Doing The Big D

Dallas in early January 2007 was not a friendly place. It was cold and rainy and the rain was freezing. We had to make some hard choices. We thought we would be able to do a lot more than the weather allowed us to do. Our days became shorter and we had to drive very slowly. We therefore allowed ourselves only three places to visit.

Saturday morning we made the Sixth Floor Museum our first stop. Allow at least one and a half hours to visit here. There is a lot to read, several movies to watch and an additional exhibit on the seventh floor. If you have more than a passing interest it could take well over two hours. Even with the terrible weather there was still quite a few people visiting the museum. There is a parking lot right at the museum but it isn’t free.

Our second stop on Saturday was the Dallas Art Museum. It was an easy drive from the Sixth Floor Museum and there is a parking lot right across the street, again not free but convenient. With travel so treacherous we chose to have lunch at the museum. Allow at least two hours to tour the entire museum and use the headphone tour.

Sunday we ventured out again and this time headed to the outskirts to the SMU Campus for a visit to the Meadows Museum. The Museum itself can be visited in less than an hour but the gift shop is really exceptional so allow some extra time for that. Parking is available in an adjacent parking garage and was free.

Quick Tips:

What I didn’t get to do. I had planned to take a Trolley Tour; go to Fair Park and visit some of the Museums and visit Old City Park. I guess I will just have to plan a return visit.

We stayed in Irving while we visited Dallas and Fort Worth. It is the perfect location. Though closer to Dallas than Fort Worth it made getting to either city very easy.

In Irving we visited the National Scouting Museum where anyone who has ever been or wanted to be a Boy Scout will find something of interest.

Sites I used

www.visitdallas-forworth.com

This site has two pages worth of discount coupons. We used the one for the Sixth Floor Museum. It also has several themed itineraries if you want to have some help planning your trip.

www.dallscvb.com

There are also coupons on this site for lodging and for the Sixth Floor Museum.

www.dallascityhall.com

A good site with lots of helpful information. Some useful maps, transportation information along with information on art and culture.

www.traveltex.com

This is a great site and if you only want to use one for a multi city visit it might just be the best one. It provides link to lots of sites, is broken down by city and then attractions within the cities. A good place to order your Texas Travel Guide.

Best Way To Get Around:

Dallas is served by an International Airport DFW and a regional one Love Field. Both are served by most major carriers. DFW is located west of Dallas and east of Fort Worth.

In all honesty we had no problem at all driving around Dallas. There are a lot of one way streets and the map I had didn’t show these however I was able to adjust our route accordingly. Parking was never an issue. It was however the weekend and traffic was light.

We stayed in Irving. There was a DART station only three blocks from our B&B. DART would have taken us right into downtown Dallas for a very reasonable price. Given the weather we did give this serious consideration. DART Trains do not run on Sunday between Dallas and Fort Worth. To plan your trip using DART go to http://www.dart.org/. Besides for the trains, DART uses buses on many routes. We drove in on the secondary roads. Our feeling was that with the weather iffy speed was much more of an issue on the highway and with icy over passes every few feet made travel much more dangerous.

In my hunt for the unique and special I came across the Jefferson Street Bed and Breakfast Inn in Irving. It seemed like a great location for visiting both Dallas and Fort Worth. After looking their site over I realized that they had a house that they rented. This seemed perfect for us having two bedrooms and plenty of living space for us to stretch out in. Best of all it has a washer and a dryer. On a two week vacation this is a godsend. It would allow us to carry only about 5 or 6 days worth instead of 15. We also like to play cards or dominos and having a table is a big plus.

I sent out my email and received a prompt response. We sent our deposit by check and received our confirmation by email. We have the option of having the breakfast fixings left in our refrigerator or of going across the street to have breakfast. We opted to go across the St.

Lee and Tom are the perfect hosts. Every morning they were waiting for us when we come across with a great hot breakfast. We had yogurt with fruit as a starter and orange juice and coffee. The special of the day varied from the best waffles with fruit compote to egg souffle with sausage and even a banana’s foster hot granola dish. You will never find more helpful hosts, they provided a map and also very accurate directions and suggestions for getting to Dallas, Fort Worth, and where to have a meal with the locals.

Our house was just wonderful, it was everything I had hoped and even more. It had two bedroom and two bathrooms. Both rooms had queen size beds, with soft sheets and warm bedding and comfortable chairs. There is plenty of light for reading in bed. The kitchen is fully equipped right down to the Starbucks coffee and Twinings teas. There is a dishwasher, fridge, stove, microwave and a coffee maker. The furniture is in the mission style with a table with four comfortable chairs, a couch and coffee table and can you believe it a computer with WIFI and even a printer. It was so helpful for printing out maps.

