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The Dallas Underground Walkway system is finally getting some signage.

Working in downtown Dallas for the past 7+ years, I’ve grown quite familiar with the city’s underground tunnel network. Until recently, I felt like this was Dallas’ best kept secret. We need to make this place more walkable, but everyone knows that can be a bitch during the summer months. The tunnels and skybridges allow us to move about the city on foot, without dealing with the heat and humidity.

For whatever reason, not all Dallas-ites share my love for the tunnels. The Dallas Observer has done a great job on chronicling the city’s discussion on what to do with the tunnels, including a ton of dissenting opinion Do yourself a favor and dig into it a bit deeper–truly fascinating stuff.

My only complaint about the tunnel system has been the lack of signage indicating where the tunnel systems are located and a lack of a proper mapping system. Well, it know appears both of those issues have been resolved.

I took the above photo this morning outside the Renaissance Tower parking garage. It’s the first official marking I’ve seen for the Dallas Underground System.

Also, I found this link to a map of the Dallas underground.

Continue reading »]]> Tonight, my office hosted a summer picnic of sorts at the Dallas Arboretum, which included passes to the “Chihuly Nights” exhibit. As someone not familiar with the work of Dale Chihuly, I had very low expectations for the exhibit, but came away, as I often do at the arboretum, very impressed. Below are just a few of the pieces on display. If you live in the Dallas area, or plan on visiting anytime between now and November 2012, I highly recommend a stop by the Dallas Arboretum for a look.

Continue reading »]]> At first glance, you might not think my hometown–the tiny East Texas hamlet of Atlanta (pop. 5,745)–and my adopted hometown, the affluent Dallas enclave University Park, would have much in common, but believe it or not, living in the Park Cities affords residents many of the treats of small-town living.

I lived in the heart of downtown Atlanta (Texas), on the corner of Main and Louise Streets, for the first 18 years of my life. Even so, I enjoyed the comforts of tree-lined neighborhoods, in which my parents felt safe allowing my older sister and I to ride our bikes, rollerblade or generally roam about as we pleased.

In spite of being located directly in the center of one of the largest cities in America, Park Cities parents also feel safe letting their kids roam their tree-lined streets, which is extremely rare in this age of “Amber Alerts” and child GPS tracking units.

As the town’s only high school, Atlanta High School shaped the identity of Atlanta, the town, in ways most “city folks” wouldn’t understand. Walk into any business in Atlanta on a Friday in the fall and you’re bound to see employees sporting the school colors. Later that night, the entire town will converge of whatever venue might be hosting the Rabbit football team.

Not to mention,there are only two reasons someone outside of East Texas might know there is an “Atlanta” in Texas: 1.) they’re huge Ellen Degeneres fans and have heard her talk about her alma mater, or 2.) there familiar with the exploits of the school’s athletic department.

Similarly, the Highland Park School District plays a large roll in shaping the community identity of the Park Cities. Sure, the school has a high-profile athletic department–the Scots football team has recorded more victories in their history than any other school in the state (this is Texas) and has produced such names as Bobby Layne, Doak Walker, and Matt Stafford–but the school is also well known for being one of the top public high schools in the nation.

Needless, to say this generates a lot of pride in the community. Visit any business in the Park Cities and you will see posters lionizing HP students, whether they are on the football team, field hockey team, ultimate frisbee team, or even in the school chorale.

The Citizens Journal, Atlanta’s bi-weekly newspaper, serves as another source of great pride in the community. Hard to believe, but Atlanta (Texas) was once a 2 paper town, but the Atlanta Times folded long before even the Dallas Times Herald, and several other niche publications tried to enter the Cass County market, but the power of the Journal beat them all back into submission. The Journal will never win a Pulitzer and the Coastal Elites would no doubt scoff at the paper’s content, but then again, its greatness is much more esoteric, understood by any small town American whose community still supports a local paper.

For example, Wednesdays are the most anticipated day of the week in Atlanta (Texas), and not just because it’s prayer meeting night for the Baptists. No, Atlantians wait with bated breath for the Wednesday edition of the Citizens Journal, where you will find the Cass County Sheriff’s blotter and see how many people you know have been arrested.

