Arlington Afternoons & A Night Out in Dallas

Arlington, Texas

Saturday, May 18, 2019, to Monday, May 20, 2019

Written 11/29/25

This was the first point of a longer road trip that included: Arlington/Dallas, TX, then Houston, TX, then Little Rock, Arkansas, then Memphis Tennessee, then Jackson, Mississippi, then Birmingham, Alabama, then Atlanta, Georgia (only spent 10 hours there. some of which was trying to get a new flight arranged.)

This was our second visit to Texas together; in 2016 we stopped overnight in Amarillo on our Route 66 inspired road trip.

Arrival & Settling In

Our arrival in Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) airport went quite smoothly, our flight on Delta out of John F Kennedy airport (JFK) in NYC left shortly after 8:00AM and arrived in Texas 4 hours later. So smoothly in fact, we were doing spot checks on the rental car from Alamo at half past 11:00AM. We soon learned that the car was overdue for an oil change, but the agent quickly arranged another car for us, a silver-grey Jeep. We quickly ran through our check on the Jeep and were leaving the parking garage before noon.

First order of business, lunch! When I was scoping out lunch opportunities on my phone, I saw a Whataburger in Arlington, on N. Collins which was sort of on the way to the hotel. I’ve never eaten Whataburger and was keen to try it. My partner was interested as well, so off we went. We ate in, and lunch consisted of fries, chicken strips (Whatachick’n), and Whataburger each.

After eating, we headed over to our hotel. I was hopeful that they’d let us check in early, and the Holiday Inn – Arlington NE – Rangers Ballpark by IGH did not disappoint. Since we walked in with our bags we went directly up to our room and decompressed for a while. We’d be in this room for 2 nights, so we could unpack somewhat. While we hung out in the room we discussed what we saw on our drive to the hotel. We both noticed a Six Flags amusement park close by and an IHOP within walking distance.

Our only solid plans for the area were to see the Texas Rangers play, and our tickets were for the next day. So really, this was a freebie day to do with what we wanted. My partner used our time wisely and sought out a place for dinner.  He found a barbecue place in Dallas that interested him, called the Pecan Lodge.  Going out on a Saturday night to eat in a restaurant at home usually means a long line, lots of people and quite a bit of waiting. I was curious what a Saturday night out in Dallas would be like.

Photo 1: lunch for two at Whataburger

Photo 2: inside our hotel room at Holiday Inn

Photo 3: on our way to Dallas

Off to Dallas We Go

The drive from our hotel to the restaurant was about 30 minutes. It wasn’t dark yet, so my partner took some photos while we were on the parkway (freeway? Interstate? – insert your big road term here). I think officially we were headed to Deep Ellum, a historic neighborhood in Dallas. Historic? Well hot diggity! Two birds with one stone!

We pulled up to the Pecan Lodge and saw that there was already a line in front of the restaurant, not sure where to park, we circled the block and did not see a parking lot (they don’t have one). We parked along a side street. We walked towards the crowd of people that somewhat resembled a line. The line had wrapped the corner and was now alongside the patio area. This gave us a good vantage point to see how busy it was inside, and to catch the vibe of the place. In a glance, it seemed to be a bit of a social meet up place for the college crowd. There was music playing and a good amount of cross discussion from one table to another. Some diners even visited other tables to chat.

Meanwhile, as I was observing all of this, the line crept forward. Lots of people joined the line behind us though. They seemed to be more the date-night crowd as the attire was a bit posher than what I’d expect for barbecue.  Slowly we approached the corner where we could see the entrance and front of the line. That’s when my partner and I started to discuss the patterns of which the line moved. The two things we noticed were, people were holding a place in line for a larger party, ie: a party of three became a party of eight.  The second thing was the line moved in bunches. As we approached our turn to enter the building, we understood the erratic movement was due to the foyer doors. Each group of people would move between the foyer doors, then as orders were placed inside, the foyer emptied out and the next bunch or few bunches of people stood in between the foyer doors. Thus “moving in bunches”,

All in all, our wait outside might have been 45 minutes. The worst part was there was a little bit of a drizzle, but we were inside not long after it began. Once inside, we saw that you ordered your food first, waited to receive it, then found a place to sit. While my partner was ordering, I debated on whether to attempt the patio or plop down close to where we were. I opted for the latter since it was drizzling.

