Dallas on foot

Uh. . .yeah. That's a pretty tall order. How long do you plan on being around? What do you like doing.

The Fair Park area might be a good bet. I love walking around Fair Park there's lots of great Art Deco buildings to check out there. (Go to the Hall of State for amazing murals). Across the street there's an interesting dive called the Bar of Soap and various bars/galleries/shops in the area. Pretty walkable. Fair Park (like most of East Dallas) can be a dangerous area though so be alert and don't be there after dark by yourself.

There's also lower greenville where there are a ton of bars and some shops.

More touristy: West End and also the Galleria.

I think that's about it for walkable Dallas.

Yeah, I thought this might be an unreasonable thing to ask... thanks for the tips.

I'll only be there for a few days, and I'll be meeting his parents, so that'll keep me busy :-0 So one or two lone forays into town will probably be about all I'll need to do. Rest of the time I can get him to drive me.

I like mooching round bars/galleries/shops, so I'll definitely check out lower Greenville and Fair Park, maybe not so much the Galleria (just Googled it). I was thinking of checking out Dallas Museum of Art as well.

I should really, really get back into driving. I hate driving so much.

The Umlauf Sculpture Garden downtown is nice too. But places of interest in downtown aren't generally close to each other.

I live and work in Arlington and their is nothing to recommend it at all. Stay in Dallas as much as possible (you can avoid Ft. Worth as well).

Is it true that there's no public transport at all in the Dalls/Ft Worth area?

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/6711/dealeyplazarx9.jpg

Yeah, you see, they seem to be standing in the middle of the road.
What's that building PP?

Dallas has an extensive bus and light rail system. 2.50 gets you a day pass for both.

I'd recommend Uptown, mainly because it's fairly compact and eminently walkable. Plus it's right by Downtown if you'd want to venture there (my first instinct is Don't, but then there's the DMA and the great Nasher Sculpture Garden and a couple of other cool things).

Uptown is the neighborhood just north of Downtown that centers around Mckinney Ave. from Downtown up to Lemmon Ave. Around McK and Lemmon is West Village, Dallas' premier yuppie watching showcase. (Dallas yuppies kind of fascinate me, they have this weird identity crisis going on, never sure what style they want to emulate. Feast on the train wreck!)

Lots of good food in West Village and on Mckinney, and plenty of good galleries and even knickknack/vintage/thrift shopping in the neighborhood west of McKinney (esp Fairmount, Routh, Boll streets).

More bohemian is the Fair Park neighborhood Sam mentions... but it's kind of slim pickins and that area is a bit isolated and yeah you don't want to venture too far in the wrong direction in this part of Dallas.

If you just want a place to hang for a couple of hours, Half Price Books at Shady Brook and Northwest Highway, right off I-75. More later if I can think of anything.

PP's picture is of where JFK got shot. Good conspiracy museum there. Downtown (west side at Elm and Houston).

Fab, thanks so much for all of this. So, the plan will be: take a look at Downtown in broad daylight with people all around, head uptown as it gets later. My boyfriend told me there was no public transport!! Maybe he was talking about Arlington.

Now I feel pretty silly about not recognising the (ex?) Book Depository. So much for GCSE History.

Fort Worth has two semi-walkable areas - Sundance Square in downtown (walkable but uninteresting, unless you like high-price/iffy-quality restaurants and shopping) and the 'Arts'/'Museum' district - north of 30 around University. Two world-class art museums (the Kimbell and the Modern), one really-good art museum (the Amon Carter - 'western art' downstairs, but a very good print and photography collection upstairs), the old Natural Science and History museum that's about to go away (might be gone by Thanksgiving) with an Omni Theater, the Texas Cowgirl Museum (lame right now, unless you're into Dale Evans). Also shopping and tattoos and stuff on Camp Bowie/7th nearby.

Both Dallas and Ft. Worth have mass transit of a sort. Fort Worth's is pretty useless, DART is better for commuters than sightseers.

In Dallas if you want to hear indie rock, Good Records has a steady stream of in-stores. I never shop there because it's not my thing, but if you're a reader of Magnet it's the place to be. It's owned by the douchebag from that fake-choir band (and Tripping Daisy, who were kind of good).

A few years ago I would have recommended walking through Deep Ellum (tattoo shops, some decent independent stores), but it's gone to hell.

