I finally checked off a longstanding item on my Texas travel to-do list. I’d been wanting to visit the Dallas World Aquarium since Senior Editor Lori Moffatt first covered it for TH in August 2000. She vividly described the hundreds of creatures and hundreds of plant species that flourish here—in habitats that range from rainforest treetops to coral reefs—all on a city block in Dallas’ West End. And after reading Kitty Crider’s TH coverage of the DWA in last June’s story on Dallas family fun, I changed my sloth ways and darted to Big D like a giant river otter.

 In a matter of a few hours, we wound our way through the DWA’s various regions, including Rainforest, Aquarium, and Mundo Maya. We saw cotton-topped tamarins and a mandarin dragonet, moon jellies and a Mexican walking fish, a red-rumped agouti and a pearly jawfish, honeycreepers and (my favorite find) leafy seadragons. And yes, sloths and a giant river otter. Helpful tip if you’re with kids: Head to the 40-foot-long shark tunnel early in your tour. By the time we got to this highlight, our tyke was too tuckered out to look up at the predators encircling us.

That Texas travel to-do list is ever-growing, and now includes a return trip to the DWA.

In Dallas’ trendy Victory Park development, the new American Airlines Center— with its modern architecture and enormous exterior video monitors that might make you think of Times Square or Tokyo— gears up for a full schedule of pro basketball and hockey games through spring 2009.   A recent visit to the W Hotel-Victory Park—a high-gloss hotel whose entrance is steps away from the AA Center—made me envision a perfect weekend for a sports-loving couple willing to pull out the stops for a luxurious weekend.  

On a recent visit, the hotel itself—its hip ambiance accentuated with striking, simple décor touches like perfect fuchsia irises, broad wooden bowls piled artfully with beautiful Granny Smith apples, and a whimsical curtain made of strung wooden animals—lulled me into a New York state of mind—or at least a Big D state of mind. The ubiquitous, low-decibel thumping of electronica tunes and impeccably groomed-and-appareled clientele reminded me that I wasn’t in Austin anymore. (After all, in Austin,  despite the popularity of the upscale Domain and 2^nd Street District, you still can’t turn a corner without running into tattooed hipsters in cowboy boots and cutoffs. While I spied tattoos at the W, they were usually accompanied by designer frocks and Euro-denim.)

I thoroughly enjoyed dinner at the hotel’s restaurant, Craft, the all-a-la-carte restaurant owned by five-time James Beard medal-winner Tom Colicchio. The seared diver scallops made me swoon, and a delightful salad of frisee lettuce with a truffle vinaigrette tasted like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. (It’s shockingly easy to run up a tab here—my salad alone cost $16, and the scallops cost $32. Still, for special occasions….)

A good pre-game or after-game cocktail spot would be the Havana Social Club, a cozy “Cuban-style” cigar and rum bar directly across from the AA Center. (Rums, served straight up, are the specialty here, but of course the bar offers other libations, too—mojitos are, as you might imagine, very popular.) I ordered a tumbler of aged rum from Martinique and savored it like fine chocolate.

(The W Hotel’s thumpin’ Ghostbar—on the 33rd^nd floor, with a classic red velvet rope and cool-and-collected doorman, a glass catwalk offering an unparalleled view of downtown Dallas, and unrepentant scenesters—made me a little dizzy, but it’s worth checking out. I would have loved this so-called “ultra-lounge” when I was 25.)

Retail spots in Victory Park continue to fill in (home décor, denim, handbags, jewelry), and construction begins this month on the future home of the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science. Keep up at www.victorypark.com.      

My reliable neighborhood full-service Mobil gas station/garage is no more. Left in its place, in the parking lot, is a delightful, delectable pizza and pasta trailer called Giovanni Pizza Stand, at the southwest corner of S. Lamar and Barton Skyway in Austin. I’ve only had two of the pizzas so far—the Margarita and the Greek—but they’re heavenly if you’re a fan of thin crust. Wafer-crisp, just the right ratio of toppings to dough (for me it’s 2/3 topping, 1/3 dough), very flavorful, and seemingly light on the oil. Not a speck of grease graced the container when I finished. I’ve since been tempted to reuse the box to package gifts! I’ve heard that the owner/chef at Giovanni used to be a chef at the former Mezzaluna downtown, which explains that not-your-average-pizza-stand subtlety in taste. Comparable in price and a lot tastier than fast-food pizza, Giovanni offers a few tables and chairs for dining alfresco in the evening shade as well as takeout.