Something fun to do in DFW area

[Scarlett]

It is  halfway between my sister and me. We really really need a get away weekend . A winery? A farmers market! A small cooL fun town? 
She is in Houston area. I am in Tulsa area. 
 

[City Mouse]

Well, I’ve been wanting to go to Meow Wolf in Grapevine. https://meowwolf.com/visit/grapevine

This is a bit outside of the area, but it was a fun stop. https://thepinkpistol.com/

There is a great Cajun restaurant in Marshall that I love, but that might be too far out of the way.

Edited May 24 by City Mouse

[KidsHappen]

Fort Worth has a great zoo. Dallas also has a zoo with a great gorilla exhibit but I remember liking the FW zoo better. FW also has the Kimball art museum. You can check and see what they have on exhibit when you want to go. Dallas has a nice botanical gardens that I can't remember the name of right now. There is a good science museum and planetarium. There is a Gaylord hotel and mall complex in Grapevine IIRC. There is a Six Flags and water park in Arlington. Of course you can go visit the School Book Depository and the grassy knoll if you want to get a better visual of the geography of the Kennedy shooting. Depending on when you go the State Fair may be happening. That's all I can remember right now but should be plenty of options to get you started.

[gardenmom5]

What do you like to do?   
both Fort Worth and Dallas have top notch arboretums.  I *love* (swoon) the koi pond at the FW arboretum.  it's a huge pond. 

some very good art museums - Ammon Carter museum is one I still haven't been too . . . . (super picky 1dd really liked it.)   The water gardens is fun - downtown FW - and absolutely quiet.

The stockyards.  Do the behind the scenes tour

Dd and her friend drove down to .   (ah, I didn't finish).  - Magnolia whatever from the home flipper.  They did lunch there and had fun.  South of Dallas.

Edited May 24 by gardenmom5

[mmasc]

This is a cute, little town if you don’t want the hustle and bustle of FW or Dallas. 

Otherwise, I’d 100% recommend Fort Worth over Dallas. Their downtown (Sundance Square) is nice, pretty, clean. FW Botanic Gardens are amazing. Kimball Art Museum is nice. The Stockyards are a fun place to get your hotel bc you can just walk around the area and see things and there are plenty of restaurants within walking distance. 
 

ETA: Of course, there’s Waco, too. It has all the Magnolia/Joann Gaines stuff. I’ve never been, though. I have a friend who says it’s a cute town for a girls trip, but again, I’ve never been there. 

Edited May 24 by mmasc

[LinRTX]

I was going to suggest Granburry. It is a fun place to walk around. Also Fort Worth has some fun smaller museums that aren't mentioned much. I think they are still open. The Civil War Museum is on the west side of town and the Leonard museum is close to the arts district.

[GoVanGogh]

Grapevine has a nice downtown area. Their botanical garden is small, but free and always lovely. They have several wine related businesses on Main. The local vineyard is currently for sale, if you want to inspect and go halfsies with me. 
Coppell has a fabulous farmer’s market - one of the few in this area that requires all items to be grown locally. (That said, if one is familiar with the Des Moines farmer’s market, this one is much smaller and not as extensive.) 

I would also chose FW over Dallas, mainly because many of its offerings are clustered together along university drive. 
 

Fw: The Amon Carter museum focuses on American artists and has some of the best signage. It used to be free, not sure if it still is. They also have the Kimbell art museum and a modern art museum. The botanical garden is great, as is the zoo. (The botanical garden has a sculpture exhibit right now that sounds nice.) Botanical research institute of Texas is fantastic. Montgomery street antique market is fun. 
 

Dallas: Their art museum is lovely. 
 

if you want a smaller town, Muenster is nice. Not much to do in that area, but they do have a small Main Street. The grocery store is worth a visit, as it is filled with German foods. Once upon a time, I loved their cheese selections. Gainesville might also be worth looking up. They have a lavender farm. The growing field may not be spectacular, depending on weather and time of year, but their cafe is really nice and I love their gift shop. 

Edited May 24 by GoVanGogh

[Bambam]

The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden is amazing - but I've only been in the spring and fall when it has been cool.  
The Dallas Zoo is great too -but I have heard the FW Zoo is better. 
My dd went to Meow Wolf in Dallas (her third, I believe) and she loved it. She wants to visit them all. 
The Perot Museum is very nice too. 
If shopping is your thing, there are some nice malls (or at least there were pre-COVID!), and some very high end shopping if you just want to check it out. 
If thrift shopping is your thing, they have a good variety, some well-organized reasonably priced stores (Genesis Benefit Thrift is my favorite), but they also have some very high end thrift stores (aka I'm sure they are great prices, but I'm still not willing to pay that for any article of clothing!
They have a wide variety of ethnic restaurants so you should be able to try whatever you want. 

