me

Pat, I'd spend 3 days for Dallas and two for Fort Worth. I just had some visiting relatives in from New England and we spent 6 days touring around Dallas alone...

Dallas weather in February is usually gorgeous ... crisp cool days with sunshine... most of the time...

My favorite Dallas activities...

. The 6th Floor Kennedy Museum
. The 19th century village in Old City Park has dozens if old houses and other buildings, all restored to the period - tours available
. Dallas World Aquarium - an entire jungle in a building
. The Meadows Museum of Spanish Art - the King of Spain thought it was stunning
. Ride up and down McKinney Avenue in a 100 year old streetcar - for free
. Traders Village - a huge flea market in suburban Grand Prairie
. Take an elevator to the top of Reunion Tower and overlook the city
. Ripleys/House of Wax in Grand Prairie
. The Dallas Museum of Art - two blocks of paintings and decorative arts
. Crow Asian Art museum... four floors of Asian artifacts
. Texas Hall of State in Fair Park
. Womens' Museum in Fair Park
. Dallas Arboretum on the shore of lovely White Rock Lake
. Browse the antique/historical shops in downtown Carrollton
. Explore downtown Plano - quaint shops
. Hang out at night in the West Village at a sidewalk cafe...
. Go shopping and people-watching at the Dallas Farmers Market - one shed full of handicraft vendors as well as fruits, plants, produce...
. Take a tour of the new stadium - American Airlines Center - most expensive in US
. For an overall look at Dallas, ride the Red and Blue DART metro lines through the city and sightsee from the windows
. Walk around the West End and enjoy the music, ride in a horse-drawn carriage, be a part of a crowd
. Enjoy the Art-Deco atmosphere of Fair Park itself, with many, many art deco murals on the buildings
. Browse the unusual, one-of-a-kind shops in big, bad, Deep Ellum
. Visit the aviation museum located inside Dallas' Love Field
. Visit the railroad museum in Fair Park... old locos, coaches, station buildings.
. Go to Paciugo's Gelateria in the West Village for Italian Ice Cream
. Go ice skating in the rink at the Dallas Galleria

Fort Worth -

. Tour the water gardens
. Walk around downtown FW, look at the murals, have a beer at Billy Miners Saloon and gaze at the photos of Butch Cassidy
. Check out the small but exciting Remington Museum of Western Art
. Check out the new Cowgirl Museum
. Take the Tarantula Steam Train from FW to the suburb of Grapevine
. The Fort Worth zoo is one of the best in America - check out the section on Texas animals
. The Kimbell Art Museum is a dont-miss
. The Fort Worth Stockyards area has a lot of western-style shops and Country-Western places

Links to tourism sites are:

http://www.visitdallas-fortworth.com/

http://www.dallascityhall.com/visiting/pleasure/

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g55711-Dallas_Texas-Vacations.html

http://www.uptowndallas.net/

http://www.dallascvb.com/vi/welcome.asp

Enjoy your Texas vacation!

texgirl

The perfect Texas vacation...
Pick which city you want to start off in...
Dallas - Sixth Floor Museum, Southfork Ranch (cheesy - but you might get a kick out of it), West Village / Deep Ellum for night life.

Fort Worth - Stockyards, Billy Bob's is a must for out-of-town visitors, Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth Zoo is one of the best in the country and has a terrific Texas Wild! exhibit showcasing Texas flora & fauna.

Head down I-35 to...
Austin - LBJ Museum is ok, but even better is "The Story of Texas" State History Museum - traces Texas from Spanish Missions to the Space Age - very mythic stuff. Austin nightlife, of course, live music - just ask anyone in town or pickup a local paper.

Hill Country - to the south and west of Austin between Austin and San Antonio. My favorite Hill Country towns are: Gruene, Boerne, Comfort, Bandera, Johnson City (home of LBJ.) Fredricksburg is by far the most touristy and the most popular. What do you do in the HIll Country? Scenery, antique shops, wineries, stop at roadside BBQ stands. Feburary will be cold or else a tube trip down the Guadalupe (when it's not flooded) is a MUST.

San Antonio - Riverwalk, Alamo, Menger Hotel, El Mercado. Pig out on Mexican food.

That's the top - Other recommendations...
Galveston - Not as bad as people say. Moody Gardens and Museum / Aquarium is quite nice. The Strand.

Corpus Christi - South Padre - Beaches and water and seafood.

