Texas Wildflowers (Livingston, Texas)

After leaving Dallas, we made our way to Livingston, Texas, for a weeklong stay at the Rainbow's End RV Park. This is the home base of the RV club we belong to, Escapees, and this is the headquarters for all of the Escapees RV parks across the country. When we are in traveling mode, we make it a point to come by here every 12 to 18 months to check in and take care of business as we make our way to our next stop. Our visit this year coincided with a wonderful bloom of wildflowers, including Lupine (or what the Texans call Bluebonnets), Icelandic Poppies, Phlox, Winecup, and Morning Glories. We captured pictures of some of these wildflowers growing throughout the park on our walk on Easter Day.

Globe Life Park, Arlington, Texas

The last thing we did before leaving the Dallas area was attend a baseball game at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas to watch a game between the Texas Rangers in their home park with the Houston Astros. Not being aligned with either team, it was easy to just relax and enjoy the game, rooting for the home team, or not, drinking beer, and eating peanuts. Wonderful spring days don't get much better than this! Ultimately the Astros won, in the 10th inning, with a final score of Astros 6, Rangers 5. Exciting for all the fans, on both sides. This is the 16th major league baseball park we've visited, putting us on the downhill slide of getting to all 30 parks before we come off the road. Each park has something making it a little bit unique, with each visit to each new park something to look forward to. Here are some pictures from the April 12th game.

The Sixth Floor Museum, Dallas, Texas

Yesterday we went back into Dallas to visit The Sixth Floor Museum in Dealey Plaza. Formerly the Texas Schoolbook Depository, this is where Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shots that killed President John F. Kennedy, and has since been turned into a museum which chronicles the presidency, assassination, and legacy of JFK. I was just 7 years old on that fateful November day in 1963, and I only have one or two concrete recollections of the impact this horrific event had on the people around me. My "memories" of this day are based mostly on what I learned over time, and many years after the actual event. As time went on, I learned much about the Kennedy's, JFK's presidency, and the events leading up to and following his assassination in school, film, and even literature, but actually having the chance to visit this historic place took my accumulated knowledge and scant memories to a whole new dimension. I was flooded with emotion as Dan and I retraced the parade route where JFK took his last breaths. Actually standing just feet away from where Oswald fired his rifle, looking out the same window, and trying to imagine what could possibly have driven him to take those shots was eerie and disturbing. So much is still unclear about Oswald and his motives, and with more questions than answers, it's unlikely the whole truth will ever be known. Below I have included pieces of this unsolved puzzle, including pictures of the Schoolbook Repository building, photos of the 1st shot, the famous Zapruder picture, the two "X's" in the middle of Elm Street that mark the spots where the President was shot, the infamous Grassy Knoll, and pictures of the outside and inside of the window the fatal shots were fired from. There are also a couple pictures of the JFK Memorial Plaza and Dealey Plaza.

George W. Bush Presidential Library (Dallas, Texas)

As many times as we've been to, and through, Texas, until now we hadn't made it to Dallas. Usually this part of the state is off-route to wherever else we are heading, so coming here had to be part of an on-purpose journey. Since we are attempting to visit all thirteen Presidential Libraries and all thirty baseball stadiums before we come off the road, stopping here has helped us move closer to these milestones. Our trip allowed us a visit to the George W. Bush Presidential Library, and Globe Life Stadium, home of the Rangers. As an added bonus, we also got to visit The Sixth Floor Museum in Dealey Plaza Texas, which chronicles the assassination and legacy of President John F. Kennedy. Our first tourist stop was the presidential library. 

The George W. Bush Presidential Library is the newest of the presidential library system, a nationwide network of 13 libraries administered by the Office of Presidential Libraries, which is part of the National Archives and Records Administration  (NARA). These are repositories for preserving and making available the papers, records, collections and other historical materials of every president of the United States since Herbert Hoover. Although I may not have voted for this particular president, and I may not have agreed with all the decisions he made during his term of office, it is still interesting from a historical perspective to see the challenges he faced as leader of the United States, and how he dealt with them.

The biggest event during his presidency, of course, was the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C. on September 11, 2001. In this hard to see 9/11 display, called the "Day of Fire," video images from the attacks flash around a twisted metal beam recovered from the wreckage of the World Trade Center. A wall wrapping around the room contains all the names of everyone killed in the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and the hijacked planes. I can only imagine how hard it will be to visit the memorial in New York. 

Hurricane Katrina, No Child Left Behind, and the financial crisis are also key events during Bush's presidential term, and each of these were highlighted  as well. The newest addition to the library, which opened up just days before we arrived, is an art gallery of paintings by George himself, called "The Art of Leadership: A President's Personal Diplomacy". The gallery showcases 30 oil paintings of world leaders Bush dealt with during his tenure in the White House. I really enjoyed seeing another side to this president; it gave him a dimension I hadn't considered before, and one I rather liked.  

Here are some pictures of the highlights from our visit to the George W. Bush Presidential Library.