Oh, Dear

I was duly chastised by Georgie, who pointed out that I had not kept up with my blogging duties. I had been taking pictures, and editing them, but I hadn't realized until just now that I had not been doing the writing part of things and that he was indeed correct.
Oops.
Can I plead that I've been busy vacationing as hard as I can and the days just sort of slip slide away?
Back to work here.
Tuesday was my Segway tour of Dallas day. If you don't know what a Segway is, just Google it. I can't for the life of me think of a description that does it justice! But it is one hell of a good way to tour a new city. You aren't closed up behind the windows of a bus - you are right there experiencing whatever it is. If this makes any sense. Because it was the middle of the week, our tour group was not terribly large. Just me and a couple from Calgary, Canada. And the two tour guides. Who knew their stuff! Now, come along and learn more than you wanted to know about Dallas:

We get used to our "ponies"

My steed, trusty No. 11

Representation of the original settler's cabin. His entire family lived here, parents, kids and all. Wowzer.

One of the smaller hotels.

Oh, it is a conference center, also.

Yours truly, modeling the latest in safety gear and flamingo fashioning.

Big Red.

Used to be a courthouse, now is the Visitors Center. All of the stone was brought in (via wagon, I should guess) from Pennsylvania. An absolutely stunning building, especially in the sunlight.

The old jail. Jack Ruby was held here pending his first trial, as was Lee Harvey Oswald. The location where Oswald was shot are two metal doors to the left, which I didn't get in the picture.

The first shot was when the Presidents limo was under a sign which crossed the road. The next shot was maybe 20 ft away, and is shown by this "X" in the road.

The last, fatal, shot was much further down the road. This is the shot that many people believe came from the direction of the Grassy Knoll. After seeing everything in person for myself, I am no longer sure that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. The first and second shots are way too close together, and the view from the Sixth Floor Window to the roadway is not very good.

This is what is called "grabbing the longhorn (bull) by the horns."

God only knows I have enough experience with bull!

I've had this liking for Texas Longhorns ever since I lived in Texas in the late 70's.

So it was a really nice surprise to be treated to the sight of this tremendous sculpture commemorating the days of cowboys and cattle drives. Although calling it a sculpture doesn't do it justice - there are a shitload of individual animals (I believe the guide said 40?) and they are all unique. They are arranged like they are being herded on a drive by cowboys.

Cowboys were primarily Mexican or black. Being a cowboy was a dirty, stinky, difficult job that didn't pay very well. So it was way down on the ladder of jobs that people wanted. Freed black former slaves and Mexicans didn't have much of a choice.

This is a textbook example of a poor composition.

The horse looks like he is getting ready to poop on the people.

I have no clue what I was thinking with this one!

This young man takes the expression "family jewels" most literally!

Actually, he is the "mascot" of AT&T, representing communications. He started out on their building in New York City, and resided several other places until finally landing in the lobby of their new corporate headquarters in Dallas. It is difficult to get a sense of his size, but he is enormous! To get him into the building, they ended up pretty much gutting the front of the building. They then ended up reinforcing the floors to handle the great weight of his presence. He is not solid gold, but is gold leaf.

I did have several other pictures that I wanted to post tonight, but the server is giving me fits. So, I'm going to soothe myself with leftover steak. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm