Southfork Ranch
On the 11th of April our Canadian friends Morgan and Jeannette came by the Dallas area on their way home. They had spent the winter in Arizona and were now working around the weather to wind their way back to the KOA in Barrie by the 1st of May when it opens.
In addition to happy hour and a couple of new dining venues we decided to go over to the Southfork ranch of the TV hit series "Dallas." We had never been and thought we would see what the old movie set might look like. Here is a PR photo of the iconic front gate.
And a postcard pic of the back of the house. As everyone says who have been here, it is a fairly small ranch house and was a real working ranch before it became the site of the TV series. The producers made a creative blend of what you see here and movie magic done in Hollywood sets. An example is the supposedly Olympic sized pool in the series and yet the real one is quite small … lots of mirrors involved according to the docent.
Again the real patio above which in the show hosted scores of people eating and drinking as well as below in the dining room which was quite normal.
There are three bedrooms upstairs with this being the master. The other two were used as sets in part of the show which was supposed to take place in a Mexican hotel.
Then the bath which was quite ornate and quite pink!
The bull in the foreground is the last one which was seen in the show and is over 30 years old.
So while corny from a TV point of view, we learned a lot about the production of shows and how they blended the reality of a Texas ranch and mega-sized it for the series. Actually there are many Texas ranches and ranch homes which make the one depicted in the show seem small by comparison.
Our friends had a great time and after some more wining and dining in the Flower Mound area were off to their homeland on April the 18th … after the obligatory stop for repairs to the RV in Elkhart … yup.
