Visit Fort Worth

From her first grade field trip at the zoo to her wedding day in Sundance Square, Jessica Bowers doesn’t have a childhood memory that isn’t somehow connected to the city of Fort Worth.  Although she has traveled far and wide chasing her wanderlust, when it was time to put down roots, she settled in the Metroplex, so she could introduce her four kids to the places she loved to visit as a child.

Her writings about family, travel, and how to mix the two successfully appear in Fort Worth Child, Dallas Child, and Family Fun.  She chronicles her family’s travels at Suitcases and Sippy Cups, where she shares the trials and triumphs of traveling the globe with four kids in tow. 

Jessica was born in Abilene, TX and graduated from Texas Woman’s University.  Her many jobs have included first grade teacher, curriculum developer, and stage manager.  But, she is most proud to have the job of mom to four boys, who she homeschools.   Her favorite family friendly Fort Worth hangouts are Log Cabin Village, Casa Manana, and the Botanic Gardens. 

“The prairie, in all its expressions, is a massive, subtle place, with a long history of contradiction and misunderstanding.  But it is worth the effort at comprehension.  It is, after all, at the center of our national identity.” – Wayne Fields

On May 18, a variety of local organizations will descend upon the Botanical Research Institute of Texas® (BRIT) for a day of free family-friendly fun that celebrates the history and beauty of the North Texas landscape. Known as “Prairie Day”, the annual celebration focuses on BRIT’s acre-and-a-half of restored prairie habitat, which is filled with the native plant life that would have covered Fort Worth almost two hundred years ago.

Prairie Day began in 2010 when seed balls were created to help populate BRIT’s new campus meadow with a variety of native flowers and grasses. Seed balls are a Native American tradition, consisting of tiny modules that contain all the ingredients needed to give seeds a little help getting started in their new habitat – seeds, humus, dried powered red clay and sand. After being mixed with water and rolled into spherical shapes, seed balls literally become tiny gardens waiting to happen.

Local Dallas-Fort Worth organizations will also be participating in Prairie Day, including the Fort Worth Zoo, Metro Bee Keepers Club, and Blackland Prairie Raptor Center. The Log Cabin Village, a living history museum located just south of BRIT in Fort Worth’s Cultural District, will be offering a variety of activities including paper flower-making, spinning, and games. Other pioneer-themed demonstrations include making mesquite flower, acorn leeching, soap and candle making, solar oven cooking, composting, basket weaving, and gourd art.

Prairie Day visitors will have the opportunity to visit discovery booths, which will be representative of a variety of local environmental causes, including the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge, the River Legacy Foundation, the Fort Worth Prairie Park, Texas Bluebird Society, and many more. Finally, performances will be staged by the Bearclaw Singers and Dancers, cowboy poet Lanny Joe Burnett, Prairie Divas & The Outlaw. Live music by 3 Fools on 3 Stools will culminate in a barbeque lunch at noon.

New to Prairie Day this year are two special guests: a pair of prairie dogs from Lubbock-based organization Citizens for Prairie Dogs. BRIT has been hosting a competition to name these special guests on their Facebook and Twitter pages, and the person who contributed the winning name submissions will receive several prizes, plus a one-on-one meeting with BRIT’s furry friends.

A Celebration of Texas History

At one time, the Texas landscape could boast about 20 million acres of tallgrass prairie. According to the Native Prairies Association of Texas, in the early 1800s the tallgrass prairie ecosystem extended across the heartland of the United States, from southern Canada through Fort Worth-Dallas before continuing south to San Antonio. (Texas’ Blackland Prairie and Grand Prairie subregions are included in this.) Before settlers arrived, the prairie was home to a variety of plant life and grazing animals, from buffalo and deer to rabbits and prairie dogs. The native grasslands protected watersheds across the Texas plains, increasing water infiltration and yield, as well as reducing erosion and reservoir sedimentation.

Today, less than 1% of that historic tallgrass prairie remains due to a combination of suburban sprawl, plowing for row-crop agriculture, and overgrazing by livestock. In fact, the tallgrass prairie is considered by the National Park Service to be one of the most endangered large ecosystems in the world.

Restoring a Prairie

The acre-and-a-half of prairie that resides next to BRIT’s sustainable, LEED-certified headquarters has proven incredibly beneficial to researchers hoping to study and preserve this disappearing ecosystem. For example, it allows BRIT researchers to learn the most safe, effective, and practical way to control the spread of invasive species such as Johnson grass (introduced from the Mediterranean region), King Ranch Bluestem (an invasive exotic grass from Asia), and Bermuda grass (a native of Asia and northeast Africa). BRIT’s prairie is also undergoing a soil remediation and regeneration project, in which different areas of the prairie are dusted with a combination of prairie soil and compost tea intended to inoculate the soil with the microbes and bacteria that are present in healthy native prairies. “The posts in the field mark the areas of different experimental treatments,” explains Dr. Will McClatchey, BRIT Vice President and Director of Research. “All of the treatments use native soil from a donor prairie site in the same watershed as BRIT. The donor soil has been processed in different ways – simply spread onto the surface of the BRIT soil, or fermented to produce a liquid that was then spread on the surface of the BRIT soil. A third choice has been to add no donor soil. Our prediction is that one of the donor soil additions will prove to be more effective at promoting prairie soil regeneration than not adding any donor soil at all.” With time and a little patience, BRIT’s prairie research will eventually prove beneficial not only for scientists, but for others who wish to manage urban grasslands.

