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Plenty of wildflowers n East Texas - these are Texas Bluebonnets.
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Another prolific displayer - Red Clover
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Some nice windows at First Presbyterian Conroe TX
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Heading north, we saw this guy get hurt by a snapped cable. We met the ambulance a few miles later
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United Presbyterian Church in Greenville TX, where we celebrated Easter
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Their organ has pride of place right up front
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A "blood moon" - a lunar eclipse almost total . . .
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The "Futuro House" was designed in the 60's by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen. Only about 30 exist, including this one at Royse TX
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The George W Bush Presidential Library & Museum in Dallas TX
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An interesting quilt showing newspapers with news about Bush
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There were exhibits focusing on issues and initiatives important to the Bushes
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As you can imagine, the displays focused on the positives . . .
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But some were more personal, including a display of autographed baseballs
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There were a couple of first lady gowns
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The 9/11 display was a focal point of the museum, including this piece of Twin Towers wreckage
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The "global war on terror" got a lot of space
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The replica Oval Office was a popular stop . . .
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Interactive displays helped explain some complicated subjects
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It was a gift from some African diplomat, already dead when presented - the lion, not the diplomat.
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The Bush's two scottie dogs . . Barney and Miss Beasley. She's the one with the bow
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That's Al, hiding behind the Bushes
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There's a garden adjacent to the museum, with wildflowers. Very noisy place in the middle of the city.
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There were some nice blooms
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We asked several people, but nobody could tell us what kind of trees these were
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A display of portraits of world leaders painted by Bush provided interesting information
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The Shogun-style painting, a gift of Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi, shows Bush astride a horse.
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Bush isn't a very good artist, but the comments about his portraits give insight into his relationships
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Bush was a big fan of Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf, first woman president of an African country
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A central gallery had huge video screens with impressive changing imagery . . .
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Near as we could tell, these used the same display technology as electronic billboards. Very impressive . . .
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In downtown Dallas, what may be the largest iPhone ad ever . . .
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The local Curves lady introduced her doggy
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In Oklahoma, lots of neat graphics on highway overpasses
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The Oklahoma City Art Festival took over the botanical gardens downtown. Much nice stuff displayed
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There were several "singing sculptures" - the strings vibrated with a breeze to make music
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That's cool . . .
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The sculpture park had many interesting works
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The wave fountain was a refreshing oasis
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These girls sure enjoyed it . . . although we're not sure wading is actually allowed
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The arboretum was striking, and housed a tropical forest . .
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It's an awesome structure . .
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As expected, lots of picturesque plants inside
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It was hot and humid, just as you'd expect
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Raw chocolate . . . the cacao beans are inside those orange pods
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The catwalk sort of gives the impression of being in the rain forest canopy.
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Tropical plants are especially interesting to those of us who don't live in the tropics
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Don't think we've ever seen an ugly orchid
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The variety is fascinating
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Pretty . .
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The waterfall looks good and helps keep the humidity up
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The Cowboy Museum was just a mile or so from our RV park
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The welcoming sculpture at the entrance gives you some idea of what to expect . . .
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This is the original plaster version of the iconic "End of the Trail", by James Earle Fraser. It's over 17ft tall
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There were a couple of school groups performing in the entrance hall . . .
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As you can imagine, lots of western art
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The western performers hall paid tribute to lots of movie and TV performers
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The Rockwell painting of Walter Brennan was commissioned by the museum
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As you'd imagine, John Wayne merited a major display
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That's the biggest "Duke" scupture . . .
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There were lots of sculptures of all sizes . . .
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"Canyon Princess" is 18ft tall, and stands at the entrance to the museum's main gallery wing
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Yep . . it's Ronnie
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Visiting this museum was one of the reasons we wanted to visit Oklahoma City.
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You could spend days here and still find new things. We were there about 6 hours
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Who knew there were so many kinds of barbed wire?
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The "art" of branding irons is fascinating, but we're glad they use ear tags these days
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That's an impressive antler chandelier
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The museum has pretty much all things western
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The rodeo exhibit was great . . .
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The view from a delightful garden behind the museum shows off the striking architecture
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And there are more sculptures outdoors
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As a cowboy might say, "Ain't that purty?"
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This 19 ton sculpture is named "Buffalo Bill", but it's actually of actor Joel McCrea, who played Mr Cody in the movies
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That's one view of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City
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For various reasons almost nobody showed up for worship.
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The impressive sanctuary normally seats about 700, instead of the 50 or so this Sunday
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The Oklahoma City Memorial is right downtown
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The memorial occupies the space where the Alfred Murrah Federal Building once stood
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The bombing happened just after 9AM, and killed 165 people, many of them children
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Each fatality is marked with a chair sculpture. The smaller ones are for the kids
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It's a beautiful, quiet setting . . .
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This is a portion of the foundation wall left from the orginal building
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The Memorial Marathon had run the day before, and many runners left their numbers at the memorial
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This wall contains many tiles made from paintings done by children who visit the memorial
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On a lighter note, our offbeat museum visit . . .
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Osteology is bones. And the museum displays hundreds of skeletons.
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The displays provide a lot of information
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There are several human skeletons showing the effects of various maladies
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That's the skull of a living person - 3D printed from an MRI scan of the museum's founder's head
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There are a few oddities - a two-headed calf, for example
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The museum grew out of a taxidermy business that also sold skeletons of animals brought in
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Many displays portray natural settings and poses
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Some are commercially purchased replicas of significant skeletons. This is Lucy, one of the oldest humanoids yet found
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It's interesting how small some animals seem without all that flesh and skin
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Despite the seemingly morbid nature of the place, you could tell the kids who came enjoyed it a lot
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Koala's aren't so cuddly this way . . .
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We thought it was a sculpture. It's a pedestrian bridge. Good place to end . . .