Top Five Destinations of Dallas

Stick with me for a second when I give you the many reasons that ?hot? describes Dallas, Texas and its surroundings. First and easiest of all, you have the weather in the summer. Second, you have the girls whom are represented admirably by the most famous cheerleaders of all, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Speaking of the Cowboys, you have the hot seat, where every Cowboys coach and quarterback finds himself if he doesn?t win a Super Bowl every year. On the baseball side, and the fourth example, you can?t get much hotter than Josh Hamilton right now who has 18 home runs and 44 RBI in just 32 games, or about 1/5th of the games for the year. (I?m not going to try to extrapolate based on a limited sample because it won?t mean much, but you can do the math in your head and be wowed in silence.) Even though the Mavericks have already lost in the 2012 playoffs, for another month, they are still the reigning NBA Champions, and that?s at least lukewarm.

Plenty to do in Dallas

So, let?s just say that travel to Dallas is one hot idea. Dallas is hot stuff. Buster Poindexter actually thought his song name should be ?Dallas, Dallas, Dallas? and not ?Hot, Hot, Hot.?

Now that I have got that heat out of my system, here are the cool places to go in Dallas.

Go see a Texas Rangers Game

Speaking of Josh Hamilton, there is no hotter player in baseball and no team hotter than the?Texas Rangers. They hold the largest run differential (+80) in the majors and a five game lead over the second place Athletics. If you have the means and want to avoid the hot weather, try the Ashley Furniture HomeStore Leather Lounge, which is surprisingly not an S&M Dungeon, but a seat in a leather recliner in the air conditioning with a free food buffet.

Eat at Lockhart Smokehouse

I?m a big fan of BBQ and hearing about a place where I don?t need sauce or a fork sounds so, so good. The only review of Lockhart Smoke House I?ve seen is from?Keith Law and while he said the no fork line might be a bit of hyperbole, I get a sense the flavor is still worth the trip.

Freefall at Zero Gravity

Yes, I said freefall at?Zero Gravity. You fall 100 feet without anything attached to you and land in a safety net. That sounds both terrifying and awesome. If you don?t like the idea of freefalling, you can bungee jump, you can ride the Skycoaster or ride the Skyscraper. I?m not sure which one would be the least terrifying.

Visit The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

On the more somber side of things there is The Sixth Floor Museum, a memorial and museum devoted to John F. Kennedy. The museum is located in the building formerly known as the Texas Book Depository where Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK and contains exhibits about President Kennedy and the political situation of the 60s. An exhibit on July 13th will use archival materials to discuss some of the conspiracy theories involving the assassination.

Check out the Dallas World Aquarium

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, Harpy Eagle alert. The Dallas World Aquarium goes beyond fish tanks and has exhibits on the animals of the Mayan culture, free-flying birds from tropical forests, penguins and monkeys. Then there are all kinds of fish. It sounds like such a cool place to catch a glimpse of these endangered animals as the aquarium and other organizations help to breed them and hopefully keep them around for much longer times.

Any suggestions for things that I missed? Any additional recommendations for the area? Just let me know in the comments.