This is in addition to the usual stories you can find in either the Wednesday or Saturday edition–stories about the latest fender benders in “the Loop,” see what’s shaking in the Cornett community or, if lucky, read about the heroic exploits of local law enforcement dealing with nuisance wildlife (the tale of a state trooper, three sheriff’s deputies, and a couple of city cops trying to get an unruly alligator off the highway come to mind).

Believe it or not, I believe most Parkies can appreciate the beauty of a small town newspaper like the Journal, because we have our own version in the Park Cities People. Recently I was surfing the PCP website and came across this screenshot of the latest print edition of the publication.

I can’t help but to think that if the good folks at Indian Hills Country Club (emphasis on country) in Atlanta were to stage a fireworks show on a Wednesday night in April, the good folks in the Indian Hills subdivision would be scared as well and a similar article would appear in the Citizens Journal.

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The sun sets on a BIG weather day in the Metroplex.

If you asked me to pick one drawback to living in Texas, the only thing I could point to is our extreme weather. Ironically, “extreme weather” is # 12,634 on my “Million Reasons I Love Texas” as well, because you just haven’t lived until you’ve experienced a summer like the Summer of 2011.

Of course, no talk of extreme Texas weather would be complete without mentioning tornadoes. Indeed, almost every Texan has at least one story of riding out or outrunning a tornado.

For me, it began early. I remember as a child being ushered out of our house–sirens blaring–across the street to the First United Methodist Church, one of only a handful of buildings in the county with a basement. We then crammed into a hallway in between the choir room and a vestment closet and waited until the storm had passed..

As a fourth grader, I remember teachers leading us into the hallway of Atlanta Elementary School–sirens blaring once again–and instructing us to cover our heads as a tornado had been spotted nearby. To describe that scene as “chaos” would be an understatement.

Eight years later, in the Spring of my senior year in high school, school dismissed just as a super-cell system moved into town. Once again, tornado sirens served as a reminder it was time to find shelter. This time my friends and I were a little more brave and watched the storm move in from a basement window, our eyes on the funnel cloud at all times. Thankfully, it never fully descended.

A couple of years later, I had just finished the Spring semester of my second year in college and was headed home to my parents’ house. As I traveled East down U.S. 79, I spotted a funnel cloud in my rearview and spent the next hour trying to stay ahead of it.

These represent but a few of my most memorable experiences involving tornadic activity, but nothing could prepare me for yesterday, truly THE most unique day of weather I can ever remember.

The day begin normal enough with forecasters calling for the probability of “some” severe storms, with the biggest threat being heavy winds and some hail, with only a “slight chance” of tornadoes.

As I prepared to go to lunch, I checked the local radar to see if I needed to carry any rain gear with me. At that time, most of the activity was well to the north and west of the Metroplex, with what appeared to be only a small band of showers approaching from the South.

From Fountain Place, I took the tunnel to Lincoln Tower. A light rain began to fall as I exited onto Ervay and it intensified as I traveled southward. I began to regret not bringing an umbrella, but knew my journey involved navigating only a couple of blocks outdoors, so I traveled on until I reached Republic Tower.

I couldn’t find anything in the Republic Tower food court to satisfy my appetite, so I decided to go to the Renaissance Center food court, which offers a much wider selection. As I approached street level, I noticed the sun was shining. “That’s odd,” I thought, but I continued on my way. After picking up some Chik-Fil-A, I decided to make my way back to the office.

As I walked outside, I felt the warm, wet slap of humidity one normally only finds in Houston. I had to check the skyline to make sure I was still in Dallas, but I knew that Gulf moisture and overcast skies were an ominous sign.

By the time I sat down in my office to start eating, reports of the first tornado forming south of Arlington began to come in on my Twitter feed. Not long after that, word of a second tornado, this one near Southern Dallas County, began to spill out. At this point, I scrapped my plans of working on my novel and went into full, Operation Big Weather mode.

