Our hotel for the Dallas trip was the Gaylord Texan, a vast building some 8 storeys high with something like 1,800 rooms, a glass, high domed central atrium, 5 eating places (including a 24 hour coffee shop), swimming pool, shops, ‘outdoor’ seating, four and a half acres of indoor gardens including fountains, rivers, flower beds, trees, model railways etc etc. Attached to it, and accessible via a link from the main hotel so that we did not need to go out into the big wide world, was an enormous convention centre with enough space to house a small town! It had every facility a conference/convention could possibly need – vast rooms, large rooms, small rooms, restrooms… There was an outside pool, but the water was on the slightly chilly side for a swim, and it was almost the only outside space available for guests to use.
There really was absolutely no need to venture outside at all, but after being inside for 24 hours, I craved fresh air, and the windows in the bedrooms didn’t open, in fact I can’t remember seeing any opening windows anywhere. The temperature inside the three atriums (or should that be atria?) was climate controlled and the whole thing was like being in a hermetically sealed bubble – just like I used to imagine a futuristic moon city might be like when I was a child. It was all rather surreal to be in this rarified atmosphere, but with buildings that looked like they should be outside.
I tried to take some photos that would do it justice, but they don’t capture it completely because they cannot give the sense of space and accompanying sounds (mainly water fountains). I also thought I had taken loads more photos of inside, but sadly not. Here are a few that might give you an idea of what it was like:
Fountain inside Gaylord Texan. Alamo building on the right is the coffee shop!
photo © iusedtobeindecisive
This is the view from the coffee shop into the atrium.
photo © iusedtobeindecisive
Hank greeted us as we entered the Hill Country area.
photo © iusedtobeindecisive
Miniature railroads on two levels in the main atrium.
photo © iusedtobeindecisive
photo © iusedtobeindecisive
It’s hard to see the scale of this – the covered wagon was probably about 6 feet high. The plants look fake, but they were all real!
photo © iusedtobeindecisive
Wow! Incredible, but a little weird.
They must have a website; do you have a link?
I’ve just added it. I meant to add it when I finished writing the post – thanks for reminding me!
Thanks. I’ll check it out.
Double wow!
Wow – that’s pretty impressive. And very …. American!
Yes, it was!
It’s an incredible building but I think I’d be like you, needing fresh air. Amazing that none of the windows opened. So, you wouldn’t be able to live on the moon for more than 24hrs then?
Perhaps because I knew there was fresh air available outside, it made it more attractive. If I was on the moon I would know there was none, so perhaps I wouldn’t crave it!
Is Hank real? alive? I can’t believe all of that is indoors! It’s beautiful and magnificent, but I would still start to feel claustrophobic after a while. So, yeah, we could live on the moon, but do we really want to? Not me.
Hank was not alive (or if he was, he was very very good at standing still!) but was so realistic that I think he might have been alive at one point and then visited a taxidermist.
OH!!! hahahaha! he was very realistic looking…
Luxury! Pure Luxury… Things are bigger in Texas. I’ll drive down and see you guys next time you stay there!
Looking forward to it!
It’s an impressive place. Justin Beaver would like to meet Hank one day!