Traveling suggestions
6My employer is sending me on a week long training to Dallas Texas. I will have evenings and one whole day to myself. Does anyone have any cool things to check out in the area that I could fit in?
I will check out the local food while I'm there (Hello BBQ!). I'd also like to check out some of the touristy stuff (museums, etc.) Are there any that I should make a priority or something else I didn't think of?
I appreciate any recommendations!
- 17 comments, 40 replies
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i hear there's a crazy/cool company located about 30 minutes north of Dallas that might be open to having a visitor. (you might want to bring cookie though)
@carl669
Only one company though?
Also, you forgot about Mediocre, so it's gotta be at least 1 1/2 companies
@carl669 I won't lie.... I did look how close to my class it was (pretty close)
BBQ? I'd definitely check out Pecan Lodge and Lock Hart!
@galmaegi Thanks for those! I've added them both to my list. Someone at work recommended another, and i already forgot. I really need to write these down!
@Spirtir To avoid the long wait, I'd recommend going there during the weekdays if you can. :)
@galmaegi I'll have to look up the hours. Since work is paying I should probably actually go to the class! It doesn't get done until 5.
@Spirtir Then I'd go there before they open on the weekends. You'll see the lines out the door already.
You need to get a big hat and some boots to fit in.
@thismyusername You've clearly never been here. You forgot a pair of spurs, a giant belt buckle and a horse.
@MEHcus Psshh; you don't need that stuff in Dallas (a Southern city, but not a Western one). Of course, if you're in Fort Worth during Stock Show that cowboy uniform is practically mandatory.
@MEHcus @thismyusername
The one on the left.
Always have to ask: Will you have a car available? It's true of other places, but especially Dallas (and TX in general) can be difficult to get where you want to go without your own wheels.
If you want to do a museum I always recommend doing the Kennedy thing @ Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. If you want to concentrate on the BBQ foodie angle, Pecan Lodge (mentioned above) is a pretty good start - but this is TEXAS, man, home of the best 'cue anywhere. Read this: 50 best bbq joints
@compunaut Yes I will have wheels available. Looking at the Sixth Floor Museum, that is certainly a place i want to check out. Thanks!
@Spirtir Since you'll have a car, be prepared for Texas drivers. They're obnoxious and entitled. ("Oh... This illegal turn is blocking three lanes of traffic? It's cool. They'll stop for me. I want to go here and I want to do it now, so that's the way it's gonna be.") Texas is more enjoyable if you live through the experience.
If you like books and bargain shopping, you should check out the gigantic half price books (flagship location). It's so big, I can spend hours in just the clearance sections. That place is beautiful. Beautiful.
@christinewas @Spirtir
We got to that point where even Texas is imitatating NY?!? Wow...
I know they say that imitation is the highest form of flattery, but still...
@christinewas I'll have to remember that. I get annoyed with bad drivers. That should make it a fun experience :)
@FroodyFrog naw compared to NYC or LA the drivers in Texas are chill but they often forget to signal especially the ones who are so chill they don't get over for their exit until the last second but they're easy to recognize in advance because they have fish emblems or pro/college sports logos on the back of their vehicles as warning signs
@BigBalzac
Or their vehicles are way overloaded.
Or way tricked out.
At times, beware the vegan-yoga-soccer-mom.
Totally +1
There are some good ideas here:
https://meh.com/forum/topics/im-travelling-to-dallas-next-month
Edit: And, no, I did not throw up on the french fries.
Tex-Mex for food!!! You just gotta - I am in Houston, and while we are awesome at it, Dallas manages to hold it's own. Check this list out...http://dallas.eater.com/maps/dallas-tex-mex-restaurant-best-enchiladas-fajitas
we go down there at least once a year to visit my brother. and lately, no visit is complete without eating at a Fuzzy's.
http://www.fuzzystacoshop.com/locations#q=dallas
haven't had anything bad there yet.
Don't eat the trail apples
@Spirtir, I second @galmaegi's recommendation for Pecan Lodge. Just don't plan on eating much else for the rest of the day. Oh and definitely get the mac and cheese there. It's my favorite mac and cheese.
I recommend Cane Rosso too for pizza, uh-mazing.
And Whiskey Cake. They have amazing brunch and, uh, everything else.
