Dynamic DFW

*Editor’s note: I originally wrote this in December, but due to a series of personal events was never able to post it. I hope you enjoy this belated winter post! Up to this point, my blog has mostly focused on the Dallas half of “DFW”, so I wanted to write a little about Fort Worth.  I was so excited when a friend invited me to see “The Nutcracker” at Bass Performance Hall in Downtown Fort Worth . I would never have guessed that the most memorable part would be the train ride there. For those who have never been to the DFW area, it’s important to note that living in the Metroplex is a lot like living in Los Angeles: Most people have cars and public transportation is typically used only for special occasions.  However, in the last few years, the Dallas Area Rail Transit (DART) and the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) have made an excellent marketing effort to get more riders. Because it’s about an hour drive from Dallas to downtown Fort Worth, including several highw...

Near Freedman’s Cemetery Memorial there are a few other historical burial sites that the Uptown Dallas Public Improvement District has designated as part of the Uptown Trails Cemetery Tour. The nice thing about these cemeteries is that they include informational signs so that visitors who don’t opt for the Dallas Historical Society’s tour will still have some exposure to the history and famous residents of each graveyard. Today’s post will focus on Calvary Cemetery. According to a signpost at the entrance, the cemetery was established in 1878 following the land’s purchase by the Bishop of Galveston.  This was not the first Catholic cemetery in Dallas, and the oldest dated headstone remaining is for carpenter P.T. Clark, proprietor of the Railroad Planning Mill, who died on April 22, 1877, suggesting that the cemetery was in use prior to the acquisition by the church. The style of tombstones in Calvary Cemetery are diverse. Many of Calvary Cemetery’s graves b...

View of the entrance to the Museum of Biblical Art from the Boedeker Street side. If you ask average North Texans where to go locally to see great works of art by renowned Masters, they’ll probably point you to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth or the Dallas Museum of Art in the Arts District. But there’s one more museum to add to the list and it’s in an unexpected location. The Museum of Biblical Art, located on Park Lane just behind NorthPark Center, appears closed from the street with one entrance blocked off and heavy wooden doors shut against the blistering Texas heat. I had been past the plain, sandy-looking building many times thinking it wasn’t open until I read the hours on the museum’s website . However, once inside the building, there is a much more welcoming vibe. The only photos allowed inside the museum are of the "Tapestry of the Centuries" mural by Vladimir Gorsky. I like to surprise myself when visiting new places, so I have to admit I ...

What do a “ Flying Pancake ,” a “ Tiger Moth ” and a “ Recruit ” have in common? Each of these aircraft are on public display at the  Frontiers of Flight Museum  in Dallas! This little museum is one of my favorites because I never fail to notice something I missed the last time around. It also does an excellent job of blending audio, visual and sensory elements so that all types of learners can find something that will stick with them. Chance Vought V-173 "Flying Pancake" Tiger Moth DH82A Ryan PT-22 "Recruit" The Frontiers of Flight Museum was founded as a non-profit organization in 1988 and featured aviation historian George Haddaway’s collection of artifacts and archival materials, according to the history section of the museum’s website . Originally located on the mezzanine level of the main terminal building of Dallas Love Field Airport, the museum moved to its current 100,000 square foot location on Lemmon Avenue in 2004. Tod...

The Dallas Uptown skyline looms behind the Freeman's Cemetery Memorial. I like this view because of the combination of past and present. On the corner of Lemmon Avenue and North Central Expressway lies an often overlooked piece of Dallas history. I myself drove past it several times in the years I lived in Dallas without realizing what I was driving past. From the outside, it appears to be nothing more than a green space or park intended to offer a little scenery. But those willing to walk up and examine it closer will find that the fenced off green area is actually a stark reminder of the city’s troubled past. These photos show the walkway toward the central monument. The figures pictured in the middle represent freed slaves.   A plaque next to Freedman’s Cemetery Memorial states that the area near what is now Uptown was once home to a settlement of freed slaves following the United States Civil War that was known as Freedmantown. In 1869, an acre of lan...

View of the Wilson House from the front yard illustrating the wraparound porch and rising turret. Today (July 26, 2013) marks the 23 rd  anniversary of the  Americans with Disabilities Act  (ADA), so I thought I would focus on a piece of Dallas that is ADA accessible and totally free. Initially, I was going to try to visit the statue of communist icon Vladimir Lenin mentioned in the book  Texas Curiosities  (published in 2000). According to the book, the statue was located in front of the Lover’s Lane location of Goff’s hamburgers, facing west, with a small plaque at the bottom that said “America Won”. I quickly learned that Goff’s Hamburgers relocated to its current Hillcrest Road location several years ago, and  Roadside America  reports that the statue was auctioned off on  eBay  in 2004. That’ll teach me to use a 13-year-old guidebook. So instead, I turned to  tripadvisor.com  for recommendations. That was where I sa...

Living in the Dallas/Fort Worth area is a bit like being married. When you first move here from another state (California, in my case), everything seems so new and amazing. They call that the "Honeymoon Stage", and after a while it tends to fade into a happy contentment with occasional resentment. Let's face it, when you live and work here long enough, you tend to be more focused on the potholes and less so on enjoying the quirks of our funky metroplex.  With this blog, I am hoping to reignite that Honeymoon Stage for the jaded and intrigue the newbies with places to go and things to see that they may never have considered. The majority of this blog will focus on Dallas County, but I will expand my wanderings outward as I go. I am currently enabling comments, on the blog, so feel free to share anything you think I should check out!  My plan is to write about a mix of tourist attractions, bars, restaurants, shopping and all the other things that make this area unique. ...