Tuesday, May 17, 2016

The word if the day is humidity although it could be worse.  Higher than Boise experiences but not outrageous.

We went to the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library today in College Station, Texas.  I thought that it was a suburb of Houston, but it's about 90 miles from here, and the Library is on the campus of Texas A&M.

I enjoyed it and would recommend it.  It's not pretentious or ostentatious in any way.  They have a plane like he flew in WW II hanging from the ceiling.  I was surprised at how small it is.  On the old news reels, the planes look much bigger, I think.  The presidential limousine is here,and they have a version of the Oval Office where a library employee is more than happy to take your picture sitting at the desk.  And there is a life size bronze statue of President Bush sitting in a chair with two chairs beside him so you can have another photo op.😊

A section of the library is devoted to Barbara Bush and it's very family oriented,  She is so down-to-earth, and it comes through in the exhibits.  The library has pictures from both sides of the family, the  Bush side and the Pierce side, her maiden name, with her wedding gown, and his military uniform.

Outside, down a walkway to the rear of the building, is a large pond.  I was surprised to see a sign stating it was catch and release only fishing.  The pond has a sidewalk around it with several bridges and great landscaping.  One of the bridges takes you through a "forest" to the site where President and Mrs. Bush will be buried.  The daughter of theirs who died from leukemia at 3 years old is buried here now.  Very peaceful beautiful setting.

Stella's daughter, Tara, took the day off and drove us there.  We probably could have found it ourselves, but not as quickly.  After we ate Texas barbecue, which was very good, the library was next.  Then we ate at a Mexican restaurant this evening.  Personally, I think Texas has the best Mexican food of anywhere.

On the drive there, and yesterday as we drove in, we passed fields of corn.  That is the only crop we've seen in this state.  It's relatively flat here with lots of oak trees.  I think it's pretty around here but I don't know if I could ever get used to the traffic.