As far as stuff to do, there's Dealey Plaza, the giant eyeball, and lots of museums and art stuff. You can also do a tour of Cowboy's stadium that is pretty neat if that's your cup of tea. Fort Worth has a rodeo every Friday night and a honky tonk next door.
Sprinkles has a cupcake ATM which is pretty cool. You can take a tour or have dinner at Reunion Tower.
If you have time and are into the show Fixer Upper, you can go to Waco (like an hour drive) and visit Magnolia Market. Just make sure you stop for Kolaches on the way.
@hollboll
There's an eye in your post. o_O
@hollboll Very nice, thanks for all the links! I love mac and cheese!!!!!
@hollboll we went down to waco a couple years back, just for the Texas Ranger Museum. kind of interesting, but the only part that i really remember is the room full of "Walker Texas Ranger" Memorabilia...
wasn't a bad drive either.
quick side story that comes to mind every time someone mentions Waco,more interesting for anyone familiar with TX, and just how expensive Taxi cabs are.
back in 8th Grade, my Social Studies teacher told us of a trip to Dallas the previous summer. this was a year or so after the Branch Davidian Compound raid.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_siege
He told us he took a Taxi, From Dealey Plaza, to the site, and back.
considering a couple years later it cost my folks $70 to take a taxi from DFW airport to my brother's house in NRH... one can only imagine what that round trip to waco cost.
Oh! Are you familiar with the movie "Logan's Run"? Large portions of that movie were filmed in the metroplex, the most obvious, and accessible being the Fort Worth water gardens-https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Worth_Water_Gardens
Worth seeing even if you aren't familiar with the movie....
You will need a car. "Public transportation" in Texas means get a ride to a tote-the-note place and get a car.
Dallas:
Perot Museum (science, brand new museum)
Moody Museum at SMU (small but serious art.)
Dallas Museum of Art or whatever it's called, just n of downtown.
Nasher Sculpture Garden
The flagship "home" Half Price Books store on NW Highway just east of Central Expressway is worth hours or days, assuming that you dont mind leaving the place way poorer. Is bigger than a Walmart i think.
The George W Bush presidential library at SMU if u are into that (i havent been).
Use Yelp or google or whatever for tex-mex, steaks, bbq, hamburgers, hard to go wrong if you avoid chains.
If you go to Deep Ellum or "Uptown" (just north of downtown) or lower Greenville, parking is Not Possible. Take Uber or pay for valet.
There used to be some good repertory cinemas. Dunno if still there but check Dallas Observer.
V good blues to be found. Worth it. Again Dallas Observer (free paper)
The Grape (classy bistro type food on lower Greenville so parking is not possible.) (Uber)
Dallas Mavericks. I hear the quiet, shy soft-spoken owner sometimes attends, but he probably hides the during the whole game so hard to tell.
Elsewhere:
ATT Cowboy monstrosity. Ugliest stadium ever, but interesting.
Cowboy owner Jerry Jones. Also a monstrosity. Rare sightings in the wild.
Billionaires. I hear FW has more than Dallas, perhaps that's trash talk.
Order 66 Toys. Star Wars toy store. The world's only dedicated Star Wars store is in McKinney, Texas, just up Central Expressway.
Fort Worth has better art than Dallas, say many people. The Modern Art Museum, the Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, and the lovely Kimball Museum are all right next to each other. You might have to pay to park, unusual in FW.
FW Museum of Science and Industry used to he a great museum. Next door to the art museums. Now mostly for preschool kids, and also for paid promos for the oil/gas industries, but the often have great traveling exhibits, they have a great planetarium, and one of the finest IMAX theaters ever built (the Omni).
Sid Richardson Museum dtn FW. Small v good western art collection.
Angelos BBQ and Railhead BBQ in FW.
Joe T Garcia's Mexican Restaurant in FW is an experience to behold, and the food is what you need, and the 'rita's are way potent. Expect to stand in line on weekends, even tho the restaurant covers a large city block.
Any low-down bar w music near Exchange and N Main (Stockyards area) FW.
Check the FW Weekly (free paper) for music west of highway 360.
Dallas Arboretum (great gardens, even in winter)
FW Botanical Gardens (ditto, but not so much in winter)
Anything Kennedy-related.
Denton has the feel of a college town. The square downtown, and bookstores and music areas v worthy (serious music school in Denton). Also, remember, Denton is where Brad and Janet started their journey to learning the Time Warp dance (Rocky Horror) (unfortunately, no related momunents or tourist spots i know of.)