Going Back to Basics

BRIT’s building, completed in 2011, seems brand new when compared to the legacy of the land that it stands on. And ultimately, that legacy is what the organization’s celebration of Prairie Day is all about.

“There is value in native plants, in terms of their relevancy to the history of Texas, but native plants have more value in contemporary times in terms of their effects on water, soil, and conservation in general,” says Tammie Crole, BRIT’s Head of Membership. “BRIT’s prairie demonstrates that beauty is not just defined by fancy green lawns. There is another way to save water and to maintain the integrity of the landscape, and that’s going back to the basics, filling our environment with plants that naturally grow here and belong here, as they have for hundreds of years. Prairie Day is more than a celebration of Fort Worth’s historical past. It’s a reminder that we have to be good stewards of our own lawns, our own natural resources, and our own landscapes.”

We showed you how to discover the Cultural District on a budget, and now it's time for some Sundance Square savings tips and how to visit downtown Fort Worth on a dime. When looking for free attractions in Downtown and Sundance Square, it is almost harder to find an attraction that does charge. This family-friendly Fort Worth area has plenty of hidden gems just waiting to be discovered by you and your family. Don’t forget to stop in our Downtown Visitor Center in Sundance Square for more savings: iFortWorth, located at 508 Main St.

Attractions:

• Bass Hall – Free tour on Saturdays at 10:30am
• Sid Richardson Museum – Free
• Fire Station #1 – Free
• Fort Worth Water Gardens – Free
• JFK Tribute – Free
• Heritage Trails – Free
• Sundance Square is always free to visit but check out their website and sign up for “Inside the Square” newsletter for additional discounts to be delivered straight to your email.

Most people eat something small for lunch and then consider dinner to be the larger meal of the day. Why not switch it up? Lunch menus often offer the same items but at a discounted price. Then check out a Happy Hour for dinner. Next time your in downtown Fort Worth, consider these dinner Happy Hours:

Taverna Pizzeria and Risotteria

• Monday-Friday 3:00 - 8:00 p.m., which includes Half-price Appetizers & Pizza /Well Drinks, Draught Beer, Bellini, House Red & White Wine $3.00 (Available in the bar and lounge)
• Wednesday Night-Enjoy 1/2 price bottles of wine with items off our regular menu or specials board (4:00 - 10:00)

Ruth’s Chris Steak House

• Happy Hour Sizzle, Swizzle, Swirl – The best of Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse food and drinks for $7 Monday-Friday.

T and P Tavern

• Happy Hour Monday-Friday 4:00-7:00 and all day on Sunday.

Frankies Sports Bar & Grill

• Happy Hour 11:00AM-7:00PM week days
• Check out their website for daily specials!

Looking for a free way to get around? Molly the Trolley runs seven days a week from 10am-10pm. Check out Molly’s routes here! Don’t forget about Fort Worth’s brand new Bike Sharing too – there are several bike stations all over downtown for easy access! Check our out Deals & Discounts for more ways to save in Downtown!

Hometown: Shreveport, Louisiana / Fort Worth, Texas

Occupation: Guest Service Champion Holiday Inn Express Western Center

Ideal Day in Fort Worth: Whether it is with your spouse, family or friends, an ideal day in Fort Worth is to begin your journey at the Fort Worth Amon Carter Museum of American Art. There you can enjoy the different art works by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell the two greatest artists of the American West and it is free of charge. You also can enjoy walking hand and hand through the Botanic Garden occasionally stopping to take pictures of the beautiful colorful plants that flourish in the garden. Very romantic. When you get hungry you must sit down and enjoy a juicy steak at the Internationally Renowned Cattlemen's Fort Worth Steak House. After enjoying your day in Fort Worth you can end your journey by checking in to the Holiday Inn Express and Suites Western Center and relax in one of our comfortable beds.

How would you describe Fort Worth to a visitor? Fort Worth is a city that values its sometime wild and wooly Western heritage. It is a cultural heritage that revolves around world-class museums and art venues. There are many hot spots in Fort Worth; to name a few; Billy Bob's the world's largest honky tonk, Downtown /Sundance Square Plaza the most exciting downtown in Texas, Texas Christian University a private, coeducational university in Fort Worth and Joe T. Garcia's is one of the best Mexican restaurants in Fort Worth. Landmarks: Fort Worth Water Gardens is a unique free attraction located on the south end of downtown Fort Worth, Bass Performance Hall is the premier venue for performing arts and other attractions and St. Patrick's Cathedral was constructed from 1888-1892 is the oldest continuously used church building in Fort Worth.

