Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center

We've been waiting for so long for this promised spectacle of a resort just north of DFW Airport, that you will have to trust me when I say that it exceeded all the publicity we'd seen. It is a stunning place. Everything is bigger, better, fancier and the food tastes better than promised by the producers of this wonderful place. We had a suite, but I can tell you that the regular rooms are just fine, thank you! Everything is done with a Texan theme from the custom carpets that seem to run for miles to the enormous star in the glass ceiling of the over four-acre atrium. Glorious!

All rooms either face toward the atrium or toward the outside of the hotel (with possible views of Lake Grapevine.) My suite opened into the atrium and gave me a small balcony with a very pleasant view of all the goings on at the various restaurants and gardens in the atrium. Pleasantly there is no airplane noise from DFW Airport.

Call it all a bonus and a wonderful place for a meeting or a getaway weekend. With room prices starting at $249 per night, you need to look for special package rates that include, spa, shopping at the Mall or Bass Pro Shop or golf.

Ya'll come now! I can promise that you won't be disappointed. Not a chance of that.

Absolutely high-end sheets, towels and bath products. All the beds are huge and some are bigger! Texas size! The room service menu prices are quite reasonable for what you get and there is a 30-minute delivery guaranty. If they don't get it to you that quickly, there is no charge. The breakfasts are really great.

No poodles allowed. I’m not pleased about that, but it's a minor problem that I can't take my poodle princess to Gaylord.

This is Nuevo Latino cuisine at Chef Stephan Pyles' newest restaurant. Some of the food is served tapas style. That is in small portions that are best shared with your friends. Other items are served in regular sized portions but all in the southwestern style. We had six people at the table and ordered two tapas items each plus a huge pitcher of sangria and margaritas for our first round of goodies. Wow! We picked a couple we liked best (the salmon is incredible and likely the best I've ever eaten) and also ordered more to try including short ribs (excellent), tamales (great) and several more plates of salmon and orders of wonderful short ribs. We finished off by ordering more sangria and a variety of desserts. Well, we were all staying in the resort and didn't have to drive! Just the long walk back to our rooms.

What an evening in the dear little house called Ama Lur in the middle of the atrium at this wonderful hotel!!! I can't brag about it enough. A new hotel and everything was fantastic! There was a variety of tables available including one large one that looks like the king's banquet table. There was plenty of atmosphere and kind service. We all had a great time. Telephone ahead for reservations to avoid disappointment.

OK, so call me on this one. This is a restaurant that is designed to please children, but I really enjoy going there. No so much for the noisy surroundings, but the food is really good (for what it is). The fish tanks are beautiful and among the best in our area and the decor is cute to say the least. It’s a 'bang for the buck' situation. Very good for the family if you are lucky enough to show up when there is little or no line. They will give you a timed ticket with an indication when you should return to get your table when the line is nearly out the door of the mall.

The food is basic American chow with a heavy emphasis on what children and young families like to eat. It’s priced accordingly. But the food is well prepared and well presented. Every time I have dined there, the service has been above average.

The Gaylord Texan Resort offers a free shuttle trolley to and from Grapevine Mills Mall and some families with young children who are staying at the resort give the kids a break with a trip over to the Rainforest Cafe.

We had hamburgers, large, fresh and very tasty and an enormous plate of potato skins. I had coffee, which was freshly made and served with real cream.

Not just for children, this restaurant has a full bar. In fact you can get into the bar without having to wait in the line for a regular table. As you can order food in the bar, this may be an alternative to the often long line.

If the sounds of roaring lions and screaming monkeys don't set your nerves on end, you might want to give this place a try.

This is the best place to buy ice cream within 50 miles of the DFW Airport. This also is the best and happiest of Joe Libowsky's several Milwaukee Joe's locations. The staff are all pretty, perky, and cheerful young women, often students at the local high school. A cone or dish of ice cream will run you a bit less than $5, but it is the premium stuff of legends. A prime favorite is the homemade custard, but I'll go for anything with chocolate and banana.

This location has only outside seating with miniature picnic tables for small children and benches for everyone else. You slurp your ice cream with a nice view of the new Tarrant County Subcourthouse and a long line of high-end shops. This location is very close to a Starbucks and an Eddie Baurer store. This is a very good place to rest those tired feet. Open all year with shorter hours in winter, this is a very popular place for the young people of this beautiful small town that is close enough to DFW that you can read the tail logos on the jets as they are on their final approach to land at the big airport.

