Tourism Time
Tourist traps, and then set free, in the gift
shop
I got up early and went straight to the Southfork
Ranch. This is where the show "Dallas" (1978-1991) filmed all of the exterior
shots of the Ewing family's home, the fictional Southfork
Ranch.
The interior looks nothing like the show, except for the kitchen, which the producers recreated (and enlarged) for the show. The kitchen overlooks the patio and pool where many a rollicking family argument took place on the show. You start the tour via the museum and gift shop. An oil derrick is the first thing you see outside the museum--ironic as the patriarchs on the show refused to drill for oil at the fictional Southfork.
After touring the house and grounds and having my photo taken in the driveway and with the portrait of Jim Davis (who played Jock Ewing, 1978-1981) that played prominently in the show's later years, I headed to the gift shop and bought the third season of the sow on DVD. Click here for photos of the ranch.
I then drove through Dallas itself and onto Route 45 toward Houston. A friend of mine told me to avoid speeding through Ennis, TX, so I stopped there for gas. She also recommended the Collins Street Bakery in Corsicana, which makes, among other things, a fruit cake people actually like. I didn't actually like it, but I loved the apricot pecan cake and bought two as house gifts. For photos of Corsicana, click here.
All told, the drive from Dallas to Houston took me five hours, but that was with a few stops. The highways have a speed limit of 70 mph and most people go faster than that. I made plenty of stops. While Texas is quite flat, it offsets the sky dramatically. Puffy clouds kept us company all the way to Houston. Somewhere around Holtsville, I was startled to see a 30-ft-tall statue of Sam Houston on the side of the road, for no apparent reason. I got to my cousin Rose in Houston just after nightfall.
The interior looks nothing like the show, except for the kitchen, which the producers recreated (and enlarged) for the show. The kitchen overlooks the patio and pool where many a rollicking family argument took place on the show. You start the tour via the museum and gift shop. An oil derrick is the first thing you see outside the museum--ironic as the patriarchs on the show refused to drill for oil at the fictional Southfork.
After touring the house and grounds and having my photo taken in the driveway and with the portrait of Jim Davis (who played Jock Ewing, 1978-1981) that played prominently in the show's later years, I headed to the gift shop and bought the third season of the sow on DVD. Click here for photos of the ranch.
I then drove through Dallas itself and onto Route 45 toward Houston. A friend of mine told me to avoid speeding through Ennis, TX, so I stopped there for gas. She also recommended the Collins Street Bakery in Corsicana, which makes, among other things, a fruit cake people actually like. I didn't actually like it, but I loved the apricot pecan cake and bought two as house gifts. For photos of Corsicana, click here.
All told, the drive from Dallas to Houston took me five hours, but that was with a few stops. The highways have a speed limit of 70 mph and most people go faster than that. I made plenty of stops. While Texas is quite flat, it offsets the sky dramatically. Puffy clouds kept us company all the way to Houston. Somewhere around Holtsville, I was startled to see a 30-ft-tall statue of Sam Houston on the side of the road, for no apparent reason. I got to my cousin Rose in Houston just after nightfall.
Posted: Sun - November 20, 2005 at 02:45 AM
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Published On: Jun 20, 2009 07:04 PM
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Published On: Jun 20, 2009 07:04 PM