What do you like most about working in the tourism/hospitality industry? I like the ideal that I get the chance to meet and greet many people from different states and country’s. To tell them about all the great things they can do in Fort Worth and all the wonderful things we have to offer.

What is the biggest surprise visitors have about Fort Worth? The biggest surprise I have heard visitors speak about is when they visited the Stockyards. They would always say, “I have never seen cowboys drive a herd of longhorn cattle down a street.” A city with a country feel.

What makes Fort Worth different than any other destination? I think the welcoming hospitality and the friendliness of the people is what makes Fort Worth different from any other destination. Fort Worth has a climate of opportunity for business, education and creativity. This is one of the reasons why my family and I decided to live here.

There is nothing quite like the joy that comes from a family bike ride. With every turn, not only do you travel forward, but you also keep the air clean, get some exercise, and join a global community of riders who are traveling the miles using pedal power. 

Be a special part of the biking community this Saturday, May 18^th as you join with bicycling enthusiast Mayor Betsy Price and the bike patrol of the FWPD for the annual Southside Bike Ride. A leisurely ride through Fort Worth’s Near Southside neighborhood kicks off at 9:00 am at One Safe Place, 777 W. Rosedale St. raising awareness for safe bicycling practices for participants of all ages. At the end of th ride, families will enjoy a kid’s bike rodeo, booths promoting family health, and a special chance to meet local police officers and firefighters. You can even get your picture taken with the Chief of Police.

The event is free and you can register online or at the event on Saturday morning.  Don’t forget to grab your $10 commemorative T-shirt, proving that you and your family are bicycling rock stars. All proceeds from the event go to support the FWPD bike patrol in purchasing new equipment and fund special training.  For more family fun in Fort Worth, visit our Family-Friendly page.

Drop me in any foreign country, and radar takes over: It won't take me long at all to find the fancy cheese shop.

Sharp or creamy, blue or brie, sheep's milk or cow's or goat's -- I'm hard-pressed to find a cheese I don't like (though as my sometimes-empty wallet can attest, some I like much better than others). There's something especially tantalizingly about buying cheese at an off-the-beaten track fromagerie, where the proprietor takes particular care sourcing the cheeses, and has a long list of suggestions and samples for you to try.

Until recently, though, I've mostly had to do my cheese shopping at some of the Fort Worth gourmet grocery stores and shops, like Central Market or Oliver's Fine Foods -- not that I'm complaining, but those places lacks that intimate personal touch that you can find at a specialty artisan shop. Needless to say, then, I was very excited when Magnolia Cheese Company opened its doors earlier last December on bustling Magnolia Avenue. 

Who needs to jet off to Paris or Brussels when you have a charming little neighborhood spot like this one in the Near Southside and cheeses so good that you'll have an impossible time picking just one or two to take home? 

Magnolia Cheese Company actually doubles as a cafe, where you can order from the blackboard menu such sandwich options as the Gouda and Pork (which features gouda cheese, proscuitto, smoked bacon, sweet chili saw and pickled red onion) and the Fraiche Fish (which features horseradish creme fraiche, house-cured salmon lox and avocado), as well as salads, soups and a regularly changing line-up of daily specials. If you're looking to sample some of the shops cheeses, you can also opt for a five-cheese tasting plank ($16). 

On our recent visits, though, we were searching for a couple cheeses that we might take home and enjoy before dinner. After sampling a couple of different blue cheeses, we settled on the Point Reyes blue, made in California, an exceptionally creamy cheese that also has a nice tangy bite to it ($10/ per half pound); and since you can't just stop at one, we also purchased a wedge of the Alta Langa Cravanzina, a soft-ripened cheese from the Piedmont region of Italy, made from a mixture of sheep's and cow's milk. It has a soft rind, a creamy center, and a lingering hint of earthiness ($15.45 per half-pound). 

Magnolia Cheese Company also has a nice selection of wines -- you get a $15 discount on bottles if you're purchasing to take away. We opted for an Italian red, which paired nicely with both cheeses – so nicely, in fact, that when we got home, we skipped dinner altogether and just gobbled up our cheeses. Here's hoping this is just the start of a cheese shop boom in Fort Worth.

Magnolia Cheese Company is open: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.,  Monday to Thursday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday

Top Left Photo: Sample Catering Platter from Magnolia Cheese Co.

Hometown: Fort Worth

Occupation: Concierge 19 years

Ideal Day in Fort Worth: Breakfast at The Paris Coffee Shop, a visit to the Sid Richardson Museum (free of charge), a visit to the Water Gardens (free of charge thank you very much!), Lunch at Esperanzas (not free of charge), cruise down University with stops at the museums, the zoo, the flea market, Botanical Gardens (free of charge), a drink al fresco at The Woodshed, pass through TCU and look at our new football stadium and continue up to 7th Street and close out the day with bowling at Lucky Strike in West 7th.

How would you describe Fort Worth to a visitor? Somewhere you need to be right now.