If you have 2 days of free time you can Remember The Alamo or do Austin. 3 hours to Austin, 4-5 to San Antonio.
Wonderful 24 hour coffee shop and restaurant in Dallas called Cafe Brazil. Mutiple locations, but the best one and only one open all night is the one on Central Expressway east side across the highway from SMU more or less. A bit north of Mockingbird on the service road.
Before you go, you might wanna check out Texas Monthly Magazine. Endless excellent journalism and lots of articles on best tacos, best tex-mex, best bbq, best brunch, best bluebonnets, best hand tooled leather, best sushi, etc
N Tx has a v large Vietnamese population, and therefore has many excellent Vietnamese and SE Asian places to eat. If you drive to the Hill Country area, check out the German restaurants.
If you are coming by car, and are into firearms, TX has "celebrate the 2nd amendment" sales.
Also a good place for tactical and hunting-bowhunting stuff, if you are into that, and live in a place w a different culture.
For tactical stuff, there is a store in Weatherford. I forget the name, but soldiers and LEOs shop there.
Fuzzy's Taco's.
Street and food-truck tacos. I think there is a DFW food truck webpage somewhere.
If you are a runner or cyclist, in Dallas, White Rock Lake and various Trinity River Trails. In FW, most of the Trinity River now has trails, so way more miles than you will cover. Mostly kinda flat.
@f00l cannot recommend fuzzys enough. I wish someone would open a franchise up here. Im in nw ohio, nearest is in west st louis.
@earlyre
I think - have been told - the original Fuzzy's (been going for decades) is the one less than 1/2 mile from my high school.
/grin/
Chewbacca lives here. Not telling you where, it's in the middle of W Bumfuck. Dont bother him, you know how wookies will rip your arm off if they get annoyed....
Texas driving and traffic: not the worst in the world. Rome is worse. Boston is worse. Warzones are worse. V congested cities like LA, SF, DC, NY, Chicago, Philly, etc far more difficult but they have public trans and more taxis.
As in all "fly-over" places, many of us drive enormous vehicles. Most of us go fast but are reasonably polite and sane. A few see their driving as part of a war-exercise or an own-the-road challenge. Most people only get annoyed if you block them, so if you are confused, just dont block people. The best rules are to leave plenty of space, stay right, never be in the fastest 25% of vehicles.
If you know nothing about an area that is not an entertainment area, ask first or dont go there real late, tho it's mostly pretty safe here.
Distance: if the traffic is flowing, 100-200 miles to run an errand is fine if the errand is fun. If the traffic is bad, 1/2 mile is too far. Walking...except on campuses and in bar zones, unknown. People won't understand.
Many thruways in DFW are blessed by Our Lady Of Perpetual Construction. Ask before you go, jic. If the construction means the traffic is always bad, skip it or find alt route.
Your car will likely want a tolltag. If rental, check with agency. If your own vehicle, check w NTTA.org.
@f00l even though im only in dfw one or two weeks a year, i have an ntta "starter" toll tag. Cost $20, reloads from your debit/credit card used @ sign up. Also interoperable with OK pikepass. ( pro tip, my folks go down more often than i, wont be bothered to get a toll tag, and drive their cars with OH plates on the tollways all the time. Never gotten a bill in the mail either...)
@earlyre
@Spirtir
I suppose the toll people don't bother to collect that far out if state. However, if they get pulled over in Texas, dunno if a cop can see unpaid toll fees or would make an issue.
If rental car, told v important to work tolltag and tolls out up front. If you dont, when the rental co gets the bill, they charge your card for fees plus "courtesy charges" or whatever. You also must be sure the tolltag is mounted.
Some parts of US including TX, observe courtesies re funeral processions. If you see a long line of cars going slowly, with lights on in daytime, w or without cop escort, that's a funeral. You pull over and wait until they have passed, no matter what side of street: with, or against your direction, or crossing your direction. For most processions this is a few minutes. For some, it's an hour or more. Whatever, you wait. If funeral is escorted, cops might get really peeved if you don't wait. If not, other drivers will get peeved. In small towns this is way beyond mandatory. Cops will blow past peeved into "defend civilization" mode if someone doesnt pull over and wait.