Just as I finished my sandwich, the first of the downtown tornado sirens began to wail. We’re 25 floors up, surrounded by concrete glass and steel, yet the sirens were so piercing they sounded like they were just outside the hallway. I decided that being 25 floors up in a glass structure, probably wasn’t the safest play to be, should a tornado decide to make its way downtown, so I took the elevator down to the lobby.

This was around 1 P.M., so the lobby was full of people returning from lunch. It was a surreal atmosphere, as you could not hear over the sound of the sirens. I met up with a group of co-workers and we began exchanging weather updates. One ladies’ husband reported that one of the tornadoes was moving straight up I-35 towards downtown. We discussed our options and decided it would be best to ride out the storm in the basement level of the building.

Before descending, I called my wife to make sure she was safe and that her office had some sort of plan in place. As the doors of the elevator closed, building security activated the intercom system to instruct everyone in the building to take cover.

Things grew even more chaotic once in the basement. I’m not sure how many floors of the building evacuated to the first level of the basement with us, but suffice it to say, we were asses to elbows and everyone one of us was trying to use our cellphones for something. As you might imagine, that was an epic fail.

Down here, nervous chatter replaced tornado sirens as the sound de jour. I heard every Dallas old-timer say that in their 20, 30, some even said 40 years of working downtown, they had never seen a building evacuated because of weather.

We had been in the basement for about 15 minutes when we noticed another one of our office mates, noticeably distraught, making her way through the mass of humanity. When she reached our group, she informed us that she had learned her house, south of the city, had been hit. The women in our group tried to console her.

Another 5 minutes passed before building security activated the intercom again to let us know the warning was in place for the next hour, so we settled in and got comfortable. Many pulled out iPods and Kindles, while others chose a more traditional route of flipping through catalogs.

In front of one of the sandwich shops, a group of what I suspect to be IT guys, played what appeared to be some form of Pokemon game.

In front of the convenience store, a group of business men in dark suits shot craps.

We continued to try and communicate with the outside world any way that we could, but cell phone signals were nonexistent. The information we did receive wasn’t always accurate, but we managed to finally piece together that the tornado had veered East of downtown. Still, we waited for building security to give the “all clear.” In all, we spent a little over an hour packed like sardines in the Fountain Place basement.

When I returned to my office, the subject lines to the emails in my Inbox read like this–”FW: Tornado Warning Update,” “FW: Condition Black – Tornado Warning,” “FW- Weater,” “Now that the catastrophe is temporarily averted…,” “FW: Tornado Warning.”

My dad called. He had been watching coverage on the news from his office in East Texas. I assured him all was well and got back to work.

Still, the sky threatened.

I shot this photo of the southern sky shortly after returning to the 25th Floor.

I shot this photo of the Western sky shortly after returning to our offices on the 25th Floor.

Continue reading »]]> I love the Rangers, but hate to drive. Since I live in University Park, just north of downtown Dallas, this means I attend very few Rangers games at the Ballpark in Arlington, 25 miles away. To me, the reward (see my Texas Rangers play in person) is not worth headaches associated with driving (i.e. traffic, parking, careless drivers, uninsured drivers, potentially inebriated drivers, etc. ) Did I mention the traffic on I-30, Dallas’ worst freeway? Simply put, the anxiety is too much for me.

In most metropolitan areas, this would not be a big deal. You could simply hop on your cities’ mass transit system and be dropped off at your home team’s venue. Indeed,  you can do just that for the Mavericks and Stars in downtown Dallas, but the good folks in Arlington despise public transportation and have blocked all efforts to bring mass transit to their town.

I’ve conducted some research on alternative means. It’s approximately $100 round-trip for cab fare from UP to the Ballpark in Arlington and back, quite a bit more for car service to the game. Obviously, that’s a bit steep. With all the entertainment options in Arlington, I was surprised that there is not a shuttle service from Dallas proper to Arlington, but alas, as far as I can tell, no such service exists.

It seems like it would be a highly profitable business. I guess my question is why hasn’t someone thought of this as a business idea yet? Am I missing something, such as a huge liability issue?