What do you like most about working in the tourism/hospitality industry? It's always fun to surprise people with information about my hometown (i.e., Amelia Earhardt's plane, The Electra, was built at Lockheed!).

What is the biggest surprise visitors have about Fort Worth? Most are surprised at the great variety of food options in Fort Worth, i.e: Del Frisco's, Ellerbe Fine Foods, or a food truck at the Ballpark. 

What makes Fort Worth different than any other destination?We have an extremely eclectic selection of things to do. (NASCAR, Six Flags, Lone Star Park, Opera at the Bass, Golf at Colonial, or ski, sail, fish or enjoy a quiet sunset at one of our many great lakes).  You could live here your entire life and not see everything there is to see.

Hometown: Martha originally from Lubbock, TX & Richard from Lake Jackson, TX

Occupation:  Owners/Innkeepers of Azalea Plantation B&B for 20 years

Ideal Day in Fort Worth: Wake up in your lovely, quiet room at the Azalea Plantation B&B to the aroma of fresh coffee and a gourmet hot breakfast awaiting you in the dining room.  After breakfast, head over to I-30 & Montgomery to browse through artfully displayed aisles of treasures from the past at Montgomery Street Antique Mall. Only a few minutes from there is Kool Nails (corner of W. Seventh & University) where you can treat yourself to an amazing mani and pedi at a reasonable price and by professional and friendly staff.  For a yummy lunch, go across West 7th Street on Foch to La Familia for lunch with the locals. Guaranteed: you won’t be disappointed as they have quite a following! Spend the afternoon checking out Fort Worth’s state of the art museums or the Botanic Gardens. Return to the B&B for a little rest and relaxation, and perhaps a glass of wine.  Later, enjoy dinner at Lonesome Dove in the Historic Stockyards District, an incredibly unique culinary experience. The Stockyards District has plenty of live music and boot scootin’, so don’t turn in too early...go have some fun before heading back to the B&B for a perfect night of sweet dreams! (You’ll be dreaming about Cowboys & Culture!)

How would you describe Fort Worth to a visitor? Fort Worth is a friendly BIG hometown with ties to the past and eyes on the future!

What do you like most about working in the tourism/hospitality industry? I love the opportunity to show people a great time. It’s truly a blessing to have a job that you love doing! True hospitality gives me the opportunity to go that extra mile and create an experience that our guests will cherish and remember for a long time.

What is the biggest surprise visitors have about Fort Worth? We are constantly surprised by the number of international visitors to our city and how much they know about Fort Worth and the area. They absolutely love it here!

What makes Fort Worth different than any other destination? Fort Worth has that air of “having it all together” but without the attitude.  Everyone is welcome and accepted, and leaves feeling that they are better for having visited our “hometown”.

Learn more about Azalea Plantation Bed and Breakfast, located at 1400 Robinwood Drive, Fort Worth, TX 76111.

When gourmet food trucks started popping up a few years ago on the Fort Worth dining scene, a few of us were skeptical: Could a trend birthed in such hipster cities as Austin, Los Angeles and Portland really catch on in a meat-and-potatoes city like ours?

These days, I find myself eating my words – as well as whatever new offerings are being served up on four wheels. Fort Worth now hosts dozens of food trucks, and four parks devoted to these trucks. 

Opened in 2011, The Fort Worth Food Park, located off White Settlement Road, was the first of these parks and continues to draw impressive crowds. Last summer, Cowtown Chow Down opened near the Stockyards. More recently, the Clearfork Food Park started operation; it offers an inviting respite along the Trinity River for those looking to take a meal break from biking or running.

And on May 1, Food Park at Thistle Hill opened its gates. The park, located on the grounds of the historic Thistle Hill mansion, plans to host four trucks each weekday. The trucks will rotate regularly, providing a multiplicity of new dining options to a mostly under-serviced culinary corner of the Fort Worth Hospital District. The outdoor setting is so lovely -- the Georgian Revival-style Thistle Hill was built in 1903 -- that the terrific food almost seems like a gilding of the lily. 

On the day we visited, the trucks on site included First Bite Gourmet and the Latin-themed What’s Cook-N-Chef, though we opted for Salsa Limon – one of the very first food trucks to arrive on the Fort Worth scene in 2010.

The barbacoa taco was rich and smoky, and the veggie taco made for an appealing lighter option. We topped both with Salsa Limon’s  fiery red salsa -- not something recommended for spice amateurs, but for everyone else essential. Along with a couple of bottles of water, the bill for two came to just $12. For dessert, we wandered over to another truck on the property that day, Red Jett Sweets, and split the Nuts for Kentucky ($3) a bourbon cake cupcake topped with caramel butter cream and candied pecans. If – like us -- you have a weak spot for all things sugary, this is the one to try.

Texas weather being as unpredictable as it is, temperatures were at record lows when we visited – and the modest lunchtime crowd was all huddled inside the Thistle Hill carriage house, where inclement weather seating is available. Once the weather warms up, though, this newest addition to the food truck scene seems like a sure-fire hit. Indeed, the only problem with all these meals-on-wheels, is that there aren’t enough meals in the day to eat them all.

