A Road Trip Through Texas: Recap

In yesterday’s post I told y’all my trip was over. And it is. I’m back home sleeping in my own bed for the first time in a week. But I have more I want to say about it.

This trip was exactly what I needed. I returned to work the first week of December and hadn’t taken any time off since. Every weekend feels like a mini trip for me, though I’m mostly lying in bed sleeping. No exaggeration.

It was nice to get out of my routine. I know everyone probably feels this way after taking time off work, but I really needed to focus on myself. I don’t think I have been. Not for a long time. This allowed me to do that. But I know myself. It won’t last. I tend to focus on the wrong people and things in my life. For example, ask me who I’m more likely to respond to in this scenario: a text message from someone who has made it clear they don’t really want me in their life in any capacity and someone who has made the opposite clear. Except it isn’t only texting. It’s hanging out. It’s wanting to do stuff. It’s talking. It’s asking for help. It’s everything. And it isn’t just one or two people.

This last week showed me that it’s okay to just think of myself. That I’m perfectly fine eliminating what should have been eliminated from my life a long time ago. That I can focus on the right people and doing what I love without needing anything from anyone who doesn’t want to be active in my life. It seems so simple when I type it out. But it isn’t. Not for me and probably not for most. In the hours since I’ve been home I’ve already realized how different it is when I’m here. I’ll fail in keeping my promise to myself. But I know now what it’s like not to. And for me, that’s something.

A Road Trip Through Texas: Day 6

I decided to go back to Fort Worth for a second day since I’d only spent a short time there the first time.

I began by going to the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Two minor, but real issues. The second floor is not currently open for viewing. And they have a photography collection of amazing photos, but only a few are actually on display. I know I’m not very good at photography, but seeing really great photos in person strikes me just the same as seeing any other great piece of art.

This was probably my favorite piece in the museum. Because even though it was done over a hundred years ago, the message I took away from it is something we know is still prevalent today. But I’ll let you decide what you think of it.

Immediately after leaving the Amon Carter I went to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. This absolute beauty awaits you just as you walk into the galleries. It was done by an artist who continuously uses books as subjects in his art.

I said in one of the previous posts that I wanted more modern art. This museum was great for it. All works were done after WWII. Many of them by American artists.

I feel like I’m starting to have something of an artsy eye. I saw this and thought to myself “that looks like a Picasso”, and it is!

What I enjoy about modern art is that it isn’t only one medium. It isn’t only paintings or sculptures or photos, it’s whatever we can come up with.

Like this. From the picture it likely looks like any other oil on canvas painting. But it isn’t. It’s actually a photo. But it also isn’t just any photo. It’s the backyard of one of the Tsarnaev brothers at his Cambridge, MA home. Still more. This was created using a widely circulated photo of his wife leaving the home after the Boston Marathon bombings. The artist removed her from the photo and built a replica himself just for this picture. How incredible is that?

I finished the day at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. Something that isn’t clear online (at least for me) is it is 100% for kids. The entire first floor has no real galleries, only interactive exhibits for kids. The second floor includes the Cattle Raisers Museum, which had some cool stuff, but I wasn’t there for that.

I still made my way through it, but in total I spent maybe 45 minutes there before leaving. It was my first three museum day, and ultimately the last day of my trip. I have more to do, but I’m going home. This has been a great weeklong getaway. Now I still have this weekend to prepare for normalcy on Monday.

A Road Trip Through Texas: Day 5

Another late start for me. Not because I wanted more sleep, although that’ll always be the case, but because I had to pack up all my things before leaving for the day. It was my last day in my Airbnb. Since I decided to lengthen my time in Dallas I’m staying the rest of my trip with my brother.

So because of that, because I also decided to get breakfast beforehand, and I had a 45 minute drive to get to Fort Worth I only visited one museum. The Kimbell Art Museum, which has the only Michelangelo painting in any American museum! Seen above.

I had limited expectations because I thought a museum created by a wealthy couple may struggle to keep pace with other museums. Wrong.

