Texas for art and history lovers

Old Feb 7th, 2015, 02:22 PM
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Texas for art and history lovers

Hi, We've posted trip reports on Missouri and Arkansas, trips we loved because of the art museums combined with historical sites. What we'd like to do is spend a week or so in Texas, flying from Baltimore into Dallas/Fort Worth and returning from Austin. I think it'd be great to use public transportation (DART?) in Dallas and then rent a car to get to Austin and see the sites. We would like to include both the George W. Bush and the Johnson Libraries. We'd like to go to George H.W. as well but I'd prefer to have only one long drive (definition: more than three hours), and I'm assuming Austin will have more for the tourist than College Station????? We're more than willing to hear opinions on this.

If we do wind up centering on Dallas and Austin, we'd like recommendations on hotels (say $200/night or less) and restaurants. We like nice restaurants but not into sushi or complicated flavors that the chef just invented. Assume beef is plentiful and we do like Mexican and Italian. Bustling places fine but don't want to have to shout at each other to be heard.

We visited San Antonio for four days way back in 1983 and loved it, but don't need to see the Alamo or River Walk again. Remember the trip vividly.

Thank you for any help you can be. The forum responders always stun with the amount they know and their willingness to share.
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Old Feb 7th, 2015, 02:53 PM
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I have never been in Dallas without a car, so have no opinion on how their public transportation is.

If you really want to see the George H.W. Bush library in College Station, it's not terribly out of the way to go there on the way from Dallas to Austin.

I usually stay at the Sheraton Dallas to get the Starwood points. It's fine--typical Sheraton--and within walking distance of the Nasher and the DMA. It's also close to the Sixth Floor Museum.

My favorite Mexican restaurant in Dallas is Mia's. http://www.miastexmex.com/ Wish I had some of their brisket tacos right now!

I think Stephan Pyles http://stephanpylesrestaurant.com/ is awesome, and is also within walking distance of the Sheraton (or any of the other downtown hotels). Check the menu; the selections may be more complicated than you like.

The art museums in Fort Worth are outstanding, and in many ways, better than those in Dallas or Houston. The Fort Worth Modern, the Kimbell, and the Carter are all within walking distance of each other. The restaurant at the Fort Worth Modern is excellent. http://themodern.org/cafe Also, on the way from Dallas to Fort Worth, Cowboys Stadium has a wonderful public art collection, and tours are available. http://stadium.dallascowboys.com/art_gallery1.cfm
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Old Feb 7th, 2015, 05:38 PM
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The Nasher Art museum in Dallas is fantastic. North park mall also has a lot of sculptures.
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Old Feb 8th, 2015, 01:48 AM
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The museums in Ft Worth are world class, and it would be a shame to visit the state and not see them. They have important collections and outstanding architecture. Off the top of my head, maybe Edward Durrell Stone for the Carter, Louis Kahn for the Kimbell, and Tadao Ando for the Modern.


In addition to the restaurant at the Modern, there is an ancient Tex-Mex restaurant nearby, one of those places that pretty clearly hasn't changed in a generation or two. Local inquiry will help here.
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Old Feb 8th, 2015, 08:17 AM
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We recently returned from a Texas road trip.

Another thumbs up for the Amon Carter museum in Fort Worth. Also the small Sid Richardson museum downtown if you like Remington, Russell and Western Art.

You could visit Johnson City, the LBJ ranch and boyhood home as a day trip from Austin. If WW II history is of interest then the Pacific War museum in Fredericksburg should be on your list. This could be done as part of the same trip to Johnson City if you get an early start, though that could be rushing things a bit.

BTW, both Amon Carter and Sid Richardson played their part in advancing LBJ's career on his way to the Presidency.

Have a good trip.
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Old Feb 8th, 2015, 08:55 AM
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I agree with Maryanntex that going to College Station on your way from Dallas to Austin is not a big detour. For one thing, it will give you the opportunity to see parts of Texas which are not on I-35.

