Cool FREE or Cheap Things to Do on a Long Layover at DFW

Recently I had two long layovers at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport and explored cool free and cheap things to do both in the airport and in the nearby town of Grapevine, Texas. Here’s what I found.

In Terminal E, FREE Couches and Yoga

Couches to lay down on. That’s right! No longer are you forced to sit upright by those annoying metal arms. After that red eye on your long layover, you just want to lay down and rest. And now you can! Near Gate E-16, and other places in Terminal E, you can find black comfy cushy couch love seats to recline on. Put your feet up. Yay! Feels so good.

Free yoga. Nearby to Gate E-16, underneath the escalator up to Sky Link, is a FREE yoga studio! Loaner mats. Big windows. Lots of light. Fake ficus trees add good vibe intentions.

Figure 1 Nearby Grapevine, TX has many cool things to see and do. You can get there and back on a $5 roundtrip tourist shuttle that departs hourly from the Grand Hyatt DRW in terminal D. Or take the TEXRail light rail for $2.50 each way from terminal B.

Historic Olde Towne Main Street in nearby Grapevine, Texas (recommended 4-hour minimum layover in order to enjoy at your leisure)

Figure 2 Main Street, Grapevine, Texas. Photo: https://royalstmoritz.com

Getting there: From the airport I took the hourly Grapevine Tourist Shuttle for a $5 day pass for one adult, or $10 family day pass for 2 adults and all their children under the age of 18. The first shuttle of the day picks up at the Grand Hyatt DFW in Terminal D at 9:45 am. The driver was friendly. She said she enjoys chatting with the passengers. I felt like a long lost cousin was welcoming me in to this foreign place; even though I just met her, we quickly felt like family.

Mega Mall versus Grapevine Lake

Apparently, most visitors want to visit the mega mall called Grapevine Mills Mall.

Since I prefer Mother Earth therapy to shopping therapy, I asked about walking to the lake I saw on the map—Grapevine Lake. The driver explained how I could walk there along city streets from the Torian Log Cabin tourist shuttle stop. It’s almost a 6 mile walk round trip to visit the lakeshore at Oak Grove Park.

It sounded a bit more of a walk than I felt like doing that day, so I instead opted to exit at the shuttle stop at the historic Grapevine Train Depot.

Historic Train Depot and Trains

The first thing I noticed was the sound of birds singing and conversing together in a bushy green tree. Lots of birds. What a welcome contrast to the constant drone of noise inside the airport!

Figure 3 Vintage Grapevine Train. Photo: https://www.grapevinetexasusa.com/grapevine-vintage-railroad

Then I noticed an antique train in the depot. The shuttle driver told me one can buy a ticket and ride on that train.

Art Galleries (and how to get there by train)

Across the parking lot from the Train Depot is a building with several art galleries. I wandered into Vetro Glassblowing Studio & Gallery.

Figure 4 Vetro Glassblowing Studio & Gallery, 701 S. Main Street #103. Photo: http://www.vetroartglass.com/

What beauty! My favorite glass sculpture was just inside the door—a jelly fish over three feet long seemingly swimming free in the air. I was enraptured with the contrasting textures, as well as the fluid beauty and luminescent colors. The center tendrils were covered with rough-looking chunky white bits of glass, like little barnacles. I felt mesmerized. Inside the gallery is a wide range of glass art from sculpture to Christmas ornaments, all made on the premises. You can even enter the workshop, or watch them work through the windows.

Figure 5 TEXRail from DFW airport to nearby communities just opened for passengers January 5, 2019. Photo: https://communityimpact.com/dallas-fort-worth/grapevine-colleyville-southlake/public-safety/2019/03/22/texrail-crossing-malfunction-causes-concerns-in-colleyville/

Another traveler on a layover entered the Vetro Glassblowing Studio & Gallery while I was there, pulling her rolling carry-on luggage behind her. She said she took TEXRail from the DFW airport Terminal B to the Grapevine Train Depot. Light rail train. A one-way fare costs $2.50. 

The traveler entered the glassblower’s work shop and scooped bits and blobs of glass with her hand out of a bin and into a baggie. As she paid for her purchase, she said these rounded dollops would be fun for her pre-school class to feel in their sensory box. After chatting with the gallery attendant, Aaron, about glass, ceramics and the elemental joys of fire, air and earth, I headed out to Main Street to see what I could see in this historically preserved Olde Towne Grapevine.

Main Street: Bob’s Backyard Art

Figure 6 Bob's Backyard Art. Photo: Google Maps streetview

Across Main Street my eyes latched on to the color, texture and movement at Bob’s Backyard Art. I wandered in. Spinners, folk art tin sculptures painted in bright colors, more glass art, and all kinds of surprises. My favorites were old style VW buses about three feet long, whimsical tin folk art. Instead of the VW logo on the front, a peace sign protruded from the hodge podge of creativity. My least favorite was a welded folk art machine gun of welded rebar painted black. Who would want to put that in their garden, I wondered. Seeing this so soon after the New Zealand massacre, I felt especially repulsed. So, I averted my gaze and savored the wonder and magic of the rest of the colorful, whimsical, spinning, glowing creations in Bob’s Backyard Art.

Figure 7 Bob's Backyard Art next to Master Made Feeds., 702 S. Main Street. Photo: Google Maps streetview

I asked the guy working there for a card, but they’d run out. And they don’t have a website, and he keeps thinking of setting up a Facebook page but just hasn’t had time. But he said they do ship anywhere in the US.

Bob’s Backyard Art is next to, and connected with, Master Made Feeds, 702 S. Main Street. 

Main Street: Grapevine Farmers Market and Picnic Spot

A block or two down Main Street, historic building after historic building, I wandered into a store called the Grapevine Farmers Market, 520 S. Main Street #203.

Figure 8 Grapevine Farmers Market, 520 S. Main Street #203. Photo: Google Maps streetview

Beautiful organic produce. Jars of local preserved sauces and salsas. Homemade hot tamales (free samples available!). Homemade pecan pralines. Vegan hummus with roasted garlic (homemade of course). Sourdough bread and rustic bread from a local bakery. So many healthy and delicious choices! And all displayed with love as if each item was an edible work of art. I bought rustic bread, roasted garlic hummus, and a chicken tamale (medium hot), then crossed the street to picnic in the shade on the large grassy lawn of the funeral parlor.

Figure 9 My picnic spot on the lawn of J.E. Foust & Son Funeral Home, 523 S. Main Street. Photo: Google Maps streetview

No one came out to tell me to get off the grass of the J.E. Foust & Son Funeral Home, 523 S. Main Street, so I guess it was okay to treat their lawn as a public park. (Thank you, J.E. Foust & Son!) I kicked off my shoes and wiggled my toes in the cool grass. I reclined on the lawn, looked up through the branches and saw three raptors soaring in the blue sky. Ahhhh! This sure beats hanging out in the terminal! Yes! I was definitely getting my fix of Mother Earth. The rustic bread was delicious, hearty, chewy. Dipped in the roasted garlic hummus—heaven. The tasty (but dinky) tamale I saved for later. I relaxed with my head resting on my backpack, gazing skyward as my bare feet and back soaked up the healing energy of Mother Earth.

That was how I spent my first hour and a half on Main Street in Grapevine, Texas.

Main Street: Wineries, Tasting Rooms, Eclectic Shopping

As I walked down main street towards the last shuttle stop to wait for my return ride to the airport, along the way I passed many wine shops and wine tasting rooms. They don’t call this place Grapevine for nothing!

Figure 10 The world's largest hand-tuned windchimes at Grapevine's Market on Main, 337 S. Main Street. Photo: https://www.facebook.com/GrapevinesMarketonMain/

Some shops especially stood out to me, even though I didn’t enter. One was Grapevine’s Market on Main, 336 S. Main Street. My shuttle driver later told me it is her favorite store. It has 30 vendors inside selling a wide range of unusual stuff. Outside Grapevine’s Market on Main are the largest tuned windchimes in the world. A gentle springtime breeze sounded the huge metal tubes of the chimes. The resonance was holy.

Main Street: Palace Theatre

Figure 11 Palace Arts Center, home to the Palace Theatre and the Lancaster Theatre, 300 S. Main Street. Photo: Google Maps streetview

My eye was drawn to the restored 1940 art deco-style Palace Theatre and Lancaster Theatre, 300 S. Main Street. 

The Palace shows a movie every Friday and Saturday evening for $6 (as well as free popcorn if you bring a receipt from a local shop or restaurant). Together these two theatres form the Palace Arts Center, which also hosts live performances and other events.

Main Street: Torian Log Cabin

My shuttle stop to return to the airport was in front of the historic Torian Log Cabin.

Figure 12 Log Cabin Shuttle Stop, 201 S. Main Street. Photo: Google Maps streetview

Figure 13 Torian Log Cabin, 201 S. Main Street. Photo: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g55930-d10619146-Reviews-Torian_Log_Cabin-Grapevine_Texas.html

This “luxury” two-room log cabin is furnished with period artifacts and has an interesting self-guided audio tour. You just step through the open doors into a sort of wood and glass booth and press the button.

When I boarded the hourly shuttle back to the airport, the same friendly driver asked how I enjoyed Main Street. We chatted all the way back to the terminal, where I felt wistful leaving my new friend, yet my heart was full of beauty. Beauty of the art in galleries and next to the feed store. Beauty of conversations with people I met. Beauty of the memories picnicking on good food while enjoying Mother Nature. I was filled with the beauty of exploring beautiful Main Street in Olde Towne Grapevine, Texas during my long layover at the DFW airport.