We had breakfast at the hotel.

Jim and John picked us up at the hotel at 8:00am. We drove to Barksdale Air Force Base and checked in to get our entry passes.

Jim drove us around and showed us the base and where he worked. It is a large base with beautiful trees.

On September 11, 2001, Barksdale provided a safe haven for President George W. Bush on his return flight to the nation’s capital.

We were privileged to have a special tour arranged by Jim to show us a B52. Tech Sergeant Granger did a fabulous job of explaining the plane and the bombs. We even were able to see them loading the weapons onto the plane as they continually practice to make sure they are on top of their game. This was on Jim’s bucket list and his son, Jim made his dream come true.

Jim dropped us at the Louisiana Boardwalk and Jim and Patricia walked around but there wasn’t much happening so we walked back to the hotel.

The Waze app directed us to Jim and Genn’s house. At 5:00pm there was a Pre Retirement Party with family and friends at their Community Center. Genn had prepared a Philippines dinner and everything was delicious.

Went back to our hotel.

Good night from Bossier City, Louisiana!

We had breakfast again at the Flying Horse Cafe sharing a morning glory loaf which was really good. Jim had coffee and Patricia had green iced tea.

From the café we could look and see our hotel across the street.

Patricia walked a couple of blocks to the Neiman Marcus store which was the first store in Downtown Dallas. It has 7 floors. Nice store and lots of pretty things to look at.

We packed up and started our 3 hour drive to Bossier City, Louisiana. We got into heavy rain that lasted maybe five minutes. Otherwise it was a nice drive.

We arrived at the Residence Inn by Marriott in BossierCity, Louisiana and checked into our room. It is a great room and is like an apartment.

Jim and Genn picked us up at the hotel and brought water and bananas for us. We went over to their house to pick up John and we all went and ate at the Olive Garden. Totally spaced out on taking photos but we had an interesting meal where the waitress did not walk around to deliver the food but kind of threw the dishes them down and since John was across the table she told John to grab a napkin because the plate was hot. We laughed about her way of serving.

Went back to the hotel.

Goodnight from Bossier City, Louisiana!

We started the day walking to the Flying Horse Cafe which serves liquid culture. Jim had their coffee of the day and a croissant. Patricia had a chai tea that the water was steamed for 4 minutes and a cranberry almond muffin that might have been the best muffin she’s had.

We got a Lyft driver to take us to the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. which is America’s 13th presidential library, which opened to the public on May 1, 2013 and is overseen by the National Archives and Records Administration.

We stepped into Freedom Hall and stared at the one-of-a-kind 20-foot-tall, 360-degree, high definition video wall that orients visitors and depicts a montage of the 44 U.S. Presidents.

There were approximately 43,000 gifts given to the President and First Lady.

We saw the September 11 Remembrance Display and steel beams from the World Trade Center are the focal point of this exhibit. The names of the approximately 3,000 people who died in the Towers, at the Pentagon, and on the hijacked planes are listed on a nearby wall.

We saw the bullhorn the President used to address First Responders at Ground Zero; the notes he scribbled for his impromptu speech at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Fla. when he learned America was under attack.

Letters from around the world. A docent told us about George Gerard Howard, a port authority officer, who lost his life and his grieving mother gave President Bush his badge, which the President carried every day after 9-11. His grandson is now a first responder following in this grandfathers footsteps and George Howard’s mother is still alive.

There was a personal baseball collection that was displayed and the docent said they were sure he had many more balls but Laura was happy to get some out of her house.

We saw the White House Oval Office which is full-size replica of the President’s Oval Office. We were able to sit at the Resolute Desk and enjoy the Texas Rose Garden. The desk was huge compared to his father’s desk we had seen the day before.

There were letters between Bono and Bush.

Jim participated in the Decision Points Theater and gained insight into the President’s thought process during this and other major crises at this interactive exhibit. The time lapse scenario feeds the participant critical information so you can compare your decisions with those made by the President.

More pictures of things we liked in the library.

There was a special exhibit called Presidential Retreats Away from the White House. That showed where President ‘s went to feel at home.

The George W. Bush Presidential Center is set within a native Texas landscape with grounds featuring Blackland Prairie grasses, seasonal wildflowers and clearings that provide native habitats for butterflies and birds. This 15 acre landscaped park reflects the President and Mrs. Bush’s longstanding commitment to environmental conservation and restoration. While Jim enjoyed a hotdog on the courtyard with the Bush father and son statues Patricia walked the prairie. It was a lovely walk.

We took a Lyft to the North Park Shopping Center and looked around. They had nice art sculptures all over. It was a big 3 story mall with a lot of the same stores you see everywhere.