Food Park at Thistle Hill is open Monday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Check the Website to see which food trucks are there each day.

As all Fort Worthians know, there isn’t really any compelling reason to go do Dallas – certainly not when it comes to food. Everything folks in the Big D. think they do better, whether burgers or haute cuisine, Fort Worth has a trump card (or two, or ten). Seriously, no disrespect to the likes of, say, Maple & Motor or Fearing's, but am I really going to drive thirty-plus miles when the likes of Fred’s Texas Café and Lonesome Dove are in my backyard?

That said, I’ve never quite been able to find a Fort Worth match for Campisi’s, a beloved pizza / pasta institution on Mockingbird Lane in Dallas since 1946. The rectangular-shaped, thin-crust, uber-crispy pizza adheres to no known tradition – not New York, or Chicago, or Neapolitan. It’s more akin to something your mother might have made for your growing up, hardly gourmet, but richly satisfying, and for years I've been taking detours there when visiting Dallas.

Here’s the good news: I no longer need to make the trek east to enjoy Campisi’s. Earlier this week, the ever-expanding mini-chain opened its ninth North Texas location, and first in Tarrant County on Camp Bowie Blvd. in Fort Worth If the opening party I attended is any indication, Fort Worth’s other top-notch pizza makers – like Mellow Mushroom, Mama’s, and my personal fave, Fireside Pies – will be facing some serious competition.

The first thing that strikes you about the Fort Worth location is that it’s nothing all like the original Dallas spot, which is heavy on the bric-a-brac and family photos. This Campisi’s has polished wood floors; a sleek bar space; and flat screens televisions discretely mounted to the wall. You can certainly take the whole family, but you could just as easily head here for a romantic date night.

What is not different from the Dallas location is the pizza – still rectangular, with a nice spice to the tomato sauce, and a terrifically crispy crunch to the crust. The extremely genial servers – who at one point apologized to us, even though we were the ones responsible for spilling our drink – brought out plate after plate of samples; and though I’m normally hesitant to pile too many toppings on a pie, I especially liked the "All the Way," which is topped with finely diced sausage, salami, mushrooms, and peppers. Of the appetizers we tasted, the toasted ravioli proved a flawless rendition of a dish that can sometimes be a soggy, oily mess.

With a menu that also includes salads, pastas, and Italian classics like chicken parmigiana, there’s plenty to enjoy even if you’re not in the mood for pizza. (Though who wouldn't be in the mood for pizza?) And since you won’t have to drive to Dallas, you can take that gas money you save and order yourself a glass of wine.

Campisi's serves both lunch and dinner daily from 10 a.m. 

We all know that travelling can get expensive sometime. That is why doing your homework and finding the best deal is so important. Well we have done the homework for you. Take a look at these great deals in the Cultural District, West 7^th Street District and University Area.

Museums & Attractions:

-Amon Carter Museum is always FREE to visit.

-Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth - FREE to visit the first Sunday of every month.

-Kimbell Art Museum’s permanent collection is always FREE to see. Kimbell offers Half Price admission to their traveling exhibitions Tuesday from 10am-5pm and Friday from 5pm-8pm.

-You can received Half Price admission to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History with paid admission to the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame (visits must be on the same day).

-The Fort Worth Botanic Garden is FREE to visit.

-The BRIT (Botanic Research Institute of Texas) offers FREE Self-guided tours during regular working hours, Mondays-Fridays, 10am- 5pm and Saturdays, 10am-2pm and FREE Guided Tours Thursday at 1:30pm and Saturday at 10:30am).

-Both Log Cabin Village and the Japanese Gardens are only $5 for adults to visit.

-Monnig Meteorite Gallery - located on the Texas Christian University campus is FREE to visit. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday 1pm-4pm and Saturday 9am-4pm.

-Discount Tickets for the Fort Worth Zoo are available at iFortWorth and Wednesdays are Half Priced ticket days.

Don't forget to check out Fort Worth's new Bike Share program for a easy and affordable way to get around town.This is only the beginning on great deals to be found in Fort Worth. Feel free to let us know about other deals you've found by commenting below!

People who know me are all too aware of my longstanding culinary obsession with the annual Main Street Fort Worth Arts Festival. It’s more than just the fact that so many of the foods served up there inspire fond memories of the street fairs and block parties with which I grew up in New York.

It’s that so much of the food at Main Street Fort Worth Arts Festival is so good – a welcome reminder that you don’t need to spend $40 a plate to have a distinct dining experience in Fort Worth.

In my more ambitious years, I would actually visit the four-day festival every day, and usually ended up eating six or seven meals there over the course of the weekend. These days, I usually visit just a few times – fair food may be delicious, but my cholesterol can only take so many spikes.

