"Travelling to Texas" Topic

I'm planning another trip across the pond – this time to see my litle brother's in-laws in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas.
Any recommendations of what to see whilst I'm there?

sites of interest seem to be all down south.

there are several military museums at Fort Hood ,near Waco. The Alamo in San Antonio.
The San Jacinto battlefield and ships near Houston.

Me in Austin! The capital is nice this time of year too.

Just to be contrary and snd send you in the opposite direction, you could drive up to Oklahoma, near the Texas panhandle, and see the Washita battlefield and museum. Visit Fort Sill on the way home.

Grelber

Unfortunately, in terms of gaming, DFW will be disappointing. There are a few gaming stores but they are mostly GW/FOW/Warmachine fronts with little else. A nice shop stocked with historicals, kits and rules? Not here.

One thing that might be of interest is to drive up here to Denton (30ish miles) and see the Reaper operation. They are usually pretty happy to show you around the mold making, casting and packing operation.

There is an air museum in Addison also.

Probably not worthj special trips, but Camp Ford near Tyler is neat, and La Bahia out in the middle of nowhere. The Nimitz hotel and a great museum of the War in the Pacific is in Fredericksburg.

Go visit Reaper Miniatures in Denton, which is right there in the metro area. reapermini.com

If visiting around April 18 through the 21st be sure to come to their convention. Bring old minis for the trade box, ounce by ounce swap, old stuff for their product.
reapermini.com/ReaperCon

The National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg might be worth a trip.

pacificwarmuseum.org

Hope you have ready transportation?! The distances mentioned aren't for the faint; only for Texans! Seriously, as posted this week, Texas is one of the few places where you measure distance in time of travel; as in hours…. The Reaper visit sounds interesting but may not be for you? They are very hospitable and are legendary for what they do at conventions to get people introduced to their product lines.

Dallas to Waco is about an hour and 15 to an hour and 30 minutes; probably worth the drive.

San Antonio? To downtown about 5 hours and this is where the Alamo is. Fredericksburg is almost as far from Dallas and is good if you are in the area. If you plan on driving down to San Antonio, I would swing by Fredericksburg (it is about 70 miles to San Antonio from there). If you are really adventurous, I would take Texas 281 from Fort Worth down and swing through Marble Falls and then cut over to Fredericksburg via 71 (I think?) This will give you a nice drive through the Hill Country. Stop in Llano at Cooper's BBQ, you will be glad you did :-) And then on to San Antonio and the Alamo, the Buckhorn Museum, etc. On the way back, go through Austin if you want, the Capital is just okay. Ladybird Johnson Lake has the bats that fly out at dusk and I mean 100s of thousands, the surrounding area is nice too. Great Hall Games is in Austin and is the best game store in Texas but probably not better than the best in England. And you could always stop in Waco on the way back too. I would allow at least 2 days, probably 3 to do all this.

San Jacinto? About the same distance as you are traveling SE, I believe, of Houston. They may still have the submarine near Galveston and isn't the Texas nearby? You could go through Brenham and see the Blue Bell Ice Cream plant as well. Almost midway between Houston and San Antonio, you also have the Shiner Brewery.

As you are from the U.K. game stores will generally be underwhelming to you in comparison to the U.K. I would say the Ranger Museum in Waco is probably worth a stop. For outdoor scenics, it is hard to beat Big Bend but my goodness, it is quite a way from Dallas!

Hopefully the East Texas boys will chime in further as to what is available there. Tyler sounds like a worthwhile visit. They are famous for their roses there too.

Send off for the Texas Travel Guide. They are online here: traveltex.com

They will list every museum, their location, hours, specialties, etc. I think they have suggested trips combinations too.

The battleship is at San Jacinto. The sub is at Seawolf Park on Galveston Island, along with a Destroyer Escort(Corvette).
Area 51 is the big games shop in Grapevine between Ft Worth and Denton. If you are missing local fare, there is an English specialty shoppe next to Area 51. Just save me some Twiglets…

It would do well to remind you that Dallas and Ft Worth are 50km apart with several cities stuck in between them.

What no love the the Civil War museum between Dallas and Ft Worth?

VR
James Mattes

It would do well to remind you that Dallas and Ft Worth are 50km apart with several cities stuck in between them.

Its all one big city if you are not paying attention to the signs.

Reminds me of my favorite Foghorn Leghorn quote:

"Gal reminds me, I say reminds me of the highway between Fort Worth and Dallas…. no curves".

"THE SUN HAS ROSE, THE SUN HAS SET,
AND HERE WE IS IN TEXAS YET."

What no love the the Civil War museum between Dallas and Ft Worth?

BTW that museum has changed its focus slightly over time. It is now the Texas Heritage Museum featuring the role of Texas and Texans in all military conflicts. So you will find WW1 and 2, Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf conflicts.

link

I work down the street from them so let me know if you have any questions.

Too true Doc, at least 17 hours driving whether you are doing all of I-10 or all of i-35 in one go. Can't imagine what it is like to go from Brownsville to the NW corner of the Panhandle in one go!

By the way, I thought there was a miniatures store or one that had miniatures in the Ft. Worth area?

This is probably too far for you to drive, but there are also:

Presidio La Bahia, and the mass grave of Colonel Fannin and his men in Goliad: presidiolabahia.org

The Pacific War Museum in Fredericksburg (with real live flamethrower shows on certain dates!): link

BTW, there is also a mockup of an 1840s cavalry fort just on the outskirts of Fredericksburg.

Near Fredericksburg is Enchanted Rock. Supposedly, a Texas Ranger held off a war band of Commanches there once, but the real attraction to me has always been climbing to the top with my son. If you are feeling healthy, I recommend it. It's a beautiful place: link

Nearby in Austin is Great Hall Games. Great bunch of people, and you are sure to find someone to play a game with: greathallgames.com

And way, way, way down South, in Brownsville, are the Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma battlefields: nps.gov/paal/index.htm link

But as I said, these may be too far for you if you will be in DFW.

It get the true Terxas experience start in El Paso and Drive I-10/I-20 East until you reach Louisiana.

While I am going to El Paso in May, I am not going to go for the "true" Need a week and a boat load of cash for gas for that experience.

Don't miss the Texas Civil War Museum in Fort Worth. The collection is really impressive and very well displayed. It includes the largest collection of Texas Confederate flags in the state. Both Union and Confederate artifacts are displayed in exhibit halls devoted to the different branches of service. As a long-time Civil War buff and former museum curator I was very impressed. Also a very nice book store. texascivilwarmuseum.com

While in Fort Worth be sure and visit the Amon Carter Museum of American Art which features one of the finest Charles Russell and Frederick Remington collections around. A great museum specializing in the art of the American West. cartermuseum.org

Ancientsgamer, I believe that is area 51.

Thanks for all the kind replies folks. I'll be based in Arlington TX with my brother's in-laws and reliant on them pretty much for transport. I gather they already reckon on San Antonio and, as they come from E TX originally, a visit that way.
I'm not sure about bringing a box full of old minis to swap at Reaper – nice though it would be to recycle some of my lead mountain – due to weight restrictions on my luggage and the great likelihood of my sister-in-law having a shopping list for me to transport back to the UK!

It has been my personal experience that the TSA loves it when you come in from an international flight with a box of minis in your luggage.

It's not Area 51… And I don't think it is a comic store either.n They have historical miniatures and are near Arlington, I think?

Virtual Scratch Builder, whatever happened to Militaria at 104 the Quadrangle on Routh Street in Dallas?

Lone Star Comics in Arlington used to have some game stuff. Don't know if they still do, but here's their website: mycomicshop.com