What can I say? I’ve been a fan of the television show DALLAS since the beginning. I was only nine or ten years old when I began watching the show, but in my house, Dallas ranked up there with college and pro football.
A livestock dealer, my dad wasn’t one for television so to find a show he actually liked was rare. Looking back, I wonder if the whole family didn’t start following Dallas simply because our dad actually took the time to watch something other than sports.
Needless to say, the season premiere of Dallas on TNT was exciting. The phones started buzzing with text messages loaded down with predictions. With the number of phone calls back and forth, it felt like it was game day and the season opener for the Dallas Cowboys rather than the premiere of the family’s favorite television show. To add to the excitement, my brother and I had recently visited Southfork Ranch.
A few months ago, thanks to some unavoidable business travel, several of my family members ended up traveling back and forth to the Dallas area. I live in East Tennessee so needless to say, the unexpected travel wasn’t necessarily welcomed. We love Texas and throughout our lives, we've spent a great deal of time in the great state of Texas. Still, the timing was bad, particularly since these trips occurred during my daughter’s senior year.
Since we were in Texas on business and often traveling last minute, we were exhausted by the time we arrived there and typically walking zombies by the time we left. We really didn’t have time to play around, much less head out to Southfork and spend the day sightseeing.
On one particular midweek afternoon, we drove from North Texas to Dallas, and realized about halfway to the airport, we weren’t going to make our flights. After rescheduling flights for early evening, my brother asked what I wanted to do. “Well, I’ve always wanted to see Southfork, but if we go we may miss our next flight,” I said, thinking he wouldn’t take me because we’d already missed one flight. If we drove out to Parker and spent a few hours touring, we would most likely miss another flight which could keep us in Dallas overnight, something neither one of us wanted since we’d already been in Texas longer than we’d first intended.
Surprisingly, my brother wanted to visit the Texas ranch as much as I did. Remember, our entire family once thought Dallas was the ONLY television show worth watching.
After we determined that we’d missed enough flights in our lives not to worry about another one, we headed to Parker, Texas. Once we arrived there, I was taken aback. While I’ve seen prettier ranches in various areas of the country, there’s something about Southfork that I can’t explain.
Pictures paint thousands of words so I’d like to share some of mine with you. In addition to the ranch photos, I’m sharing one I made of myself with JR Ewing’s portrait, but please remember we were running on less than two hours of sleep. I’m definitely not posing here for Covergirl. ;)Still, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share these pictures with you.
The tour guide at Southfork was very energetic and informative. She obviously had a true love for the hit television show. She didn’t exaggerate when she said the new season was a fine tribute to the old Dallas.
After watching the show last night, I couldn’t agree more. Larry Hagman is still on his game. Linda Gray and Patrick Duffy took their respective roles by the horns, too, playing their parts without any detected difficulty.
Dallas also has a new generation of Ewings but I won’t give spoilers here. TNT and entertainment websites provide more information about the show. The younger Ewings, however, are bound to make their mark in television history with their contributions to the Dallas show.
If you live in the Parker, Texas area or if you’re traveling through Dallas, Texas, take the time and drive out to Southfork. Like I stated earlier, I’ve visited prettier ranches. I’ve seen a lot of them in my day. Still, there’s just something spectacular about Southfork.
Whether you’re a new or old Dallas show fan, you need to visit Southfork Ranch. It’s a trip you’ll never forget.
I hope you enjoyed my pictures from Parker, Texas and the Southfork Ranch!
Until next time,
Destiny
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