Nerd Trip: Day 1 and 2

In mid-late June, Cara and I went on what we now refer to as our "nerd trip". We spent four days in the great state of Texas and visited two presidential museums, the assassination site of of President Kennedy and the museum for it, our beloved Southfork Ranch and the Magnolia Market in Waco. Along with several other stops of course.

It was a great trip. I don't know what my favorite thing was - I loved being at Southfork, but it was rainy/cold and they had a large event going on, so it wasn't a glistening gorgeous Texas day. I also loved the presidential museums because I love learning about history and behind the scene things (context is my top strength).

We also ate some really good food, but did end up having Starbucks for every breakfast (convenient) and Chipotle one day for lunch (it was the only think within walking distance of where our uber dropped us off!).

I have so many pictures, that I decided to separate it into two posts.

Day 1: Dallas
Flew from Cincy to Dallas
George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum
Lunch at Chipolte
Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
Dinner at a Mexican restaurant (can't remember the name!)

Cara and I left Ripley pretty early in the morning to make our 7am flight out of Cincy. We had a pretty uneventful flight to Dallas and after getting lost in our terminal at the airport, figured out a way outside and quickly got Bryan (Uber driver) to take us to our hotel to drop off our luggage. Then we requested another Uber to take us to the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, to which Bryan pulled back up to take us there too. Good thing we liked that driver! 

The front of the building.

This presidential museum was really pretty. I have been to the George H. W. Bush Library and Museum in College Station, Texas. This one was different, but still lovely. I feel like I didn't give W as much credit as I should have when he was in office, but after visiting the museum and watching a few videos, I kinda like him now. :)

The biggest difference I noticed between the two Bush museums was the pre-presidential stuff. H.W. had a lot of the museum about his childhood, young adulthood, other elected offices and then eventually his four years of presidency. W had about 10 feet of wall space for his "prior to office" stuff. He also served much longer in office than his dad did, and he didn't have as long of a political career prior to showcase either.

Mrs. Bush's dress from the inaguration.

There was a whole area of the museum dedicated to September 11, 2001. I had heard this was a really emotional area, but for whatever reason, I didn't get that emotional. There was a huge sculpture of steep that was taken from the WTC site and they also had these 30 second videos that played of news coverage of the attacks. I hate to say those were my favorite part of the museum, but I thought they way they showed them was really innovative. I didn't get to watch a lot of that coverage live that day, but have obviously seen it many times since then, but it was still different in how they were showing it.

Steel sculpture from the World Trade Centers.

 There were also several features on the war in Iraq and this picture that was signed by someone from Columbus, Ohio. I thought that was cool. Buckeyes are everywhere!

I also loved that they had a replica of the Oval Office that we could walk thru. We even got to sit at the desk and get our picture taken. 

The rug on the floor was gorgeous. Bush wanted the office to be bright and colorful compared to past decoration. The rug is a "sun" with the rays going out towards the sides.

Cara and I wanted to reenact the Kellyann Conway couch-gate, but instead I showed how a lady was to properly sit on a couch, especially one in the Oval Office.

Ankles crossed Kellyann!

I watched most of The Crown on Netflix in June (and even two episodes on the flight to Dallas), so I was really excited to see the display of items from when Queen Elizabeth visited the White House in the early 2000's for their white tie dinner.

The dress Mrs. Bush work during the white tie dinner with the Queen.

At the special gallery in the museum was all of the artwork President Bush has done on our servicemen and women who have been injured while on duty. This gallery was really interesting and touching to see how the former president is paying tribute to the men and women who have served our country. (USA! USA! USA!)

One gallery wall with a painting of wounded veterans.

So that wrapped up our first stop in Dallas. Side note: During the entire trip planning process, Cara thought we were going to the museum for the first President Bush. -_- Girl needs a history lesson. hah. There's an H.W. Bush and a W. Bush.

Our next stop was the Sixth Floor Museum and Dealey Plaza. This was the site of the assassination of President John Kennedy in 1963. We weren't allowed to take photos in the museum but it was so nice. We were given headphones and audio to work our way through the displays (mostly on the walls) to read and hear about JFK and then mostly the assassination and following investigation. It was so interesting to learn more about it and be on the sixth floor where it is alleged that LHO shot the president.

