Dallas Travel Forum

So the man person and his brother are taking a vacation in November. I want to take a local vacation and explore the Dallas / Fort Worth area. Local being that I live in Arlington and don't need a hotel. I haven't really seen much of what the DFW metroplex has to offer in the 8 years I've lived here. I'm looking for mostly daytime things as I don't really like driving in unfamiliar places alone late at night. Ideally I'd like things I can "do" and not just things I can see. Six Flags is closed that time of year. Stockyards is a possibility. Might like Botanical Gardens. Considering the Mystery Dinner Theater. Since I live in the area looking for shopping isn't high on my list but I'm open to suggestions. And I'm not much into concerts, opera's or other type shows. I'm also not looking for something that might be overloaded with children like zoo's. Nothing against children but a day at the zoo surrounded by other people's children isn't my idea of fun no matter how great the zoo might be. I've been by the grassy knoll but don't have much interest in seeing more of the JFK tragedy. I'm also not overly religious nor am I big into sports.

I've always been afraid of horses. So I might like to take the opportunity to try and overcome that if there is something available in the area.
I ride a Harley. So a scenic route of the area could be interesting.
I love to cook. I think Central Market has one day cooking classes and that's another type of possibility.
Since it's a vacation I'd also be interested in trying new cuisine and exploring restaurants I maybe haven't heard of or considered before.
I usually love going to festivals. I don't know of any that late in the year though. I've been to Grapefest in Grapevine and the Arts Festival this past summer in Fort Worth I think.
Most of all I want to try to keep things affordable. So no $100 dinners or expensive sports tickets.

Have you seen the cattle drive sculpture near the Convention Center. There's also a historic graveyard there at Pioneer Plaza.

How about the Old City Park? If they are going at Thanksgiving, I doubt there will be large masses of school children there.

Dallas has a lot of interesting architecture such as the Victorian houses in the Bellhartz and Wilson blocks. A long time ago I went on a city tour which showed us the various buildings such as Fountain Place and City Hall - here's a map

http://www.dallasarchitecture.info/map.htm

It is interesting to eat a meal in Reunion Tower and watch the scenery go by.

In Irving there are the Mustangs of Los Colinas which has a small museum associated with it, plus there is the people mover which is interesting to ride.

Frisco has a sculpture garden (free) and the original place where the TV show "Dallas" was filmed. And of course there is the other Southfork Ranch.

Had you thought about going to Denton? Very nice town square, a little museum and some nice places to have lunch.

McKinney also has a nice town square feel to it as well. Since you are local, I would also recommend looking at coming to the 1st Annual Big Texas Meet in Fort Worth on September 27th. More details are in the Meetings and Events section of VT or I created the tiny url to get to it... http://tinyurl.com/5lkutf

Thanks grandmaR! Those kinds of things are great
to know. I think the historic graveyard sounds
intriguing. Plus I know I've heard of Reunion
Tower but forgot about it.

Debbbedb, sounds like Denton might make a nice
day trip.

ATXtraveler, thanks for the invite. My memory
sucks but I'll try to keep it in mind.

FYI - The restaurant at the top of Reunion Tower has been closed for several months for renovations. It is expected to reopen later this year.

http://dallasregency.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/entertainment/restaurants/index.jsp