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The calendar reads November 1, 2011, which means tonight I should be heading down to the American Airlines Center for opening night of Mavs basketball. While Opening Night in the NBA may not carry the same cachet as Opening Day in Major League Baseball, it’s still a special time on the sports calendar, so much so that I’ve made a habit of attending all Mavs home openers over the past six seasons. This year, Opening Night promises to be extra special with the team receiving their championship rings and raising the championship banner.

Alas, due to the lockout, it will have to wait.

It’s just one more instance of sports pain inflicted on me since last Thursday, when David “F’ing” Freese became the Bucky “F’ing” Dent of Dallas, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to an improbable win in Game 6 of the World Series. On Friday, the Cardinals finished off my Rangers. On Saturday, the Aggies experienced yet another second half meltdown. The week ended with the Philadelphia Eagles, a team led by a convicted felon, embarrassing the Dallas Cowboys. As sports weekends go, they can’t possibly get any worse.

Being able to celebrate the Mavs championship run would have a gone a long way towards assuaging this pain, and mending my broken sports heart, at least to some degree. Instead, I’m forced to replay Game 6 in my head, over and over, and as I do, it becomes clear this was the biggest kick in the shorts I’ve ever experienced in regards to sports.

This coming from a guy who’s earliest memory is watching “The Catch” as a crying 3-year old. Needless to say, I learned about sports heartache at a very young age. After taking the past few days to reflect, I can think of nothing as painful as Game 6.

I’ve always considered the World Series to be the ultimate prize in all of sports. Sure, the Super Bowl may have a larger audience, but it’s one game, a team can get hot and win one game. The Stanley Cup and NBA Finals are decided in 7 game series, but they lack the history of the World Series. This is the  World Series. For 107 years, it’s been part of American culture and the Texas Rangers were one strike away–two different times–from winning it all.

It got me to thinking about other moments of sports heartache in my life and I was to compile the following list, a top ten of sorts, of the most heartbreaking moments in Dallas, during my lifetime.

1.) Game 6 2011 World Series – See above

2.) Game 3 2006 NBA Finals  - The Mavericks had an 83-71 lead in the 4th quarter and were minutes away from taking a commanding 3-0 series on the Miami Heat. Instead, the Mavs folded down the stretch, losing Game 3 and 4,5, and 6.

3.)  1982 NFC Championship Game – I’m too young to remember Super Bowl X or XIII, so I don’t how those losses compare to the ’82 Championship Game. As I said earlier, “The Catch” might be the earliest memory–sports or otherwise–of my life. To have see it constantly replayed hurts like hell.

4.) Cowboys/Texans (September 8, 2002) – How does a regular season NFL game make it this far up the list? It was the Texans’ first game in franchise history and they beat my Cowboys 19-10. Truly one of the more embarrassing days in franchise history.

5.) 2007 NBA Playoffs: Mavs First Round Exit – As if the 2006 NBA Finals weren’t bad enough, the next season the Mavs come back and win 67 game in the regular season only to become the 2nd #1 seed in NBA history, at that time, to lose to an #8 seed.  Thankfully, the Spurs joined this club this past season.

6.) 1995 NFC Championship Game – One game stood between the Cowboys becoming the undisputed best team in NFL history. Now the debate rages on whether the 60′s Packers, the 70′s Steeler, the 80′s 49ers, the 90′s Cowboys or the 00′s Patriots are the best. Had the Cowboys won the ’95 NFC Championship game, the argument would be mute.

7.) 2000 Stanley Cup Finals – I’ve never been a huge hockey fan, but I do follow the Stars in the playoffs. Winning the Stanley Cup in ’99 was an awesome experience a fan, to have Satan come back the very next year and steal it from us at Reunion was tough.

8.) The Pickle Juice Game – Cowboys fans wish they could forget this one. It was the 2000 season opener and temperatures were north of 120 degree at kickoff at Texas Stadium. Players resorted to drinking pickle juice to stay hydrated. The opened the game recovering an onside kick and went on to beat the Cowboys 41-14.

