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Hi all,

Another travel advice thread.  I've just discovered I'm going to be in the Dallas/Fort Worth area next week for a work conference.  Once its done, I have the option of spending 2-3 days extra if I want before I come home (Australia).  As someone who isn't interested in NFL, cows, the assassination of Kennedy or the Bush museum and library, I'm struggling to find anything interesting besides a day indulging in bigass mall shopping.

Is there anything interesting or touristy to do in that part of the US?  Friends of mine are suggesting I fork out some cash and fly back via LA or SF - places I have been before, albeit 20 years ago. 

Thoughts?

Six Flags over Texas

https://www.sixflags.com/overtexas

I hope it has dried out before you arrive. They have been getting insane amounts of rain in North Texas over the last few days.

You might look at going to Austin or San Antonio on your extra days instead of staying in the DFW area.

Yeah, flying elsewhere sounds like your better option if you're not into the stuff listed. That's all Dallas is good for.

Could take a trip over to Austin, see the folks there and check out the music scene. I've always heard it was good.

Yeah, go anywhere but the DFW area.  It's popular with businesses, but about the most boring place on Earth.

Going to have to echo the others, Dallas is about the most generic city in Texas, with literally nothing to do that isn't replicated elsewhere. Austin is about a two hour drive south, other than that your friends' suggestion of flying somewhere, almost anywhere else in the US is better.

--Dave

If you are flying through LAX or SanFran, those would be better places to spend a couple extra days. I think LA has more touristy stuff but I really like visiting San Fran.

http://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2010/february/the-best-barbecue-in-dallas?single=1

http://www.thrillist.com/eat/dallas/local-pitmasters-in-dallas-rank-best-bbq-restaurants

Or rent a car drive the 3 hours to Austin (be sure and stop by http://www.louiemuellerbarbecue.com/ (http://www.louiemuellerbarbecue.com/) on the way in to town), stay here 2 nights and check out http://www.labarbecue.com/ (http://www.labarbecue.com/) and http://www.freedmensbar.com/ (http://www.freedmensbar.com/) (be sure and try the brisket at all 3 places), if you love juicy pork ribs falling off the bone I would suggest http://www.terryblacksbbq.com/ (http://www.terryblacksbbq.com/).  If you find yourself with an extra 5 hours to kill then do https://franklinbarbecue.com/ (https://franklinbarbecue.com/) or if you can scrounge up some companions and like flintstone style beef ribs load up a cooler with some beer and head out to the https://www.saltlickbbq.com/pages/Driftwood.html (https://www.saltlickbbq.com/pages/Driftwood.html).

If you find yourself in the throws of the meat sweats and on the verge of a meat overdose then you can check out one of the many fine non bbq restaurants in town.

The Dallas Museum of Art is a very cool area depending on what collections are rotation through as well. I believe it's like free for the regular admission and less than $10 for the other exhibits that rotate.

I like the Ballpark in Arlington, which is now Globe Life Park, because it's very old-school in build and open in terms of the way it's designed. High rafters, open areas, and a cool design make it fun to watch a game there, and you're going before it's completely ridiculously hot in the dark.

There's also the huge Perot Museum of Nature and Science which I've heard is great, but I haven't seen yet since it was built after I moved.

If you like Beef, Dallas has some of the best steakhouses in the state, especially since they are near the stockyards. Nick and Sam's makes top 10 lists constantly, and I would highly recommend going there if you don't mind spending some cash on a great meal.

If you're into music, head down to Austin and see some shows there. They have a much better music scene.

Dallas sucks. Rent a car and drive to New Orleans. Or maybe Austin.

I mean honestly if your choices are Dallas, Austin, or San Francisco? You'd be stupid not to just go to SF which is one of the more fun cities in the USA.

Fuck LA and SF. Either come to Austin, or suffer Dallas. If you're gonna suffer Dallas:

This is a not bad list of food: http://www.thrillist.com/eat/dallas/10-must-try-dallas-openings-new-dallas-bars-and-restaurants

The eater heat map is safe in any city if you don't want to think: http://dallas.eater.com/maps/best-new-dallas-restaurants-heatmap

Any local who says "oh Thrillist sucks or Eater sucks" in any city is a tryhard dickbag.

Other than that, if you're not eating, you're doing America wrong. We're a creatively bankrupt country with nothing worth seeing other than a big ditch, a big dam, a big ass diamond, and Las Vegas. If you disagree, you clearly haven't traveled to other countries enough.

Pacific Coast Highway.

However, the statement is still mostly true, though I guess it could depend on what you're looking for.

Thanks all, you have reinforced what I suspected (although six flags, I do love me a good roller coaster).

