Dallas-Fort Worth

No idea about those hotels specifically, but try spothero.com for parking.

I dont know where you are road tripping to/from, but the Waco Mammoth national Monument was interesting, and if you are going eastwards at all, I highly recommend a sunrise boat trip on Lake Caddo and lunch at Kitts Cornbread Sandwich and Pie bar in Jefferson.

Sorry I can’t help you in Dallas itself as it was just an overnight to see friends in a campsite and we stayed in a best western ( Did Austin-Houston-Jefferson-Dallas-Wimberley) 2 years ago so happy to help if you are going that way at all)

Depending on when you’re going it’s worth checking out sports, the area has franchises of all 4 majors sports. Shouldn’t miss the spot where Kennedy was shot, and the Sixth Floor museum in the former book depository. There used to be an interesting conspiracy museum, but it lost its lease and I don’t think it ever reopened in new premises. The guy that ran it could have slotted right into any X-Files episode.
Dallas is very much a modern US city, whereas Fort Worth is more cowboy retro. Fort Worth Stockyards definitely worth a visit, lots of bars and Billy Bob’s a huge Honky Tonk (Dance Hall). The area is excellent for steak and BBQ if you’re a meat eater.

We stayed with family friends near San Antonio years ago. They took us to their village fete where the raffle prize was a shotgun 😯. Also across the border into Piedras Negras, which was another experience!

I would love to go back and visit Dallas and Austin.

I’ll do my best… we dont drink or do clubs etc so I’ll let someone else to do that – we like to be home and chilling by about 9!

Austin – Didnt stay in Austin that time, so not much advice for there but definitely do the Congress Bridge bats – grab a quick dinner at Torchys Tacos and then go sit on the hill at the south end of the bridge.

Wimberley – we stayed there at the start and end of the trips as it was a short drive to AUS. We did an airbnb both times as we wanted a hot tub to relax in. This was lovely but in hindsight not needed as even at the end of September it was actually too hot to use unless you got up really early or went in at night. I can give you details if you want – not cheap but so peaceful! Wimberley is bit wierd – just a lot of antique shops and older americans. The Zip lining was fun, and Canyon lake also lovely for a swim. Husband hired a boat and zoomed around on the lake for a bit.

Do a day trip to San Antonio from Wimberley – easy drive and the Alamo is interesting. Boudro’s on the Riverwalk was a great place for food (they make the guacamole at table side – I ate a portion for 2!) and parking at Houston Street garage is a decent price and walkable everywhere.

Houston again was to see a friend (a cheap best western again but these made the child in me happy with texas shaped waffles at breakfast 🙂 ) and a stop off in NASA – interesting to do once and wish I’d watched the film Hidden Figures before I went. If you do NASA then go first thing, buy tickets in advance and set yourself up on its app. AS SOON as you get in the building book onto the tours you want to do – the queues get huge. Keep refreshing until you see availability. Oh and the Toll roads in Houston are confusing, even for experienced USA drivers. Or at least for me they were! Mostly there are parallel roads which don’t have tolls but a few more traffic lights.

Finally if you are interested in that kind of thing, and going at the right time, then do consider Bracken Cave. The largest Bat Colony in the world (15 million Mexican free tail bats) and seeing them come out at dusk is supposed to be amazing. We were just too late in the year and they came out after dusk but still amazing as they spiralled out around us. This was bucket list thing for me so even just seeing the cave after watching it on tv/online was exciting. This is a major buy in advance thing – and usually sells out – access is very very limited.

We are back in August this year specifically to try to see the bats and attempt not to melt in the heat (airbnb with pool this time!!) .

Have a great time.

I am pretty sure there is a Chuy’s in Dallas as well (Knox St. if I recall correctly?). On the topic of George W., his presidential library is actually at SMU in Dallas. It’s worth a stop, and a wonder across the university.

My personal advice is not to stay in the downtown area of Dallas. Unless things have changed, it’s a rather depressing place when it gets dark. Suggest you try one of the hotels in the Uptown (the only “walkable” area of Dallas outside of downtown) or Victory area. You can always pop over to downtown with an Uber/DART (the Dallas Museum of Art, Nasher collection all worth it. And of course the 6th floor museum recounting the assassination of JFK).
I’d pop over to Fort Worth for the day, if you are into art the Kimberly, and Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art are small but have great collections. Of course worth spending an hour or so at the Stockyards and have a quick walk through downtown FW.

You will be using your car for everything, distances are large.

dougzz99 wrote:

NorthernLass wrote:

Depending on how old you are, apparently you can visit the original Ewing ranch!!

https://southforkranch.com/

For those that remember the show the real house is tiny. The pool is only about 5 yards long, and apparently they’d tie an ankle of the person swimming to one end to create the idea they were swimming in a 50m pool. The owner didn’t really want them there, but the show offered them silly money. It was only used for external shots, and the pool area. As they went inside the interior was all a film set, the house interior wasn’t used.

I came here to recommend this – it’s quite amusing and takes you into the insane Dallas suburbs on the way. It also made me rewatch some episodes – such glamour 🤣 The guides there are *committed*!