The Ultimate Dallas Quiz

Dallas works hard to live up to its new tourism slogan: Live Large. Think Big. The Big D holds a special place in the heart of most Texans.

The greater Dallas metro area covers 12 counties and spans nearly 9,000 square miles (23,3120 square kilometers). Dallas is famous both for its oil business and for a booming convention business.

Dallas is home to the country's largest urban arts district and recently the city finished a downtown renaissance with about $1 billion in improvements. The changes highlighted the fine dining, cultural opportunities, and excellent shopping for which the city has become known.

The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area is composed of Dallas to the east and Fort Worth, the Place Where the West Begins, to the west. Mixed in between is an array of smaller communities including Irving, Grapevine, Grand Prairie and Plano

White Rock Lake is a 1,015-acre (405-hectare) lake featuring 9.3 miles (14.5 km) of hiking and bike trails around its perimeter. White Rock Lake features picnic spots, boat rentals, playgrounds, athletic fields and the Dallas Arboretum.

Located halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth, Arlington is home of the American League's Texas Rangers baseball team and the region's theme parks. Arlington proudly brags about its Fun Central slogan.

One of the Dallas shopping landmarks is the Dallas Market Center, home of the world's largest wholesale merchandise market. The other is the original Neiman-Marcus department store, which is a symbol of the wealth found in Texas.

There are some 1.3 million people in Dallas, another 728,000 in Fort Worth and 380,000 in Arlington. These cities are considered safe for tourists, but one should stay in well-lit areas and avoid South Dallas, especially at night.

There is a good chance of severe weather in late spring, including tornadoes, so watch the weather and be prepared. Tornadoes most often occur in May or June.

The Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport is located in the community of Grapevine, west of Dallas and north of Fort Worth. The airport covers 18,076 acres and is the second largest airport in the United States after Denver International Airport.

DART operates the Trinity Railway Express light rail service, linking the airport with locations in Dallas, Fort Worth, Richardson, Garland, and Plano, but only on Monday through Saturday.

New High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes on Dallas interstates help you get through traffic faster. Lanes are clearly marked, but there must be at least two people in the car to avoid a traffic citation.

When you approach a tollbooth, have the correct change ready and do not try to ask directions from a tollbooth attendant. If you do you will slow down traffic flow and irritate other drivers.

The state's only historic streetcar system is the McKinney Avenue Trolley, which is fun and free. It runs to Dallas's entertainment districts, the downtown Arts District, Uptown, and the West Village dining and shopping area every 15 minutes during peak weekday times and every half-hour at other times.

The Stockyards Championship Rodeo and the Mesquite Championship Rodeo are both famous rodeos that take place every Friday and Saturday night. The Stockyards Rodeo is indoors so it runs year round and the Mesquite Rodeo runs from April through September.

TV viewers know Dallas from a long-running TV show of the same name. Some of the scenes were filmed at Southfork Ranch located in nearby Parker. The ranch still welcomes visitors for daily tours.

A far darker side of Dallas history is recalled downtown at the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. This museum is housed in the former Texas Schoolbook Depository building, from where assassin Lee Harvey Oswald fired.

In downtown Fort Worth, the historic Sundance Square Entertainment District is a 20-block area named for the famous Western bandit Sundance Kid, who spent time in the area along with partner Butch Cassidy. Beautiful landscaping, redbrick streets, and turn-of-the-century buildings make this district a delight for tourists that also find multiple shopping, dining and art attractions.

The Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District was once the second largest stockyard in the country, with cattle pens that extended for nearly a mile. Today the area is a favorite tourist stop with Western shopping, a twice-daily cattle drive, rodeos, and dining.

A favorite in the Fort Worth area is Billy Bob's Texas. It claims to be the World's Largest Honky-tonk and features bull-riding exhibitions, live country music and dancing.