Return from Dallas trip
 

We are back from the Dallas trip,enjoyed every minute,weather in the 70s every day!!
Will post more details soon, as I need to recover from the jet lag!!

Great!, Dabber...can't wait to hear ALL about it. The weather was beautiful.

Glad the trip was good. What a treat on the weather! Looking forward to trip report.

Saturday 10th March;-

Set out early for the 10.30 a.m. flight
from Terminal 3 at Manchester International as we had never been to this terminal before.Arrived at American Airlines check-in and after a long wait faced 10 minutes of questioning by security staff.Boarded the 767 and departed on time,flight was just over 8 hours,in-flight meal was ok,FAs,although not in the first flush of youth were pleasant and courteous.
Arrived at Terminal 5 at O,Hare and had to queue for about an hour with all the other visitors and had fingerprint and retina scan before picking up luggage and catching train to Terminal 3 for the DFW flight.Short (just over 2 hours)flight to DFW.
It was just going dark as we arrived at about 6.30.After claiming suitcase went to find a cab,cost $45 plus $5 tip,couldnt see much on the drive downtown as it was now dark.
Arrived at Adolphus just before 8 pm and was allocated room 1812,good sized room on the corner of the hotel with walk in closet.32 inch tv and well stocked minibar,feeling a bit hungry so walked about 1 block down Commerce past the courthouse with the large stone balls on the sidewalk to McDonalds for cheeseburger and fries!!

Sunday 11th March;-
Went for early morning walk and couldnt resist going to Dealey Plaza,it was a bright sunny morning,very warm and pleasant,spent about an hour on the plaza,grassy knoll etc soaking up the atmosphere,I was surprised at the size of Dealey Plaza,imagined it was a lot bigger than it actually was!
Took loads of photos and video,pity I cant post any on this thread!!
At about 10.30 walked down Houston Street to Ross Avenue,went past Fountain Place and up to St Paul street to the First Baptist church for the 11 am service as suggested by Missypie.
Was surprised at the size of the church,large congregation and choir.orchestra etc were very impressive.
Went back to the Adolphus for lunch and went to the West End in the afternoon to explore,weather was sunny and warm,in the mid 70s,had a couple of beers at Gators bar and then a reasonably early night after much walking!!

Monday 12th March
Slightly cooler and cloudier this morning.visited the 6th floor museum today,spent a good 3 hours in the museum on the audio tour.There was a bit of a hold up on the tour when some guy collapsed and fire/rescue came and stretchered him away!!
The museum was very informative and moving and is well worth the admission,it made the long journey well worth it.
After the museum and gift shop(I bought a 6th floor museum baseball hat )
We went to Wild Bills and bought some cowboy boots for my wife,a bolo tie for me and a bandana for a workmate for $115 total!!
Went to Fountain Place again and took some photos,were going to go to Avantis for lunch but it was closed!!
By now it was warm and sunny again so called into the CVS shop on Ross and Lamarr for some cold drinks.
After lunch in the hotel we walked to Founders Plaza to see the bronze sculptures,there was what appeared to be a fund raising meeting going on outside the Convention Centre with a bunch of cheerleaders waving flags and a former colonel who was announced as a Congressional medal of honour recipient as a guest speaker,plenty of cops in the vicinity too!
Went to Union Station,after walking down a long green tunnel with lots of interesting old photos on the side arrived at Reunion Tower only to find it was closed due to some private convention so couldnt go to the Antares restaurant for a birds eye view of Dallas!!

Will post next bit tomorrow as I now have writers cramp!!

Tuesday 13th;-
Walked down to West End area about 9am,called into the Corner Bakery for some breakfast,both had a southern scramble and plenty of coffee,there were 2 or 3 cops in there having breakfast too,good food and good price!
Carried on to McKinney Avenue,past a bronze statue of Elvis!!
Took a ride on the free tram into uptown area but decided not to get off and went back to the start of the ride near the First Baptist Church.
By now it was about 10.30 so decided to go to the Aquarium,spent about an hour and a half looking at the exhibits,well worth the entrance money,as it was spring break there were kids eveywhere and when we left the queue waiting to get in stretched right around the block!!
Walked down Main Street towards Deep Ellum,weather very warm and sunny by now despite the weather forecast on Good Day predicting rain.
Made our way back to the Adolphus and had a pizza and a couple of beers in the Rodeo Bar.
The weather forecasters proved correct when we were hit by a thunderstorm that evening!

