- May 19th, 2016, 7:35 pm
#509827
For the first time in nearly a quarter century, the Flames will be playing a football game in the Lone Star State on September 17th. Obviously some of us like SumItUp & I are jazzed to have a rare appearance in the Great Southwest portion of the country. Several folks have contacted me that they plan on flying into Dallas for the game, If some of you are considering the trip, this thread is for you.
Air Travel:
Driving
Lodging/Light Rail
Food
Gameday
Air Travel:
- Flying into Dallas is rather easy from just about anywhere in the US. Atrain can verify that flying into Love Field (DAL) is the most convenient airport in relation to Highland Park and the SMU campus.
Southwest is the primary carrier flying into this recently remodeled but smaller airport. But several other carriers also have flights into this convenient option. Otherwise American primary hub DFW is also where the majority of United & Delta flights go as well. Flying from Lynchburg (LYH) you will likely fly into DFW via American/US Airways. But if you drive other regional airports like RDU you will hve multiple options to get into either airport at what is often reletvely inexpensive airfares. You will not want to use taxis if you fly into DFW because it will cost you a fortune to get to Hghland Park. Take a rentai car if you are in a group or use Uber or Lyft if flying solo. Feel free to chime in, Atrain.
Driving
- For those of us in Texas & Oklahoma, this is self-evident. For those coming from the East Coast just keep in mind that this is a major undertaking. Unless you have a significant amount of free time, I'd fly. It's much cheaper.
Lodging/Light Rail
- There are two primary thoughts on where we be a great place to stay if you are including a hotel stay in your trip. You can either stay in Downtown Houston/West End or you can hit the suburban corridor just to the north of campus. Frankly it comes down to price and whether or not you have a rental car. If you don't have a rental car, you can actually utilize DART almost excludively. The yellow line runs from Love Field into Downtown Dallas and that keeps going right up to Mockingbird Station that is just 2 or so blocks from Ford Stadium. There is a shuttle from DFW that goes down to the CentrePort station where you can ridethe Trinity Railway Express over to the Victory station near Atrain's old neighborhood by American Airlines Arena. There you can take the DART to either downtown or Ford Stadium.
Food
- If you are expecting great options of Texas staples BBQ & TexMex you may be a bit disappointed. Dallas is far too pretentious for such pedestrian fare and the vast majority of 'cue or Mexican options in Big D are nothing to garner excitement. There are some exceptions and Atrain can offer some of his favorite choices. But the restaurant scene in Dallas is actually pretty strong as whole. Whatever your budget, you'll find something worth enjoying. Yesterday, I stopped at the In-N-Out Burger just about a mile north of SMU on Highway 75 and there was a Freebirds a block or so away. There are chain options aplenty. I do recommend the Pappadeaux halfway between SMU & Downtown Dallas if you enjoy Cajun.
Gameday
- I'll get into greater detail about what you can do in Dallas on your visit. But I wanted to give you all a heads up about a great tradition they have on gamedays at SMU. The Boulevard is a massive tailgating/college fun atmosphere that is quite the experience. Sadly much of the huge crowd that comes out onto the Boulevard doesn't bother to go inside the stadium. But it is quite the spectacle in the middle of the campus:
for nothing!
- By ECC29