What to do in Dallas?
 

I have a weekend layover in Dallas in a couple of weeks. Can anybody suggest anything good to do/stay in DFW or surrounding areas? Something activity based rather than just trapsing the bars and malls for 2 days would be good.

Thanks

You'd probably be better off posting this in the Travel & Dining section of the website.

The USA portion is at:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=437


BAH

(Welcome to FlyerTalk, while I remember !)

Thanks and apologies. new to forum :confused:

southfork need i say more

Moving this over to the US South board where the mods will be able to merge it with the cross post :)

Fort Worth Stockyards

Kennedy Assasination Stuff... the nutters who stand around the "grassy knoll" and give their "theories" are always good for a laugh.

Ummmmmmmmmmm that's about it. It's coming into festival time here in Texas, so there might be something else to do depending on the weekend.

Otherwise - my condolences on having to spend a weekend in Dallas. I've only ever done it when there was a wedding or other party involved, I can't imagine what one would do there as a tourist...

Activity based? Does that include art and such? Also, will you have a car?

In Fort Worth, for art museums, you have the Modern, the Kimbell (although it will be between exhibits then, but you can see the permanent for free), and the Amon Carter. In Dallas, you have the Dallas Museum of Art, Nasher Sculpture Center, and the Crow Collection of Asian Art. In Dallas, the 3 all share the same street corner at one point. In Fort Worth, the 3 are all basically in a line.

In Dallas, there are also all the museums at Fair Park. In Fort Worth, the Zoo.

You might also want to check out guidelive.com.

BillJ

There are a lot of things to do in Dallas and Fort Worth, it's going to depend on what kind of interests you have and what activities you like.

A few suggestions:

Texas State Fair - http://www.bigtex.com/ opens up September 28th
Stars hockey - http://stars.nhl.com/ various dates
List of Texas festivals - http://www.tourtexas.com/
Nasher Sculpture - http://www.nashersculpturecenter.org
Dallas Arboretum http://www.dallasarboretum.org/
Pocket Sandwich Theater, great farce comedy and kooky popcorn tossing spoofs - www.pocketsandwich.com

Thanks MissJoey, thats a help. I was worried after ElkeNorEast's thread!

What about National Parks, Lakes, Mtn biking, hiking? Sorry to harp on but I am more of an outdoor type than cities/museums/arts.

It's not a great outdoors city. It's flat, the lakes are manmade and muddy, and the ocean is 5 hours away. Road biking is popular, though. White Rock Lake is a nice urban park, a walk/run/ride around the lake is 10 miles.

Now Rizzo if you had covered that you are an outdoor person I could have tailored my response to that the first time around!

Mountain biking - I am going to assume since you are traveling and you won't have a bike with you? If that's the case, Bike Mart can rent you a mountain bike. I would call to reserve one though. Their website which includes their locations and prices is www.bikemart.com. Where to go moutain biking? You didn't indicate your level so it's hard to recommend one specific trail. Here the website for Dorba, www.dorba.org, Dallas Off Road Bicycle Association. They have trail conditions, maps, difficulty levels and more importantly if the trail is closed. We have a lot of mountain biking trails closed in the DFW area because of the rains. Lake Grapevine has a popular off road trail but it's flooded. Bike Mart can help direct you to a good trail based on existing conditions.

Parks - Here is the website for local Texas state parks, http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/. Lake Mineral Well is a state park, has riding trails and scenic in a Texas sort of way. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/f...mineral_wells/
There aren't any national parks that I am aware of within 100+ miles of DFW, http://www.nps.gov/findapark/index.htm# so you may have a drive for that.

Hiking - DFW Outdoors will have hiking trips that are open to the public. http://www.texasoutside.com/hikebike/. I don't hike much in Texas, I can't recommend where to go hiking here, I go to Colorado. I just got back from a hiking trip in the Rocky Mountain and Roosevelt Mountains in Colorado. I prefer hiking in Colorado to hiking in Texas, no rattlesnakes, no fire ants, no plants that shred my delicate skin, no mosquitos, no chiggers and usually a perfect 68 degrees when it's 105 degrees back home in Texas during the summer.

Thanks to everyone who has provided information on this thread. I will have a 7 + hour stopover at DFW in mid-November and hope to make a brief visit to downtown Dallas.

Dealey Plaza and the Kennedy Museum are definitely on my tour.

Are there any " don't miss it " restaurants nearby. I am not looking for anything fancy, just a good lunch at a place where the locals go to eat. Preferably something with a "Texan" flavour ( you know, like cheesesteaks in Philly, or ribs in Memphis ).

Is there really a Southfork ? And can you visit it ?

Thanks in advance for your help.

The two most authentic with locals that I have found are:

nuevo leon. in farmers branch
try the goat stew.
this is a Mexican double store front, serving Mexican, not Tex-Mexici
Dallas has a very large local Mexican population

and
Indya Fusion at 7300 N MacArthur in los colanis.
try the goat stew.
there is a large SE asian population in dallas.

If for some reason you end up in Plano, try
Zanders House.
Viet Namaese.

all are very inexpensive(by washington dc standards)
the first two are close to the airport.

Since you'll be downtown, my pick for nearby authentic Texas cooking would be the Dixie House in Lakewood. Get the chicken fried steak.

And yes, there is a Southfork. At one time, it was right up there with the Alamo as the most popular tourist attraction in Texas. Nowadays, it mostly hosts corporate events. It's in Parker, east of Plano. Figure an hour drive from downtown Dallas, or 90 minutes from DFW (non-rush-hour).
www.southforkranch.com