Fort Worth/ Dallas Day Trips

Our family is attempting to travel to all 50 states through creative road trips. We prefer to choose a route which may have several destination stops throughout the trip. This often results in spending a short amount of time in one city. We love to get the flavor of the place that we are visiting by experiencing dining experiences, seeing a well-known icon from that area or simply experiencing the understated charm of that particular area.

For this particular trip, we traveled from Indiana stopping in Kansas and Oklahoma and ending up in Texas. (You can read about our time in Kansas here and our time in Oklahoma here.) We had a lovely stay at Wildcatter Ranch which is about an hour and a half outside of Fort Worth. Read about our ranch stay here.

We left the ranch and drove to Fort Worth. We parked in Billy Bob's lot as it is free during the week.

This was a good option as it was central to the other sight seeing locations.

When we were heading out of the car, a local gentleman let us know that there was a commercial being filmed nearby. He shared that the actor in the commercial was from Yellowstone. We quietly arrived near the filming and the production team let us know that we were welcome to stay and watch. They noted that they were close to being finished and told us that if we waited around we could have a picture taken with the actor. We were able to get a picture taken with Forrie J. Smith (Lloyd from Yellowstone) which was such a cool opportunity. Our trip was giving us "Yellowstone vibes" so it came full circle when we got to meet a real Yellowstone cowboy.

After this, we began to explore the Stockyards area. We were arriving late afternoon so we had a bit of time before the 4:00 cattle drive. We explored the stockyards areas, met some of the drovers and petted their horses, checked out some shops and took some fun iconic Fort Worth pictures. My daughters also took the opportunity to try out the mechanical bull. There is plenty to see and do in the Stockyards. Then, we secured a spot for the cattle drive. It was a really fun experience to be there for the traditional cattle drive. Do know that you may think that you have secured a great spot sitting on the curb, but you are required to stand for the drive in case one of the cattle decides to go rogue.

After the drive, we did a bit more sightseeing and were ready to head to dinner. After hearing great things, we wanted to try Joe T. Garcia's. We were so glad that we did! We were lucky and hit the timing just right. We arrived at 5:00 and were able to be seated on the patio. The ambience is so great! You literally feel like you are in a tropical garden. A guitarist played us a song at our table which also added to the vibe. Service was great and the food prices were very reasonable. We were all very happy with this experience. There was a long wait for a patio table when we left so definitely be mindful of arriving close to 5. This restaurant has such a cool history of it growing throughout generations of one family. It is a beautiful place with a beautiful story.

After enjoying dinner, we knew that we wanted to check out Billy Bob's Texas which is described as the world's biggest honky tonk. We were in Fort Worth on a Wednesday which happens to be Ladies Night. On Ladies Night, ladies get in free after 6 and there is a free line dancing lesson at 7. This was perfect! I was a little leary of taking my 11 year-old and 14 year-old daughters, but everything that I had read described it as family friendly. It was perfect for my girls! Everyone was very welcoming and there were other children and teens present. We all were able to participate in the line dancing lesson and loved it. Following the lesson, my youngest daughter was eager to try to learn several other dances and the "regulars" were attempting to help her. It was such a fine night!

After dancing, we called it a night. We opted to stay a bit further out from downtown Fort Worth. We stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites- Dallas near the airport. We had an issue with a beeping fire detector, but they gave us a new room and were very helpful. Great stay overall.

The next morning, we wanted to explore Dallas. We went to Dealey Plaza to see the location of JFK's assassination. We did not opt to do the museum tour as we didn't think our kids would be that interested. We took minimal pictures here, but I did snap a picture of Reunion Tower. We did not go to the tower, but there is an observation deck available if that is of interest.

We chose to spend our time exploring the Dallas Aboretum. We had purchased a membership at another botanical garden which gave us reciprocity to visit the Dallas Arboretum for free. Do know that this Arboretum is massive. We were not able to see the entire thing in the time that we had. They have a fabulous children's garden which is definitely worth exploring. The grounds are vast and beautiful. There is also a home on the property that can be toured as well. The home is called the DeGolyer House and is beautiful to tour and get a taste of the past. We had lunch at a food stand near the home. There is a restaurant at the DeGolyer House, but we did not have reservations or want a sit-down meal at the time. But, I am positive that it is a fun option.

After spending the afternoon at the Dallas Arboretum, we moved as we were staying in Hot Springs, Arkansas that evening. I am positive that we only got a taste of all Dallas has to offer. But, we enjoyed our time there and hope to be back!

Read about our entire road trip on this post: 50 State Journey-The Midwest to the Wild West.

Follow along for more multi-destination trips at Middle of the Road Mindset.