Friday - Thanks to FF miles, 5 of us flew AA first class from BOS to DFW. The flight was uneventful, although the M83 had the smallest first class seats I've ever seen. Still, it was a treat. We took the shuttle to the car rental center. I usually drive, but was missing my license when we got there, so my husband had to rent and drive the car at first. The Garmin didn't seem to have current information on the roads. That was a hassle, but we made it to the Marriott Residence Inn in Arlington. Also, I found my license, so things settled down a little, as my husband really gets nervous driving in places he doesn't know.

The building we were in was newly renovated. The service was fast and friendly on the few little things that were wrong in the room. There was a small pool and hot tub in the courtyard that my kids enjoyed. The included breakfast was very serviceable with the usual assortment of muffins, bagels, yogurt, oatmeal, milk, juice, cold cereals, fruit, and a few hot items like eggs, bacon, sausage, and potatoes. The coffee was quite good. The beds were a little bouncy, and there was a dumpster truck that rattled by the window at 6:00 AM. But, the two bedrooms, living room, two bathrooms, kitchenette unit with breakfast was only about $150/night including breakfast. We spent three nights here.

We ate dinner at Red, White, and Blue, a local chain smokehouse-BBQ place that was fun. There is lots of Blues music memorabilia, and the food was pretty good and reasonable priced.

Saturday - Went to the Sixth Floor Museum, walked around Dealy plaza, and had a good lunch at a sidewalk steakhouse in a cute little tourist section nearby. I have forgotten the name of the place, but there were several dozen places to eat, and all of them looked good. There's Mexican, BBQ, steakhouses, Italian places. I think you can just walk along and pick what looks good to you. Weather was pleasantly warm and just enough clouds to make the walking comfortable. The Kennedy Museum was very well done. My theme park kids, (boys 13, 10, 10) really enjoyed it.

Saturday night we went to Medievel Times in Dallas. It was fun, but not as well done as the one in Orlando. If I have realized that the only night we would be able to go a Rodeo in Ft Worth was that night, I would have done that instead. Poor planning on my part though.

Sunday, we drove to San Antonio. More to come

Thanks for posting. Looking forward to the rest.

The "cute little tourist section nearby" the Sixth Floor Museum is called the West End. It's quite touristy; in fact, I have never eaten there during the time I lived in Dallas.

sm....Did you have your license at security check? If not, what did you use as ID?

I wouldn't brand the West End as solely "touristy." Hundreds of office workers eat there Monday through Friday. There are some decent restaurants there.

We have a section of Portland, Maine called the Old Port that is similar to the West End. I used to eat there all the time when I worked in the neighnborhood, but I hardly ever get in there now. But tourists go out of their way to walk around and shop down there.

BeachBoi - I carry my passport with me even on domestic travel. Maine has been in a pissing contest with Homeland Security over standards for issuing licenses. I don't want to get caught trying to get home from a trip with an NG license.

Small correction: Sunday we went to Six Flags in Arlington. We have never been to a Six Flags before. We usually do the Orlando Parks. I was pleasantly surprised. The park was nicer than I expected. My only complaint is there not one quiet spot in the whole place. But needless to say, my three coaster hounds loved it. We just ate take out from 3 different places back at the Residence Inn.

Monday - We drove to San Antonio. The drive was not what I was expecting. I thank the posters who gave me advice to get Austin behind me before 3:30. I though that there would be long stretches of nothing along the way, and that I would be able to drive fairly fast. In contrast, most of I35 seemed to be lined with stores, fast food places, hotels, and whatever. Most of the highway was only 2 lanes. The fairly heavy traffic was moving at 65 -75, often with only one or two car lengths between the cars. The road was full of kamikaze truckers. There were only a few quiet stretches in the 280 mile drive. We ended up stopping at McDonalds for lunch. It worked out just great for us. My kids are really too old for the playplaces, but no one else was in there. They got to run around and burn off some energy, and they enjoyed the familiarity of the food.

