Dallas Trip Report - Dec. '04
 

Thank you to the posters who answered my post awhile back on restaurants and suggested I check out the guidelive web site.
I debated posting a trip report since it was such a short trip but what the heck!
My husband and I just came back from a weekend in Dallas. We made it a short trip because we left our toddler with his grandparents.
This trip was for my husband. I took him to see his beloved Cowboys (Boy, do they suck!) who played on Sunday against the Saints.
We stayed at the Westin Stonebriar Resort in Frisco.
The weather was perfect, especially on game day (mid-70s!).
The resort is beautiful (would recommend to anyone). It unfortunately was too cool to use their lovely swimming pool.
On Friday night, we originally planned to have dinner at "Local" in Dallas but I was a bit sick and was not in the mood to drive back to Dallas. We ended up having dinner at the hotel's restaurant "The Legacy Grill". The food was just ok.
On Saturday morning, we went to the Museum at Dealey Plaza. We thought it was very odd but interesting. There were tourists taking pictures of relatives standing on the X spot on the street. People are so weird!
Afterward, we walked around and had lunch at a restaurant nearby. Not worth mentioning.
In the afternoon, we drove to the Cowboys Headquarters to take pictures (my husband, the stalker).
We had dinner at Chamberlain's in Dallas. Lovely restaurant setting. My husband had primerib, he thought it was good but not outstanding. My filet mignon was disappointing. I make better ones and let me tell you, I'm no chef. :-)
We thought people in Dallas were so polite and nice (I guess that's what southern hospitality means). At one point, I drove in the wrong turn lane (ended up in a u-turn lane but wanted to just turn left). A car let me by but the light was still red so I was blocking the u-turn lane. People were so nice and just waited patiently. Back here in NY/NJ, I would have been honked at, cursed at and you know what! :-)
We had a fun time.

Hi caribtraveler,

We were in Dallas for the weekend, too! We were at the same Cowboys game...you were obviously not sitting in the sun! It must have been 100 degrees where we were. We had our two young kids with us, so we left at halftime, much to DH's chagrin. The rest of our trip went great, though. I'm glad to hear you had a good weekend as well.

Hi Jocelyn,
Good guess! We were in the shade (more specifically, the nose-bleeds).
My husband was quite the unhappy guy by the end of the game :-(
Glad you had a good trip as well.

caribtraveler, what were your impressions of the Westin pool area (Did it also have a jacuzzi?) and spa amenities?

ttt

wsoxrebel: I won't be any help to you. So sorry! The trip was all about the husband, so spa? what spa amenities? :-)
Seriously, I didn't pay attention and we were there for a quick weekend.
We took a quick look from a distance at the pool area on a cold morning (the pool gate was closed -being december- so we couldn't get any closer). Pool has a serpentine shape to it and the landscaping surrounding it was lovely. I believe there's a small slide but we didn't see it from where we were. If there's a jacuzzi, we also didn't see it.

Thanks - if I am fortunate enough to visit, I will report back on the softer side of Stonebriar.

You missed most, if not all, that Dallas has to offer.
Full Disclosure: I have lived here nearly 25 years, would never recommend Dallas for a trip destination unless it was business or job transfer related: it's still an OK place to live, but has major problems.
M

Mikemo, don't you think you're being a little arbitrary? The OP had a good time, other people who post on their trips to Dallas find things to enjoy. And Dallas has historic sites that people want to see, it has shopping and museums and restaurants and other entertainments that attract visitors from afar, that are among the best in the country... a city the size of Dallas-Ft Worth will have a lot to offer a visitor.

I visited a fellow in Belgium who had passed through Dallas on his USA trip. When he showed his movies of his trip to his family, Dallas took up a good chunk of his show, along with Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York. He loved the West Village. He liked the West End, the Crow Asian Art museum, the view from the top of Reunion Tower. He had happy memories of his trip to the Big D.

People who have lived in a city for decades become jaded and bored, they don't see it with the eyes of a newcomer... just like people in New York who have no interest in seeing the New York tourist attractions.

If you can't reccommend specific things in Dallas for a visitor to enjoy, I'll gladly take over from you as the Big D tour guide... in fact, I've been doing it a long time.

I spent many years in DFW so I know its charms and its warts. Have either of you (mike and xbt) been to the new Stonebriar?

Not me. I've been in a similar hotel in Nashville, and the sheer size of the place was very impressive, but in general I missed the ambience of being in a real neighborhood.

But, now that you've piqued my interest, maybe I'll go there for lunch today and check it out... let you know my opinion later.

Mikemo: Please re-read my post. Dallas was not a trip destination. My husband worked long hours this past summer and I surprised him with tickets to go see his favorite football team. That's why we went for just 2 days. So much one can do for that time, don't you think? Don't worry about what we did or missed doing.

caribtraveler, What did you think of their new "practice field"? My son lived across MacArthur from their headquarters, and I could hardly believe my eyes last time I was there and saw what had been built. If I owned a house in that neighborhood I would be one unhappy cowgirl!!

OO: Ah yes, the "practice field" neighborhood...
We didn't go inside their headquarters. My husband just took pictures from the street outside.
We did drive around the neighborhood which looked all newly built to us.
Aren't all the streets there named after former players, coaches, etc..?
I think I remember my husband saying that (my eyes were glazing over already).
:-)