Exploring Dallas, Texas

Ah, cities. Busy one-way streets, high-rise buildings, tons of people, and funky smells. I've been to a fair number of big cities, and I'm typically not a fan. Lakes, mountains, and forests are more my speed. However, there have been a small few that I've enjoyed, and Dallas is high on that list.

My aunt and uncle have just recently relocated to the growing suburbs around Dallas, and we went to visit for Thanksgiving. Since the weather was nice, we agreed on an afternoon in the city.

My family is made of some pretty big food junkies and history buffs, so the JFK Memorial and the Pecan Lodge BBQ joint were two necessary stops on our trip.

We started at the Memorial. Parking was relatively easy to come by, and it was certainly not as crowded as some other cities I've been to. On the corner, the Sixth Floor Museum gives way to Dealy Plaza. The Grassy Knoll houses an interesting white building that faces the opposite side of the street. There's an excerpt from the speech Kennedy was scheduled to deliver later in the day on a plaque on the Knoll, and there's two x-marks in the street to mark the places he was shot. In several other places, there are small plaques with information about the day of the parade, and the search for the culprit. At the top of the Plaza, there's a small area with a large flag in the center, surrounded by water fountains. It's very clean and well-maintained, and the majority of the people there were respectful and considerate.

After that, we decided it would less expensive to just move the car to a different spot in town than to take the tram, so we headed down to the Deep Ellum area.

The line for the Pecan Lodge was impressive, and a local in line told us that this was one of the less busy days he'd seen. The building is on a corner, and the line bent around onto the next street. 

Deep Ellum is also home to the 42 Murals project. 42 artists, amateur and professional, were selected to paint murals onto the sides of several buildings around the area. While half of our party waited in line for BBQ, we went around and found as many murals as we could. 

Find about about the project here.

Map of locations here.

The long-awaited BBQ did not disappoint, and we satisfied our sweet tooth across the street at a cute retro candy shop.

There's a lot we didn't see, but Dallas surprised me as a clean city with plenty to do and lots to see.

(Photos courtesy of my sister, Katrina. Find her here and here.