The washer and dryer were in a closet and the soap, fabric softener and even the stain treatment was all provided. In our bedroom there was an ironing board and iron.

Lee and Tom have really though of everything, there was even an umbrella which I gratefully used on several occasions.

Besides for the house, Jefferson St has three bedrooms in the main ranch house and five more to be added in the not too distant future. I was given a tour of the rooms and they are beautiful and equally as comfortable as the house. One has a huge Jacuzzi tub and the others have tile showers.

This was a wonderful home away from home and I highly recommend it. www.jeffersonstreetbnb.com.

After our visit to the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza we head up to find the Museum of Art. Parking was easy in the lot across the street. It is pay and display. We were starving so decided to find out what the dining options were. The atrium café is beautiful, open and light and the window is covered with colored glass flowers. The decor is simple, minimalistic really with ultra modern curved wood chairs and simple tables and certainly gives no hint of the culinary delights that await. Even as we stood at the counter to order we had no hint. This Café is so much more than it looks like. The menu is simple with soup, salad and sandwiches as well as a few main courses, fish tacos, pasta, pizza and fish and fries.

It was a cold and wet day so Joe opted for the Chicken and stars soup. Sounds like a child’s dish doesn’t it? Believe me there is no comparison between what Joe got and the canned variety.
I ordered the mozzarella and garden tomato salad with field greens, pine nuts and balsamic glaze. I added chicken thinking the salad might be small and not filling enough. Al told me to just pick for him so in a moment of brilliance I chose the Debris po’boy braised beef hoagie with coleslaw and au jus.

We paid, were given markers to place on our table so they could find us and went to get our seats. Before long, our feast arrived. Oh my, my salad was huge, so huge I couldn’t finish it even though it was certainly one of the best salads of its kind that I have ever eaten.

Al’s hoagie was a behemoth. I think even he was intimidated by its size. However, ultimately it isn’t size that counts but taste and this one was large in the tasty department as well. It had a fantastic crunchy roll, filled with tender slices of braised beef. The plate was overflowing with very good french fries which we hadn’t even expected.

Joe’s soup was a large bowl and the veggies and chicken were chunky. Large pieces of carrots and celery and very tender chicken.

My salad had the largest pieces of mozzarella that I have ever eaten. Slabs is the word that best describes the two pieces on my salad. There were not just a couple of pine nuts either. It was very well covered. The chicken breast was moist and covered with the balsamic glaze. It was outrageously delicious.

Joe had a Coke and Al and I had tap water. It was served in beautiful cobalt blue goblets. This was first class all the way. I highly recommend this restaurant even if it’s just for a drink and dessert. We however didn’t have one inch of room to try any.

When you are looking for an alternative to the chain restaurants ask the locals. That is exactly what we did here in Irving. I talked to Lee who owns the Jefferson B&B and asked her where we should go for dinner. I wanted someplace close that wasn’t Chili’s or Applebee. She suggested Joe’s Coffee Shop.

Now don’t let the name put you off, what it should be called is Joe’s Diner. These days a coffee shop has taken on a whole new meaning. Since Joe’s has been around for over thirty years I figure it was a good cup of Joe that made them call this a coffee shop.

This is a smoking establishment however there is a non-smoking section. We were never bothered by the smoke but we were at the farthest possible point away from the smoking section. Our waitress was a doll. She came right over and introduced us to how things go at Joe’s . Everyday Monday through Friday there is an all you can eat dinner buffet. On Thursday the choices are always chicken and dumplings and something, this day it was meatloaf. For $7.95 you get salad bar, all you can eat meat, potatoes and vegetables, and dessert. We asked right away what the dessert of the day was and it was mixed berry shortcake, how could we resist.

What was most enjoyable about this place was that everybody knows each other and it was only a few minutes before we were being treated like we are locals and eat here every week. It was real down home food, nothing fancy just good comfortable food like Mom would make. The salad bar had some very tasty and to me unusual choices. Beyond the salad greens and tomatoes there was carrot and raisin salad, peas in a salad dressing and some other already dressed baby greens with chopped tomatoes that was really good. There was also soup which was chili.

The meat was simple and there was a tomato based gravy that could be added. The potatoes were mashed and if I guess correctly not scratch and the veggies were beans and corn. Al and I had the buffet. Joe ordered a ham steak with mashed potatoes and black-eyed peas. If you are over 60 (Joe is) you get the senior discount and we got $2 off the total bill.

