If you want to see cowboys herding longhorn cattle in the street, you need to go to the Fort Worth Stockyards (Main at Exchange) at 10:00 or 4:30 daily to see the Fort Worth Herd's cattle drives. Stop at Ricky's BBQ for the best beef ribs you'll ever eat.

The new National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame in Fort Worth is definitely worth the 1 hour drive west, too.

Planet Hollywood WAS in the Dallas West End, but it closed well over a year ago.

Dallas in the 1980's was pretty tough times. Lots of people were out of work, and the city was still experiencing "growing pains" from a smallish town to a major metropolitan area. I remember leaving for college in 1990 and barely recognizing the place when I returned home in 1994 because it had grown so much!

Sure, it's not Seattle, nor is it Chicago, but it IS a decent place to live accorindg to the 4 million-plus folks who call it home, including me.

I have a gut feeling I'm going to have one of the best mini vacations of my live in about a month.

Dallas is one of those places you either love or hate. In the time I was there I never met one person that didn't have a strong opinion on the matter. It amazed me that there were people born and raised there who had no desire to ever go anywhere outside of Texas even for a vacation! I have been all over this country and in Europe in my lifetime. I just didn't find anything to get worked up about in Texas. With the exception of Pork Egg Foo Yung from HoHo China in Richardson.(A suburb of Dallas)
If you are a cowboy type you'll fit in fine. If you like things more refined there are a few spots there, but you will pay through the nose.