Fort Worth Treasures

After 'the girls' finished their Steak 'n Eggs this morning, we headed out to experience more of Fort Worth. Our first stop was at the Bureau of Engraving & Printing which is one of only two places in the world where U.S. currency is printed. At the Fort Worth facility they will print 139 BILLION dollars this fiscal year!

This is a photo of the facility but DO NOT TRY TO ENTER HERE! Seriously. You just mosey on down the road a piece...

and turn into the visitors' parking lot at this sign. This was a difficult excursion for me because you CANNOT TAKE A CAMERA OR CELL PHONE onto the premises. Me, without a camera...it was a sight to see!

But seriously, the tour is comprehensive because you walk along a glass walled hall above the actual production lines accompanied by an extremely informative guide. I only wish I could show you photos.

There is a gift shop. They sell a few tchotchkes but not a tour book or any photos of the production facility. They will, however, happily sell you uncut sheets of sixteen notes. For example a sheet of sixteen ten dollar bills can be purchased there for $249.00...what a deal! Rich thought he could just take sixteen ten dollar bills and tape them together if he ever had a need for a sheet of them...funny guy. He really cracked up the shop clerks.

At my friend, Vikki's, suggestion we stopped for lunch at Joe T Garcia's Mexican Restaurant and Fiesta Gardens near the Historic Stockyards. If you are ever within a hundred miles of Fort Worth you must eat there...oh my! The food is amazingly delicious and the ambiance must be experienced to be appreciated. Here is the entrance...don't be fooled by this. The place actually occupies the entire city block!

Here is one interior photo and several of the gardens. Sorry, we both dove right into the food without getting a single photo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truly, this is all inside after you enter that unassuming white clapboard 'house' with the small sign on the side. This is one fine example of the hidden gems you can find all around this precious country of ours. Thanks Vikki, we never would have found this on our own.

After lunch we went to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. It's been a while since I have taken you on a tour of an art museum. Since it's getting late and it's also getting cold here where my computer is in the motorhome, this will be a quick tour. The building itself is magnificent and well worth a stop even if you are not into modern art. All of the exterior walls that face the water are glass and the building appears to float on that rock bottomed water feature...breathtaking.

This 40 x 45 foot stainless steel installation of two trees, Conjoined, sits across the water from the entrance lobby.

Here are some of our favorites...btw ~ the names of the pieces are names I assigned unless otherwise noted.

LADDER TO ?

It sat alone in this rather dark, unadorned space; I loved it.

I

So named by me because I think that the word "I" is the most powerful word of all. The artist had some mumble jumble about building blocks that could be utilized in an infinite number of ways...yawn.

FUN!

To me this is a great visual illustration of having fun.

UNIMPRESSED

Because that's what Rich was and he tried, he really tried. He looked at it from all angles and read the artist description but remained...

REFLECTIONS

The scale of this piece is immense and I loved that it was the only art in this large hall.

Book With Wings

That is actually what the author named this piece...must have exhausted all creative juices by the time it was named. It is installed in a fabulous oval shaped room of its own.

Now for the piece that seriously brought me to tears...I have no adjectives for this one, only emotions. Here is the description of the work...

And here is the painting...it covered nearly the entire wall of this very large space.

After leaving the building, we walked over to the huge steel sculpture I showed you yesterday. It is named Vortex and is a sound sculpture. When you are inside, all sounds are amplified and repetitive so clap your hands and stomp your feet...WOW! The second photo was taken looking up while standing inside Vortex.

Lovin' Life ~~ While Exploring Fort Worth Treasures 

Steak 'n Eggs

This was the scene at our place this morning AFTER 'the girls' had eaten their regular kibble for breakfast.

They were focused on Rich in anticipation of an additional morning treat...and a special treat it was today. Steak, which we brought back for them from our lunch yesterday at Rescky's Steakhouse, served along with their usual egg. It's a tough life for our 'girls'!

Lovin' Life ~~ Takin' Care of "The Girls" 

P.S. Stay tuned for some photos from the rest of today!

Historic Fort Worth Stockyards

Aside from having to miss Dylan's band concert this Wednesday, we're happily making the most of this detour through central Texas. It's so much out of the way that I don't suppose we would have seen this area otherwise. It rained throughout the night and much of the day again today. Someone I chatted with along the way today told me she passed a car from Oklahoma that was covered with snow...even more affirmation that we are making the right move. It's very cold and damp here, but not quite freezing so we're okay.