Wednesday 14th;-
Today was the Grayline tour to Fort Worth that I had booked a couple of weeks ago.
Had breakfast at the Corner Bakery again,(All American scramble),this morning there were 5 cops in there!!
Met the coach outside the old book depository building at 12.30 and found that we were the only 2 people on the tour!Had a 30 seat coach to ourselves,the driver/tour guide was very informative,pointing out the highlights on the drive to Fort Worth like the new Texas Rangers stadium.
Arrived in Sundance Square and had about 40 minutes free time while Frank(the driver)went for lunch,had a beer in the Fox and Hounds British pub but think we were the only Brits in there!!
Next stop was Thistle Hill house once owned by the Waggoner Wharton and Winfield Scott families,very good tour.
Stopped at the fire station to see a museum showing Fort Worth history and drove past the building that features in Walker as the Rangers HQ.also stopped at the Water Gardens.
Then onto the highlight of the tour,the Stockyard area,weather was very warm by now,watched the cattle drive and had a beer in CDs bar(White Elephant)
Drove back to Dallas and went to Sonny Bryans for some ribs and fries,excellent!!
As this was our last night we went back to the Rodeo bar for a couple of drinks and a (reasonably)early night.
Thursday 15th ;-
Breakfast at McDonalds and a last visit to Dealey Plaza,hottest day so far,temperature said to reach 80+!
Checked out at 11 am and took a hotel town car to DFW,($50 + tip)
Less than 2 hours to Chicago and the flight to Manchester was only 6 1/2 hours but when we arrived early at Manchester there was no gate for us so had to wait on the pan for nearly an hour while they arranged steps and coaches to take us to the terminal.

In summary this was an excellent 5 day break,American Airlines were efficient and punctual.in flight food etc was good and although I was a bit concerned about transferring at Chicago it proved really easy as everything was well signposted and the airline staff were helpful in providing directions.
Dallas and Fort Worth were an outstanding experience and we found plenty to see and do in the time that we were there and I am very glad that we made the trip and that I fulfilled a lifetime desire to visit Dealey Plaza,thanks to all who provided ideas etc and although we couldnt do them all we had a really good time!

Dabber -

Very happy to hear you had a great time. From what I saw on the weather channel, you couldn't have picked a better week.

Excellent, Dabber. I'm impressed with how much you did. BTW...I like Corner Bakery, too, for a good cheap breakfast.

Hi Dabber! Thanks for the trip report. So glad you had a nice time in Dallas.

Gosh, if that's all you experienced, you missed most of the very best.
M (25 years in D, and now 4 here in SMdA, Gto.)

What a pleasant response to this visitor from the UK. Way to go, mike. Another supportive post from Mexico.

dabber, glad you had such a great trip!

Glad to hear you had a good time!
You did more in a few days than I have done in Dallas in years.
I think we are going to follow your lead and head to Ft Worth in a week or two, as tourists!
PS... that McDonalds can be so scary!

Just back from Barcelona and went to look for your trip report right away. I'm so glad you had fun! Yeah, although I work 2 blocks away, I've never been to that McDonalds. Do they still pipe in classical music? About 15 years ago I heard they started that to keep the gang kids away.

Corner Bakery is great. Glad you had some barbeque, too.

Glad you had a good trip, dabber.
The gathering you saw on Monday was part of a cross country <a href="http://www.moveamericaforward.org/in...avan</a> that ended in DC on Saturday.

Oh, and it's supposed to be mid 70s all this week :)

Good trip report. I agree with you that the 6th Floor Museum is very nicely done.

Also agree with you that the Corner Bakery is great. That is one of my favorite restaurants for a quick bite in many cities that I frequent.

Great to hear you had a good trip and it sounds a beautiful weather week too! I was hoping you would post upon your return and happy to have found your report.

One nice touch on this trip was that my wife left her sunglasses in the room when we left,I sent an e-mail to the Adolphus and the head of housekeeping mailed them to me,received them today!!