9.) Cowboys/49ers September 24, 2000 – Only a few weeks removed from the “Pickle Juice” game, the 49ers came and delivered a similar ass whoopin’ to the Cowboys, mainly Terrell Owens. We all know what happened next…

10.) Cowboys/Dolphins November 26, 1993  - Heartache and heartburn as Leon Lett cost the Cowboys this Thanksgiving classic in the snow at Texas Stadium.

Continue reading »]]> Sounds like the start of a great joke doesn’t it? For those of us living in reality, the answer is rather obvious–two hucksters who were masters at brainwashing a gullible section of the population. Today, most normal people look at those suckered by Hubbard and shake their head. How could anyone actually believe that crap? Yet, Hubbard still has a small band of loyal followers, willing to defend even his most absurd theories and claims–they’re called Scientologists.

Similarly, everything about John Wiley Price screams that something is not right. Yet there still seems to be a vocal group of Dallas citizens who admire this man. In fact, supporters held another rally for him on Sunday.

A couple of things to note from the Dallas Morning News write-up on the event First, Michael Eric Dyson, a professor from Georgetown, comes down and starts taking shots at the FBI, reminding the audience that the FBI investigated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ok Professor Dyson, let’s tap the brakes for a second. John Wiley Price is no Martin Luther King, Jr. I don’t think Bono will ever write a song about JWP and I certainly don’t think JWP deserves his own holiday. While racism still sadly exists–it’s a two way street by the way–it’s not 1960 anymore and Dallas is not Selma, Alabama. To suggest that the FBI still focuses on minority elected officials, simply because of the color of the skin, is nothing more than pure conspiracy theory and you lose all credibility once you start spouting these wild-ass ideas.

Also, Rev. Zan Holmes, I lost a lot of respect for you sir. I remember in MYF as a teen taking a Youth Discipleship course, in which you narrated all the videos. All of the youth in our group fell in love with you. No I find out your supporting JWP? I’m crushed….

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The last time professional baseball was played in Dallas, it was here at Burnett Field in Oak Cliff. It's time pro ball--this time Major League Baseball--returns to Dallas.

As someone who has had the opportunity to attend baseball games in some of the most historic parks  (Wrigley, Fenway, and the old Yankee Stadium just to name a few), I’ve always dreamed of the day Dallas gets their downtown park and the excitement that comes along with it.

Imagine being able to sneak out of your office at lunch and catch a baseball game, or hopping on the DART train and catching a ride to the ballpark, instead of waiting on a congested freeway in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Imagine the iconic Dallas skyline towering over a retractable roof stadium in Victory Park or imagine Fair Park finally being rejuvenated by that same retractable roof stadium.

It’s a dream shared by many in Dallas, including Craig Schenkel, spokesman for a group that recently purchased a billboard off I-30 in Arlington reminding Dallas baseball fans they are wasting time, gas and money each time they journey out to the Ballpark in Arlington.

Schenkel and his partners do not represent any organized effort to bring professional baseball to the city. Indeed, the prospects of the city of Dallas getting a professional baseball franchise anytime in the near future are slim to none, but it’s still fun to dream.

In order for the dream to become a reality, one of two things would have to happen. Either the Rangers leave Arlington for Dallas or a second franchise is added to the D/FW market. Prior to last season, the Rangers struggled to draw 20,000 to the Ballpark on a regular basis, so the prospects of a second MLB franchise is North Texas are less than zero.

This leaves the Rangers relocating as the more realistic option. I’m thoroughly convinced that this would be a win for the city of Dallas, a win for the fans and a win for the Rangers, although I’m sure it would alienate some of the Tarrant County faithful.

As a lifelong Rangers fan, I’ve always complained about their location. For those of us in Dallas and Collin County, and all points North and East, going to a Rangers game is a destination sporting event. If I want to go to a Mavs or Stars game, it’s a quick 5 minute drive on the tollway. Within 15 minutes of leaving my house, I have a hot dog and soda and I’m in my seat.

