November 4, 2013

Today was our day to go to the JFK Museum (official name: The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza) and nearby sites downtown, but the museum didn't open until noon so we decided to go to Cowboys Stadium and take a tour. It was also raining and was supposed to rain all day so this way we could be inside.

When we arrived a little before 10:30 it was an hour wait for the VIP tour ($27.50) so we decided to take the self-guided tour ($17.50). The only things we wouldn't get to see were a private suite and the press media box and it's not like we are Cowboys fans anyway; we were just there to see the opulence and the House That Jerry Built.

The best part was getting to throw passes on the field (the turf felt weird to walk on, but I eventually got used to it) and holding a Bill Belichick-esque news conference in the post-game interview room and receiving appreciation from the mostly Minnesota Vikings fans in attendance. (One of the staff members told us what tends to happen is the day after a home game, visiting fans come and take the tour; I asked if it was always this busy and they said it is.) Unexpected was the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders locker room, which featured giant photos of each of the cheerleaders (with their first and middle names underneath) above their lockers. Had we not been trying to get down to Dealey Plaza and the downtown sites, it would have been nice to take the guided tour so we could learn some information about what we were seeing.

Thinking it would be better to take advantage of the expanded light rail service rather than drive around downtown, I suggested we take the train to the stop near Dealey Plaza. The parking lot was fairly full, but it ended up being just $5/a day compared to the light rail, which was $5/person for a day pass (so $10 for both), so it would have been cheaper to drive but I guess we might have had to hunt for a spot. As it was, we had to wait a good hour in line to use our timed tickets. (Suddenly, getting them ahead of time looked like a good idea, which I had scoffed at when I saw this option on the website, but then you would have to make sure you were there for your start time, and we wouldn't have been as free to take our time through Cowboys Stadium, or whatever else we were doing.)