This year’s festival begins at 10 a.m.. on Thursday (did someone say “late breakfast?”) and continues through Sunday at 8 p.m. (dessert!). Here are my picks for dishes that no arts festival weekend is complete without, based on the last thirteen years of festival food experience:

1. The Bahama Mama, from the stupendous Schmidt’s in Columbus Ohio, is for me an annual renewal of my faith in humanity – a plump, spicy bratwurst much too large for its bun, which I slather in Gulden’s spicy brown mustard and top with sauerkraut. Make it a meal for a few extra coupons, and you can enjoy a side of Schmidt’s marvelously tangy potato salad. (The giant cream puff ain't too shabby, either, but it should not be approached on an even half-full stomach.)  

2. Tenderloin Tamales, from Reata. Who says festival food can’t be sophisticated? Tucked into steaming corn husks and topped with a nicely piquant pecan sauce, these beauties can be found on the regular Reata dinner menu – but they taste even better when you can enjoy live music and people watching at the same time. 

3. Smoked Turkey Legs. Yes, you will look like a cannibal while chowing down on one of these greasy, gristly wonders; and, indeed, I can speak from personal experience that it will send your blood pressure about 20 points higher. You can thank me later.

4. Funnel Cakes. Fried dough + powder sugar =  the perfect capper to any evening spent at the festival. That said, my advice is to get in line before the nightly funnel cake rush commences, usually around 7 p.m. (And, no, I'm not making that up. One year I spent forty minutes in line.) 

Of course, if none of these options appeal to you, there are plenty more vendors to choose from, including Texas Skillet (the grilled steak sandwich gets my vote); Fletcher’s (corny dog!), and many others. Most of these venues surround either the Sundance Square stage or the Bank of Texas Stage. You can check out a festival map here.

Finally, you can wash all of this down with a white wine margarita, or this year you can visit the Craft Brew Pavilion hosted by Flying Saucer, which will feature a half-dozens beers on draught.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go purchase some coupons.

Celebrate the beauty of spring, one of the best times of the year to visit the City of Cowboys and Culture. Spring in Fort Worth is evident through the incredible 75-degree and sunny weather, blooming bluebonnets and the influx of people enjoying the Trinity Trails. Each year, the Fort Worth Botanic Garden celebrates the season with a Japanese-themed Spring Festival in the enchanting Japanese Garden. On Saturday, April 20th (10am-5pm) and Sunday, April 21st (11am-5pm), discover the beautifully-lanscaped Japanese Garden, where stone, earth, leaf and water become one amongst 7-acres of wonder.

This family-friendly festival offers entertainment for all ages including Sakura Dancers, demonstration of martial arts and the deft use of Japanese swords. Attendees can wander the wavering paths of the garden, listening to koto music and taiko drumming, participate in the tea ceremony, explore the bonsai and ikebana exhibits, indulge in reiki relaxation techniques, and shop among numerous vendors selling jewlery, artwork and gifts. Enjoy an afternoon culinary delight in the food court and shop in the gift store that features Japanese tea sets, sake sets, toys and books. Bring the kids for special children's activities including kimono dress up; Japanese storytelling; origami, calligraphy, Japanese crafts and games; temporary tattoos; Japanese fish painting; and feeding the koi fish. For more information, click here.

Admission: $6.00 for adults $3.00 for children 4-12; under 4 admitted free. 

Looking for something free and inspirational to do this Spring Break in Fort Worth? Look no further than the Fort Worth Cultural District, where the Amon Carter Museum of American Art presents Big Pictures, a culmination of nearly 50 works inspired by photographers thinking "big". On view through April 21st, the exhibition explores the impact of scale and the history of how thinking large has developed over the past 100 years. Expanding the image (no matter how simple) allows us as viewers to slow down and notice the details, which is a nice life lesson in general. For example, one of the photos in the first room, Landscape by Kathy Sherman Suder (b. 1959) conveys a boxer; however, the image's scale allows us to look deeper and pay attention to the form of his muscles, the sweat, and the direction of movement rather than just the image as a whole. 

Divided into five sections, loosely chronological in order, Big Pictures conveys grandeur style in looking at how photographers use size to affect the audience in different ways, many times by breaking the boundaries and thus, prolonging the gaze. Many have believed that large photographic prints are a recent phenomenon in photography; but interestingly enough, this exhibition reveals otherwise. In fact, the drive to create ever larger images has intrigued and motivated photographers from the medium’s earliest years. Don't miss this incredible exhibition at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art!  

Check out this free Fort Worth activity during spring break at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, where over half of the nation's currency is produced! From Tuesday, March 12 – Friday, March 15, 2013, enjoy two floors of interactive exhibits and displays showcasing the history of currency and the intricacies of the printing process. During your free self-guided tour (last tour at 4:30 p.m.), you can actually see billions of dollars being printed as you walk along an enclosed elevated walkway suspended over the production floor! It is an amazing sight to see, and kid of all ages will love this discovery! The tour experience also includes a high-definition theater film, the Moneyfactory Gift Shop, and a vending and rest area.