If on a freeway or limited access road, exempt, dont do this. If a funeral is going your way, just get out of their way, get ahead or behind. If they are going the other way, just drive normally, do nothing.
@f00l re: my parents & out of state tolls - i have told them " just wait until you get pulled over" even offered to get them tolltags on my account, nope. Not interested or worried.....but, What are you gonna do, they're 70, and stubborn...
@earlyre
Cops here often "show respect" to people that age. Esp rural and small town cops.
Your parents might be ok, unless they get an asshole cop who is going for a "daily bully quota".
@f00l they finally got a zipcash bill in yesterdays mail, dates from last april to this january . for a whopping $17.50.
@earlyre that one was for moms car, today one came for dad's car, for $19. Still not interested in toll tag...
If I had to make one recommendation I would say the Perot museum.
@katylava Cool. I will have to tell my cousins about that.
@katylava I went there today. Spent three hours in there and it just was. not. enough. That place is awesome! It is almost a day on its own.
@Spirtir I just read it was a $50M present to Margo and Ross Perot from their 5 kids. Sounds like a worthwhile one.
If you are a real book nut, wanna great day trip?
Booked Up in Archer City, Texas, is a very serious used, antique, and collector's bookstore owned and run by Larry McMurtry (author, Lonesome Dove and The Last Picture Show).
It takes up most of downtown Archer City. Archer City looks exactly like it did in the film. Nothingness and prairie, you can see why the film was black and white, and kids leave.
The bookstore has stuff in every price range from cheap up to you-can't-afford, and stuff for every reader/collector. McMurtry is as serious a bookseller as he is a writer.
2 hours and change to drive it. Leave early, you will stay all day.
Notes on rural driving:
Do not speed in or near towns, and be friendly and polite. The speed limits change quickly near towns.
Don't be an annoying driver, there's always a nutcase or 2.
If alone on road, stay within 10 miles or speed limit or less. Never be the fastest passenger vehicle. It's ok to be faster than tractors and pickups pulling 20 hay bales, but be respectful.
If you need to check directions, pull over. If you ask for help, people will mostly treat you like family.
Now's your Dairy Queen opportunity. Not saying it's great, but it's Texas. Some of them might have hitching posts and horses tied there, ridden by kids too young to drive.
"Scenery" is moonscape with added grass and cows and oil pumps. Not photogenic, but great for feeling the solitude and distances.
If you come back after dark, stop in the middle of no-where and look at the stars.
The state capitol building in Austin is larger than the one in Washington DC (yeah, Texas), pink granite, interesting, most of us think it's quite pretty. Used to be open 24 hours, i liked to go at 2am in decades past. Dunno if that's still true now that we live by paranoia.
Inside the state capitol, you used to be able to see the original copy of Colonel Travis's incendiary letter, written from the Alamo. I hope it's still there.
"We will never surrender or retreat!" underlined.
Mr grandmother's friend, at age late 90's, in the 1990's: "Those people didn't have the internet, they had guts." I suppose she was right.
County courthouses in Texas have great 1800's architecture, very pretty. People like to go county-to-county photographing them.
Classical music: the Windspear in Dallas and the Cliburn in FW often have concerts.
If you want boots, Justin Boots is in FW on Vickery s of dtn. They have a good outlet store. They also carry Nocona and many other brands.
There is a Dickey's outlet store a block away.
The are boot store everwhere, esp near malls, and constant boot sales.
Many rural folks now wear Wrangler jeans, prob because they are decent qual and Walmart sells them. Even in the middle of no-where you are near a Walmart.
You can buy firearms anywhere, if everywhere else is too far or closed, there's Walmart.
Other day trips:
Mineral Wells State Park is a pretty drive, a pretty park, and has good climbing.
Lots of state parks are little gems. Cheap. Watch for rattlesnakes. No sandals or tennis shoes if going thru deep brush.
There is a glorious state park inside Austin city limits, complete with lovely waterfall.
If you wanna get out of Texas, day drive, Turner Falls in OK is gorgeous and has fascinating geology. Imagine if rock layers were tossed in a dryer, you see that there.
The LBJ National Grasslands is not awesomely photogenic like someplace in Utah, but will give you the feel of the prairie, back when and a feel for solitude. Watch out for hunters in season tho.
There are various buffalo herds, including one at the Nature Preserve, a Fort Worth park.
