Trips On A Tankful: Fort Worth

Texas may be Oklahoma's biggest rival, but it's home to several amazing cities, including Fort Worth.

If you're driving from Tulsa, it will take you about 4.5 hours to get to Fort Worth, commonly referred to as 'Cowtown.'

Originally settled in 1849 as an army outpost along the Trinity River, Fort Worth was one of eight forts assigned to protect settlers from Indian attacks on the advancing frontier.

The cattle industry was king for a generation of people working with the Fort Worth leg of the historic Chisholm Trail, which ran from the 1860s to the 1870s.

One of the most iconic and popular tourist destinations in Texas is the Fort Worth Stockyards. From 1867 to 1884, it served as the halfway point for the Chisholm Trail.

During that time, cowboys (or drovers) would take millions of livestock to market from just south of San Antonio up to Abilene, Kansas.

"By the time the cattle got here, they had been walking for six solid weeks. They needed a place to rest," explained Ed Brown with the Stockyards.

Visitors in the present time can experience a cattle drive for themselves, as the Stockyards has the world's only twice-daily cattle drive.

"You get to relive that every day as they come down the streets and imagine what it was like," said Brown.

A team of about five to six cowboys, all employed by the city, drive about a dozen or two longhorns down the main drag. Once it's over, Stockyards Station has plenty of old-timey shops and restaurants for you to experience. 

You can also head about two blocks west and visit Billy Bob's Texas. For 40 years, the world's largest honky tonk has welcomed music legends like Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Tina Turner, and other famous icons. On Fridays and Saturdays, thousands of people will dance the night away underneath a silver rhinestone saddle. 

The 120,000 square-foot building used to be an open-air barn before it was turned into an airplane factory in World War II. It became Billy Bob's in 1981 and the rest is neon-filled history.

The lively nighttime venue turns into a quiet tourist stop during the day when people can explore the different sections.

The "Wall of Fame" lets artists, like Oklahomans Blake Shelton and Garth Brooks, leave their mark by having their handprints cemented in fans. Some super fans have since either signed the plaques or left an imprint of their lips using lipstick.

"I just love seeing all these things, like where the musicians signed the guitars or their handprints," said Marishke Pretronius, who happened to be visiting from California. "[I like] everything, just the vibe it gives."

Just a short, six-mile drive south of the Stockyards takes you to a family favorite: the Fort Worth Zoo, home to more than 7,000 animals. The zoo is spread out over 64 acres and is consistently ranked as one of the best in the nation.

One of the most popular areas is the African Savanna section, which is home to giraffes, hippos, rhinos, and ostriches. "It's a 360-degree mixed species habitat. You can see several animals up close. There are no barriers between you and the animal," said Avery Elander with the Fort Worth Zoo.

Undoubtedly, the most beloved area is the zoo is where you can feed the giraffes. For about $6 you get five leaves of lettuce to feed the giraffes. Most of the time, they're waiting along the fence line waiting to be fed.

The zoo is currently in the middle of a $100 million renovation project, which will give guests even more options to interact with the animals.

Since this report, the zoo has opened a new section for its Asian elephants. One of the coolest features is where, for a quarter, you can spray water towards the elephants and cool them off on a hot Texas day.

While Texas may be known for its barbecue, one place to put on your 'to eat' list is Babe's Chicken. With 10 restaurants spread across North Texas, the environment is.... unique. Tiffany Wheeless, the owner of Babe's, describes it best as "kind of Texas kitschy."

The location we visited in North Richland Hills was designed to look like a manufacturing plant from 1915.

While the design is made to look old, the food is nothing but fresh: rolls, green beans, corn, and mashed potatoes are all made fresh daily in small batches, meaning you get hot and warm food every time you visit. 

One of the unique things about Babe's is that menus don't exist. Instead, waiters will read you off the list of chicken to choose from: fried, hickory smoked, tenders, fried catfish, or chicken fried steak. If you're at a table with two or more people, the chicken comes out on a big plate, stacked several inches high.

And if you can't finish it all, there's plastic bags hanging on the restaurant's beams that you can use to take any extras home.

The environment is meant to make you feel at home. "This is the family table," said Wheeless, "and it just makes people feel like they're at home at grandma's house."

Oklahoma's Own Rick Wells even approves! "Put the Rick Wells stamp of approval on all of this. It's worth the trip to Fort Worth to go to Babe's to get some of their chicken," he said as we shared a meal together.

To learn even more about the history of Fort Worth, CLICK HERE.