Trinity Railway Express

I'm back in Texas for a while before the next school year starts. This year, my girlfriend has come 9000 miles to visit me! I usually take a little break on my blog during April and May, but this year we will be touring around Texas, so I'll be writing about some of our adventures around here! I want to be a good host and show her all the great stuff that the Lone Star State has to offer!

TRE

Most people around here drive everywhere, but since I don't have a car in the United States anymore, Pinky and I were forced to venture out on public transportation - new territory for me - and we had a blast!

We started our first morning at Centreport Station, near DFW Airport, where we caught the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) to the historic art deco Texas and Pacific Station in Fort Worth. The TRE Runs between downtown Dallas and Fort Worth and connects to the DART and The T. Our one-day pass was valid for the TRE, the Dart, and the T, and cost only $5 for the day! Much better than paying for parking downtown, I guess! The ride took about half an hour.

Train arriving at the station

When we arrived at Sundance Square, once voted the top downtown area in the country, the city was preparing for the Main Street Art Festival which will be this weekend. It hadn't started yet, but  some of the artists were setting up their booths, and we got to wander around and check some of it out.

Our first stop exiting T&P Station was the Fort Worth Water Gardens!

Water Gardens

We also passed by the JFK memorial. The 35th President was tragically assassinated in Dallas in 1963. This statue in Fort Worth pays tribute to his famous visit to the city not long before his death.

JFK

Pinky wanted to see "cowboy stuff". I figured that Arlington might be a little disappointing in that regard, so we went into "Cowtown" to see what we could see. Country western music played loudly from the radio station in Sundance Square, and we enjoyed a nice barbecue lunch downtown. We also paid a visit to the free Sid Richardson Museum which houses Mr. Richardson's private collection of cowboy art.

We got chatting with the older lady at the front desk. I told her I lived in Bangkok but I was from Arlington originally.

"Welcome home!" she said.

I also explained how I wanted to show Pinky lots of "cowboy stuff".

"Well yeehaw!" the lady exclaimed.

We thought that was great!

we're sure in Texas now

I've always gotten around by car in Arlington and Fort Worth, so I didn't really know how to use the public transportation, or what it would be like. Pinky and I were actually quite impressed with the bus service (The "T") in Fort Worth! Besides the free "Molly the Trolley" that runs around Sundance Square and downtown, we were able to take the nice, clean, and efficient city bus all the way from Sundance Square to the Historic Stockyards District! Pinky did want to see "cowboy stuff" after all...

Sundance Square

So we boarded the T, and off to the Stockyards we went.

To be continued...