All Things TCU Road Game Thread: What to See, Do, Travel Plans & More...

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TexasAggie11

TexasAggie11

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Howdy, Gophers!

Tim Riggins asked me for some advice on travel to the Metroplex in mid-September as the Golden Gophers take on the Horned Frogs. I'm making my recommendations without knowledge of any plans by the U for an official team hotel or any pregame activities.

Dallas-Fort Worth may seem very similar to Minneapolis-St. Paul, but nearly twice as large (combined statistical area population and urban land area). Like the Twin Cities, the Metroplex is a sports fan's mecca, as well as being a center for arts and entertainment. Dallas plays up the wealthy, urban image, while Fort Worth holds fast to it's cowboy, wild west attitude.

There isn't just a whole lot going on in the area immediately adjacent to campus. TCU is southwest of downtown Fort Worth, in a nice area of town, but one without many visitor amenities. If you're coming in just for the game, I would recommend Downtown Fort Worth, where you can find plenty of options for dining and nightlife at Sundance Square. I like Reata, simply because it's 100% Texan, has a great rooftop dining area, and its two locations are in Fort Worth and Alpine (a town of 5,000 in the remote Big Bend).

Bass Hall is just a couple of blocks away, and a Broadway performance will be showing. The iconic water gardens are a nice September evening stroll sough of the Convention Center.

Two miles north of Downtown along Main Street are the Stockyards. Watch a cattle drive, grab a big steak dinner, and head to Billy Bob's to do some two-stepping. If you can't make the two mile drive without getting too hungry, stopping off at Joe T. Garcia's, just south of the Stockyards, for some enchiladas is also a good idea.

If you head west of Downtown on 7th Street, the road will turn into Camp Bowie after a mile or two, and you will be right in the heart of the Cultural District. Art museums and the cowgirl museum can help you fill time waiting for kickoff. Keep going past the museums for another mile or so and you will be at Kincaid's Hamburgers. You can thank me later.

Trinity Park, between the Cultural District and Downtown is a great place to go for a morning jog or just sit out and people watch.

However, if you are coming in and making a long weekend out of it, I would suggest staying somewhere more central, such as Arlington, or even in the heart of Dallas. Dallas to TCU should be about 45 minutes in relatively easy weekend traffic. Don't get me wrong - I actually like Fort Worth better in some regards, but there are just more visitor attractions in the eastern half of the Metroplex.

In Arlington, you may have to compete with Rangers or Cowboys fans if there happens to be other games happening that weekend. However, there are lots of hotels, attractions, shopping, dining, etc. that is all very tourist oriented. There's also Six Flags if you have kids, and you could tour the stadiums. Arlington Highlands is a good shopping center with just about every kind of store and restaurant.

For those spending more time in town, or who want to venture out to see more of the area, I'll follow up with more posts about other attractions.
 

Dealey Plaza and Texas School Book Depository in Dalas is a good trip.
 



Great post TexasAggie, much appreciated.

We have our plane tickets booked! I'm looking forward to this game!

A couple of questions for you - we are hoping to see a big time Texas HS football game on that Friday night. Any recommendations on where to go in the Dallas region? How far in advance do schedules get announced? Will tickets be difficult to obtain to a top tier game?

Thanks.

Go Gophers!!
 


BleedGopher said:
Great post TexasAggie, much appreciated.

We have our plane tickets booked! I'm looking forward to this game!

A couple of questions for you - we are hoping to see a big time Texas HS football game on that Friday night. Any recommendations on where to go in the Dallas region? How far in advance do schedules get announced? Will tickets be difficult to obtain to a top tier game?

Thanks.

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

I'd highly recommend going to watch Dallas Skyline HS play that weekend. They'll be a top 10 team in the state of Texas and there's a huge Gopher connection there (McKnight, Stoudemire, Cooper, Reeves).
 