If you will be driving around DFW much, I might consider checking out the Toll tags. DFW uses the North Texas Toll Tag (? is that right?) while Houston uses EZTag. Both work either place though. Having the toll tag = half price tolls - and they are free, so it makes sense. If you already have a toll tag from someplace else, maybe it will work? 

[Starr]

Don’t forget the Giant Eyeball !

[gardenmom5]

3 hours ago, mmasc said:

This is a cute, little town if you don’t want the hustle and bustle of FW or Dallas. 

Otherwise, I’d 100% recommend Fort Worth over Dallas. Their downtown (Sundance Square) is nice, pretty, clean. FW Botanic Gardens are amazing. Kimball Art Museum is nice. The Stockyards are a fun place to get your hotel bc you can just walk around the area and see things and there are plenty of restaurants within walking distance. 
 

ETA: Of course, there’s Waco, too. It has all the Magnolia/Joann Gaines stuff. I’ve never been, though. I have a friend who says it’s a cute town for a girls trip, but again, I’ve never been there. 

 

1 hour ago, Bambam said:

  I have heard the FW Zoo is better. 

The Perot Museum is very nice too.  

If you will be driving around DFW much, I might consider checking out the Toll tags. DFW uses the North Texas Toll Tag (? is that right?) while Houston uses EZTag. Both work either place though. Having the toll tag = half price tolls - and they are free, so it makes sense. If you already have a toll tag from someplace else, maybe it will work? 

It's been 25 years since I was at the Dallas Zoo, but FW zoo is very nice.   Been a number of times with two little boys . . . 

The Perot Science Museum is supposed to be very good - I've only been on the children's level, and I was impressed.  and 1dgs, who normally flits from thing to thing,

Check out the toll tags - (when we drove to Houston, we didn't use the toll road because we didn't know her DFW tag would work - in Houston there were signs everywhere saying if you didn't have ____ tag, it wouldn't work.  so I had to look them up.)

tags that will work in DFW:  

• TxTag
• EZ TAG
• TollTag
• K-TAG
• PIKEPASS

For Houston:
it's TX tag, and EZ Tag

and reciprical agreement: Oklahoma and Dallas.

[GoVanGogh]

I have no idea how I forgot the Dallas arboretum. It is incredible! 

The flagship Half Price Books is at I-75 and Northwest Highway. It is huge and needs an hour at a minimum. 
 

McKinney is a lovely town, great downtown square. I enjoy driving around to look at all the old homes. The steakhouse on the square is nice, with vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options. (The cauliflower steak is fab.) 

[gardenmom5]

32 minutes ago, GoVanGogh said:

I have no idea how I forgot the Dallas arboretum. It is incredible! 

The flagship Half Price Books is at I-75 and Northwest Highway. It is huge and needs an hour at a minimum. 
 

McKinney is a lovely town, great downtown square. I enjoy driving around to look at all the old homes. The steakhouse on the square is nice, with vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options. (The cauliflower steak is fab.) 

So tell me what is so great about the flagship half-price books?

I looked up the address - it's a US "route" highway.  just wanted to clarify that confusion.  (not an interstate).

[Scarlett]

4 hours ago, mmasc said:

This is a cute, little town if you don’t want the hustle and bustle of FW or Dallas. 

Otherwise, I’d 100% recommend Fort Worth over Dallas. Their downtown (Sundance Square) is nice, pretty, clean. FW Botanic Gardens are amazing. Kimball Art Museum is nice. The Stockyards are a fun place to get your hotel bc you can just walk around the area and see things and there are plenty of restaurants within walking distance. 
 

ETA: Of course, there’s Waco, too. It has all the Magnolia/Joann Gaines stuff. I’ve never been, though. I have a friend who says it’s a cute town for a girls trip, but again, I’ve never been there. 

Oh thank you for both these ideas. My sister would love to do wine tasting too 

Edited May 24 by Scarlett

[Bambam]

7 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

So tell me what is so great about the flagship half-price books?

I looked up the address - it's a US "route" highway.  just wanted to clarify that confusion.  (not an interstate).

It is the biggest used book store I've ever seen. So many books. And it has a decent sized and well organized clearance section.  You could easily spend an entire day there. IMHO, each Half-Price bookstore has a different flavor based on its location (some were better for finding used homeschool books, some were better for finding good quality children's literature, etc - totally random but seemed consistently that way). You can find current releases as well as OOP favorites. We try to stop by this one whenever we are in DFW! I think there is a cafe/coffee shop in the corner too. 

