On this slightly belated episode of RV Miles (a few glitches in our weekend!) we cover our time in Dallas, Texas — including the great things we got to do on the Dallas CityPASS, like the zoo and the Perot Museum. It’s a great town with lots to do! 

Sponsors

L.L.Bean

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FMCA

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Show Notes

In the news, a new type of awning is coming to RVs, made by a company called SureShade. SureShade makes premium boat shades that withstand winds up to 50 mph, and have a self-supported stainless steel framework that avoids the need for side mounting poles for support. They introduced their products to the RV industry at the recent RVX trade show, and they can already be found on some class B camper vans:

We also talked a bit about visiting the Grand Canyon in the spring, when traffic at the entrance gates can be unbearable. The national park service wants you to know that you can now pre-pay your entry online, and skip the traffic by parking in town and taking the free shuttle into the park.

Our tip segment talked about the reasons why you don’t need to warm up your engine, whether diesel or gas, before pulling out of the campground. Save your neighbor’s ears and lungs. For more info, check out this article about diesel myths: https://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/maintenance/diesel-engine-myths

We then covered our whirlwind visit to Dallas, Texas. We stayed at the East Fork Army Corps of Engineers campground, a no-frills but clean facility in Wylie, TX, about a half-hour drive into Dallas, depending on the entirely unpredictable traffic. Wylie is a quaint little town with a nice historic downtown strip, well-made playgrounds, and about every chain restaurant you can imagine.

We used the CityPASS to explore Dallas attractions, which gets you access to

  • The Perot Museum of Nature and Science
  • The Reunion Tower GeO-Deck
  • The Sixth Floor Museum
  • The Dallas Zoo OR The George W. Bush Presidential Library & Museum

for $51 per adult and $35 per child. A lot of cities are doing this sort of mult-attraction pass, and it can often be a really great deal. Dallas’ certainly is.

We first visited Klyde Warren Park, which is such a fun gathering space. They had outdoor games to loan out for free, a lending library, and a line of a dozen or so food trucks! Yum.

We then visited the nearby Perot Museum, which is a combo natural history and science center. They have dinosaur fossils, a great rare gem collection, and a fantastic sports science exhibit.

For dinner, after the Perot Museum, we hit up El Fenix Mexican Restaurant just across the street. It’s 100+years old, affordable, and nice. And the food is what you’d expect for good ol‘ TexMex and Mexican.

The Dallas Zoo is a really well-done facility, with lots of space for the animals, and some species we’d never seen before—and we go to a lot of zoos.

We topped our time off with a visit to the Dallas World Aquarium, which is so much more than fish. Walk through a shark tank, and immerse yourself into the rainforest in this wonderland of aquatic life!