During the employee craft demonstrations, experience both floors of activities. On the first floor, witness Intaglio engraving artisanship at the engraver’s workbench, educational activities in the Kid’s Corral and see how currency was printed circa 1900 at the refurbished spider press (image below). Second floor activities include plate making for offset printing presses, see mutilated currency reconstructed piece-by-piece, and learn how Intaglio printing plates are “grown” in a nickel solution. For more information about this Spring Break event, click here.

For more Texas-sized fun to see and do this Spring Break, visit FortWorth.com/Spring-Break!

Photo Courtesy: Bureau of Engraving and Printing

Hometown: Albany, New York

Occupation: Freelance writer and editor of AlbanyKid.com, a blog about enriching family travel.

Describe Fort Worth in three words: Spunky, Spirited, and Surprising.

If you want to discover America’s frontier spirit, there’s no better place to find it than in Fort Worth. The Old West comes alive every day in the Stockyards when cowhands drive a herd of Texas Longhorns through the Historic District. But on a recent visit, I discovered that there’s a lot more to this “Cowtown.”

Lush Gardens

The Texas landscape of my imagination is one of dusty trails, lone oak trees and barbwire fences. Not the verdant gardens—brightened by cottage pink roses, towering azaleas, and abundantly stocked koi ponds--that graced my stroll through the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. And as if that wasn’t enough to permanently shift my mental picture, the Botanic Garden offers a number of educational exhibits, including the extremely kid-friendly Texas Native Forest Boardwalk.

Renaissance Art

I was expecting to see works by legendary Western artists such as Frederic Remington, but little did I know that Fort Worth is home to world-class art collections.  The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth houses the second largest collection of modern and contemporary American and European art in the United States. And the Kimbell Art Museum, known as “America’s best small museum,” permanently displays Michelangelo’s first painting, The Torment of Saint Anthony. Both museums are neighbors in Fort Worth’s Cultural District, where a number of outdoor sculptures prompted smiles (and even raised eyebrows.)

Loss and Remembrance

When I visited, Fort Worth had just unveiled the JFK Tribute commemorating the city’s place in history as the site of President John F. Kennedy’s final speech before his assassination. I was staying across the street at the Hilton Hotel (formerly Hotel Texas) where JFK and the first lady spent their last night together, and thus had ample opportunity to study displays celebrating JFK’s accomplishments. What struck me, though, was not the photographs and signage, but the sense of pride and gratitude in his legacy emanating from a Texan vet I met at the exhibits.

I hope you dance.

Billy Bob’s Texas, the world’s largest honky-tonk, has to be seen to be believed. We dropped in early on a weeknight, so I didn’t experience the energy of a 100,000 square foot establishment capable of holding 6,000 people. Instead, I was able to get a good gander at the decorative displays: the world’s largest belt buckle; walls covered in hand prints from the likes of Ringo, Richard Petty, and Huey Lewis; and a homage to the Live at Billy Bob’s Texas” label listing county music legends from Merle Haggard to Billy Joe Shaver who have recorded onsite. The image that will stay with me, however, is that of a middle-aged couple dancing on the wooden floor, under neon lights and a rhinestone studded saddle.

Seems to me that Fort Worth is full of fun and educational things to do with kids, but it’s also the kind of place that makes you want to dance.

Hometown: A born and raised desert dwelling Phoenix girl transplanted to the snowy plains outside Denver, CO

Occupation: Director of Social Influence for Traveling Mom, Travel Blogger at Mom Off Track

Describe Fort Worth in three words: charming, welcoming and full of character!

What is the number one thing you need to know when traveling with a teenage boy? Where to eat, of course. Fort Worth certainly has no shortage of answers to that question. Breakfast at Paris Coffee Shop is the way to start off the day with groggy, hungry teenagers.  Nothing gets their day started off right more than a little pie after a hearty breakfast of eggs and bacon. It’s OK. You are on vacation. No one will judge your parenting skills although I may have to judge you if you leave there without at least a little piece of owner Mike’s coconut pie which is made fresh daily by 11 am.  

I travel frequently and I love nothing more than to sneak one of my teenage sons into my suitcase whenever I can. We were excited about seeing the cowboy culture in Ft. Worth, but didn’t realize until we got there for the Family Travel Conference that we would be eating like cowboys—just the way teenage boys like.

We enjoyed a lovely lunch at Joe T. Garcia’s where we had probably the best chicken tortilla soup we have ever had. It reminded me of the authentic Mexican food I grew up eating in Arizona. The patio was gorgeous and the margaritas were the perfect way to top it off for mom. I would have loved more time to just sit there and enjoy a second margarita. But, alas, teenagers are always on the go!

For dinner we headed over to the Stockyards area for some BBQ Texas style, (dry rubbed, not wet) at Riscky’s. There are lots of things on the menu but my teen went right for the All You Can Eat Beef Ribs. For $9.95 you can actually afford to feed a teenager here! After a few plates he slowed down and we decided to walk it off strolling through the Stockyards. He had a blast riding a mechanical bull and having his picture taken on a real one. We took a walk over to Billy Bob’s, billed as the world’s largest honkey tonk, where we took some great photos and bought some fun, logo t-shirts as souvenir’s.