We got a basket with corn muffins and rolls. The shortcake was pound cake with mixed berries and piped whipped cream. It was not gourmet but it was very satisfying. The meals for the 3 of us came to $27. That included a coke for Joe and a Dr. Pepper for me. We are looking forward to going back Friday for the all you can eat catfish.

We didn’t do all you can eat we did 2 pieces of catfish, choice of potatoes, spinach, salad bar or soup, and dessert for $7.50. How can you beat that.

The Dallas Museum of Art developed from a modest beginning in the Public Library. A dedicated group of citizens set about making the space an attractive, well-lit area. Once they had the space they began procuring additional art to display. The first two works were My Gondolier’s Kitchen by Herbert Faulkner and September Moonrise by Childe Hassam. These led to other donations and acquisitions, and in 1903 The Dallas Art Association was formed. In 1909 the DAA donated their collection to the City of Dallas.

In 1984 the museum moved downtown and since has expanded and supplemented the original building as need and funds have allowed. Major donations have given them a fabulous decorative art’s collection. Today the museum has more than 23,000 pieces of art from ancient to modern.

We began our visit by having lunch at the Atrium Café. Even the Café is a work of art. The large windows are covered in colorful glass flowers. There is a headphone tour that you may request at the check-in desk.

We fell in love with this museum. We began in the American section and they have done a wonderful job of integrating the art and the decorative arts. I was absolutely floored to find a late 18th century portrait that had a view of the town hall in my hometown, Middletown Ct. in the background. I have never seen a picture of the town hall from that period before and I am not quite sure if anyone knows that there is one. I was mesmerized by it.

Photography without flash is allowed in the museum so as you can imagine I had a ball. You need to look at your map of the museum because some of the Impressionist Art is a little hard to find. It is shown in room settings and you need to find the rooms. There is something extra special about seeing the art in the rooms as it would have been displayed.

There is an excellent silver collection. The Gorham dressing table and stool are like nothing else you have ever seen. Created for the Paris exposition it is breathtaking and just the tip of the iceberg.

Expect to see art work by John Singleton Copley, Frederick Church, John Singer Sargent, Georgia O"Keefe, Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso, Piet Modrian, Henri Matisse, and much more.

For us however, the standout was the Wendy and Emery Reeves Collection. Consisting of more than 1,400 pieces, it was donation to the Museum in 1984. The Museum opened a 16,500 floor wing to house the collection. It will knock your socks off. The rooms recreate the Villa of La Pausa where the Reeves entertained among others Winston Churchill and Greta Garbo. This will help explain the small room of Churchill art works and memorabilia. Add to this, works by Van Gogh, Renoir, Degas, Sisley and Monet among others and you will get a small idea of the magnificence that awaits you.

Located on the campus of Southern Methodist University, the Meadows Museum is a real gem. Getting here is half the fun, this is a beautiful neighborhood and a lovely campus. Bishop Blvd is indeed a Blvd with a pretty green dividing the two parts of the road. Watch out for the 20 mile an hour signs, they are only in effect when school is on but they never turn off. The locals like to discourage through traffic.

The Meadows has one of the finest collections of Spanish art outside of Spain. The art was donated by Oil tycoon Algur Hurtle Meadows. His many trips to Spain had inspired a love of Spanish Art and he began amassing an awesome collection which he donated to Southern Methodist University to form the core of their museum in memory of his first wife. When it was discovered that many of the early works he had donated were falsely attributed, he made donations of millions of dollars to purchase additional works.

Before I talk about the collection I need to say that the building itself is lovely. Wonderful high ceilings and lots of natural light and very impressive staircase.

At the time we were visiting there was a special exhibit of works from the Boston Fine Arts Museum, go figure. We were able to pass on this.

The collection of Spanish Art covers the early Renaissance to modern times and is located on the second floor. There is a very early organ which is of particular interest. It is an Oldovini and was originally in the Cathedral at Evora, Portugal. It is the only Oldovini organ outside the Iberian peninsula.

The collection contains works by Velaszquez, Murillo, Ribera, Goya, Zurburan, and El Greco. On a more modern note there are several works by Picasso.

Of particular interest to me was the portrait of Allesandro Farnese, the grandson of Charles V, by Diego Velazquez. I also enjoyed “Socrates with the Mirror” by Jose de Ribera. I found it interesting that he was a student of Carravaggio and also that he spent almost his entire working life in Italy where he was known as Lo Spagnoletto the Little Spaniard.

Beyond the art works there are also so some truly wonderful sculptures and one of the finest Rodin Sculptures in the United States, “Eve in Despair” is part of the collection that was donated by Mr Meadows in honor of his second wife.

