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First Presbyterian Church of La Grange TX - a very friendly church
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In College Station on the campus of Texas A&M University
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We think this isn't an actual White House limo, but it's still impressive
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A restored WW2 plane identical to the one Pres Bush was shot down in over the South Pacific
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Judy gets as personal as they'll allow . . .
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A major display covered Bush's years as US Ambassador to China.
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The replicas of the terra cotta soldiers were impressive
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In the oval office replica, you could sit in "the" chair and have your picture taken
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Delusions of grandeur
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Judy about to enter the "White House"
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We've seen a lot of pieces of the Berlin Wall in various museums.
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First Lady Barbara Bush advocated reading - and this is neat poster art supporting that endeavor
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The photo below this unfortunate tarpon is of a 135 pounder the President caught and released.
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Maybe that's Amtrack 1 . . . .
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This "Monument to Freedom" is entitled "The Day The Wall Came Down". It stands in the museum courtyard
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We saw many wonderful live oak trees. This one's outside the Columbus TX Library
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The RV Park at Columbus got ready for Easter before we left . . .
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Somebody said the live oak trees hold themselves up by putting branches on the ground
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There were plenty of deer among the pecan trees at the RV park, mostly visible at dawn and sunset
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When we checked into 1000 Trails Lake Conroe, the Red Bud trees were in full bloom.
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Preparing to enter the Forbidden Gardens in Katy TX
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We thought these guys should have been spewing water
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The Tomb of Qin Shi Huang-di, China's first emperor, has been reproduced in 1/3 scale.
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However, some of the figures have been reproduced full-size
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There are between 4000 and 6000 figures, all hand-made in Xi'an, where the original tomb was found
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Emperor Qin himself overlooks his army
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Although the original figures are all unique, there were only about 10 molds used to cast these minitaures
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Unfortunately, the molds were destroyed after all the replicas were cast, making restoration more difficult
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Restoration is complicated by the fact that all the directions are in Chinese.
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Even so, the thousands of figures are most impressive
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Leaving the tomb area, we cross the courtyard toward the Forbidden City
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The city has been reproduced in 1/20th scale, again by Chinese craftspeople.
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The model city is populated by hundreds of hand-made residents, each about 3 inches high
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Some model buildings stand alone
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Most are under roof
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Standing near the city kind of makes you feel like Gulliver. Or maybe Godzilla . . .
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We wish there had been docents on hand to answer questions
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We also wish the whole project had been better protected from the elements
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These buildings on the lawn were, we think, awaiting restoration
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There's also a scale model of a complete, more contemporary city. Also interesting
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We're told this lion is a female - note the cub under the paw.
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We've been noticing a lot more inflatible advertising critters. We especially like the Chick-filet cows . . .
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We wonder if this one inspires any confidence in the services rendered . . .
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That's First Presbyterian in Conroe TX, where we went both Palm Sunday and Easter
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A not very good picture of a beautiful wall hanging in the church Visitor Center
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That's Big Sam Houston. Some say it could also pass as a statue of PT Barnum.
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Sam is indeed big. The statue is 67' on a 10' base - Judy is 5' 4 1/2"
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Not sure why they have a spare face . . .
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The home across the street from the RV park had a yard full of Texas Bluebonnets
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The Bluebonnet is a variety of lupine
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We were also impressed by another Texas favorite - Crimson Clover
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In some places, the wildflowers were rampant
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It's gorgeous - and in focus!
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It's tiny, it's blue, and it's really pretty
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We'll end this slide show on this great Texas sunset