I'll be visiting Dallas in March with my 24 and 27 yr. old sons. We have a car. We enjoy the outdoors and I like seeing old homes, historic areas. What do you think about Grapevine for historic area and hiking or maybe some boating (rental only). We don't want to go too far from Dallas as we are having a dinner party both Fri. and Sat. nights. Thanks. Linda

Grapevine has several blocks of downtown. I don't know exactly what you mean by historic..Dallas has Swiss Avenue.YOu can rent a motor boat at Lake Lewisville. Beware, it is crowded on the weekends. You should really go over to the Stockyards in Ft. Worth for the day. There is the Tarantula train that runs between Grapevine and Ft. Worth. The cows are herded down the main street in Ft. Worth around 10'oclock I believe. A sight to see. Go downtown Dallas to the 6th floor museum to see the JFK memorial..and don't forget to take pictures on the grassy knoll. That is what you ought to do in Dallas for our three days.

We do plan to do Ft. Worth on Friday and will try to find Swiss Ave. in Dallas. My younger son just moved there for school, so we wanted to take him outside of Dallas to do something for a day as he'll probably never get out himself. Thanks for your advice. Linda

My kids are youunger but we're faced with the same dilemma when we visit his parents outside Dallas. I'm interested in what you advise. Thnaks in advance.

You may be there around the time of Dallas Blooms--the spring flower show at the Arboretum on White Rock Lake. Even my 28 year old son enjoys it. It's quite a sight with acres and acres of formal and informal plantings along the shores of White Rock! You could catch Swiss Ave on your way back downtown (that's one of my favorite areas too)! I also enjoy driving around the old homes along Armstrong Parkway, and Preston Hollow area...though they are nouveau old, compared to Swiss Ave.

For others interested, and for another trip when you may have more time, Linda, a trip up to Lake Texoma and Eisenhower State Park for hiking/camping/picnicking on the cliffs above the shoreline is a fun outting. The terrain is so different from Dallas. It'd take us a bit over an hour to get there from Plano, so add another 1/2 hour to 45 min for travel from downtown Dallas.

Stockyards are enjoyable as are the museums in Ft. Worth. Stop on the way to or from the Stockyards for some good Tex-Mex at Joe T's, sitting in their courtyard if it's pleasant!Sigh...making myself homesick here!!

Eisenhower State Park takes longer to get there than 45 minutes or 1/2 hour. That is a day trip in itself. I thought of recommending that also, but didn't sound like they would have time to go. Unless they leave early AM...I'm thinking Eisenhower park is only open certain times of the year, too....

Oh--what about antiquing in Terrell/Kaufman? RIght there on Highway 80...can't miss it.

Sister...it does take longer than that to get there! OL I was saying it was about an hour north of us in Plano, and from Dallas add another 1/2 hr to 45 min on top of that. They won't really have time this trip with dinner parties both nights, but it's great for another visit, plus KYEL was looking too.

We've been to Eisenhower all times of year. Actually, I prefer it in winter or anytime after the first freeze, when the chiggers have been killed, hopefully. We've camped there in spring with no problem, but the first, and last case I ever got was at Eisenhower in the fall. What MISERY!

Antiquing in Forney is an experience, but I dunno about doing that with the "boys", just judging by my own. I enjoyed it but our kids were always far less enthusiastic than we were!

We've moved on, but our son has graduated and returned to Dallas to live. I've found some neat accessory type pieces to jazz up his apartment in some of the antique shops around the McKinney/Routh St area. One in particular has reasonable items like old signs, oars and such that make fun pieces to fill blanks wall spaces when the kids are getting started with new apartments.

Oh Olive..sorry didn't mean to offend. I thought you meant from Plano...I was thinking, huh! SO much to do there...so little time. I'm glad I didn't go camping. My idea of camping is a Holiday Inn. Say--if they are football fans, they can take a tour of Texas Stadium--or a tour of the new American Airlines Sports Center...they might like that...talk to you later Olive!

Thanks sister and oliveoyl for your advice. I love antiquing and looking at old homes, but we also may want to hike. We are going to Ft. Worth Stockyards on Friday with my older son. On Sat. all 4 of us will go somewhere. Thanks. Linda

Hey Linda, I hate to break this news to you but your sons are big boys so why won't you let them decide or maybe all of you should plan this trip together. You got some great ideas here but involve them too.