FW does a daily cattle drive at the Stockyards.
For frontier life try the stockyards in FW, n of downtown. Go n from dtn on Main, forget the 5miles/hour freeway n of downtown, it's impassible.
Or try the Log Cabin Village park in FW near TCU (these cabins are originals.)
Or the Old City Park, just south of downtown Dallas on Gano Street. The original settlers' houses were moved there. Including the windy-in-winter house of General Richard Montgomery Gano, a Civil War general on the wrong side, and one of the early VIPs of Dallas, and one of my ancestors.
Carry water, hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, aspirin/ibuprofen always, any season, when doing a state park or similar. A few ace bandages are good jic.
Unlikely you will get personal w a snake. The only person i know who got bit was a professional river guide on the Rio Grande trying to protect a clueless client. If u do get bit, get away from snake, and if you have cell service, call 911 asap. Or go calmly and deliberately to top of nearest rise, and call. Keep pulse as low as possible. Do not try to hike or drive for help if you can call instead. Get someone to stay w you if possible.
Don't let pets run loose, cause of snakes. Also some wild critters may carry rabies, esp skunks. Btw dogs, also horses and cows, are far less vulnerable to rattlesnake venom than humans, but if a dog gets bit, go straight to the vet.
Dont let the rabies and snake stuff scare you, basically about no one gets bit, ever. But it is possible. Boots/long pants in brush and high grass are good, for this reason.
Beware fire ants. They are everywhere.
If you see bees in rural area (unlikely), move away. Some of them are African-type.
Various casinos are just across the borders in OK and LA. Can be fun.
some of the gets bolded in a huge typeface when i save it. No idea why. Obnoxious presentation is accidential, stupid over-emphasis intended. Dunno how to fix. Apologies.
@f00l
Stupid over-emphasis UNintended. Smartphone, sorry.
Also my spelling horrible on smartphone.
@f00l I figured it out. The underscores were being parsed for some reason. I added a line between them and it stopped it. I can go fix the rest.
@Thumperchick
Rescued!
@f00l Turner falls (presuming I am remembering the right place - I used to live in OK) is beyond spectacular to swim around there. Don't know if they still have it but there was a long ladder up one cliff and a great slide down. Plenty of rocks and stream and you can get behind the waterfall (while in the water swimming). Entertains kids (and adults) for ages. Wear shoes in the water though or you will stub toes.
@Kidsandliz
Yeah that's the place. A Texan would say it's the best reason to be near Oklahoma.
Ok, i'll stop with the stale Red River jokes and stereotypes, just so long as all you Sooners remember to get sheep-dipped before you cross coming south.
Driving past the Turner Falls area on I35 feels like being in a special effects ride. Hiking.... just take a camera. Way worth it.
@f00l Well at least we don't have working lawnmowers in the river beds mowing like I saw in TX. LOL And I was only a temporary transplanted Sooner. I used to say I'd sooner be gone. And then I was. I left to northern Idaho. And then to MS. Here I have reached the conclusion that the country would be better off if MS was part of the gulf of mexico. Permanently. Hoping to leave again, preferably with a full time job.
@f00l Thanks for the tip on http://www.bookedupac.com/ Not. Damn. I do not need more books.
@OldCatLady
At least it's a damned long drive from anyplace, by non-Texan distance standards. And the "scenery" is pure flat prairie. All that discourages the casual visitor.
But if you do get there, you took so much trouble arriving that you want your money's worth. Which means you get some books and the store gets your $. It's so damned far from anything that if you don't buy stuff, and take your time browsing, that means you did that son-of-a-bitch drive for nothing. So spend spend spend.
@f00l He's got a good online inventory. Much safer.
Thanks for all the recommendations! I spent my free day today at the 6th floor museum and the Perot science center. Both were awesome! The science center could have been a day on its own though. I don't think I'll get to anything except for eats during the week because the training is 9-5.
Is it wrong that I kind of enjoy just driving on the highway? There is some serious infrastructure here.
@Spirtir
Enjoy the driving, yeah.
If you're here all week, and are training near Richardson or Plano, Order 66 star wars store in McKinney closes at 6pm some days. I don't know how bad northbound traffic is on 75 but if you get out early you might be able to get there.
@Spirtir
Half Price Books flagship is open till 11pm every nite. Besides books they sell vintage mags cds vinyl.