If you look really close at the middle lane of the road below, you can see where an X marks the spot where JFK was hit. This was the very end of the parade route and on the other side of that bridge he would have entered the highway to go to his next appointment.

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And of course we had to walk down to the actual spot, because why would we go all that way and not actually go see that?

That car is right on the spot!

The window to the right of the arched window is where the shots were fired.

That evening we changed clothes and went to La Comida, where I had a flamingo margarita with my dinner. It was tasty. This was of course after an interesting ride to dinner with our shuttle driver and to the mall to pick up Peppa and take her "to the Walmarts". You just have to hear us say this in a British accent for it to be funny. And also probably be there in the moment with us to even think it's funny at all.

Day 2: Dallas and Waco
Pick-up rental car
Breakfast at Starbucks
Southfork
Drive to Waco
Magnolia Market
Spice Market
BBQ and Health Camp
Baylor University

It was raining so, so hard when we woke up on Saturday morning. We took our time getting ready and watched a few episodes of "Fixer Upper" while we were doing that and packing. Our super nice shuttle driver took us to pick up our car and even walked us to the building from the car using an umbrella so we didn't get wet - these southern peeps are nice!

We made a quick pit stop at Startbucks for breakfast on the road, then headed to Southfork! And the angels sing!! It was rainy the whole time we were there, but didn't actually rain while we were on our tour of the house, so that was nice.

The original Dallas cast.

The new Dallas cast.

We toured the house, which was only used for outside scenes. The inside of the house didn't match the sets at all, but since no one lives in the house currently and it's only used for tours, the inside is decorated like it was original Dallas home.

The patio where Jock and Ellie would eat breakfast in the morning.

A dining room.

Miss Ellie's kitchen.

The den and living room. (Our sweet guide has been doing this for years and years!)

The room decorated to be "Lucy's room"

The room decorated to be "Bobby's room"

One cool think about the house is that the scene where JR is killed in Mexico, was actually filmed in this house. They converted one of the bedrooms into Hotel Lorado. It's where JR was shot! (For real!)

Drinking with JR.

We got to go outside on the balcony that ovelooked the pool (where the pool scenes were actually filmed) and then later after the tour was complete, we got to walk around anywhere we wanted outside. For whatever reason, we did not take a photo (selfie or posed) with the house in the background. We did a photoshoot in the gazebo though! ha.

Cara and I with the pool in the background.

The master bedroom was decorated as if it were J.R. and Sue Ellen's room, but it was not their room in the actually show. At one point they rented this room out to guests, but not anymore.

A large four poster bed in the middle of the room, on a platform.

There was also a "museum" at South Fork and my favorite thing was this Dallas "family tree", which includes family, who shot who, who married who, etc.

Just TRY to follow this family tree!

There were this really fun ladies on our tour who were even more obsessed with the show than we are. When we were leaving the ranch we wanted to get a picture of the driveway, but we thought it was being blocked by a security car (there was a big concert event on the ranch that night), but it turns out it was just our tour friends taking lots of pictures. Either way....here is the front gate.

After we left South Fork, we headed to Waco. I was so excited to visit the Silos, but once we got there (just one hour before they closed), I was super overwhelmed and underwhelmed all at the same time. It was so crowded! You couldn't really look at anything because people were just grabbing stuff to buy for the sake of grain stuff to buy. And it had rained so it was yucky outside - none of the food trucks were open and it was muddy in some areas.

Doing "white people things" as one friend told us.

I, of course, had to share a little Buckeye spirit in Bear Country.

The flowers were lovely!

So pretty!

Cara is annoyed with me and taking so many pictures.

We came. We saw it. We left after 20 minutes.

Following our time at Magnolia, we visited a gift shop type place called Spice, which was awesome! I definitely recommend it for anyone visiting the area. We ate dinner at a Texas BBQ place which was okay (City BBQ is better, IMO) and got milkshakes from Health Camp, the cutest ice cream shop I have ever seen!

And before it got too dark and we headed to our hotel to call it a night, we visited the Baylor University campus and I took my signature picture in front of their football stadium.

Go Bucks!