Ask HN: In Dallas for the Eclipse?

19 points by gradschool ↗ HN
I'll be stopping in Dallas for two days to see the eclipse, weather permitting. Does anyone have any suggestions for good vantage points or other things of hacker interest to do there?

17 comments

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Emporium Pies is really good. I assume hackers like pie?
If you’re looking for a vantage point, it’s actually possible to book a visit to top of the big ball shaped building you can see in the skyline. It’s called reunion tower. https://reuniontower.com
or the view outside the window of my home office.
Head to Plano, near the Legacy area where some corporate HQs are. It’s a flat area without high buildings and wide parking lots.
I think the Sixth Floor Museum, formerly the Texas School Book Depository where JFK was shot from, is a must see. Also, love him or hate him, the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library is worth visiting too. My partner and I are slowly working to visit each presidential library in the US, they’re always interesting and informative.

Downtown Dallas doesn’t seem to stay open as late at night as I’d like. A lot of bars and restaurants are closed by nine.

George W is in Dallas, HW is at A&M in College Station. W is at SMU and I found it disappointing (and not because it was about him).

Depending on your time frames, there is a Meow Wolf in Grapevine that’s new and looks pretty interesting. Haven’t gone yet, though.

The late-night scene is more in Deep Ellum as far as I know. But I don’t live there, just have family in the area and we’re all too old for that to be a big draw.

> Depending on your time frames, there is a Meow Wolf in Grapevine

I’ve only been to the one in Denver, but man, if you haven’t been to a Meow Wolf, find the time. I’m not gonna say it’s a spectacle on the level of the eclipse, but by way of man-made ones, it’s pretty far up there.

I just realized it was open last weekend. It was still under construction when I was there for Christmas. I'm planning to go when I can take my wife.
Other things to do is a private museum of vintage video games located in Frisco suburb. About an hour away in Fort Worth you can tour where half of the US paper money is printed. You see the operator’s monitoring the machines that print money but it is a bit dry.

https://nvmusa.org/interactive-exhibits/

https://www.bep.gov/visitor-centers/fort-worth-tx-tour-and-v...

I’d recommend going to at least one restaurant in the different neighborhoods like Greenville, Knox/henderson, bishop arts, uptown, and deep ellum. Use google maps to search for the name of the neighborhood and just pick a place with a bunch of good reviews. Dallas is pretty spread out and downtown isn’t really where most of the good places to eat and drink are.
The traditional wisdom is that if you go down to Deep Ellum keep your money in your shoes.
'Cause them women in Deep Ellum got them Deep Ellum blues.

And you know what?

If you go down in Deep Ellum, keep your carbeurator clean, 'cause them women in Deep Ellum'll sell you dirty gasoline.

I went directly under the 2017 eclipse.

Vantage point was pretty irrelevant to the experience…beyond being outdoors of course.

Traffic afterwards was terrible.

Good luck.

Good spot to look - you could try Flagpole Hill. :)