Home to more than five million people, the Dallas/Fort Worth region is one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the country. This guide details family-friendly programs and events at popular attractions, such as multicultural classes about dinosaurs at the Science Place in Dallas and a telescope viewing session at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. Included are tips on how to get the best deals at Six Flags Over Texas, Hurricane Harbor, and at family water parks run by cities like North Richland Hills and Rowlett. In addition, this book covers more unusual activities and places, such as watching buffalo eat in the wild, viewing a real Western cattle drive led by authentic cowboys, digging for 100 million-year-old fossils, swimming by actual dinosaur tracks, and hiking among ancient American Indian temple mounds.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Kevin J. Shay has contributed to The Dallas Morning News, Arlington Morning News, and Dallas Child Magazine. He is the coauthor of And Justice for All: The Untold History of Dallas. He lives in Dallas, Texas.
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More About the Author
Kevin J. Shay, 51, did not really start out wanting to be a writer, although he published his first short story in his school literary publication when he was only 7. He first wanted to be an astronaut and then a racehorse jockey. But as he grew to a height of 5-foot-19 by his senior year of high school, those career choices turned out to be dead-ends.
So, Kevin sought to take advantage of his height through a lucrative basketball career. He played basketball for the Wildcats of Lake Highlands High School and Richland College in Dallas, back when the Richland team was called the Lakers, not the Thunderducks [a teammate's actual name was Ollie Hoops]. Kevin helped the Lakers win the Dallas County championship twice, even as he blew out a knee. Later at the University of North Texas, he was embroiled in two rule violation scandals after helping his intramural basketball team, the Clark Hall Jocks, reach the university Final Four playoffs, and his co-ed water volleyball team, Chi Omega, win the university title. His water volleyball team was subsequently stripped of its championship, and his basketball team was kicked out of the playoffs. That experience helped Kevin develop a deep mistrust of authority figures who enjoyed writing stupid rules just to keep themselves busy.
So knowing he could not rely on hoops, Kevin figured he better learn something. He started working for the student newspaper at Richland and UNT - it was either that or go into accounting and one day be arrested for an Enron-like scam.
Kevin was one of the few in his generation to actually use his journalism degree - earned from the University of North Texas in 1981 - for going on three decades. He has worked as a journalist for many newspapers and magazines, including The Gazette [a Maryland newspaper chain owned by The Washington Post], The Dallas Morning News, Arlington Morning News, One World News Service, Minority Business News USA, Dallas Examiner, Fort Worth Weekly, Texas Catholic, Dallas Times Herald, Dallas Child Magazine, Alternet, Eoutdoors, and Online Journal.
His books include A Parent's Guide to Dallas/Fort Worth [Los Angeles: Mars Publishing/Parent's Guide Press, 2003], And Justice For All: The Untold History of Dallas [Fort Worth: CGS Communications, 2000], and Sex, Lies, and Newsprint [Addison: The Register, 1991]. He also contributed to Big Bush Lies [Ashland, Ore.: RiverWood Books, 2004] and has written several electronic books marketed by Booklocker.com.
Kevin has received awards from numerous professional and community organizations, including the Maryland-Delaware-Washington, D.C. Press Association, Lincoln University's Unity Awards in Media, Dallas Press Club, Bethesda Literary Festival, Texas Press Association, American Cancer Society, Suburban Newspapers of America, and Mental Health Association. He earned a $500 prize in the 2002 International PeaceWriting Awards, sponsored by the Omni Center for Peace, Justice, & Ecology of Fayetteville, Ark., for Walking through the Wall, an electronic book on some transcontinental peace walks he took in the mid-1980s.
But Kevin considers one of his top accolades to come from a former Dallas City Council member, who once told him an article Kevin wrote on the official "was not the way my mother would have written it."
Being a writer gives Kevin the freedom and flexibility to pursue a variety of interests and activities. He has flown in a hot-air balloon at the world's largest ballooning event in New Mexico, rafted down swift rivers, backpacked through the Grand Canyon and Europe, and ridden in an open-air cockpit, World War II-era Stearman that did loops and rolls. His abundant energy does not allow him to relax, as even on vacations his kids - Preston, 10, and McKenna, 8 - and ex-wife, Michelle, have accused him of being on the go too much. His favorite vacations with them are doing something active like riding the waves in Outer Banks, N.C., digging for Herkimer diamonds in upstate New York or tracking down celebs such as David Letterman Show regular Rupert Jee of Hello Deli in New York City.