Besides the constant worry of where your teenager will graze, what is the second most important thing you need to know about Fort Worth? There is plenty to do here! We enjoyed several of the museums in the Cultural District. The small cultural district is home to six world class museums. What I loved is that they are so close together that you can just walk from one to the other. So convenient and easy. One of our favorite Cultural Districts museums was the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History where we were able to see the amazingly powerful Titanic Exhibit which closes March 24, 2013 so if you have an early Spring Break, make this a must see on your itinerary.  I wasn’t sure how much my 16-year-old boy would enjoy the National Cowgirl Museum Hall of Fame would be for a 16 year old boy buy we went anyway because we had some time to kill. Turns out he enjoyed it because of the several interactive audio-visual exhibits. He really had fun making a video of himself riding a mechanical horse that he could share with his friends.

During our trip here we also enjoyed visiting JFK Tribute located at the southeast corner of Main and 8th Streets, in downtown’s General Worth Square. This is the last place the nation heard the 35^th President speak and the life-sized bronze sculpture commemorating that moment is stunning.

And, because he’s 16, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take a college tour. We chose Texas Christian University because of its small size and community feeling.  TCU students showed the warm and welcoming feeling we felt throughout all of Fort Worth. The campus was beautiful and we enjoyed learning about the history and tradition of the school. We were even able to rub the TCU mascot, The Horned Toad’s, nose for good luck.

The only unfortunate part of our trip was that we were only here for a day and a half. Those of you planning your Spring Break trips have the lucky ability to plan a much longer, relaxed trip. The Fort Worth Zoo was ranked one of the top 5 zoos in the nation by USA Travel Guide and is top of my list for when I have the chance to return. No matter how many days you have the good fortune to stay, I am certain you and the teens will have plenty of fond memories of Fort Worth just like Connor and I have.

Hometown: Philadelphia, PA

Occupation: Database programmer

Describe Fort Worth in three words: Quintessentially Texas, y’all

My return to Fort Worth comes 30 years after I was last there.  I lived in Fort Worth for about three years in the early 80s – just long enough to attend middle school.  Looking back on my childhood, it was not the brightest time of my life, but that didn’t stop me from showing my wife, Stephanie, some sights and telling tales of a younger, less sure-footed me.

We started at the Fort Worth Stockyards.  I figure if there’s one sight in Fort Worth not to miss, this is it.  Historically, this district is where cattle and other livestock were bought and sold, earning Fort Worth the nickname “Cowtown.”  Now it’s a touristy stretch of bars, western-wear and souvenir shops.  We found some unique, and undeniably Texan items to bring back to the gang in Philadelphia.  We also found a spot where instead of a mechanical bull, you can ride remote controlled mechanical animals including a saddled bass, a TCU horned frog, and a “reinsteer” (a longhorn with horns and reindeer antlers).

Next up were the Fort Worth Water Gardens.  I remember this place (a) from when I was a kid, and (b) from the final scene of the movie “Logan’s Run.”  The Water Gardens feature three different pools of water.  The most famous is the “active pool” where you can walk down stepping stones and watch the water cascade all around you.  It is hard to describe the feeling of being surrounded by water falling all around you at different levels, while you stay dry, beneath the street level in the middle of a city.  There’s also a “Quiet Pool”, which is again below street level, lined by perfect rows of trees, and designed to make you feel very small in the large space around you.  Finally, there’s the Aerated Pool, where sprinkler-like apparatuses spray huge water droplets into the air before they fall back down into the pool.

After this we drove to my old neighborhood, where we saw the house where I lived, the synagogue I attended as a kid, and even the rectory where my Boy Scout troop met.  At the rectory, there is a short drainage culvert that I was afraid to walk through when I was 12, but was able to successfully – and probably illegally – navigate with Stephanie’s help.

We also paid a visit to the Hulen mall where in the early 80s I discovered the joys of video games.  The mall is now a crowded behemoth, especially since we were there two weeks before Christmas, but the cool clock is still hanging inside, so yay.

Every city in Texas seems to have its own personality, but Fort Worth screams “Texas” more than any others.  If you really want to sample a slice of the Lone Star State, start here.

Follow me and Stephanie, the Mile High Duo, as we travel around the world!

It's no secret that we’re not all barbeque and Tex-Mex in Fort Worth. In addition to succulent steaks, righteous ribs, farm-to-table dining, and mouth-watering Mexican fare, you’ll find world-class flavors from around the globe, including sophisticated Italian dining and exotic Asian cuisine. In fact, some of the greatest culinary artists, Jon Bonnell, Tim Love and Lanny Lancarte call the City of Cowboys and Culture home. As the culinary scene in Fort Worth continues to rise, there's no better time to share Fort Worth's finest and no better way to celebrate the thriving culinary scene than Fort Worth's first annual Food + Wine Festival next spring: March 27-30, 2014!

Be sure to save the date, as you don't want to miss this celebration of the Fort Worth food culture!