We started our morning wondering at the empty parking lot when we got to our first destination, the Museum of Modern Art, at 11:30...yes, that's when we start our morning lots of days...R.E.T.I.R.E.D! Anyway, turns out they are closed on Mondays so we'll try again tomorrow. At least I got this great photo. Hopefully the skies will lighten while we're here so I can get shots of the amazing fall color display here...who knew?

We headed toward the Bureau of Engraving & Printing to watch them print money, but didn't get there either. On the way, we stopped at the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District and that's where we spent the rest of the day. This sculpture sits on the corner of Main and Stockyards Blvd.

After we parked, we walked along the brick streets in the district to the Visitors Bureau. Outside the Livestock Exchange building was this magnificent tree with holiday roping along the fence. See the Longhorn steer in front of the tree?

Inside the Livestock Exchange Building there is a small museum and the holiday decorated buggy and carriage were displayed in the hall.

Across the back wall as you enter the Visitors Bureau is this mural depicting the history of the stockyards here in Fort Worth.

After considering the selection of restaurants in this area, we decided to have lunch and warm up at Riscky's Steakhouse. We were delighted when we opened the menu and saw that it was established in 1920 by Polish immigrants and that they still serve their "Famous Kapusta Soup." Of course we ordered a bowl...it was delicious as were the steaks and baked potatoes! And here's the bonus...looking out the window from our table we enjoyed this view of Saunders Park with Marine Creek flowing through it.

We strolled through several Western stores including ML Leddy's which is famous for its handmade boots.

I can't imagine how one would select a pair from the hundreds of one-of-a-kind pairs displayed. This shows only a small portion of their inventory.

Okay. I did have a favorite pair. Aren't they stunning?!? I inquired about the price and was told $3,745.00. Rich was in a hurry to usher me out of the store after hearing that...giggle

Twice each day, cowboys (yes, cowgirls too) drive a small herd of Longhorn cattle right down Exchange Avenue. That was the highlight of the day for me!

Here they come!

There they go! (teehee...I just couldn't resist!)

Before leaving that area, we stopped in Billy Bob's Texas Honky Tonk...not much happenin' there on a cold, dreary, rainy Monday evening.

Last evening I had a great visit with my friend Vikki from Carlinville. She has lived here for many years. She works so it looks like we won't get to see each other this time but it was great to be in touch again.!

Lovin' Life ~~ Longhorns and Old Friends!

Choctaw, OK

An old wagon loaded with brightly wrapped Christmas gifts greets you at the entry to the Choctaw KOA where we parked for the last two nights. This the first of what will hopefully be many holiday scenes as we travel to Arizona.

After the rain stopped yesterday evening, Rich took the girls for a long walk around the park and I walked up to the office. On my way back, I noticed that the setting sun behind me was casting a golden glow on all the trees in front of me. I grabbed my camera and captured this...

I have much to be thankful for as we drive south out of Oklahoma City this morning including my Canon G9 that miraculously healed itself and continues to capture shots like these.

Lovin' Life ~~ And the Beauty of Nature

Early Winter Conditions

These two photos were taken in Missouri. That is one beautiful state if you're not already aware of that. The day was gray though and the nakedness of the trees and shrubs in winter, added to the fact that we've been through here a few times now, didn't leave much to shoot.

I've always loved the rocky terrain. Seeing the rock outcroppings along the roadway when riding through here as a child was my first awareness that there was much to see that was different than where we lived.

A pasture populated with a very large herd of white cattle that I think may be Charolais. Love the old barn that sits far back from the interstate. This photo is deeply cropped so you can only see a small sample of the herd.

Most of the drive through Oklahoma looked like this...

This next photo was taken as we crossed the Arkansas River. That is downtown Tulsa in the background. The River certainly shows the effects of their drought...we were shocked at how low it is. We're not complaining about all of this rain because the water is desperately needed here.

Trees are natural sculptures and I love seeing their shapes as exposed in winter.

We spent several hours this morning checking and rechecking weather forecasts for the next three days. They're not good. With nighttime temperatures in the mid-teens (yikes!) and icy/rainy/snowy conditions predicted through the Texas Panhandle and all across New Mexico, traveling in an RV would be risky. That is why we are staying here another night and then heading south rather than Meandering west southwest on local highways as we did in March. This route will add enough time to our trip that we won't be there for Dylan's band concert Wednesday evening but he was great about it when his Grandpa explained it all. Safety is paramount...and we might even get to go to Gilley's in Dallas!

Lovin' Life ~~ Changin' With The Weather

What Happened to November?

