A Trip to Dallas - The Grassy Knoll

Day two started with a trip to the George Bush Presidential Library and Archives. I've never been to a presidential library so I didn't know what to expect. As I arrived I decided the whole thing seemed somewhat absurd. I can't imagine going to the Justin Trudeau library or the Steven Harper library and can you imagine what the Donald Trump library is going to look like? It was still an interesting experience. They had a full mockup of the oval office and the attendant was very knowledgeable though I did stump him with some of my woodworking related questions on the furniture. 

They didn't push a political agenda too much with the exception of the 'The Bush Tax Cuts' and the 'No Child Left Behind' exhibits. I suppose Obama would have Obamacare and half the country would think that would be too political. One of the wings hosted a 'Liberty and Laughter - The Lighter Side of the Whitehouse' which was fun as it showcased the sense of humor of most of the recent presidents. I'm assuming it was a few years old as Trump wasn't represented. There was also several recent Bush paintings. He's actually not that bad.

After the library, I took the train downtown to the hotel I'd be at for the conference and then went to check out the place that JFK was shot. There were several grassy knolls so I'm not entirely sure which one was related to the second shooter discussion. The book repository was also a lot closer then I was expecting. I took a bit of time to listen to some people with flyers speaking. No one mentioned JFK was still alive but there was a lot of talk about the cover up by the government. A few blocks away was a memorial where I discovered his middle name was Fitzgerald. I'm not sure I knew that until now. 

It was a lot easier for me to get around today as everything I was interested in was downtown including the conference where I'll be for the next three days. There are two separate utility conferences in the same location so there are a lot of vendors and it's a giant conference hall. I checked in and got my swag. Highlights were a chocolate bar and some gummy bears. My day will start at 8:30a tomorrow with Rick Perry as the key note speaker. I suspect oil and gas will play a big part in his speech. 

I spent the rest of the afternoon checking out the buildings in downtown Dallas. The most impressive was the old court house that had been turned into a museum but had since permanently closed. I checked in the window and the first exhibit was a Pegasus. I see them everywhere down here and I knew there was a gas station with that as a symbol but I haven't really figured out the full history. There is a giant neon one on top of my hotel which has been there for 80+ years. I'll have to do more research and try to get a picture. I didn't even know it was there until researching this blog section.

I thought my day was over but there was a lot of noise outside my hotel. I went to investigate and realized there was a viewing party for the Dallas Mavericks. AT&T has a square nearby with a giant video screen where they were showing the game. The warm evenings and people made for a fun atmosphere though they did lose and are now down 3 games to 0. One more home game while I'm here. Hopefully they win. Always fun to be in a city when one of their sports teams wins a playoff game.

A Trip to Dallas - Riding The Rails in the Wrong Direction

The day started very early. In an almost post Covid world not everything is back to normal. Air travel is up but it's been inconsistent and staffing has been a problem. This has resulted in significant delays at airport security. Unfortunately it's hard to predict when the delays happen so for leaving for my 6:00a flight it was a serious consideration to just go the evening before and sleep at the airport. I decided to gamble because I knew they close security overnight and I'd probably just be in the check-in counter area all night. All turned out well. I got there at 3:00a and the ticket counter had just opened. I was near the front of the line for security and no issues getting on my flight.

The flight I had chosen was booked about a month beforehand and was the cheapest I could find. It also happened to be a direct flight which isn't something I can usually take advantage of. I slept through most of the flight which helped me catch up on most of my lost sleep. The main issue I had was that with the time change and the early start I lost track of what time it was in both time zones so I wasn't really sure what meal I was supposed to eat and when. The other issue was the Dallas airport didn't  have a clear taxi pick up area at least where I ended up. I managed to find a security guy who called a cab in for me.

It's Saturday and my conference starts on Monday. I like to add an extra day to work trips so I can explore whatever city I'm in. I tried to research Dallas but it's not really a tourism town and it's very spread out so most people drive. This meant I was going to have problems finding places to go as well as figuring out how to get there. My hotel was near a train station so I took the train downtown. The basic infrastructure was fine but it was not very clear on what train to take and it had a strong pee smell. It looked like most of the people riding were homeless. They had all their belongings with them and I think they were just trying to stay cool. 

My first destination was the Ross Perot Museum of Nature and Science. The station I got off on was a bit sketchy. I had several people approach me for money and a few groups of people approach me from different directions asking about the camera I was holding. I don't usually worry about getting asked for money but it was a bit more aggressive then I was used to. I made it to the museum with no problems and bought a ticket for general entry as well as a ticket for a show on dinosaurs in the Antarctic.

The museum itself was quite nice with a good layout. The content was a bit different from what I would expect from a science museum. The dinosaur movie started with 5 minutes on the importance of 'energy' and the role of oil and coal in the creation of energy. The movie ended with a statement about the impact of volcanoes on global warming and a reminder that Antarctica was warm in the past and it was a great lush environment. I quickly realized this museum was going to have a different message then the ones I was used to in BC and California.

I decided to head back to my hotel before it got dark and hopped back on the train. I had trouble when I arrived figuring out where I was going as the only maps were 'simplified' views of the routes that didn't show an overview of what city I was going to. I ended up getting on a train that took a turn I wasn't expecting. By the time I figured it out I was in the middle of nowhere and the nearby houses were boarded up. I got off and spent the next 20 minutes telling people I didn't have any cash for them. I got asked by 6 different people. I did manage to get back to my hotel but hopefully my second day in Dallas goes a bit better.

Carter's First Solo

Carter's Dinner and Jazz night took place last week. We did this with Callie and it included a multi course meal served with jazz in between. This year they ran into trouble with the catering and it ended up being a Pizza and Jazz night. Not quite the same. The highlight of course was that Carter got to do a solo on his Saxamaphone. The sax usually gets to do a solo. Callie had a flute which isn't a very jazzy instrument. I was quite impressed by his tone. I'm not an expert but I have heard some bad solos but his sounded great considering this is extra curricular and he only started playing this year. He doesn't want to cart his instrument at home so we only get to hear it at events like this. 

A Cool Spring

Not much to report with this post but I wanted to make a note of how cool this spring has been. As of May 19th our warmest day had been 17 degrees and i still hadn't put out the cushions for the patio furniture. the bulbs have been doing fine but things like the Lilacs are only just budding. It does appear to be good for growing new lilacs though. These here are propagated from the the lilac at the Historic Stewart farm and these first four are going back there. The plan is to put the in the front lawn. They will take a few years but they should be quite spectacular in a few years. They started last spring at about 6 inches high. Will plant them in the fall.