The first agenda item we had for Texas was to say goodbye to Pearl who had to leave us for a service. So we are now in our third car of the road trip and, fingers crossed, Wanda will see us through to the end of our mainland America drive.
Next up we visited the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. What a fascinating glimpse into President Bush’s time in the White House as he navigated America through numerous defining challenges including the 9/11 terrorists attacks, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Hurricane Katrina. The interactive displays, video footage and photos throughout the museum gave us a far deeper understanding of the spirit needed to be the President of the United States.
Dallas, we liked you very much. With architecture both modern and historic, spectacular views and overlapping freeways that stretch for miles, we loved wandering around and soaking up the sunshine.
In a trip down one of Dallas’s darker lanes, we visited the Dallas County Administration Building on Elm Street. This building was once known as the Texas School Book Depository and it was from a corner window on the sixth floor that Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President John F. Kennedy on 22 November 1963. Today the sixth floor is a museum in which we learned about the events and politics leading up to that fateful day and the aftermath of the shooting. Not sure what to expect when we entered the museum, it is very well laid out and informative and to stand and look out of the window at the road seen so many times in video footage was quite eerie.
One of our unexpected highlights of Dallas was finding the sculpture in Pioneer Plaza representing 19th century cattle drives in Texas. Having never seen anything quite like it, we were mesmerised by the 49 bronze steer and their three trail riders that run down a small hill, across a stream and into the open flat space of the plaza.
We watched the sun set over Dallas from Wolfgang Puck’s Five Sixty revolving restaurant in Reunion Tower and it was beautiful.
Our final stop as we drove out of Dallas was the Gas Monkey Garage, featured in the reality show Fast N’ Loud. While the garage was closed as it was the weekend, it was still worth the slight detour to see where Richard Rawlings and his crew work to restore vintage cars for profit.
And that’s how to see Dallas in 36 hours! We’ve had a super time here and are looking forward to the rest of our Texas tour.
P&S