When I go to a Rangers game, I have to plan in advance. If it’s a week night, I have to ask to leave work early in order to allow for ample travel time. On the weekend, I still must leave an hour and a half early if I have any hopes of catching first pitch.

Once inside the ballpark, the real suffering begins–three hours in the Texas heat. The city of Dallas could offer the Rangers the ultimate bribe (and make slight amends for dropping the ball with the Cowboys) by building a retractable roof stadium either downtown or in Fair Park. Who wouldn’t prefer sitting in the air conditioned comfort in downtown Dallas than out in the hot Texas heat on the Arlington prairie?

Simply put, more fans would get to attend more games. No longer would business meetings be a choice between The Palms and the Crescent Club, with a downtown (or Fair Park) stadium, you could take clients or colleagues to business meetings in the ballpark. Parents could take their kids to games on weeknights without worrying about getting them home in time for a good night’s sleep. Young urban professionals who live in the Uptown and Downtown areas could make it to games without worrying about their work schedules.

In order to be financially successful, these are the demographics the Rangers need to attract. For years, supporters of baseball in Arlington have used the “Arlington is the center of the Metroplex” argument in support of their position. Arlington is the geographic center of the Metroplex, but look at its demographics. The big companies, the young families with disposable income, and upwardly mobile young professionals are much more densely concentrated around the downtown Dallas area than Arlington.

No offense to the hardworking folks in Tarrant and Park County, but it just doesn’t make economic sense to have MLB  team in Arlington as opposed to Dallas. As a kid, I would have loved to have a MLB team in Cass County. Sadly, the local paper mill didn’t generate enough money and the County’s 30,000 residents weren’t enough to justify a baseball team, so most of us latched on to the closest Major League team–the Rangers.

The most exciting prospect of of MLB franchise in Dallas to me is what it would mean as far as the continued development of areas in and around downtown. Right now, development is booming downtown and points north, between 75 and the toll. A retractable roof stadium in Fair Park would generate similar development in points South and East of downtown.

So where do we go from here if we want to see baseball in Dallas? The billboard is step one. Step two is for  the media to notice, bloggers like me to comment and other interested fans to create a whisper–”you know, it would be really cool to a have baseball in Dallas.”  Once it becomes a whisper, we’ll need structure and direction. At that point, we’ll need to appoint a leader to transform the whisper into a crowd, from a crowd to a gathering, from a gathering to a movement. It’s really not that hard now that I think about it, at least not in my dreams.

Continue reading »]]> If you followed my advice in the previous post, you have booked your flight to Love Field and a room at a hotel in the downtown/Uptown area. Even if you chose to fly into D/FW, let’s hope you heeded my advice on the hotels and are staying in Dallas proper, as opposed to some far flung place like Grapevine or Bedford. Depending on the time of day you arrive in downtown Dallas, you may begin to wonder if anyone actually lives in the city. Indeed, the City Center is almost completely commercial and keeps pretty strict business hours. After 6 p.m. on weekdays and all weekend long, downtown Dallas is a virtual ghost town, although efforts have been made in the past few years to encourage more young professionals to move into some of the restored buildings.

Let me be the first to assure you, downtown Dallas is not as desolate as it first may seem. However, even if you’re staying at the Sheraton, Westin or Fairmont, you will want to venture out of downtown. If you did not arrange for a rental, the first thing you will want to do is invest in a Super Bowl transit pass. The transportation agencies in the Metroplex have come together to offer a four-day pass for the low price of $30, which will allow you unlimited access to DART trains and buses, as well as the TRE. Even if you have a rental car, I recommend picking up this pass.

Don’t be fooled by your hotel concierge, the West End is not where Dallas goes to have fun, but there is one place in the West End you must visit before you leave.

Dallas World Aquarium – 1801 N. Griffin St.  Dallas, TX 75202

Whether you’re 1 or 101, everyone loves penguins, sharks and sloths. Oh, it’s not all aquatic animals, they have big cats too. The Aquarium is easy to get around and provides hours of entertainment, regardless of the weather conditions.

Outside of the Aquarium, you will want to head North.

