Editor's note: A lot happened this week, so here's your chance to get caught up. Read on for the week's most popular headlines.
1. Dallas suburb nabs new Ferris wheel that rivals Fair Park's famed Texas Star. The Grandscape in The Colony has debuted the Grandscape Wheel, a nearly 200-foot-tall Ferris wheel that rivals the Texas Star, a State Fair of Texas mainstay. Opened September 10, the Grandscape Wheel features 42 climate-controlled gondolas with music for riders to enjoy views of The Colony, nearby Frisco, and the North Texas skyline.
2. Number of North Texas 'super commuters' driven up by almost 50 percent. The number of so-called “super commuters” — those traveling at least 90 minutes to get to work, and another 90 minutes or more to get home — rose 49 percent in the Dallas-Fort Worth region from 2010 to 2019. That’s according to a new analysis by Apartment List of data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
3. Cafe Express space at Dallas' Mockingbird Station lands a fine new restaurant. There's a new tenant for one of the most prominent restaurant spots in Dallas – namely the former Cafe Express at Mockingbird Station. It's called The Finch and according to a release, it'll be a chic new restaurant serving American fare, opening in spring 2022.
4. Where to drink in Dallas right now: 5 bars with roomy outdoor patios. Even before the pandemic, patios were a big thing. Dallas has the weather to support them nearly year-round and has amassed a collection of well-known outdoor spaces. Now, during these pandemic times, you want distance. You want your own space. These five big patios give a nice beverage and plenty of room to drink it.
5. Quirky and charming shipping-container hotel is Fredericksburg's cutest new escape. One of Fredericksburg’s newest overnight accommodations takes the shipping-container building trend next-level. Odonata Escape, opened by Austin residents and husband-and-wife duo Davis and Mary Susan Gilmer in late 2020, is a secluded vacation compound created from several brightly painted, cargo-worthy shipping containers.
The Grandscape Wheel is now open for rides with a view.