I can’t speak for the size of their permanent collection, but everything they had on display was rather amazing. Many of the sculptures on display were thousands of years old. And some of the paintings were more than 500 years old!

I was a little disappointed not to visit any other places, but I’ve gone to quite a few so far.

After I left the museum I had to burn a little time. I went to the Half Price Books Flagship store! Oh my. I didn’t take pictures because I didn’t want anyone to be like “what’s he doing?”, but y’all! I’ve been to 6 different locations in Houston. The flagship store might be bigger than all of them combined! By far the biggest bookstore I’ve ever been inside. They have tons of everything. A coffee shop. An events room because they have real author events. An entrance specifically for selling your books. An information desk when you get lost in the maze of everything. And lots of places to sit down.

I decided against buying any new books, but I did find a nice replacement copy for a book I’ve had a long time in really bad condition.

A Road Trip Through Texas: Day 4

I spent the day at the Dallas Zoo. It’s only the third zoo I’ve ever visited! And it’s also the largest in Texas.

I spent more than three hours exploring the zoo. By the time I finished I was pretty tired. I was lucky it didn’t get too hot during the day.

They let you feed the giraffes! I imagine this may be fairly common in zoos, but this guy was getting ALL the treats! The others were fine eating off the trees or the grass.

They also have seven Galapagos Tortoises! But I’m a little disappointed because a child threw a plastic wrapper into their enclosure and then one of them ate it immediately. Like, that’s unacceptable.

I was there fairly early after the zoo opened, and many of the animals were sleeping. 😂 I also just want to sleep out in the cool morning sun. There were a ton of snakes and reptiles.

These two did not budge for anything. Just another day relaxing in the water.

After the zoo my brother decided to join me for the Astros-Rangers game. I’m a little flabbergasted by the team getting a new stadium. This one was only my third MLB stadium, and I thought it was quite nice. Though we were freezing as there were strong wind gusts the entire game.

The Astros lost. But the beauty of baseball is they play again today.

After the day I decided for sure to just stay here in Dallas for the remainder of my trip. My initial plan was to go to San Antonio on Wednesday (today) but I’ll hold off because the things I want to do in San Antonio can be done in a three day weekend whenever I want to.

A Road Trip Through Texas: Day 3

I didn’t have a late start today! Or did I? Anyway, I began the day by visiting the George W. Bush Presidential Center on the SMU Campus here in Dallas. Fun fact: my initial plan was to do this Saturday. But, sleep.

The museum itself was extremely well done. This is probably my second favorite of the four I’ve now visited. It’s a good size and had a nice exhibit on presidential retreats I really enjoyed.

But I feel like I have to be fully transparent. There’s quite a bit on 9/11 and the War on Terror. Most of it is quality material. There’s a 9/11 memorial inside the museum. This part of the museum stands out among everything else. But when I visited the LBJ library in Austin I remember walking out thinking I’d learned quite a bit about the man, but also that the museum didn’t sugar coat anything. He left office because everything he was doing up to the 1968 election was being heavily criticized and there was a solid chance he’d lose, anyway. So he walked away.

But in the Bush 43 library there was nothing on the financial crisis. At the very end of the museum there’s a wall called Crisis Management and issues were simplified down to a sentence or two.

How can the stock market crash of 2008 and the subsequent recession it kicked off get no attention whatsoever? There was VERY little on Iraq. And of course there was no mention of the fact that he was leaving office with no political capital left. I don’t expect the museum to tear him down. But there was a lot going on during those 8 years and I think a presidential library administered by the National Archives and Records Administration should present the reality.

After leaving there I went to the Perot Museum of Science and Nature.

I had lofty expectations because it is so well reviewed online. It’s a brand new, modern museum. It’s interactive. And the entry fee is on the high side. But it seemed to be geared toward children way more than I was expecting. There’s an entire floor of games and robot stuff for kids.

They do have the largest T Rex in the world on display, so that was nice. But I made it through an entire science museum in half the time as the presidential library. That should be switched.