In the hallway there is a twelfth century fresco of the last supper. Keep walking around. On the first floor there is a round room that has some interesting paintings including one by Velazquez and in a board room there is a portrait of Mrs Meadows.

The museum has a wonderful gift store that was manned by a college student the day we were there. He has hopes of doing post-grad studies at Yale so was very interested in talking to us about Connecticut.

For me, the one reason I had for visiting Dallas was to visit the 6th Floor Museum. I don ‘t think that there is anyone who was alive on November 22, 1963 who doesn’t remember exactly where he was when he heard the news. A whole nation was stunned. It was as if time stopped, as if our innocence was shattered. As far as impact goes it ranks right up there with September 11, 2001. In our family this was a date we could never forget because it was also my fathers birthday. I was in 8th grade in 1963. We were all called back to our home rooms and told that the president had been shoot and killed. We were let out of school early and for days just sat home glued to the television.

This museum brought this all back with a vengeance but though I cried several times while going through it was also cathartic, as if finally it could be put to rest. I am so glad that we went even though we all admitted that we left with a very heavy heart.

NO photography is allowed in the museum. You enter through the lobby and take the elevator to the 6th floor. The displays are chronological and include pictures, lots to read and some memorabilia. We start by learning about John F Kennedy, his family, his political life, the campaign and the years of his presidency. We work our way slowly into November 1963. We followed the President and Mrs Kennedy through the other cities in Texas to that fateful noon in Dallas.

As we work our way to the sixth floor window where Lee Harvey Oswald had created a barricade, it becomes more and more emotional. I find myself wanting the ending to change. I think everybody there was hoping the same thing.

On the 7th floor there is an exhibit from the Dallas Police Department detailing the day from their perspective. It was a difficult time, they were prepared for some protesters but no one had any idea that this type of plan was afoot. After shooting President Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald Killed a Dallas Police Officer and for a while no one knew that it was the same man who had committed both crimes. The door that was on the precinct on that particular day is in this exhibit.

Entrance to the museum is $10. There is also a 45 minute audio tour for an additional $3.50. We had printed out a $2 discount ticket so our total was $11.50 each.

There are several other video exhibits that last a few minutes each along the way and then there is a small theater where a 10 minute video entitled “The Nation and World Responds” is shown.

You end your tour by passing through the proverbial gift shop. The museum has it’s own parking lot with a charge of $4.

Anyone who ever was or is a Boy Scout or even wanted to be a Boy Scout will enjoy this museum. It has 53,000 square feet and over 500,000 artifacts. The building is a little off the beaten track but it will be obvious when you see the large sculpture which is the correct building. We had a %50 off coupon of the usual $8. In the lobby you will see large plaques with the Boy Scout oath, law and a huge fleur de lis. Our first stop was the Norman Rockwell Gallery. You can use your cell phone to do an audio tour of the gallery. It was very well done. From 1925-1974 in al but two years he produced a calendar for the Boy Scouts. His involvement with scouting had begun much earlier when he had been an illustrator for Boys Life and he was one of the all time great supporters of Scouting.

After leaving the Gallery we went to the History Theater. Sir Robert Baden Powell is our host and he introduces us to the scouting and the 15-minute video. We learnt about the founding of scouting in England where loyalty to country and morality of character were the hallmarks. He wrote a book called “Scouting for Boys” which laid out his design for scouting. It was William Boyce who introduced scouting to the US in 1910 and it was James West who is responsible for the development and the organization of the BSA. We learnt about famous men who were eagle scouts, Neil Armstrong, Hank Aaron, Nolan Ryan, Walter Cronkite and Gerald Ford.

After the video we went through the display of memorabilia from the founders of scouting and some famous scouts' flags, uniforms, histories and lots more.

When we entered we were given 2 tokens each. We got to use these in the shooting gallery. I just want to point out that I had the highest score. Evidently I missed my calling as a sharpshooter.

I found the section on the Pinewood Derby of particular interest. They had a really big wooden derby car. We have gone though this with our children and now with our grandchildren. You can sit at the campfire and hear stories told by an animatronic scoutmaster. Al and Joe had a great time racing each other on bikes at the virtual reality gamebike adventure area.

There are several other areas on Jamborees, camping, spelunking as well as virtual fishing. Al was disappointed that he didn’t still have his tokens.

We finished by looking at cases of badges and awards.

The gift store is a scouts dream. I was able to get my grandson who is a bear some stickers and they had pens, pencils, mugs and a whole lot of other stuff as well as official scouting materials, uniforms and books.

Allow a couple of hours at least.