Trains and Toddlers: Downtown Plano Station

I think we’d all admit that Dallas is a B-I-G city. Now, big cities are great when you’re trying to watch an independent movie (with or without subtitles!), shop for clothes, or satisfy your cultural cravings. However, when you’re trying to find local things to do with your children without having to spend hours stuck in rush hour traffic, it’s a completely different story.

Since my children cry out with glee whenever the DART train passes us as we drive up and down Central Expressway, you would think I would have recognized much sooner how much fun they would have if we took a day trip using the trains. For our first outing, we chose the Downtown Plano station, as I drive by the area frequently (there’s a Barnes & Noble, Michaels, and On The Border all on the corner).

Fun, fantastic, and full of adventure? Yes! Like all things in my life, unfortunately, there exists a learning curve….and here are some of the lessons I learned:

1. EVERYTHING about a trip on the DART train is exciting to little ones.From purchasing the tickets (note:  learn from my lesson – don’t let your little one hold the ticket too long no matter how long they beg or it WILL get lost!) to the walking down the ramp, to waiting on the platform [see picture below!], and to waving to the conductor of the trains as they slowly pull into the station. It truly is about the journey and not the destination.

2.  Pack light, but pack what you need. I have a 6-year old, a 3-1/2 year old, and a 10-month old, so packing “light” is a relative term. For instance, and merely as one small example, I delight in the thought that there will come a day when I will be adorned with only a small handbag (a stylish one, of course). In any event, what did we bring? A diaper bag, Maclaren umbrella stroller, and my trusty Ergo. I wore the baby and broke the stroller down from the point we got onto the platform until we had de-boarded the train and it had left for greener pastures…er…stations.

3. Giant statues are F-U-N.The girls’ needed a little help getting up, but when we got off the train station and they saw the life size horse statue, they were mesmerized!

4. Room to roam is good for little legs. As exciting as the train was, my little ones were more than ready to RUN when we got off the train. Luckily, just outside the Downtown Plano station is a wonderful park called Haggard Park. Among its niceties are separate jungle gyms for both the younger and older set, as well as plenty of bench seating for mothers wearing babies.

5. Roaming little legs lead to hungry tummies! Luckily, just across the street from the park (and the train station) is Georgia’s Farmers Market. Open every day year-round, this open-air shop carries a variety of local fruits, veggies, and specialty items. It was the perfect stop for a healthy snack to to take back and eat at the park all the while giving the kiddos a lesson in buying locally.

6. ALWAYS bring stale bread…you never know when the ducks will come. By now this ought to be some sort of a rule for all families traveling to parks in Dallas:  ducks abound in every pond and kids love them. [In this particular pond, a beautiful Mallard duck couple have made their home].

7. Don’t be afraid to try something new. My 3-year old sure wasn’t. Seriously, though, the helicopter-mother in me was having a war with the logical-mother in me who knows my little one is genetically related to Spider-Man.

8. You’ll probably be tired long before they are.Especially after the long walk back to the car. And did I mention to pack light? Oh, and after all of this excitement, still, the girls were even close to being ready to go home nor were they ready to even walk slowly up the ramp on the way back to the car.

In conclusion though, I have to say that all in all it was an amazing day. I didn’t fight traffic, I taught my children the joys of pedestrian travel, and, with numerous other DART train stations in the area, I’ve opened up a whole new bottle of opportunities for this family.