Dallas and Ft. Worth both have public transportation, Arlington does not. Our mayor figures lack of public transportation is like an invisible reinforced gate keeping poor people out of our fair, republican overgrown suburb.

Would someone more attuned to Dallas politics etc. explain what happened to Deep Ellum?

Thanks milo z and dustinr. Wow, so it's gonna be 'meet the parents' with no escape route! They are a bit nervous about their son dating an atheist. Though I take it you have taxicabs. So if I drop something on my toe and say 'JESUS CHRIST ALMIGHTY!' and they throw me out, I'll make it to the airport.

Wikipedia says: 'Today, Deep Ellum is struggling, largely because of high rents and heavy restrictions on new businesses. Also, the perception of a high crime rate has made many people reluctant to visit the area. Things have turned around somewhat, as evidenced by an increase in chain stores and restaurants. In mid-2006, local papers began to report the near-demise of the neighborhood, as a large percentage of the long-time live music venues had closed that year, leaving mostly clubs oriented more towards dancing and drinking, and radically altering the "feel" of the area'

check guidelive.com for events and stuff. too bad you'll miss the State Fair! No fried twinkie for you!

State Fair is indeed awesome. I really hope I can go this year. :(

Milo, OTM about Ft Worth. In fact I think it's more culturally tourist friendly and safe than Dallas. But yeah the transit isn't as good there. (Keep in mind that no mass transit in Texas is anything approaching good.)

In general DFW is not a good vacation spot for the carless. It's large, spread out and too hard to get around from good spot to good spot.

Where are you coming from?

I live in Bristol in the UK. I'll be a few days in Abilene where my boyfriend lives before heading over to Arlington.

Heh, read Ms Misery's post as 'not a good vacation spot for the careless'.

Ah, you posted before about living in Abilene,right?

Pls don't judge our state by the dismal cities you will be visiting.

Yeah, I did post about it before. Now that I've found out more about Abilene I've refocused on the part of the trip that will be spent in Dallas!

So when I get the chance, what should I prioritise to see in Texas? xpost - Which part of Texas are you in Ms Misery?

Austin. Probably the best. And west Texas (big bend, etc) that's lovely.

I am from Fort Worth and have lived in Dallas and Houston in addition to Austin so I'm not being biased. :)

I'd love to make the trip West from Abilene and across into New Mexico. Maybe next spring.

I like West Texas, but the I-10 run from Abilene to El Paso (and into NM) is a bummer.

If you come back in summer, head for New Braunfels (midway between Austin and San Antonio): SCHLITTERBAHN!!!

Why is the I-10 a bummer milo z?
'Deep water or moderate-to-high speeds may be encountered'! 'Physical activity may be strenuous'! 'Das Lagoon'!! YES!

It's flat. And dry. And unspeakably dull. You really have to branch off and head down to Marfa/Ft. Davis/Big Bend to enjoy West Texas.

go to an Odessa Permian game!

On that trip West - yep. Sadly not this time though. Actually, what sports are in season around Thanksgiving? Baseball's over by then, isn't it?

Football and Basketball.

and hockey

A friend of mine just visited Houston and complained about it because there were "no cowboys or red dust or cattle" and it was a big lifeless city and too hot. Uhh. o_0

It'd be cool to see a basketball or hockey game. I think I'm reconciled to the lack of the three items Trayce's friend was expecting.

? Which three?

Houston - big lifeless city indeed.

red dust, cows and cowboys, you must go west m'dear. Not all of TX is a desert. Come to the hill country (central texas, Austin) to see lovely lands and lots of natural springs and swimming holes.

Try to see the Mavericks in Dallas (b-ball)

I forgot - get your boyfriend to take you to the Stockyards in Fort Worth. Half historical/half touristy, but lots of western shops and some cattle I think and they've got 'cowboys' riding around on horseback. Don't know if they still have an old-timey train that takes you from there to Grapevine and back. Avoid going on a weekend night, though, the place is a hellhole of middle-aged accountant/'bikers' and rednecks at the cheap drinking places.

Is good eatin' a priority for you?

Yeah, good eatin' definitely a priority w-e-s. I suspect we'll be fed hourly by his parents but maybe we'll escape to get our own food at some point.

Thanks for the Stockyards milo z - good tip. I reckon I'm deffo allowed to behave like a tourist as I'm only around town for less than a week.

Darn it I wish this was a proper road trip and I could go and see all the cool parts of Texas that Ms Misery is tantalising me with...