Gaylord Texan Resort runs a free shuttle trolley to and from Grapevine Mills Mall and Bass Pro Shop. A good percentage of the men (and some women) staying at the Resort came to Grapevine with the major object of shopping at Bass Pro Shop. Less than 10 minutes away, this amazing retail experience even has a vending machine that sells LIVE BAIT (see photos). There is an on site snack bar, special activities for children and all the outdoor gear you could ever possibly want. This is the place for men who want to get the best of everything for fishing, hunting, boating and camping. The clothing for sale is also amazing. An indoor feature is the pond and large water wheel. We made the trek to shop for specialty knives.

It’s always, always busy but sometimes chock full of folks. The staff is kind and helpful. I wanted a sun block shirt and, of course, they had a selection in several colors. Do you want a new boat? Camper? No problem, run out to Bass Pro Shop. They also offer a free shuttle to and from DFW Airport (972)724-2018 if you have three hours or so between flights and want to visit this amusing, useful and adventurous store.

You have to find the Live Bait 'Coke' machine! In our part of North Texas, remember it's BAIT not sushi!

Do you want to shop the outlet stores for Neiman-Marcus, Saks, Samsonite, Hanes, Virgin Records, and many, many others? Then trot yourself over to Grapevine Mills Mall. There’s a free shuttle trolley from the Gaylord Texan Resort. While you are at this mall, you can also choose a movie from one of 30 screens, go ice-skating, or eat a variety of cuisines and price ranges.

When you book the Gaylord Texan Resort, one of the weekend packages is 'shopping'. While some family members head out for golf at Cowboys Golf Club, others than run up the credit cards at this huge mall.

Don't feel silly about dragging back to the Gaylord Texan with huge shopping bags as so many people do it. This really is a discount mall, not just an outlet mall in theory. You can easily walk over a mile in air-conditioned comfort (skip those outdoor outlet malls!!!) while you take at look at all the stores. They have very good prices on all sorts of things for children from clothing to toys. Also there are five or six different shops that sell chocolate. Make your own choice.

So it opened on 2 April 2004, on schedule as promised, but bigger and better than we could imagine. Bang! Big Texan Resort with golfing, spas, indoor and outdoor pools, fantastic restaurants, and great guest rooms. What brings visitors to a complete stop after they walk into the hotel? The first look at the massive atrium that it the indoor air conditioned play area for guests staying in the over 1500 rooms.

The look of the peoples' faces! After staying in the hotel for a couple nights I got used to seeing that amazed expression. The experience of staying at or even just walking through the Garylord Texan is nearly beyond words.

For a start a river runs through the atrium. There are hundreds of live trees, shrubs, flowering plants and carefully placed benches so that you can enjoy it all without having to pay to sit in a restaurant or bar (unlike the hotels in Las Vegas!). Bring granny or have granny bring you to this hotel. It is a pure pleasure just to walk around the place.

The atrium is designed to have familiar aspects of the San Antonio Riverwalk, so much so that you will feel quite at home on your first visit. Well, there you are on one of the Riverwalk bridges for sure.

In one of the garden areas a beautiful bridge is having her photos taken. It's that kind of a place, an instant local tradition.

Blessings to the folks who designed this place and had the courage to spend nearly $500 million to build it. Yes, nearly half a billion US dollars. Every detail is so well considered from the beauty and comfort of the furniture to the original works of art around the place. Every eye goes up to look at the massive Texas star in the glass ceiling of the atrium, so large that you can see it from an airplane landing at the nearby DFW International Airport. Now that's Texas size.

The guest rooms in the hotel face either inward to the atrium or outwards toward the lake or countryside. If you have an atrium room, you also have a balcony where you can sit in air-conditioned comfort and watch all the goings on. We never had any noise in our room from the atrium. This place is very well designed. If you know a Texan summer, then you know that you really do want that air conditioning.

This resort is so large that the size itself became a problem for some of the older guests in our group. There’s miles of walking to do. Don't worry about how much you eat as you are going to walk it off for sure.

Enjoy this fine place. It is already a very special part of our lives here in Texas.