American markets where you live currently, but you can find lots of them in DFW.
Well, today was fun. I managed to get lost in Fort Worth, eat some great BBQ, get lost in Richland, get an 8-hour ride-a-long with the Dallas police department, get some pictures of City Hall, and get lost for a second time in Fort Worth. You’d think I’d buy a map by now.
BTW a fact I heard about this area (not being a native, like most around here):
The day that JFK was assassinated, he flew from Fort Worth to Dallas. “DFW” might make you think that the two are right next to each other but IIRC, they’re 50 miles apart.
Dallas also offers a multitude of opportunities to get lost. I ALWAYS get lost in Dallas.
Seriously, though, you should probably eat more BBQ. Or Tex-Mex. If you want beer, I recommend Dos Equis or Modela Negro. Jarritos is a brand of Mexican fruit flavored sodas, and they’re pretty good too.
My mother is from Ft. Worth and she and my stepfather recently moved north of Dallas. The problem with the area is that is sprawl, more sprawl, and mega-sprawl. The whole metroplex is positively gigantic and not centralised at all. It can easily take you an hour or more just to drive across the core part of Dallas/Fort Worth. The most centralized part is the Fort Worth stockyards which is great.
Help me out people. There is a huge bar complex with a real rodeo inside it and a bunch of other things in Fort Worth. I thought that was cool. What is that?
The JFK assassination site is extremely interesting because you can see how tiny the whole thing is. I mean, it is an eye opening in that regard and it is instantly obvious once you are there how insane the conspiracy theories are. A person skilled with a slingshot could have killed JFK from the area and the grassy knoll is a small, raised piece of lawn. That will definitely cause a WTF moment.
Downtown Dallas is not like other cities. It has a great skyline but remarkably little ground activity. It is basically deserted after dark. However, there is a great entertainment complex in downtown Dallas with tons of stuff. They had a piano bar that was the best I have ever been to and completely vulgar and with other great places in the same building.
People in the DFW area like to say, “It’s a great place to live, but I wouldn’t want to visit there.”
Depending on your interests, I second the nominations of:
The Fort Worth Zoo. If you like zoos, it’s one of the nicest in the U.S.
The Kimbell can be a terrific museum, depending on what their main exhibit is. I was last there a few years ago for an exhibit chronicling the long-running rivalry between Picasso and Matisse. Check what they’re showing when you’re in town- it may be well worth your time.
I remembered this BBQ spot that I went to, and it was simply out of this world.
I also second the Frontiers of Flight museum…really neat place!
Wish I knew of the names of other places that I went to when I was in the DFW area (I spent two weeks at the Joint Reserve Base in Ft. Worth back in 2003).
Had a real fun time down there and wishes I could go back sometime soon!
Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone in a suit and cowboy hat outside of television. Maybe it was a bunch of people from out of town who thought Texans actually dressed like that.
I live in south Fort Worth. My parents live just east of Dallas (Terrell). It’s nearly a 90 minute drive to visit them even with light traffic. It’s easily a 90 minute drive to visit my brother, who lives north of Dallas.
Oh, and Sundance Square is nice. Free parking nights & weekends. A large Barnes & Noble next to a movie theater. 8.0’s (which I, personally, think is overpriced, but it’s very popular.) Lots of cops around, so it’s pretty safe at nights.
I was born in Dallas and lived there until 1963. Western style suits weren’t common but weren’t exactly uncommon, either. IIRC, Stetson style hats were more common in Ft. Worth than in Dallas; cowboy boots were as common as dirt, though. Boots and cowboy hats were almost required in Lubbock back when I was at Texas Tech.
I doubt I could find the house my parents owned if I went back to Dallas today.
I was actually going to recommend Railhead in my post above. But I wasn’t sure if the OP would be staying or wandering near TCU, so I was trying to be unspecific. And for the record, Railhead isn’t all that gritty…they’re a bit more polished in presentation than a lot of the other really good barbecue places.
