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