[Scarlett]

Thanks for the ideas. I love love the look of that town  Grandbury. It is roughly half way between us. 
There are at least 3 wineries there I believe in downtown so walkable. Plus other really cute shops and restaurants. 

[Scarlett]

3 hours ago, GoVanGogh said:

Grapevine has a nice downtown area. Their botanical garden is small, but free and always lovely. They have several wine related businesses on Main. The local vineyard is currently for sale, if you want to inspect and go halfsies with me. 

Ha if only. That is my Hallmark movie inspired dream 

[QueenCat]

If you're looking for a hotel, we love the Hotel Vin in Grapevine. https://www.hotelvin.com/ It's part of the Marriott system.

The whole area around has a fun vibe. When you check into the hotel, they give you a glass of wine to enjoy while you head to your room.

There is a food hall attached to the hotel. 

[GoVanGogh]

3 hours ago, gardenmom5 said:

So tell me what is so great about the flagship half-price books?

I looked up the address - it's a US "route" highway.  just wanted to clarify that confusion.  (not an interstate).

 

2 hours ago, Bambam said:

It is the biggest used book store I've ever seen. So many books. And it has a decent sized and well organized clearance section.  You could easily spend an entire day there. IMHO, each Half-Price bookstore has a different flavor based on its location (some were better for finding used homeschool books, some were better for finding good quality children's literature, etc - totally random but seemed consistently that way). You can find current releases as well as OOP favorites. We try to stop by this one whenever we are in DFW! I think there is a cafe/coffee shop in the corner too. 

Yes! This. I said an hr min to shop. But I could spend a day. It is huge. The selection is amazing. It can be overwhelming, so I generally pick one or two areas to focus on browsing. (But I am semi local, so have luxury of going several times a year.)If you go, be sure to check out the separate little room at the front with additional vintage books. I had gone to this store for years before I ventured in there. 
i don’t think the little cafe reopened after Covid lockdown. There is an REI (outdoor outfitter) and a Starbucks nearby. 

1 hour ago, Scarlett said:

Ha if only. That is my Hallmark movie inspired dream 

I want to buy it to operate as an organic farm, with farm to table meals, daily farmer’s market, you pick fruits. 

[GoVanGogh]

15 minutes ago, QueenCat said:

If you're looking for a hotel, we love the Hotel Vin in Grapevine. https://www.hotelvin.com/ It's part of the Marriott system.

The whole area around has a fun vibe. When you check into the hotel, they give you a glass of wine to enjoy while you head to your room.

There is a food hall attached to the hotel. 

That is so good to hear. We have not stayed there but it is a fun area. I have been to the food court and - while it was loud when we were there with a group and not good for socializing - the food was really good. 

[Scarlett]

On 5/24/2024 at 6:47 AM, LinRTX said:

I was going to suggest Granburry. It is a fun place to walk around. Also Fort Worth has some fun smaller museums that aren't mentioned much. I think they are still open. The Civil War Museum is on the west side of town and the Leonard museum is close to the arts district.

Thanks  again for this suggestion. We have booked a stay there in June.  We are super excited.  

[Scarlett]

On 5/24/2024 at 6:20 AM, mmasc said:

This is a cute, little town if you don’t want the hustle and bustle of FW or Dallas. 

Otherwise, I’d 100% recommend Fort Worth over Dallas. Their downtown (Sundance Square) is nice, pretty, clean. FW Botanic Gardens are amazing. Kimball Art Museum is nice. The Stockyards are a fun place to get your hotel bc you can just walk around the area and see things and there are plenty of restaurants within walking distance. 
 

ETA: Of course, there’s Waco, too. It has all the Magnolia/Joann Gaines stuff. I’ve never been, though. I have a friend who says it’s a cute town for a girls trip, but again, I’ve never been there. 

 

On 5/24/2024 at 6:47 AM, LinRTX said:

I was going to suggest Granburry. It is a fun place to walk around. Also Fort Worth has some fun smaller museums that aren't mentioned much. I think they are still open. The Civil War Museum is on the west side of town and the Leonard museum is close to the arts district.

Thanks again you two for the Granbury suggestion.  It was almost exactly half way between us and we had a lot of fun.  We were in a small house about 5 minute walk from the square.  The way that square is set up is so cool. Beautiful old courthouse in the middle, plenty of parking and shops all the way around it.  

[mmasc]

Yay!! I’m so glad you had a great time! I love that little town square too. Such a nice set-up for walking. 

[LinRTX]

So glad you enjoyed it. I think it is a fun square. We go all the time, but it is a very short drive for us.