I also highly recommend Nelson's recommendation for a trip to Johnson City and Fredericksburg. However, you want to make this an overnight trip. You might need to do that if you plan to visit the fabulous National Museum of the Pacific War which can take several hours to see if you are a military history fan. Plus, Fredericksburg is just a fun town to explore.
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Old Feb 8th, 2015, 10:13 AM
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As always, forum members come through. Maryanntex, We will include Bush41 library. It does look completely do-able on way to Austin.

Ackislander, As to Fort Worth, I'm a little paranoid of driving from Dallas and back. I did find an express rail that seems to take an hour and 3 minutes and gets to the heart of Fort Worth. Any problem with our doing that? I do recognize that there are sights to see in both cities.

Nelson and longhorn55, Thanks for Johnson city re and also Museum of Pacific War. My father in law was on the Coast Guard Cutter Taney from 1943 to 1945. Not that he talked about it. We are very interested.

Any other ideas most welcome. Thank you.
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Old Feb 8th, 2015, 11:51 AM
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Can't help with the drive from Dallas.

We went directly from DFW to Fort Worth. I have been from DFW to Dallas before but never linked them up.
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Old Feb 8th, 2015, 01:07 PM
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The drive from Dallas to Fort Worth and back is easy, particularly if you don't do it at rush hour.

The Mexican restaurant in Fort Worth that Ackislander mentioned is Joe. T. Garcia's--"Joe T's" http://www.joets.com/
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Old Feb 8th, 2015, 05:18 PM
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Drive from Dallas to Fort Worth is easy. Easier than the drive from Dallas to Austin. You'll enjoy the drive more if you detour to college Station. W's library is ver political focused. You may want to leave time to explore the grassland prairie in back of the museum. 41's library is much more family focused. I assume that with the I terest in Presidentail history, you are going to the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas.
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Old Feb 8th, 2015, 05:40 PM
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Dallas now has a nice train system, DART. You can take it from DFW airport to downtown Dallas. in that case, I would just stay at the Hyatt Reunion Tower, which is connected to the train station. If you are into history, the Sixth Floor Museum is a must.
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Old Feb 9th, 2015, 01:42 PM
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Thank you to all the respondents. I have a much better handle on the trip and have added several stops as a result of suggestions. We will confine ourselves to DART from airport and around Dallas (have just heard too many horror stories about driving into town and not worth that nervous feeling in the stomach), but we will rent a car on the way out of town to cover Fort Worth (perhaps staying there for a night). Then onto College Station and library and then onto Austin (we can visit the Capitol which sounds fun) and trips to Johnson Ranch and Pacific War Museum. The hotel and restaurant suggestions are great. This is significantly different and better trip because of your advice. I will send a trip report when we get back. Thank you much.
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Old Feb 9th, 2015, 02:46 PM
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Glad to hear you're spending some time in Fredericksburg. There are a lot of excellent restaurants there, especially if you'd like to try some German food. (Fredericksburg, not surprisingly, has a strong German history.) I have relatives who live there and one of their favorite, more "upscale", restaurants is Cabernet Grill.

There are a lot of cute shops and galleries along Main Street so save some time to explore those. My favorite is Rustlin' Rob's where you can get free tastes of all their sauces, dips, jellies, etc. You don't have to buy a thing, but I dare you to walk out of there without a purchase!
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Old Feb 10th, 2015, 11:14 AM
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What is your objection to driving in the DFW area? If you want to see the FW art, you need a car because the FW Arts District (Kimbell, FW Modern, Amon Carter, etc.) is nowhere near the TRE (the "express" train you mentioned, it's not express at all). Nor is the TRE at the airport - you need to take a shuttle to the TRE station. And it's a 40-minute drive between the two cities.

