Big D: Breweries and parks
My boyfriend and I have a tradition of buying each other small trips for Christmas in lieu of traditional gifts. And this year, when I booked a trip to Dallas to go bungee-jumping, I decided to sweeten the pot by bringing along our wheaten terrier, Teddy.
Ted loves road trips. But we often drive too far away or plan something not quite dog friendly enough to include him. Not this time. Here’s how the three of us spent a weekend in Dallas.
ACCOMMODATIONS
Teddy is about 50 pounds, so we’ve had mixed results when we’ve searched for hotels that will accommodate him in the past. So instead of even going down that path, I went straight to Airbnb.com, where I found a cute little dogfriendly one-bedroom apartment in Old East Dallas. This was perfect — not too far from town and just a short Lyft ride away from some of the breweries we planned to visit.
FRIDAY
We arrived in Dallas around midday, and by the time we were done bungee-jumping — Ted didn’t join us for that — it was 5 p.m.: time for a brewery. Our first stop of the evening was Community Beer Co. (1530 Inspiration Drive, 214-7517921, communitybeer.com),
where Teddy was allowed to sit beside us as we enjoyed a couple of beers in the taproom. Not only did he meet a few other pups, but he got to know a couple of new friends who were delighted to rub his belly, and show us photos of their dogs.
From there, we headed to MUTTS Canine Cantina (2889 Cityplace W., 214-377-8723,
muttscantina.com), which is essentially a dog park that serves craft beer and assorted pub fare. There’s a small cover — about $7 — for a dog to enter the off-leash park. But it serves a wide variety of beer and a killer friedpickle sandwich at the snack shack, so we were more than entertained as Teddy sniffed his way through the massive big-dog section.
SATURDAY
You can plan a pretty picnic, but you can’t predict the weather. We woke up to torrential downpours, and planned a human-friendly day so Ted wouldn’t have to be shuttled from place to place through the rain. While we enjoyed the Sixth Floor Museum (411 Elm, 214-747-6660,
jfk.org), Teddy was nosing around the Airbnb, in what we hoped still felt like an adventure to him.
After the museum, we made our way to Deep Ellum Brewing Co. (2823 St. Louis, 214-888-3322, deepellumbrewing.com),
where we did notice a couple of dogs inside. But with plans to eat at the no-dogs-allowed Pecan Lodge for a barbecue dinner, we decided we’d just make it up to Ted later in the evening with an extra-long walk around the neighborhood.
SUNDAY
Checkout was scheduled for 10 a.m., so after Ted’s morning walk, we checked bringfido.com — a godsend of a website — for a local cafe that would let us bring him along for breakfast. We scored with the Garden Cafe (5310 Junius, 214-887-8330, gardencafe.net), where Teddy got to sniff raised garden beds and enjoy ear scratches from other diners as we waited for our egg plates, breakfast sandwiches and coffee.
After breakfast, we hightailed it to the 3-acre dog park at White Rock
Lake (8000 E. Mockingbird, 214-671-8001, dallasparks.org). Here, Teddy met a few new friends and frolicked in mud in the off-leash section. The lake itself is gorgeous, and after a little while, we decided to clip his leash back on and walk on the path that winds along the water’s edge. We even found a meadow with patches of bluebonnets and took Teddy’s classic Texaswildflower portrait.
He was exhausted after all of this. But we decided to add one last stop before leaving town: the Katy Trail Ice House (3127 Routh, 214-468-0600,
katyicehouse.com), where we could grab another local beer and let Teddy pant in the sunshine for a little while before being cooped up in the car for the ride home.