Field Trips To Dallas

African American Museum
Housing one of the nation’s most extensive and best collections of folk art, the museum at Fair Park is dedicated to preservation and display of historical, artistic and cultural contributions made by African Americans.

Age of Steam Railroad Museum
This outdoor exhibit at Fair Park allows visitors to relive the golden age of the passenger train, and features the world’s largest diesel electric locomotives.

American Airlines C.R. Smith Museum
American Airlines history unfolds here from humble beginnings through five eras of flight. Video presentations, interactive displays, a 2-seater flight simulator, an IWERKS movie “Spirit of America,” and other flight-related activities are on tap. Housed in a glass hangar is the Flagship Knoxville, a restored 1940s DC-3.

Cavanaugh Flight Museum
The Cavanaugh collects, maintains, and flies an extensive collection of aircraft, as well as artwork and artifacts from World War I through the Vietnam conflict. The significant and rare aircraft comprise one of the nation’s largest private aviation collections.

Dallas Aquarium
Marine and freshwater fish, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates from Walking Batfish and Electric Torpedo Rays to a six-foot-long Alligator Gar all star at this Art Deco facility at Fair Park, built in 1936 to coincide with the Texas Centennial, with a saltwater section added in 1964. Special attractions include the Amazon Flooded Forest, and the World of Aquatic Diversity. As the first to breed and rear Texas Blind Salamanders, the aquarium also is known for maintaining and breeding the desert pupfish, and is one of only two aquariums to breed the now extinct species Megupsilon aporus.

Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks bring new energy and excitement to the court as the NBA team plays at the American Airlines Center.

Dallas Museum of Art
Formerly the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, the Dallas Museum of Art traces beginnings to 1903, with the facility opening in 1909 in Fair Park under the name Free Public Art Gallery of Dallas. In 1991, a $30-million expansion was designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes to help create mini-museums. The old gallery now houses the Museum of Africa and Asia, the Museum of Europe, and the Museum of Contemporary Art. The Nancy and Jake Hamon Building, completed in 1993, houses the Museum of the Americas, with art from Pre-Columbian to the mid-1940s.

Dallas Neighborhoods
Well worth exploration are Dallas’ eclectic neighborhoods. Among them are Deep Ellum, described as a Southern Soho; The West End, with family fun by day and and exciting nightlife; Uptown, in the heart of the antique district; Knox-Henderson, with quaint, old-world style; Highland Park, described as the Beverly Hills of Texas; Swiss Avenue, a grand boulevard with historic homes; and the Dallas Arts District, a 17-block area covering some 60 acres of downtown.

Dallas Stars Hockey
The Dallas Stars take to the ice at the American Airlines Center, opened in 2001 at a cost of about $325 million with a design that puts fans closer than ever to the action. Platinum seats have a host of comforts and amenities, and there are 143 luxury suites on the Flagship, Platinum and Admiral levels.

J. Erik Jonsson Central Library
Named in memory of Texas Instruments’ J. Erik Jonsson, this eight-floor library has a copy of the Declaration of Independence, printed on July 4, 1776. Also on the seventh floor on permanent display in a special room is First Folio, printed in 1623, and the first complete printing of Shakespeare’s plays. In the second floor Children’s Center, is a hand-crafted scale model of the 8th century Viking ship Drakkar.

Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie
This 36,000-square-foot pavilion is open six days a week for thoroughbred and quarterhorse racing during Thoroughbred Season, April-July and Quarterhorse Season, October-November.

Nasher Sculpture Center
Occupying a full city block downtown, the Nasher Sculpture Center (opening in mid-October, 2003) features a 54,000-square-foot building and a 1.5 acre sculpture garden designed by architect Renso Piano in collaboration with landscape architect Peter Walker. The $70-million Center, adjacent to the Dallas Museum of Art, provides a home for the internationally acclaimed Raymond and Patsy Nasher Collection of modern and contemporary works. Rodin, Degas, Picasso, Matisse, and many other renowned artists are represented. Raymond Nasher was one of the first real estate developers to put art in commercial complexes.

Six Flags Over Texas
From giant-sized coasters to family-friendly rides, Six Flags Over Texas has thrilled generations. Now Superman Tower of Power, the tallest ride of its kind in the world at 325 feet high, allows guests to fly like the Man of Steel himself.

Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
Each year more than two million visitors pay homage at downtown’s Dealey Plaza where John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The Sixth Floor Museum within the former Texas School Book Depository building (where the investigative Warren Commission concluded Lee Harvey Oswald shot the president) contains a permanent exhibition on JFK’s life, times, death, and legacy. Two evidentiary areas tied with the shooting are preserved, including the alleged sniper’s perch. Artifacts include the Zapruder camera that recorded the infamous footage, and the FBI model of Dealey Plaza used by the Warren Commission.

Southfork Ranch
In 1978, a legend was created rivaling any other series in television history, as an unknown Texas ranch became recognized worldwide. The series was "Dallas," the family the Ewings, and the ranch was Southfork, where the Dallas legend lives on well beyond the 356 episodes produced. Guided tours of the Ewing mansion and grounds spotlight memorabilia from the gun that shot J.R. to Lucy's wedding dress and Jock's Lincoln Continental.

Texas Rangers Baseball
The Texas Rangers play major league baseball from April through October at the Ballpark in Arlington. The Ballpark complex includes the Legends of the Game Baseball Museum, Children’s Learning Center, and Dr Pepper Youth Ballpark.