The Dallas Arts District has the Nasher, the Crowe and the DMA. All are good. The DMA's permanent collection is better than the Kimbell's in FW; the Kimbell generally (about 80% of the time) gets better specials. If you don't like the current special at the Kimbell, don't bother - its permanent collection is minimal.

The DART from DFW is fine, although not speedy. There is a reason that light rail systems don't have anywhere near the ridership that they projected - they're SLOW and have entirely too many stops. Plus, staying at the Hyatt Reunion means changing trains - there's no straight shot from the airport by DART. You have to come into the West End on the Orange Line and cross over to the Red/Blue going the opposite direction. You can get to the Hyatt direct by TRE, but those run far less frequently and not at all on Sundays.

And really, you need a car. Dallas and FW are each physically larger than New York City.
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Old Feb 11th, 2015, 11:42 AM
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BigRuss and Maryann,I sometimes make life more complicated than it need be. DH and I both born and grew up in NYC. Turnstiles were a daily part of life. And now we're close to DC which really did a great job with where they put the stations. I hoped DART would have similar benefits but sounds not. We'll get a car at the airport and use it for our Fort Worth visit and maybe Cowboy Stadium. I had heard that dallas was a driver's nightmare but we drive all the time in DC so we'll take your advice and have car for entire trip. Thanks for persistently giving good advice.
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Old Feb 11th, 2015, 02:22 PM
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Sheeyoot, if you drive in DC and have done so in NYC, Dallas isn't bad at all. DART rail just cannot cover enough territory to be useful for tourists (DC is a bloody village compared to Dallas alone, never mind the extra territory to Garland, Rockwall, Plano and DFW that the DART covers) and was created for commuters between South Dallas and downtown and nearby suburbs and downtown.

Plus, your general interests will keep you away from the LBJ (semi)loop between 75 and the Tollway, US 75 from downtown to LBJ, and going through downtown Dallas on I-30 - those are the three worst stretches of highway in the area.
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Old Feb 16th, 2015, 07:22 AM
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Living in College Station the museum is well worth it. I have been twice once soon after it opened and another time when a traveling baseball exhibit was presented.

Texas A&M although a great university, is not an eyesore but not architecturally pleasing either. So I would not spend as much time on a limited vacation other than the museum, a maybe a quick look at the campus. We will have one of the finest football stadiums but right now a current pile of rubble as construction of the west side is being done.

As for food in BCS area, go to Christophers World Grill. Get the Blackend Crawfish and Seafood fondue. Thank me later

http://www.christophersworldgrille.com
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Old Feb 27th, 2015, 12:09 PM
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I've put off posting this because I felt pretty rotten about it. We neglected to say that we planned this trip for mid-February and our flight wound up being cancelled because of the big storms in the Northeast. We had the option of rescheduling immediately or just postponing and the views of Dallas-Fort Worth on TV were not encouraging. Soo...we will do the same trip that you were all so helpful with either in the spring or fall.
Anyone who wants to say they would have forewarned us had we given our timeframe, I really wanted to get away and didn't want any reality checks. As it turned out, temporary disappointment turned out to be our only cost.
Thank you all again and eventually I'll do that trip report.
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Old Feb 27th, 2015, 01:49 PM
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Consider this a blessing in disguise. Central Texas is great in the spring and fall.
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Old Sep 13th, 2015, 05:41 AM
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We are finally making the Texas trip we started to write about in February. Either East Coast or Texas weather wasn't cooperative before this. Because of many great suggestions, we've been able to plan the two full days Dallas/Fort Worth part where we will see three art museums, book depository and W's Library.

Help me out with this part: We leave from Dallas early on the third day to go to Bush41 Library. I've checked the mileage and we're happy with the drive. After visiting Bush41 Library, can we find a hotel for two nights that would allow us to do the Johnson National Park site as well as his Library, and also the Pacific War Museum. Then onto Austin itself for nights 5 and 6 and an early flight home on 7th morning. Suggestions appreciated.
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