Texas in February (help with my itinerary, please)
 

Hey all!

My friend and I will be driving to Texas in February (from Phoenix, AZ). We've done this trip for 3 years now and it's getting harder and harder to find things to do.

Why don't we go somewhere else, you might be thinking?
Well, the four of us love making a road trip every year to see each other and Plano is as middle of the road as we can find (give or take 20 miles). Plus, Plano is where Savannah has family so she gets to see them once a year when we meet there.

Every year we have a harder and harder time finding something to do in the Plano/Dallas area or on the way home from Plano.
So, what I'm looking for this year is a suggestion for an itinerary.
We will be leaving Wednesday February 11th and returning Monday February 16th.

Four things you may want to know:
* We stop for one night in Abilene and always stop at Monahan's Sand Dunes on the way to Abilene.
* We love to stop outside of Amarillo to pain the Cadillacs on the way home.
* We love scenic things, unusual things, regional things, and fun things.
*We're not all that fascinated with museums or zoos (we like them every now and then, but it's not our idea of a great time).

So far this is how the itinerary is looking:
February 11th:
*Olivia and I leave Phoenix, AZ (Lucy and Savannah leave Milwaukee, WI)
*Visit Monahans Sand Dunes
*Overnight in Abilene (hotel suggestions are welcome - as well as places to see in or near Abilene)

February 12th -
*Drive to Plano arriving around 1 pm.

February 13th -
*Free day (please help us find things to do here)

February 14th -
* Morning and Afternoon free (possible shopping or mani/pedi/spa time)
*Evening spent going out to a nice dinner.

February 15th -
* Leave around 10-11am heading home (suggestions for routes to take home?)
*Overnight somewhere along the way (typically Weatherford or Amarillo)

February 16th -
*early Dinner in Flagstaff
*Arrive home.

I hope I'm not being too picky. We just started trying to plan everything a week ago and are trying to find new ideas. Anything advice or constructive critiques are more than welcome.

Well, I wasn't thinking why don't you go somewhere else, but I WAS thinking why don't you go a different time of year. February weather is so unpredictable!

You say you have a harder and harder time finding something to do. What have you done already?

For shopping there are LOADS of excellent choices. Stonebriar Mall in Frisco and the entire area surrounding it is a very nice, large mall. For your February 14 day and dinner I would highly recommend visiting the The Shops at Legacy. It is a great place to stroll through and shop, very charming and peaceful. There are many places to eat there, many with sidewalk patios. I enjoyed Mi Cocina (Tex-Mex) and Jasper's is supposed to be excellent. They have live outdoor music on Saturdays. There is a Martini Bar there that's also rated highly. Other places to shop that are close: Allen Premium Outlets, The Galleria, NorthPark Center in Dallas isn't that far to drive either and it is another great mall, Grapevine Mills Mall is an indoor outlet mall (maybe 25-30 minutes).

If you haven't been into downtown Dallas you might want to do that this trip. You may not care for museums but the King Tut Exhibit will still be at the Dallas Museum of Modern Art at that time. Lots of good dining options downtown too.

If you want any more specific dining recommendations, let me know. There are so many!

Sorry for making a couple of typos in the previous reply last night. I was tired myself after a long weekend, including a visit to the King Tut Exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art (not the "Dallas Museum of Modern Art") that I enjoyed very much. That was why I recommended it, even if you don't typically like museums it will be worth your time.

I also was wondering if you have been to the Addison area. It's another great area with lots of restaurants, comedy clubs, piano bars, etc. It's close to the Galleria.

What about the Stockyards in Ft Worth, as well as downtown Sundance Square area? I could spend hours there, shopping, eating, soaking up the history. The Cowgirl Hall of Fame is in FW, too.

Have you been to the Mesquite Rodeo?

Mesquite Rodeo only runs April-September.

I definitely agree going to the Stockyards could be fun *IF* the weather is nice. It is all outside there, and it really is awful in freezing cold.

Maybe you could go to Central Market and take a cooking class?
You really should visit CM anyway!

