Driving from Chicago to Dallas for New Years Bowl Game (Worth: hotels, college)

[jfrederking]

Hi! Any suggestions of places to stay/eat on our drive with two small children? Also wondering if anyone has lived in Dallas and can recommend activities in Dallas for a 7 and 3 year old the week after Christmas. Thanks!

[ofcjim40]

The bad thing about that drive (I've done it many times) is the lack of a good and fun halfway point. Memphis is about the middle and I would never stay there again. Stayed in a "5 star" hotel that was anything but! It's really not a bad drive at all. Personally I've always driven it straight through, only did the broken up trip once. If you like BBQ DON'T miss Nicks BBQ in Carlisle, AR (Google it). The place is nothing to look at but it is great BBQ. Stumbled on it one time headed down there and have since hit it several times.

Also I suggest you take I-55 or 57, whichever you are closer to, and take that to 40/30. On paper it's longer than taking I-44, but you'll be going through the Ozarks with possible snow then, not fun!

Sorry, don't know fun activities off hand for kids that age.

[chet everett]

Done it dozens of times. Have relatives in Texas. We always take 55 to St Loius, 44 to OK City, 35 to Dallas. Never any serious snow.

When kids were little and we broke this into twomdays we'd stop in Rolla Mo,which is a pleasant enough town with plenty of hotels as they have long been a "road trip" kind of town and tier is a college or two there.

Ozarks are hilly, bur far from "mountain pass" and anyone from Xhocago ought to have no issues with driving on interstate even if it snows.

Mephistopheles is hundreds and hundred of miles in the wrong direction...

When kids were older we would do drive in one day. As it is all in one time zone you don't gain lose anything off actual clock time so normal ryhm of the day and meals is maintained though mentallyypu can get a little crazy from all thedrivong. Used to tale breaks at Aruckeusnfor pecan logs and other junk food...

Now we fly to see family.

[Mr Downtown]

The drive is just an incredibly boring one, but can be done by adults in 14 hours. I do recommend the West Memphis-Little Rock routing over the Joplin-McAlester route, as US 69 is not a full superhighway and you slow for lots of little towns. Even the St Louis-Tulsa-Oklahoma City routing, a few miles longer, is not much longer in minutes.

Dallas has the usual array of Science Museum, Zoo, Planetarium, etc. There's also a pretty neat aquarium/indoor zoo/terrarium called the Dallas World Aquarium. A ride on the McKinney Avenue streetcar or even the DART light rail lines may interest your kids, depending on how often you ride the L or Metra. Things like indoor ice skating at The Galleria or Plaza of the Americas or the ICE exhibit at the Gaylord Texan hotel in Grapevine may be too much like home.

In Arlington, the C.R. Smith Aviation Museum is pretty cool even for little ones--and free. Ft. Worth has a combination science and history museum that also is great for kids. It stays open late, so we often would go at 4 pm as everyone else was heading home. Also in Arlington, Six Flags Over Texas does Holiday in the Park with special lighting and shows.

Though you'll want to have your coats with you, odds are good that you'll have at least one 70-degree sunny day. So just playing outdoors at a big public park playground may be a treat for northern kids.