3 Things to do...

Go to Chicken Scratch & The Foundry to eat. Its about 5 minutes away from downtown Dallas. They are known for their chicken fingers and they are really really good. Great beer selection. This place is basically a backyard. You eat on picnic tables. It's in an up and coming area of town. Restaurant has gotten several great reviews from local and national publications.

http://cs-tf.com/

The Perot Museum of nature and science is located Downtown Dallas, near American Airlines Arena. A brand new gorgeous facility with awesome exhibits. Great to go with kids. Or even if you are adults and like getting your geek on.

http://www.perotmuseum.org/

Also check out Southern Methodist University and Highland Park. The most beautiful campus I have EVER seen. The quad is unreal.
 

BleedGopher said:
Great post TexasAggie, much appreciated.

We have our plane tickets booked! I'm looking forward to this game!

A couple of questions for you - we are hoping to see a big time Texas HS football game on that Friday night. Any recommendations on where to go in the Dallas region? How far in advance do schedules get announced? Will tickets be difficult to obtain to a top tier game?

Thanks.

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

If they're playing at home that week, check out the Allen Eagles. Besides being the number one team in Texas last year, they have a $60 million stadium, and a top-notch QB in Kyler Murray (TAMU prospect).

You might also find a special place in your heart for Grand Prairie High School, as they are the Gophers and play in the Gopher Bowl. I can't speak to whether they are any good or not.

Other teams you can't go wrong with:

Carroll (Southlake) Dragons
DeSoto Eagles
Highland Park (Dallas) Raiders
Coppell Cowboys
Trinity (Euless) Trojans
Skyline (Dallas) Raiders
Martin (Arlington) Warriors
 

Other local attractions, in no particular order:

U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing - Fort Worth
Free. Watch currency be produced on the assembly line and interact with exhibits.

Dallas Arts District - Dallas
Costs vary. Amazing collection of performing and visual arts venues. My top choices would be the Nasher Sculpture Center and the Crow Collection.

Dallas Farmers Market - Dallas
Free to visit. Huge public market with restaurants, fresh produce, workshops, and live music. Has operated here since the 1800s.

Dallas Arboretum - Dallas
$15. Great botanical gardens and nature exhibits not far from the center of the city.

Fair Park - Dallas
Costs vary. You'll miss the Texas State Fair by a couple of weeks (rivals Minnesota's in size), but the fairgrounds offer year-round attractions such as the Discovery Gardens and the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. A walking tour will take you past the Hall of State and the Cotton Bowl.

Grapefest - Grapevine
t.b.d. Massive annual wine festival happening September 11-14, 2014 in historic downtown Grapevine.

Sixth Floor Museum, Dealy Plaza - Dallas
$16. Plaza is free. Historic site of JFK assassination.

Trader's Village - Grand Prairie
Free to visit. Absolutely enormous flea market with carnival rides, live music. You can find lots of interesting stuff to buy here, or just browse.

Lone Star Park - Grand Prairie
$5. Horse racing venue. Although there is not a live race on game weekend, you can win back the cost of your trip through simulcast racing.

Dallas Heritage Village - Dallas
$9. Collection of historical structures and furnishings dating from 1840-1910. Near downtown.

Texas Motor Speedway - Fort Worth
$8. No race this weekend, but tours of the 150,000 seat facility are available.

AT&T Stadium - Arlington
$17.50-27.50. Self-guided and VIP tours are available of this iconic football venue. Watch out for all the jerks wearing burnt orange who will be swarming this place that weekend.

Rahr and Sons Brewery - Fort Worth
$10. If it's an evening game, a brewery tour might be a fun kickoff to an afternoon of tailgating.

Eisenhower Birthplace - Denison
$4. Not in the metroplex itself, but a good stop on your way in/out of town on I35. Historical birthplace of a US President.

These would be my suggestions for things to do. I tried to leave off the most touristy/overpriced/underwhelming things that you might see on the visitor's bureau list. However, I may have missed a few, so feel free to ask.

I'll cover dining and nightlife later, but here are some links to information on those topics:

Dallas Observer
Fort Worth Weekly
D Magazine
Fort Worth Magazine
 




One attraction I forgot (because I haven't been there yet) is the George W. Bush Presidential Library on the SMU campus. In fact, the SMU campus and football stadium might be an interesting attraction for football fans who remember the death penalty given to this program. If you go on Saturday, you will see fans boulevarding instead of tailgating, which means drinking beers out of the trunk of daddy's BMW and not going to the game. We'll be up there the following week to destroy these fools yet again.