One thing I did like was the benches had these different fun little facts on them.

Tomorrow will be a long day, but only because I’m going to an Astros game here in Dallas!

A Road Trip Through Texas: Day 2

It was another kind of late start for me, but luckily it wasn’t four hours this time. As I mentioned yesterday, the museums in Dallas open really late or not at all on Sundays. Which limits the number I can visit in a day. So I woke up with one plan and immediately changed it.

I spent most of the day visiting the Dallas Museum of Art. Since visiting Boston in 2017 art museums have been my favorite. I rarely pass up an opportunity to visit a new one.

And right inside the door there’s an exhibition on Islamic art, which included this. It’s about 800 years old. Who doesn’t love old books?

The museum had multiple levels of really well done galleries, ranging from ancient Egypt to today. I have absolutely no complaints about my visit there. General admission is always free. Okay, one tiny complaint. A bit of the museum was closed off, likely to create new exhibitions and galleries, but it only took me three hours to get through everything. For some that might sound like a lot, but at the MFA Boston I spent about 9 hours in there over two days and still didn’t see everything.

Also slightly disappointed in the museum’s hours. 11-5 everyday but Friday, which has extended hours. I know there are other places to see more contemporary art, but I’d have liked to see more of it here. There was just one gallery (that I can recall) focused on contemporary art. Contemporary art, I’ve learned, is so much different from every other era. I want more of it.

I always enjoy when I get to see a new Picasso piece, no matter how popular or obscure.

The next place I visited was the Nasher Sculpture Center. It was directly across the street from the Dallas Museum of Art in downtown Dallas.

It was rather underwhelming. The entire building took maybe 15 minutes to get through. It was only three rooms.

They also have a sculpture garden outside. It was being renovated. There were maybe 10 pieces. But again, they have a Picasso piece.

Once I finished I met up with my brother who just moved here this weekend. I always try a new Mexican place whenever I visit a new city, and the place was actually really good! I should have taken pictures, but I didn’t.

Monday should be a fuller day.

A Road Trip Through Texas: Day 1

I’m not a travel blogger and I’m not going to be. But I’ll do my best for the next week.

My plan was to leave my place at 8. I didn’t. Ended up leaving around noon. I was sleepy. But that didn’t change the first stop on my trip, the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station on the campus of Texas A&M. My third presidential library.

Immediately you walk into this grand foyer. By far the best entrance of the three presidential libraries I’ve visited.

Once you make your way further inside you get to see The Beast. My second time seeing one of these in person. They don’t look like much, but it’s basically a tank. I’m exaggerating, but not much.

The museum takes you through the life of President Bush (I had no idea he played baseball at Yale), but I was surprised at how few personal items the museum has on display. Most of the museum is old photos and the best exhibit was on terrorism.

It had another car, some dresses, and a few gifts the family had received. Most of the museum is interactive in some way, which is what I’ve come to expect from just about any modern museum.

Of the three presidential libraries I’ve now visited, this one was by far the busiest. My guess is it was because of the recent deaths of George and Barbara, but I don’t know.

Final takeaway: The museum was nice, though small. When compared to the LBJ and JFK libraries, it isn’t as extensive as LBJ’s and is about on par with JFK’s. Likely because they were both president for a short time.

After my late start I scrapped the rest of the day’s plans because I still had another three hours to drive to Dallas, where I am now.

Day 2 will likely be another short one because all the museums either open late or don’t open at all on Sundays.

2016 Reading Challenge: Texas Rising

This is it! The final homestretch!

The latest book I read for my 2016 reading challenge was Texas Rising by Stephen L. Moore. It’s about the Texas revolution and the decade in which Texas was an independent state.

The book was very well done. It gave the reader plenty of information about well known battles and landmarks, such as the Alamo and Goliad. We know those stories down here in the state, but I imagine the average reader doesn’t.