Often, when trying new places my partner and I try to sample a bunch of different things and we share it all. This time was no different, he ordered plates with the smoked meats and sides of mac n cheese and collard greens. We were seated with our meals approximately 10 minutes after ordering. Just like outside, the restaurant was energized with lots of people talking and visiting the bar, which was a few feet away from us. The food was, in a word, delicious! It was too much for us to eat in one sitting, so we packed up leftovers to take them back to the hotel room with us.

As we left the restaurant, the rain was noticeably more consistent. Although we had no real plans afterwards, it would have been nice to drive around and see more of the city. But it was already 9:30PM and we had already put in a full day; we drove back to the hotel.

I am very happy with my Saturday night experience at Pecan Lodge, I think it was well worth waiting on the line because I got to experience what a Saturday night in Dallas is like. Even if it did sprinkle a little rain.

Photo 1: Pecan Lodge patio (while we were waiting online)

Photo 2: Fair Park Station (railway station)

Photo 3: just a rainy Saturday night in Dallas near S Hall and Canton Streets

An Easy Sunday

I’ve learned from my traveling experience that Sunday can be an unpredictable day around different parts of the country. Often, I build it in to be used as a travel day. But for this trip, Sunday was baseball day. We were to attend a Texas Rangers game. The game started midafternoon, and this really worked out for us, because we both slept late. Although, it did leave us a little short on time to grab breakfast before the game. Using the handy-dandy map, my partner found that Panera Bread (this location closed) was just a mile away. We headed there for a quick breakfast sandwich and coffee. The whole excursion took us less than an hour, which got us back to the hotel in time to leave for the game.

The hotel participated in the trolley system that connected a lot of hotels and entertainment areas together. I love the trolley systems! If you are lucky, the driver or a volunteer offers neat tidbits about the area, sometimes history too. I use it to scope out what other things I might want to do in the area that I didn’t think of. For instance, I might not have considered the Bowling museum, but seeing how easily accessible it is, I might add it to a future visit.

The Arlington Trolley service was free for guests from the hotel and provides transportation to many of the local places, including the two Six Flags parks, AT&T Stadium where the Dallas Cowboys play, Esports Stadium and the International Bowling Museum & Hall of Fame. Over a dozen hotels participated with the trolley service. Pick up was right in front of the hotel.  As we entered the stadium we were surprised with a free unofficial baseball cap as we entered the stadium. It was in remembrance that the stadium was closing at the end of the season. The game went into an extra inning, which always makes for some excitement in the stands. Even better when the home team wins, which they did!

Our ride back to the hotel on the trolley was quick and although we could have pushed ourselves to go out for the evening. We did have the leftovers from the Pecan Lodge in the hotel room, so we chose to finish those as our dinner.

Photo 1: Arlington Trolley

Photo 2: AT & T Stadium - Dallas Cowboys football (from trolley window)

Photo 3: Globe Life Park - Texas Rangers baseball (from trolley window)

Check out time

Monday morning arrived quicker than we wanted. Although we didn’t rush to leave, we were ready with our bags packed by mid-morning. We did one last scan for any forgotten items (that’s happened to us more than once) and left our hotel room in Arlington. We checked out and drove over to the IHOP for breakfast. Familiar with the menu, and it being late morning, we ordered, ate and were paying the check in less than an hour.

Off to Houston we go.  

Photo: view of Six Flags from the road as we left Arlington/Dallas area.

Things I learned from planning this trip: Dallas and Houston are only about 4 hours away from each other by car.

Things I learned from attending this trip:

• Arlington, Dallas, and Fort Worth are only like 30 - 60 mins away from each other.

  
  

• Traveling to Dallas/Fort Worth airport was not a stressful experience.

  
  

• If you have pre-teens or teens that are interested in sports or if you like sports, this could be a place for you. There is probably enough here to fill a week long trip between the sports arenas and amusement parks. The hotel was an easy drive from the airport. The trolley system was a great set up, and having a pickup at the hotel entrance really made things easy. I even texted my co-worker who is always thinking of places to visit, and suggested she consider replicating our trip if they ever chose to fly somewhere for vacation.

  
  

Things I keep in mind when organizing a trip for myself: Go back for more! Definitely a lot left for a second trip, maybe even a third. Next trip, stay in Dallas. Visit Fort Worth. Allot a week of time and really try to soak in more of the area now that we have a bit of the lowdown of the area,

Some information, such as baseball game information and directions were sought by using ChatGPT or Perplexity.