Nightlife:

I don't know too much about the bar scene around TCU because, well because it's TCU and they are pretty much irrelevant as the something like the sixth or seventh best football program in the state. I think I've driven by their campus once, and only know anything about them because this week their assistant AD got fired for running his mouth about Texas A&M on Facebook.


There appear to be a handful of bars adjacent to campus, but you will either have to try your luck or ask someone more local about them. I would suggest the Ginger Man Pub, whose sister pub you may have stopped in at in Houston. It's moderately close to campus, and should make for a good pregame spot.

As noted in the original post, there are three decent places in and around Downtown Fort Worth to grab a drink or hear live music: Sundance Square, the Stockyards, and West 7th.

If you venture further east to Arlington to catch another ballgame, check out Lincon Square right across from AT&T Stadium. There's a couple of good places there, Boomerjacks and Olenjacks, which are completely unrelated. One is fancy dining and one is pub food (I forget which is which), but they are both good. The Arlington Highlands will have literally every type of food or entertainment that you would want in one large urban shopping center. J. Gilligan's was Aggie HQ during our trip to the Cotton Bowl last year, and was a decent sports bar.

My pick for Dallas would be Lower Greenville. It's a good crowd, food with character, outstanding beer selections at most bars, and has something for everyone from young adults to older. Deep Ellum gets touted often as the go-to entertainment district. It's been hit or miss for me over the years, but it seems to be coming back and there is always live music somewhere. It's maybe a little more geared towards a younger crowd. Uptown can be good too, although it is a little more yuppie. Everyone is walking their dog or on their way to yoga here. It's less gritty than the other two neighborhoods, though.

Victory Park, near where the Mavs play, could be an option. It's easy to get there from the freeway and has some good places to hang out. To me, however, this is ground zero for the $30k millionaires who seem to permeate Dallas. You may hear of people telling you to go to the West End. If you are the type of person who wants to travel a thousand miles to go to Cheesecake Factory, Spaghetti Warehouse, or some other mega chain you could find at home, be my guest. Otherwise, go for a more local experience by choosing any of the above.

The way alcohol laws are in the Metroplex means that many restaurants and bars have opened on Belt Line Road in Addison, just north of Dallas. I lived near here for a few months, and you couldn't run out of places to eat or drink even if you went out twice a day. Also, not a bad place to grab a cheap hotel for the weekend, as they cater to mainly M-F business traffic.

If you have the family in tow, the Grapevine area, featuring Great Wolf Lodge and Grapevine Mills, might be attractive to you.
 

Restaurants

Take my advice and try one or more of these places and you won't be disappointed.

Tacos:
Taqueria El Paisano No. 1 - Dallas
Great, cheap tacos, rough neighborhood.
Fuzzy's Taco Shop - Fort Worth & elsewhere
Fort Worth-based chain with fast service and tasty tacos.
Torchy's Tacos - Fort Worth & elsewhere
Austin-based, similar to, but slightly better than Fuzzy's.
Fuel City Tacos - Dallas
Hyped as the best in town by those unwilling to venture off the highway.

Tex-Mex
Los Vaqueros - Fort Worth
Near the stadium, fresh Mexican cuisine.
Benito's - Fort Worth
Local favorite, traditional Mexican.
Avila's - Dallas
Family-owned local favorite.
Desperado's - Dallas
Great joint on Lower Greenville.

BBQ
Pecan Lodge - Dallas
Best in the Metroplex, in Farmer's Market.
Angelo's - Fort Worth
Best in Fort Worth.

Steaks
Reata - Fort Worth
Steaks with a Texan/Southwest flair. Downtown.
Lonesome Dove - Fort Worth
Stockyards location from celebrity chef Tim Love.
Pappas Bros. - Various
Pappas is actually a family of restaurant concepts. Can't go wrong here.

Italian
Campisi's - various
The go-to for Italian in DFW with bona fide mafia ties.