We stayed at the Drury Inn on the Riverwalk. The hotel is fairly new. It is in a renovated bank building. The lobby is absolutely beautiful. We had requested two connecting rooms, and there was a problem with that. But after a little whining, the problem was corrected. The rooms were large and very nicely decorated. The breakfast buffet was only fair. One minor complaint - there were no ceramic coffee cups anywhere in the hotel, only paper cups. They have a roof top pool and 2 hot tubs on top of a 24 story building. We enjoyed that at night. It was really a terrific place to stay. We spent about $175.00 per night per room including breakfast and a happy hour with food and 3 drinks. I thought the hotel was very luxurious for that price, even if the food was only mediocre.

There are sidewalk restaurants all along the Riverwalk. We were there during Fiesta, so we went to a Mexican place a short walk for out Hotel. The food was good, and we had a canal side table for the Fiesta Parade which was actually boats on the canal.

We went to the Riverside Mall and watched the IMAX Alamo Movie. I was surprised to learn that the actual battle of the Alamo lasted less than an hour. We spent quite a bit of time at the Alamo. My kids liked that better than I expected. The four adults also enjoyed it. I was disappointed to see that it is kind of plunked down right in the middle of the city though. But still, once you are inside, you feel fairly immersed in the setting inside the walls.

I'll finish this later.

When I moved to Dallas in 1981, my sister lived in Austin. I've made that drive south on 35 for some 27 years now. There has always been construction somewhere on 35 yet the congestion and conditions nevef get better. Getting south through Austin has become a nightmare in the last 5 years or so.

I-35 is very noticeably worse since NAFTA. We lived in Dallas and visited San Antonio...it was always a long boring drive. We moved away and were gone 13 years, now back and living in San Antonio. What has happened to I-35 in the interim has turned a long boring drive into one that can be harrowing!! Those trucks!!! Awful.

Missypie, have you seen the thread about getting around Austin on the new toll road? It has promise!

My son is a junior in high school and he is considering schools in both Austin and SA. If he attends one of those, I'm going to have to figure out the toll road and anything else I can!

You're right about harrowing. During most drives of that length, there is a time when you're "out of the city" where you can put it on cruise and relax...not on the trip south to Austin and SA!

Here's the map, missypie. The green dotted section is now complete to FM1327 as per one Fodors Austinite. http://www.centraltexasturnpike.org/...pdateOct07.pdf We are taking it next trip to Dallas though DH doesn't know it yet.

I've been enjoying your trip report scarboroughmom, and look forward to the rest. How were the crowds during Fiesta? We were out of town for that week. You were certainly fortunate to get a riverside table for the parade! Which restaurant were you at, out of curiosity. Did you get to any of the other missions? The Alamo is the only one that the city has grown up around. The other 4 are still bucolic.

Wednesday we headed back to Grapevine. We passed by Natural Bridge Caverns because we wanted to stop halfway back to Dallas at the Inner Space Caverns. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the Inner Space Caverns, there was a two hour + wait because of a school group that was ahead of us. We were unwilling to wait that long with little else to do in the middle of the trip, so we left.

We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine. I did not have high expectations for the place. However, I thought it was mostly terrific. If you are unfamiliar with the chain, they are geared towards families with younger kids. They have an inside water park, and outside water park, and a North woods Hunting Lodge theme. We had a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom, living room suite for $420 per night. The hotel was actually still under construction, so everything was brand new. The inside water park was large, warm, and very clean. Check in was easy and quick. They have this magic game the kids can play all over the hotel. They have all the kids' stuff, including the magic game, closed down my 10PM. I thought that the place was very quiet at night, considering all the kids there. Typically, WDW resorts are much noisier. We were only there for 2 nights, and the kids were having so much fun, that we only went out to the Dallas zoo. We all enjoyed that.

My only complaint about the Great Wolf Lodge is the food. It was pretty mediocre. There is a buffet restaurant and a full service restaurant. The food in the full service restaurant was more acceptable. We could have fixed this by going out somewhere else. It was the end of our second trip in three weeks, and laziness won out. But we all had fun. They also have grill food available in the water part area, and an ice cream take out place near the water park. There is an arcade, a teen club, and a kids club with different activities.

We had a mostly great trip. I usually do a fairly good job of planning trips, but I kind of fell down on this one. We missed a few things that I think my family would have enjoyed. Oh well, that just gives me a good reason to go back. Thanks to all who have answered my queries here.