Went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

We are loving Lyft and took a car to the restaurant, Y.O. Ranch Steakhouse, for dinner. Such a pretty atmosphere with lots of wood, cowhides as accents and longhorn pictures and antler chandeliers. Our waiter was Neil and He told us stories about the restaurant and the ranch.

Our waiter told us a story about Bonnie and Clyde who are buried in Dallas 5 miles apart. Bonnie Parker’s mother didn’t want them buried together. Now so many years later the family from both sides are trying to get Bonnie’s body exhumed to find out which bullet killed her and then re-bury her next to Clyde.

Another story he told us was that Lee Harvey Oswald mother’s home had a large front yard and 5 years ago the property was made into a restaurant that sells burgers & beer in a hip retro bar with picnic bench yard seating, live music & dog-friendly Sundays. We found that very interesting.

Since he was sharing these stories Patricia asked him well now tell us a personal story and he told us this. Our waiter, Neil Potts was from a military family. His father was a two star general in the army and retired after 24 years. Neil was in the army for six years and then got out and his dad was very unhappy about that. They didn’t speak for one year. A motorcycle ride got them back together. His father is buried in Arlington Cemetery and he had to wait six months before he could be laid in the ground. His mother, Peggy died last year and it took her three months to get buried in Arlington on top of her husband.

Now for our dinner. Jim started with a glass of Boen Pinot Noir from Russian River, California. Patricia had a glass of Becker ‘Iconoclast ‘ Cabernet Sauvignon from Texas.

We shared the Deep Ellis Pimento Cheese Fritters. Local ancho chili caciotta, sharp cheddar, and Chihuahua cheeses blended with roasted red peppers Panko breaded and fried golden brown with house Tabasco jam. This was delicious. The picture shows two balls but we did have four and Patricia ended up eating 3 of them.

We shared an Iceberg Salad. Chilled wedge of iceberg lettuce, bacon, beef steak tomatoes, red onions, with blue cheese dressing. Jim’s looks like a wedge and Patricia cuts here up to get dressing on all pieces.

Jim had a 6 ounce Petite Fillet Mignon with a side of Béarnaise sauce and with a smoked baked potato with butter and chives.

Patricia had Red Chili Rubbed King Salmon that had a sun-dried tomato, roasted garlic, cilantro butter on top of it. It was served over a wild rice.

We both enjoyed our meals and had a nice time.

Another Lyft driver and we were back at the Adolphus Hotel.

Goodnight from Dallas, Texas!

Today we had big plans to wake up at 6:30 AM and get ready to drive to Waco, Texas. The only problem was that we did not hear the alarm and woke up at 8:30 AM.

We got ready and left the hotel at 9:30am for our 1 hour 45 minute drive to Waco. Our first stop was at Magnolia table which is Chip and Joanna Gaines restaurant. We put in our reservations and was given a one hour 45 minute wait time. They told us to be back in one hour 15 minutes so that we would have a 30 minute window because if you are not there when they text you that your table is ready you only have seven minutes to claim your table.

We drove over to the Magnolia Silos which was about 2 1/2 miles away. We passed by Baylor University which was a beautiful campus with lots of gold domed buildings. When we arrived at the Magnolia it felt like Disneyland with so many people standing in line to get in. We joined the line and walked in. There were lots of things to see and fun displays. The line to check out was far to long to wait in.

Then we went to the Silo Bakery which had about a 20 minute wait time. You fill out the card of what baked goods you want. They all looked so good but we decided on a classic cupcake which was chocolate inside with vanilla buttercream icing and a strawberry with lemon buttercream icing cupcake.

Luckily when we received our text that our table was ready we were driving back to the Magnolia Table. We were seated in the farthest corner of the restaurant with a table for 2. Such a beautiful restaurant.  Jim had a peach lemonade and Patricia had the peach iced tea. We got some fried green tomatoes to start as they sounded so southern. Jim had the farm breakfast and Patricia had Uncle Mikey ‘s turkey sandwich. The food was delicious and such a fun atmosphere to eat in. All the food we saw being delivered looked so good.

After lunch we went back to Magnolia to take the 2pm Waco Tour but it was sold out so we decided to go back to Dallas and visit the George Bush Presidential Library. We asked Waze for the directions and we started driving for our 1 1/2 hour drive. We had gone about 45 minutes and Jim asked goggle how long it would take to get home from the library and it said 3 hours. We thought that was a mistake because yesterday we had been told that the George Bush Library was 3 miles from our hotel in Dallas. We asked again and it gave us the same answer. It turns out we were headed to Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas to see George H. W. Bush Presidential Library. We had to laugh and figured we would never have driven for 3 hours to see his library but driving 1 1/2 hours wasn’t bad.