Burgers / Chicken
Kincaid's - Fort Worth & elsewhere
Well-known as one of the best burgers in the state.
Wingfield's - Dallas
A big ol' greasy burger, don't let the Oak Cliff address scare you off.
Babe's - various
Good old fashioned fried chicken and homemade pies.

EDIT: Removed Joe T. Garcia's from the list. Ate there yesterday, and the food was especially crappy. I won't subject y'all to that even if the restaurant has been there a hundred years and is a famous place.
 

Question for anyone - I'm guessing tickets aren't hard to come by? Better to just buy off Stubhub or on the street?
 





Word said:
I believe Spirit Air even charges for your carry on bag, so beware of many hidden fees with them.
Click to expand...

Go to their website to find out about all the different fees. I flew with them one time with a group of students who wanted to save money. They learned a good lesson about saving money, not! Unless you pack nothing but the clothes you're wearing, it's probably going to cost you a lot more than you think.
 


MNGoldenGophers1 said:
And you don't eat, drink, or pack any clothes.
Click to expand...

Problem solved:
ku-xlarge.jpg
 

Word said:
Question for anyone - I'm guessing tickets aren't hard to come by? Better to just buy off Stubhub or on the street?
Click to expand...

Nope. You can probably grab any cheap ticket, then move down to more premium seats once the game starts.
tcuempty359.png
 

For anyone who's like me and loves a football/baseball doubleheader, the Texas Rangers are hosting the Atlanta Braves the same weekend as Gophers/TCU, and the Detroit Tigers are hosting - yup - the Twins on the final weekend of the MLB season to coincide with Gophers/Michigan.
 

One of my favorite places to stay when going to DFW with a group is Hyatt House:
http://www.house.hyatt.com/en/hyatthouse.html

34706_49_z.jpg


There are locations in Irving and Addison that are both nice and clean. It's the best bang for your buck if going with a group and trying to stay on budget, or if you want a nice family place to stay.

Book a trio room for about $145 per night. You get two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a living area. One bedroom has a king bed, the other has two doubles, and the living room has a decent double sleeper sofa. You can easily put 8-9 people in beds here and a few more on air mattresses or sleeping bags, as there is plenty of floor space. There is a full kitchen with everything you need to cook for yourself, plus free breakfast in the mornings. The kitchen also makes for a nice third sink area to get ready in the morning.

Charge the people in the king $25 each, the doubles $20 each, $10 for each person on the sofa, and $5 to sleep on the floor in a bag, and you'll cover the room cost easily. Take advantage of the free breakfast (usually waffles, sausage, fruit, etc.), pitch in on some spaghetti or chili ingredients, and your food costs can be next to zero.

The hotel complex has a pool, tennis courts, lounge area, and more. It's set up almost like an apartment complex, so you feel more at home and have more privacy.

The room may even cost less than downtown Fort Worth hotel would. If you're traveling with family, splurge a little and have a king bedroom to yourself and put the kids across the living room in another bedroom and bathroom. There are three televisions in the room, so everyone can watch what they want, or you can check out all the weekend's games at once.

I've stayed here at least a half-dozen times with different groups of people, and everyone has been happy. Their locations tend to be within a decent walking distance of several bars or restaurants, although not right next door. Irving is 35 minutes from TCU and Addison is an hour.

34706_45_y.jpg
 


Once again, you knock it out of the park. Thanks for all the help again and I look forward to planning my trip!
 

Jike Spingleton said:
For anyone who's like me and loves a football/baseball doubleheader, the Texas Rangers are hosting the Atlanta Braves the same weekend as Gophers/TCU, and the Detroit Tigers are hosting - yup - the Twins on the final weekend of the MLB season to coincide with Gophers/Michigan.
Click to expand...

I have been to Rangers Ballpark and it is nice, as long as it's not 90 degrees or above (can't believe I'd be complaining about that kind of temp with the winter we've had), there is no airflow in the park and it can get brutally hot in the sun.

Angelo's - Fort Worth
Best in Fort Worth.
Also been to Angelo's BBQ that Aggie recommended and it's awesome.
 

