6th floor

On red lights, people stand on the X. Some take pictures of the widow permanently propped half open, some have their pictures taken on the spot grinning stupidly.

On Saturday we went to The 6th Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. A museum dedicated to the assassination, presidency and legacy of JFK. The museum is in the old Texas Schoolbook Depository Building. Yup, that TSDB. The window Oswald shot from is in a corner; the area is behind Plexiglas and the "shooters perch" is set up exactly as it was on 11/22/63. From the next window over, looking down at the two "X"s painted in the street it looks like an easy shot for a scoped rifle. The view is eerie, both from the window and at street level, having seen it countless times in countless films and TV shows and specials.

At first it felt weird in a "crime scene" kind of way, but thinking about it, it's much more like a scene from a recurring dream you've had a thousand times and suddenly find yourself in while wide awake; only the cars are different and the trees are taller, nothing else seems to have changed.

We spent a good 3 hours looking around at the displays, all the time hearing in the background competing sound clips of Kennedy giving various speeches and press conferences, the music and 21-gun salutes at his funeral, and the almost constant sound of Walter Cronkite announcing that Kennedy had been shot and was confirmed dead. Good old Walt. He'll be there reporting that sad news hundreds of times a day for a many decades to come.

The museum gives adequate time to the conspiracy theories, and the debate whether JFK had time to accomplish enough to have been a great president, or inspired such great things in others afterwards that more of his legacy lies there.
On a side note, I added to my shot glass collection Saturday at the museum, the Hard Rock Cafe, and House of Blues, both nearby.

Road trip

The drive from Dallas to San Antonio is about 275 miles and takes about 4 hours if you're focused on what you're doing.
On the way you drive through Waco though, and of course who could resist the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame? Man, there are lots of guns in there. One display had the boots of one ranger. Most displays were badges & guns, but It was worth seeing.

Somehow I just can't imagine a better souvenir from anywhere in Texas than a "coonskin cap" from the Alamo. By the way, you wont see "Davy Crockett" caps there; he referred to himself as David, so that's how he's referred to in Texas. As far as I can tell, they only have them in kid sizes, but I wasn't buying it to actually wear. They also don't have the face of the raccoon on the front like Fess Parker's on T.V. maybe that's a PETA thing.
Anyway, I now have a coonskin cap from the Alamo on my desk at home.


The Tower of the Americas is the tallest building in the San Antonio skyline. It was built in 1968 and was the tallest observation tower in the U.S. until Stratosphere was built. $6 gets you all day access. We rode up, got a good look around, then went to the Alamo, had dinner, the went back up at sunset to watch it get dark.
It gets really windy at night on one side of the observation deck. Like 30-40 mph wind. I'm sure a tower that tall must sway in a breeze like that, but it felt steady.

In the bottom picture, the cross shaped building in the trees is the Alamo.
The 4th of July must be great from up there in the tower.
Next time in San Antonio I want to get a better look at the riverwalk.
Excellent place for a road trip.