The George H.W. Bush Presidential Library was dedicated on November 6, 1997, as the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum, opening to the public shortly thereafter, and designed by the architectural firm of Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum.

Situated on a plaza adjoining the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center and the George Bush School of Government and Public Service, the library is administered by NARA under the provisions of the Presidential Libraries Act of 1955.

The mission of the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library is to preserve and make available for research the official records, personal papers, and artifacts of President George H.W. Bush, to support democracy, promote civic education, and increase historical understanding of U.S. national experience through the life and times of George Bush our 41st President.

The library was beautiful and we enjoyed all the history.

The gravesites were in the back of the museum across from the Presidential Pond.

Around 5:30pm we started our drive back to our hotel. We had to stop for gas and we were shocked at the price of $2.29 per gallon. We usually pay $4.49 per gallon. We filled up for $25.00 and got over 10 gallons of gas. About 2 hours in it started to lightening and thunder then rain and then a beautiful rainbow and then more lightning and thunder and heavy rain and heavy wind. This lasted on and off for an hour. We came across a bad accident where one of the cars was upside down. We were lucky and got back to the hotel safely at 8:40pm and the rain was over.

Goodnight from Dallas, Texas!

Today we are flying to Dallas,Texas.

The nightmare begins!

We woke up at 3:15am for a 6:10am flight on American Airlines and checked our email and found out our flight was canceled. We had booked two separate itineraries through Expedia because Patricia was going on to see her sister in Oklahoma at the end of the trip and Jim was flying back to Los Angles. Jim had been rescheduled to fly to Fayetteville, Arkansas then Dallas and Patricia has been rescheduled to fly to Sacramento then Dallas arriving in Dallas at different times. Jim arrived at 3pm and Patricia at 5pm. Jim called Delta and there was a nonstop flight at 9:10am which he booked getting in at 2:19pm and we bought first class.

Kent and Thatcher picked us up at 4am but we didn’t leave the house until 5:30am talking to Expedia to change the flights.

We rebooked the Delta flight on our own and Expedia is going to refund Jim‘s American flight and they will look into Patricia ‘s refund after she gets home on July 12th.

We spent time at the Delta Club Room. Jim is a big boxing fan and recognized a boxer named Triple GGG and asked for a photo with him. Jim was very happy.

At 8:40am we boarded our flight and was in the air at 9:37am. Had an egg sandwich for breakfast and juice. The flight was uneventful very nice although first class plane domestic is not as nice as international first class. The flight went by quick we both read.

Arrived in Dallas at 2:10pm picked up our luggage and got on the bus to go to the rental car center.

We rented a midsize SUV and I could not figure out how to put the car in drive I kept turning on the windshield wipers. I guess cars have buttons now that you press that are on the dashboard all this new technology.

We drove to our hotel with lots of traffic and a few wrong turns. They have some strange signs here telling you how to go and we always read them wrong.

We checked into the Adolphus Autograph Collection Hotel and it seems to be centrally located.

We took a walk to The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza which is located on the sixth floor of the Dallas County Administration Building in downtown Dallas, Texas, overlooking Dealey Plaza at the intersection of Elm and Houston Streets. The museum examines the life, times, death, and legacy of President John F. Kennedy, and is located at the very spot from which Lee Harvey Oswald, according to four government investigations, shot and killed the President on November 22, 1963.

Zapruder camera used to make the only video from start to finish of the assassination. Also various other cameras that recorded that day.

It was very moving and a well done exhibit. They even showed the corner window filled with boxes of books just like it was when the fatal shots fell on President Kennedy.

Because Patricia was 14 and Jim 25 when this happened we lived through it and remember it vividly all these years later.

A moving picture of President Kennedy during a crisis when he was in office.

A miniature drawn to scale of the area.

We took a Lyft back to the hotel and rested for a bit before we walked to dinner. The weather is hot and muggy and we are getting use to it.

We ate at a restaurant called Wild Salsa which was so good and a lovely atmosphere with a view out on Main Street.

The chips and salsa were so good and the salsa was green. The chips were super thin and crispy and we finished our basket.

We split a margarita and it was so frozen we had to eat it with a fork it was delicious though.

Jim had Barbacoa tacos and Patricia had vegetarian enchiladas. We both cleaned our plates and really enjoyed the meal.

As we left the restaurant we were given a popsicle Jim had pecan and Patricia had lemon.

We walked back to the hotel and saw all these scooters parked randomly all over town as well as lots of people riding them.

There were interesting store display windows which we enjoyed.

Great saying found on a window.

We are in for the night. Our first day in Dallas is done.