TexasAggie11 said:
If they're playing at home that week, check out the Allen Eagles. Besides being the number one team in Texas last year, they have a $60 million stadium, and a top-notch QB in Kyler Murray (TAMU prospect).

You might also find a special place in your heart for Grand Prairie High School, as they are the Gophers and play in the Gopher Bowl. I can't speak to whether they are any good or not.

Other teams you can't go wrong with:

Carroll (Southlake) Dragons
DeSoto Eagles
Highland Park (Dallas) Raiders
Coppell Cowboys
Trinity (Euless) Trojans
Skyline (Dallas) Raiders
Martin (Arlington) Warriors
Click to expand...

Looks like a game at Allen is out of the picture for this Fall - grrrr:

A $60 million Texas high school stadium that got national attention for its grandeur and price tag will be shut down indefinitely 18 months after its opening, school district officials said Thursday.

Eagle Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Allen will be closed until at least June for an examination of "extensive cracking" in the concrete of the stadium's concourse, the district said in a statement Thursday. The closure will likely affect home games at the stadium this fall, the district said.

http://espn.go.com/dallas/story/_/id/10528972/cracks-force-closure-60m-stadium-allen-texas

Go Gophers!!
 

TexasAggie11 said:
If they're playing at home that week, check out the Allen Eagles. Besides being the number one team in Texas last year, they have a $60 million stadium, and a top-notch QB in Kyler Murray (TAMU prospect).

You might also find a special place in your heart for Grand Prairie High School, as they are the Gophers and play in the Gopher Bowl. I can't speak to whether they are any good or not.

Other teams you can't go wrong with:

Carroll (Southlake) Dragons
DeSoto Eagles
Highland Park (Dallas) Raiders
Coppell Cowboys
Trinity (Euless) Trojans
Skyline (Dallas) Raiders
Martin (Arlington) Warriors
Click to expand...

For all Gopher fans, Is Grapevine Texas close by? We've had a couple of Gophers from there. Also, how far is Memorial HS., Formerly Port Arthur Thomas Jefferson, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_High_School_(Port_Arthur,_Texas) Is that resonable to try and take that in, or is it too spreadout? Looks to be 5 to 6 hours by car. Iffy at best that I make the TCU game, but if I do, part of me would also like to take in a Grapevine or Memorial(formerly Port Arthur Thomas Jefferson HS.) game.
 

STPGopher said:
For all Gopher fans, Is Grapevine Texas close by? We've had a couple of Gophers from there. Also, how far is Memorial HS., Formerly Port Arthur Thomas Jefferson, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_High_School_(Port_Arthur,_Texas) Is that resonable to try and take that in, or is it too spreadout? Looks to be 5 to 6 hours by car. Iffy at best that I make the TCU game, but if I do, part of me would also like to take in a Grapevine or Memorial(formerly Port Arthur Thomas Jefferson HS.) game.
Click to expand...

Grapevine is about 26 miles from TCU and is a 5A school. Their coach just resigned a couple of weeks ago, so no clue what is ahead for their season. I suggested that Grapevine would be a great place to stay for families at the Great Wolf center.

I'm not sure what the Port Arthur connection is, other than some players from the 1960's who are from the area. I can't see it being worth that long of a drive for a game when there are so many better teams nearby. If I were to drive six hours from Fort Worth for a high school game, it might be to Odessa Permian's Ratliff Stadium (location of Friday Night Lights) or Midland Lee's GrandeCom Stadium.

Or, I might just drive to the middle of nowhere for some six-man football action.

All distances below are from the TCU campus.

You have current (including 2014 commits) players on the roster from:
Arlington Bowie - 6A - 20 mi - Amaefula
Killeen Ellison - 6A - 147 mi - Cobb
La Marque - 4A DII - 199 mi - Hutton
Lewisville - 6A - 39 mi - Epke, Epke, & Williams, Jr.
Mansfield Legacy - 5A - 20 mi - Williams
Manvel - 6A - 285 mi - Foreman
Southlake Carroll - 6A - 25 mi - Perry
Van Alstyne - 3A - 79 mi - Mayes & Mayes
West Reicher - 3A - 68 mi - Pisek

You have recruits considering U of M from:
Grand Prairie South - 6A - 25 mi - Austin (2015)
Mesquite Horn - 6A - 54 mi - Oliphant (2014)
Richardson - 6A - 47 mi - King (2014)
 

TexasAggie11 said:
Grapevine is about 26 miles from TCU and is a 5A school. Their coach just resigned a couple of weeks ago, so no clue what is ahead for their season. I suggested that Grapevine would be a great place to stay for families at the Great Wolf center.