Kevin also does some photography. One of his landscape works placed fourth in its division in the Texas State Fair in 1995 and was exhibited there. An Eagle Scout, he is active in community organizations, including as a leader of his son's Cub Scout den in a Washington, D.C., suburb and a coach of his son's and daughter's sports teams.
NOTE: After his father passed away in 2008, Kevin started using his full middle name, James, which was his dad's name, rather than just the initial. So some of his work is under "Kevin James Shay."
So, Kevin sought to take advantage of his height through a lucrative basketball career. He played basketball for the Wildcats of Lake Highlands High School and Richland College in Dallas, back when the Richland team was called the Lakers, not the Thunderducks [a teammate's actual name was Ollie Hoops]. Kevin helped the Lakers win the Dallas County championship twice, even as he blew out a knee. Later at the University of North Texas, he was embroiled in two rule violation scandals after helping his intramural basketball team, the Clark Hall Jocks, reach the university Final Four playoffs, and his co-ed water volleyball team, Chi Omega, win the university title. His water volleyball team was subsequently stripped of its championship, and his basketball team was kicked out of the playoffs. That experience helped Kevin develop a deep mistrust of authority figures who enjoyed writing stupid rules just to keep themselves busy.
So knowing he could not rely on hoops, Kevin figured he better learn something. He started working for the student newspaper at Richland and UNT - it was either that or go into accounting and one day be arrested for an Enron-like scam.
Kevin was one of the few in his generation to actually use his journalism degree - earned from the University of North Texas in 1981 - for going on three decades. He has worked as a journalist for many newspapers and magazines, including The Gazette [a Maryland newspaper chain owned by The Washington Post], The Dallas Morning News, Arlington Morning News, One World News Service, Minority Business News USA, Dallas Examiner, Fort Worth Weekly, Texas Catholic, Dallas Times Herald, Dallas Child Magazine, Alternet, Eoutdoors, and Online Journal.
His books include A Parent's Guide to Dallas/Fort Worth [Los Angeles: Mars Publishing/Parent's Guide Press, 2003], And Justice For All: The Untold History of Dallas [Fort Worth: CGS Communications, 2000], and Sex, Lies, and Newsprint [Addison: The Register, 1991]. He also contributed to Big Bush Lies [Ashland, Ore.: RiverWood Books, 2004] and has written several electronic books marketed by Booklocker.com.
Kevin has received awards from numerous professional and community organizations, including the Maryland-Delaware-Washington, D.C. Press Association, Lincoln University's Unity Awards in Media, Dallas Press Club, Bethesda Literary Festival, Texas Press Association, American Cancer Society, Suburban Newspapers of America, and Mental Health Association. He earned a $500 prize in the 2002 International PeaceWriting Awards, sponsored by the Omni Center for Peace, Justice, & Ecology of Fayetteville, Ark., for Walking through the Wall, an electronic book on some transcontinental peace walks he took in the mid-1980s.
But Kevin considers one of his top accolades to come from a former Dallas City Council member, who once told him an article Kevin wrote on the official "was not the way my mother would have written it."
Being a writer gives Kevin the freedom and flexibility to pursue a variety of interests and activities. He has flown in a hot-air balloon at the world's largest ballooning event in New Mexico, rafted down swift rivers, backpacked through the Grand Canyon and Europe, and ridden in an open-air cockpit, World War II-era Stearman that did loops and rolls. His abundant energy does not allow him to relax, as even on vacations his kids - Preston, 10, and McKenna, 8 - and ex-wife, Michelle, have accused him of being on the go too much. His favorite vacations with them are doing something active like riding the waves in Outer Banks, N.C., digging for Herkimer diamonds in upstate New York or tracking down celebs such as David Letterman Show regular Rupert Jee of Hello Deli in New York City.
Kevin also does some photography. One of his landscape works placed fourth in its division in the Texas State Fair in 1995 and was exhibited there. An Eagle Scout, he is active in community organizations, including as a leader of his son's Cub Scout den in a Washington, D.C., suburb and a coach of his son's and daughter's sports teams.
NOTE: After his father passed away in 2008, Kevin started using his full middle name, James, which was his dad's name, rather than just the initial. So some of his work is under "Kevin James Shay."
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great ideas for families,
By A Customer
This review is from: A Parent's Guide to Dallas-Fort Worth (Parent's Guide Press Travel series) (Paperback)
Kevin has great ideas for families to do in North Texas. It is great. It's really cool. It's not just the Ballpark.-- Scott Sams, co-host, Good Morning Texas, ABC-Channel 8, Dallas This is a great resource for families, or anyone who enjoys exploring their hometown. Kevin's given us a user-friendly tool.
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