Uptown

View of downton from Uptown.

As soon as you cross over Woodall Rodgers leaving downtown Dallas, you are officially in Uptown, a trendy neighborhood featuring upscale shops, bars, restaurants and residences. Uptown is accessible by foot from downtown, but it’s recommended you use DART, your car or the McKinney Avenue Trolley.

To pick up the McKinney Avenue Trolley, go to St. Paul Street, directly behind the Dallas Museum of Art. This is the end (or beginning) of the trolley route. Riding is free and easy, simply hop on and the trolley will take you across Woodall Rodgers and through the heart of Uptown.  Once you’re in Uptown, you can hop off at any stop to explore Uptown on foot. The gem of Uptown has to be the West Village, located at Lemmon and McKinney Avenues. Here you can catch a movie at the Magnolia–one of the top art house theatres in the city–take in some great shopping or fine dining.

If you buy the transit pass, you can take DART to Uptown. Simply hop on any northbound train and get off at the Cityplace stop. Once you come off the platform, take the large escalator to your right up to the surface and you will come out on the back side of the West Village.

Mockingbird Station

The next stop north on the DART line is Mockingbird Station, another mixed use venue, featuring another great art-house cinema–the Angelika. There are also several different upscale shops, bars and restaurants at the Mockingbird Station stop.

If you’re a Packers fan, or simply want to watch the Pack practice, you may want to consider taking the DART rail to Mockingbird Station and walking across Central Expressway to SMU, where the NFC Champions will be holding their practices.

Knox-Henderson

In between Uptown and Mockingbird Station lies the Knox-Henderson area. Here you will find an Apple Store, Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware and a slew of local boutiques that will sure be hit among the glitterati descending upon Dallas. If you want a good “people watching” location, this is it. Unfortunately, neither the McKinney Avenue Trolley nor DART rail runs to Knox-Henderson, and it’s a bit too far to travel on foot from Uptown. You will definitely need a car or a cab to get here, but can navigate the neighborhood on foot once you arrive.

Highland Park Village

Directly West of Knox-Henderson you will find Highland Park Village. Established in 1931, Highland Park Village is considered to be America’s first shopping center, but this is not your grandparents shopping center. With boutiques like Chanel, Christian Louboutin, Jimmy Choo, Hermes and Tory Burch, it’s more like Rodeo Drive. While the upscale shopping may not appeal to a lot sports fans, it is a great place for men to drop their wives off while they go explore another part of the city, just don’t let them have your credit card. Mi Cocina serves up some of the best Mexican food in town and Cafe Pacific is known to be one of the favorite restaurants of former President George W. Bush.

Katy Trail

If you get tired of using your hotel’s fitness center, allow me to suggest taking a jog, walk, ride, or skate along the Katy Trail. This 3.5 mile jogging/biking trail runs from the American Airlines Center through Uptown, Knox-Henderson and through the Park Cities. It’s the closest thing to jogging in Central Park Dallas has to offer and it’s well worth the sweat.

You came to Dallas for the “big game,” but also want to take in some local culture? Never fear, next up we’ll look at the Arts District, which will show you a completely different side of Dallas.

Continue reading »]]> On March 19, it was sunny and 71 in Dallas. On March 20, 2010, we received 1.3 inches of snow. Yes, that’s right, the first day of Spring brought SNOW to Dallas. This brings the total snowfall for this season to 17.3 inches and barely misses breaking the all-time seasonal record for the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I’ve lived in this general vicinity for all of my 31 years and have never seen a winter like this. The February snowstorm will be one talked about in Dallas for centuries and I’m glad that I got to experience it, even if we lost our power for about 24 hours.  On Christmas Eve, we received enough snow to ensure a White Christmas 2009. Oddly enough, December 23 was a lot like March 19, in that it reached 73 degrees. That means we received twice in one season, the day after a 70 degree day. Very interesting weather pattern indeed. Normally, I embrace the snow and look forward to its arrival when it is predicted. After this season, I must say, I don’t care if I see another snowstorm for some time.