No, I haven't been to the Addison area. We LOVE comedy clubs so any recommendations for comedy clubs (if there's more than one) would be greatly appreciated. Is the piano bar like a dueling piano bar? Olivia and I love going to the Shout House in Glendale, AZ and we tried explaining it Lucy and Savannah and they don't completely understand the idea so it'd be fun to take them their one night.
The stockyard sounds interesting, I'm assuming this is the only one in the area: http://www.fortworthstockyards.org/
What all do they have at Central Market? Is it just cooking or is there more?

The Improv: www.theimprov.com

Pete's Dueling Piano Bar: www.petesduelingpianobar.com

I hope I did those links correctly. Have fun!

Central Market is a huge gourmet grocery store. Most visitors to Texas just can't believe this store!
The Plano location is not as nice or impressive as the Southlake location but still likely unlike any food store you have ever been to!
They have nice cooking classes that cover all cuisines. They are fun!

In Addison, we like to go to Sambuca Restaurant. It has live music every night.
http://www.sambucarestaurant.com/

Wow, that restaurant looks pretty amazing. Do you have any more suggestions for the Plano area?

Have you been to the 5th floor museum in Dallas? This museum is all about the JFK assasination. It is interesting for all ages.

Also a visit to Southfork which is where the show Dallas was filmed. My dad really enjoyed this when he came to visit us.

We used to live in Dallas, and we rarely ventured all the way up to Plano. But here are a couple of restaurants that we will drive the extra mile for the food:

Simon's Sushi - fish is super fresh; the only sushi place we would ever go in DFW area
http://www.simonssushi.com/

Jorg's Cafe Vienna - really authentic Austrian food (we ate there soon after our return from Vienna)
http://jorgscafevienna.com/home/

Jasper's is a great restaurant: http://www.kentrathbun.com/jaspers/plano/
We also like Roy's: http://www.roysrestaurant.com/

I'd be tempted to head to downtown McKinney for a nice breakfast, lunch or dinner:
Rick's Chophouse is great!
Spoons is my daughter's favorite!

Hi, I live in Abilene. there are several new "chain" hotels that have gone up in the last year, you should have no prob finding one, and a good rate.

When you come through Abilene, do you just stay on the interstate, and then go on to plano, or did you want to "get into town"?

I know you said you were not that into museums ( i'm not either) but we do have Frontier Texas, which is a great museum, and has an interactive aproach to the exhibits. It's kind of hard to explain, but there are these hologram things, that talk to you about each area. I have taken some friends there from out of town, and they liked it!
I'm not sure what is going on in Abilene during February(except basketball) but here is the website for the visitors center
http://abilenevisitors.com/

there are plenty of great restaurants around here also, if you'll tell me what kind of food, and place you like to eat at.

westtexas, we normally stay along Hwy 83 (?) We normally stay at Comfort Suites or Holiday Inn. As for food, we would be open to anything. We've been to Johnny Carinos and loved eating there because it's not a chain restaurant we have at home. For the most part we like anything... Italian, Mexican, Asian, American the list can go on.
TxTravelPro, Can you tell me more about spoons and Rick's Chophouse. Those both sound...interesting.
The JFK museum is something we've thought about because it is something that sounds interesting and JFK is such a fascinating part of history.

Are there any hikes or parks you would recommend to check out? I know there's not a lot of mountains along the way to go hiking like I'm used to, but maybe something more along the lines of a pathway that you can explore?

<i>Are there any hikes or parks you would recommend to check out?</i>

You can go to White Rock Lake (near the Dallas Arboretum). It has a bike path that goes around, which is approx 10 miles.

Thanks yk! I looked at the Austrian restaurant that you recommended and oh boy! I MUST go there it looks amazing and I love Austrian food.

as for food, I would not reccommend any chain restaurants. there are a ton here, but there are so many locally owned great places to eat. there is Spano's italian on S 11th st. there are a couple of &quot;famous&quot; steak/bar-b-que places. Joe Allens on S. 11th, and Perini ranch steak house in Buffalo Gap. this is prob the most unique place, and one of my favorites.all the out of towners love it too!

http://www.periniranch.com/#

Buffalo Gap, is a charming little &quot;spot&quot; lots of shops, and we also have the Abilene state park out there, which has nice trails. there is not much &quot;hiking&quot; to them though, but the 15 minute drive to the far south part of town would be worth it to spend half a day or so.