It's a beautiful morning in Missouri, cruising westward with the sun at our back. Yesterday our new mobile wireless hub was dropping my Internet connection every few minutes...grrrr...but Rich tweaked a setting last evening and it's staying up now. We were so busy the last half of November that I neglected my blog. This morning I'm going to put up a few photos to briefly recap.

Bella had surgery Nov 15th to remove a benign cyst on her back. Dora kept a close eye on her after she got home...so sweet!

I went down to Mom's for a couple of days before Thanksgiving. She was drinking pink lemonade and I was teasing her about coordinating the color of her drink with the pink of her blouse which made her smile more joyfully than I had seen for a while.

Thanksgiving day we enjoyed a fabulous dinner at the home of our nephew, Dave, and his family. There were seventeen of us...a perfect holiday group: Rich's sister, Marianne; his brother Joe & wife, Carol; Dave, Kristen and their kids, Sophie & Nick; Rob, Lisel and their kids, Zoe & Oliver; Jonathan; Kristen's sister and her two little girls visiting from the D.C. area; and Rich & I.

Their tables were beautifully set.

The star of the evening for me was this luscious platter of roasted vegetables that Kristen prepared...they were not only gorgeous to the eye, but delectable to the tongue! This was noteworthy simply because I do not like vegetables...hardly any, hardly ever.

The Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend we had Marianne; Greg & Jenny; and Jenny's dad and sister over for a pasta dinner. It was a time to gather for the holiday since they had celebrated Thanksgiving at the home of Jenny's uncle and aunt.

Monday evening we combined the holidays, giving thanks and exchanging gifts at the home of our next door BFFs, Vic and Sandee. She made the most delicious Lemon-Feta Chicken and her famous mashed potatoes. Such gracious hosts...Rich and I even won the tie-breaker game of Hand 'n Foot!

Tuesday evening I ran errands with Jenny. Wednesday evening Marianne came out. She, Rich, & I had dinner at Applebee's before he left to play poker with the neighborhood guys; Jenny came out for a little while too. I guess it's obvious that we had a jam-packed couple of weeks before leaving on our southwest adventure...great times spent with family and friends!

Lovin' Life ~~ And All Those Left at Home 

P.S. I'm still having connectivity problems so now it's after our lunch break at Joplin, MO and we have just entered Oklahoma in a light rain.

On The Road Again

If you caught my earlier post today, you know that we are headed southwest for the winter. It takes a lot of planning and organization to prepare. I've been cooking meals for the freezer, Christmas shopping, getting Christmas cards and holiday letter in the mail, cleaning, doing laundry...stuff like that. Rich has built shelves, redesigned drawers, and lots of stuff that is way too technical for me with the end result that he gets all the systems in the RV and the car ready. We spent most of yesterday hauling stuff out to the RV and storing it all away. This morning we shoehorned even more stuff into an already packed RV.

Today we made it past St. Louis, which was what we had hoped to do. Dylan texted me Tuesday evening and one thing he asked was when we were leaving for their house "so i can look at all of your "beautiful" pictures." I texted back to make sure and, yes, he was talking about the photos I post when we're on the road...aaaawww So, here you go Dylan!

This shot was the result of pure luck. It was taken from the I-255 which is a bypass south of the city. I took several blind shots of the St. Louis Arch as we drove past; this is the best. We were quite a distance from it so I did crop the photo. The shot is amazing (even if I do say so myself) and Rich, a rail fan, was awestruck when he saw it.

It was dark before we parked for the night. Here are a few shots of the sunset as we drove into it.

We're crashing early tonight so that we can get a lot of miles put behind us tomorrow.

Lovin' Life ~~ And "Beautiful" Pictures

Snowbirds

So, whadya think? This is my rendition of a snowbird and will be our icon for the winter. YES! We left home this morning to spend the next several months in the great American southwest.

Well, of course, there is a story behind this bird...thanks for asking. Rich has a penchant for selecting items that are quite ugly bizarre unique whenever we are asked to participate in a gift exchange or white elephant. This bird is the latest, and actually the nicest, of all. This was his "guy" gift for our family gift exchange last Christmas and he was reluctant to part with it. Apparently his attachment to it was obvious because his nephew regifted it back to him for his birthday. He rejoiced at having it back!

Thinking about an image to represent our winter Meanderings, this pure white bird came to mind immediately! I photographed it sitting on top of a cabinet in our basement. Using Photoshop, I slightly blurred the wall to look a bit like snowy sky and then created some fluffy piles of snow. Now he will reside on my side bar for the next few months.

Lovin' Life ~~ Won't You Come Along?