Though I’d firmly disagree, I know people tend to say history is boring. But this book wasn’t. If you take a moment to realize who was fighting and who was sacrificing everything, then you can’t possibly become bored with the book. Imagine if the world were different today and there were no military installations throughout your state. Then it was invaded. But no one was there to fight them off. So leaders traveled throughout the state trying to recruit any willing volunteer to fight for the cause. That was Texas.

What made the book even more interesting for me was reading about present day locations. The county in which I live actually played a role in the revolution. How cool is that!?

But with this book being about events that took place nearly 200 years ago, there was bound to be some things that leave you wondering why. I imagine you’re aware of the Trail of Tears. Easily one of the low points in the history of this country. But Texas wasn’t much different. At first Texas leaders thought they could buy peace with the Native Americans. But soon realized that it wouldn’t work and made every attempt to forcibly remove or kill every Native American in Texas.

The Natives were violent toward Texas Rangers and settlers, but what were they supposed to do? What would you do if someone knocked on your door at home and said they were taking ownership of the property? You’d fight like hell to keep what’s yours. They did. But it wasn’t enough and peace eluded everyone.

As someone who enjoys history, this book was a great read. Texas history is both similar to and different from US history.

I hope that in 200 years Texans will look back on the current period and realize how much better and more equal life is for them than it is right now. History only repeats itself, unless it doesn’t.

This satisfied the requirement to read a book that takes place in your favorite city or hometown.

Texas got it Wrong

I’m writing this as I’m lying here getting ready for bed. I’m reading news articles on a number of topics. I just read one on the terrible job the Colts’ GM has done during his time at the helm, and that one was followed up by an article on books recently banned by Texas prisons.

Langston Hughes. Bob Dole. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Sojourner Truth. What do they all have in common? They’re all banned authors in Texas prisons. What does one even say to that?

There’s more. David Duke and Adolf Hitler are NOT banned. I’m not sure I’ve really put too much thought into this particular topic, but I have to say this is why books shouldn’t be banned at all. We have this big thing in September every year celebrating banned books, but when books are banned from state prisons they are actually banned. Not challenged. Not complained about by parents. BANNED. And then we’re faced with books we think should be banned that somehow get skipped over.

After giving the idea of banning particular books from prisons some thought, I can’t say I’m in favor of banning any. I know some would argue against books that could incite violence or some that deal with topics in a manner that is no longer accepted by society, but TDCJ (Texas Department of Criminal Justice) should be more concerned about getting the prison population down to a reasonable level so that prisons aren’t operating well over capacity instead of banning 15,000 books from the system. The system needs more from its leadership.

What do you think of Langston Hughes, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Sojourner Truth, and Bob Dole being banned from state prisons? Does that sound like a good use of time? Does it sound reasonable?

Saturday Selects #18: Donald Trump

Saturday Selects is a series of posts I write the first Saturday of each month to discuss a topic or current event outside the general bookish theme of the blog. You can view some previous topics here.

Today I want to talk about Donald Trump. I know not all of you are in America, but I’m thinking the run up to the US presidential election every four years is covered by media all over the world. Which means you probably know that Donald Trump has been grabbing headlines for weeks now. He’s made comments about immigration, US Senator John McCain, and spoken about what he’ll be like once he’s in the White House.

I sincerely hope that we never have to see this man taking the oath of office. It doesn’t matter to me that he’s rich. It doesn’t matter to me that he’s got bad hair. Hehe. And it really doesn’t matter to me what he thinks about the Texas-Mexican border or immigration. If you can sit there and listen to what he’s had to say about Mexicans and tell me that he’s not racist, then you may need to look yourself in the mirror.

And people want to say it’s not about race, right? But it is. Come down to Texas and show me all the rapists and murderers we have coming in from Mexico. Oh wait, immigrants are actually less likely than native-born Americans to commit crime. But you wouldn’t realize that if you’re sitting there getting fired up by comments from a man in the spotlight.

Donald Trump is ultra rich and feels like that gives him the right to say and do whatever he wants to, and sure he can. But that doesn’t mean we should listen. And it surely doesn’t mean he should be our president.

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On this day in 2014 I published July: A Month to Forget.