I'm not sure what the Port Arthur connection is, other than some players from the 1960's who are from the area. I can't see it being worth that long of a drive for a game when there are so many better teams nearby. If I were to drive six hours from Fort Worth for a high school game, it might be to Odessa Permian's Ratliff Stadium (location of Friday Night Lights) or Midland Lee's GrandeCom Stadium.

Or, I might just drive to the middle of nowhere for some six-man football action.

All distances below are from the TCU campus.

You have current (including 2014 commits) players on the roster from:
Arlington Bowie - 6A - 20 mi - Amaefula
Killeen Ellison - 6A - 147 mi - Cobb
La Marque - 4A DII - 199 mi - Hutton
Lewisville - 6A - 39 mi - Epke, Epke, & Williams, Jr.
Mansfield Legacy - 5A - 20 mi - Williams
Manvel - 6A - 285 mi - Foreman
Southlake Carroll - 6A - 25 mi - Perry
Van Alstyne - 3A - 79 mi - Mayes & Mayes
West Reicher - 3A - 68 mi - Pisek

You have recruits considering U of M from:
Grand Prairie South - 6A - 25 mi - Austin (2015)
Mesquite Horn - 6A - 54 mi - Oliphant (2014)
Richardson - 6A - 47 mi - King (2014)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. The Port Arthur questions were personal. I had a teammate at a local Community College that went to Port Arthur Thomas Jefferson. At that time, they were always amongst the best in the country. We would often talk about Texas prep football and the size of crowds for Highschool games. Regarding Grapevine, Tellis Redmon was from that area. I'm not sure, but I think Jack Brewer may have been as well. Both players played for the Gophers in the early 2000's.
 

STPGopher said:
Thanks for the reply. The Port Arthur questions were personal. I had a teammate at a local Community College that went to Port Arthur Thomas Jefferson. At that time, they were always amongst the best in the country. We would often talk about Texas prep football and the size of crowds for Highschool games. Regarding Grapevine, Tellis Redmon was from that area. I'm not sure, but I think Jack Brewer may have been as well. Both players played for the Gophers in the early 2000's.
Click to expand...

The good thing about the trip between the Metroplex and Port Arthur is that the majority of the trip is on I-45, which is in generally good condition without an overabundance of traffic. It's a good interstate drive to put on cruise control and just steer straight ahead without too many turns or much stopping/slowing.
 

ESPN: Ultimate B1G 2014 road trip: Week 3

Brian Bennett's pick: Minnesota at TCU

Rutgers' Big Ten debut should be fun, and I'm tempted to join you in Jersey. But there are some other interesting games on the slate as well. Illinois-Washington intrigues me, but I'm not sure my body clock could handle another flight across multiple time zones. There's the Cy-Hawk game, a Purdue-Notre Dame clash, a good old neighborly battle between West Virginia and Maryland and even a potentially competitive game between Nebraska and Fresno State.

But I'm headed to Fort Worth, Texas, to see the Gophers take on TCU. The Horned Frogs did not fare well in the Big 12 last season but aren't far removed from being a national power, a team that beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, no less. Minnesota is coming off an eight-win season and brings back the core of its 2013 team. Will Jerry Kill's crew continue its upward mobility? For sure, the passing game will have to improve behind quarterback Mitch Leidner, especially while taking on Gary Patterson's usually stingy defense. This game should tell us a lot about where Minnesota is heading in 2014 and gives the Big Ten another chance for an impressive early nonconference win if the Gophers can come through.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/96898/ultimate-b1g-2014-road-trip-week-3

Go Gophers!!
 

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