Houston - NASA is fun for out -of-towners, If you're in town for the Houston Rodeo, you have to go to that! Biggest stockshow and rodeo, big concert every night. The rodeo is a lot of fun - the roping, etc.

College Station - George Bush Presidential Museum, beautiful college campus.

Texas would be a great vacation!

Linda

If you put Texas into Europe, it would go from Paris to Warsaw, west to east. Big Bend in far west Texas and Palo Duro Canyon in the Panhandle only could be seen if you fly there. Otherwise, it would take too long. We do have Amtrak train but I have to agree with the others about renting a car. In Dallas, we have DART light-rail trains which can help with some local site-seeing and it now goes to Fort Worth and you can hook up the Fort Worth's buses to Museum Row there. The above suggestions for activities are good ones. For Dallas, try guidelive.com. Going Interstate Highway 35 from Dallas to Austin, cut across to Fredericksburg/Kerrville, then hit I-10 east to San Antonio. I had a number of Germans visit and they enjoyed the Hill Country and San Antonio. Take the "river" ride in downtown San Antonio and, if you are there on a Sunday, go to the noon Mariachi Mass at Mission San Jose. I would recommend a trip to Houston just for NASA and the Alley Theater. You could fly back to Dallas or on to your next destination.

travellyn

I have to comment on the whole Big Bend/West Texas thing.

I have driven to Big Bend NP twice, once from Houston and another time from Kerrville (an hour west of San Antonio). Each trip took one LONG day. It is NOT the same as a trip of similar distance in Europe! Travel in Texas is much faster. I would think that the experience of visiting West Texas would be especially memorable to someone coming from London, because there is nothing like it in Britain.

If you don't particularly like mountains and desert, then you shouldn't make the trip, but don't let people scare you off with the distances involved. You have plenty of time.

P.S. I don't live in West Texas, and I don't really like West Texas other than Big Bend, Palo Duro Canyon, Guadalupe Mountains NP, and the Davis Mountains.

texgirl

Oh - I meant to add something about West Texas too. Although I wouldn't want to live there, there are attractions for tourists / out-of towners. Lubbock is the home of Buddy Holly and there are some interesting sites around there. Palo Duro Canyon is great, both for history and nature. You could surf the sand dunes in Monahans (outside Midland). Someone else mentioned Cadillac Ranch. Big Bend is great if you want to hike / camp. El Paso does have a national park within city limits. Plus, I've heard that there are a number of ranches in West Texas / Panhandle that are now doing "guest ranching" for Japanese / European visitors (they had to shut down during mad cow but I'm sure they're back up.) Sort of like a B&B with horses and a round up.

BUT... for someone with only 2 weeks - and who isn't driving through to New Mexico, I would recommend against Big Bend / West Texas just because of the TIME it takes to get there and back to civilization.

Can't wait to hear your plans, Pat!

Kellie

South Texas (anyting south of Dallas) will be nice to drive and see. But most of it you will have seen in England, rolling hills, trees, mobs of cars and people. Why not go somewhere differnt, like nothing you've seen before. The panhandle and west Texas are magnificant areas. Their expanse goes on for as far as the eye can see. There is no other place in the world that has better sunsets. And if you were going in the summer you would find out what zero humidity in 100 degree weather is like (It's GREAT!!) February will be a nice time for Austin and San Antonio, not too hot yet.
I love all of Texas and I think you will too. One of the best parts of Texas is the food. Don't be tricked into eating at places along the major interstate highways, venture off into the towns and find the restaurant with the most pickups in front and go there, reservations are never needed in Texas. And if you are ever lost or need help, just ask, Texans are the friendliest in the world.

Paul

Pat,
2 Weeks is an excruciatingly long time to be in Texas. Its mostly flat, hot, humid country. Once you see the shopping malls and amusement parks, come over to New Mexico for some mountain scenery. You can ski or golf in February depending upon your druthers.

KB

Crawford is not in the Hill Country. Its pretty flat plus its not anywhere close to what is commonly known as the Hill Country. Its 18 miles from Waco in Central Texas. Go to http://www.crawfordtx.com/. Its got a special welcom for British visitors (for some reason).

J

2 things to add, Feb. is Stockshow and Rodeo time in San Antonio, a definite must see for anyone from England...it's nothing like you have over there.
Secondly, you don't want to cross the border, you're asking for problems on re-entry into the US on your passport.