| The real Wild, Wild West! Fort Worth, sister city to Dallas, has real-life cowboys and covered wagons, ranches and rodeos, steam trains and sundances, livestock and longhorns. |
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| Dallas, Texas |
| S E N E N M E L C H O R A M P I L A N T O N I O |
| Fort Worth was always a great weekend, sometimes midweek, getaway from Dallas. Downtown Fort Worth is some fifteen to twenty miles west of Dallas, under an hour's drive in moderate traffic on I-30. Fort Worth is more easygoing, more laid back, more relaxed than Dallas. Visiting Fort Worth is like stepping out from a time machine. Some people have said Fort Worth is what Dallas used to be; I think Fort Worth is what Dallas has forgotten to be. |
| F o r t W o r t h |
| F o r t W o r t h |
| Fort Worth also has a sophisticated urban side. Sundance Square offers the best of shopping, live theater, music, movies, dining in a 20-block, walkable urban setting. Early 20th century architecture has been carefully conserved and rehabilitated into mixed uses, with residential units mingling with coffee houses, bookstores, boutiques, outdoor restaurants, public gathering areas and open spaces, all traced in firefly lights. One of my favorite nightspots was Caravan of Dreams (bottom left photo), a theater, nightclub and bar hosting world-famous musicians (I saw Duncan Sheik and Amy Correia perform there in May 2001). Unfortunately, Caravan shut down in late 2001 and was replaced by a restaurant. Still, in Caravan's heyday, people from all over the metroplex would come just to catch their favorite acts at this rare gem of a venue. For more information on Fort Worth, click here to go to the Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau website. |
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| Photo credit: Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau |
| Photo credits: (Above Left) Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau; (Above Right) Cowtown Coliseum |
| Once the largest cattle and livestock market in the southwest, the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District north of Downtown now comprises some 125 acres of restaurants, galleries, shopping and cowboy-style entertainment. |
| The Cowtown Coliseum, a historic landmark built at the start of the 20th century, was the venue of the first indoor rodeo held in 1918. The rodeos still thrive, including a recreation of the legendary Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show (the original of which was featured in the musical "Annie Get Your Gun"). Next door to the Coliseum is the Livestock Exchange, now home to the Stockyards Museum. Towards the end of East Exchange is the Stockyards Station, housing specialty shops and great regional restaurants. The Tarantula Steam Train (dating from 1896) still chugs in and out on regular trips betwen Forth Worth and Grapevine. Gawking at the train, I almost got run over by the world's only daily longhorn cattle drive. The Fort Worth Herd trots through the streets of the Stockyard, twice a day. Mooo-oove outta the way! |
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| Photo credits: (Top) Hank Mishkoff, www.webfeats.com; (Middle Left) www.fortwortharchitecture.com |
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| Inadvertently my first stop was always the H3 Ranch Steakhouse. at N. Main and Exchange Avenue. With tender, prime cuts of beef cooked on their live hickory wood grill, H3 serves possibly the best steaks I've ever had. A nice slow walk on East Exchange Avenue helps burn off the heavy meal and brings me to other diversions in the Stockyards. |
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| Click here for an interactive map of the Dallas Area |
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