I'm currently flying Sydney -> Dallas -> Sydney direct, no stopping on the west coast.  So its just whether I want to fork out some cash out of my own pocket to change the flight and go via LA, or grab a car and see some other parts of Texas.  (I do love the idea of a meat sweat).

I suppose you can be too cool for just about anything, I found the redwoods to be a near religious experience.

I mean sure, for very specific people there are very specific things that can be great for them. But on the whole, the US is just crap compared to much of Europe, Asia, and even parts of South and Central America.

Pants - rent car, drive to Austin, eat BBQ. Or drive 40 miles past Austin to Lockhart and hit up Black's, Kreuz, and Chisholm. You will then be in a 24 hour coma and not have to worry about being entertained in Texas.

US National Parks are bad ass, that's why you see so many foreign visitors there when you go. But the cities are mostly boring unless you like sports, food, or music. There's very little cultural stuff to see or do in the average American city.

If you like music or you're an alcoholic/bar person, drive to Austin. If you just want food, it's a waste of your time. There's plenty of great restaurants in Dallas, or an any major American city for that matter.

You can always visit the Ewings... :why_so_serious:
http://southfork.com/southfork/

Which is a consequence of the country having created permanent structures in only the last few hundred years, unlike the rest of the world. I'll take the Parks and natural features over the cultural history, myself. Cities suck.

It's the same way here in Canada.  Unless you're into outdoorsy stuff, then there isn't much to do that other places don't do better, inc. the US.

What part of DFW are you staying in?  My shop is near-ish Love field airport if you want to grab a beer while you're in town.

And shoot insolent landlords too. It's a fun American pasttime, like running the bulls in Spain and such.

Your shop?

C. I own a BMW specialty shop/build racecars for endurance and sprint racing these days.

Ooo can you get me a deal on E46 parts?

Probably, although depending on what you need it may be cheaper from ECS Tuning/rmeuropean.  I've got a bunch of used parts tho, just let me know and I'll check.

If you take the flying to another city route, do SF.  LA is sort of a shithole.  Meanwhile, after traveling all over the world, SF (along with the greater Bay Area and surrounding countryside) is still probably my favorite city globally.

Other than that, as everybody said, visit Austin.  Haven't been there, but told it's the only decent city in Texas.  Though the usual point of advertising I hear for it is that "it's the most california like city outside of california", so maybe also just fly to California.   :why_so_serious:

There is plenty to do in the US.  SF, New York, Chicago, Boston, DC, and many others I haven't been to all have a lot of things for tourist to see and enjoy.  Tack in all of the amazing national parks, and there are a lot of reasons to come to the US as a tourist, lack of history or not.  I think a lot of you guys aren't taking into account the cultural change aspect.  What makes going to a new country fun and exciting is suddenly dealing with a different society and culture.  Especially for most Americans who live thousands of miles from any different type of culture and rarely get to experience it.  

Most of you are American/Canadian/Australian, and are use to this sort of society.  You're bored with it.  People from other places love coming to the US because it is different and exciting, just like when we go to Italy or Japan.  I've meet a number of people across Europe and Asia who all take their yearly vacations to the U.S.  It's really cool to them, which I thought was odd at first, but now understand.  I've been in Europe for a few years, have traveled all over it, and I barely blink when I go to new places now.  "Oh, another medival city center with a cathedral and castle.  Cool.  Wonder where a bar is."   :awesome_for_real:

If you look into it closely, you find that a lot of older structures that are preserved all around the world are actually not really preserved, e.g., that many of them were rebuilt in the 18th and 19th Centuries. So you can also be fooled into thinking that everywhere you go there are really, really old buildings when instead mostly you're seeing moderately old buildings. Many of the structures and designs that visitors most cherish in cities around the world are also much younger than they suspect.

Moving from California to Austin literally the only things I miss are the pacific ocean and the national parks.  The gulf is like the toilet bowl of the sea and Texas has something like 99% of the land owned by private parties so there are basically no national parks here at all.  

Yeah, that's another thing people don't realize.  Even the ones that have been 'preserved' have had centuries of restoration work done on them to keep them standing, so a lot of the building is actually made up of newer material and doesn't look how "it use to".

Thanks for all the info everyone.  I'm back in Aus now - FYI, between the conference, getting hit pretty bad by jetlag (I must be getting old), and coming home a day earlier than previously planned, I ended up staying in downtown Dallas and not doing all that much at all (eating, bars, braving the American Girl store).  I agree there aint that much to do in Dallas, I managed to fill up 2 days fine, but any further would have been stretching it.

And damn there is still a lot of water in Texas.