Maggie's visit to Texas

Our niece Maggie graduated from high school this year and will attend U of Alabama this fall.  We thought she needed to make a visit to Texas before her life became too busy for us. Her flight from Houston was delayed due to weather, but she finally arrived.

The first day, uncle Hal and Maggie toured Dallas.
First stop, the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, John F. Kennedy Memorial and the old red Court House.

I was so happy Hal got a picture of the new bridge in the background that goes no where.

In 1932, Magnolia Petroleum Company erected a large "oil derrick" on the roof that supported two 30 by 50 foot red neon signs that were in the image of Pegasus, the flying red horse, to celebrate the coming of the American Petroleum Institute's annual meeting, held in Dallas for the first time.


Pegasus was the corporate logo for Magnolia. Mobil, as a part of Exxon Mobil Corp. still uses the logo today. Pegasus guided people traveling in those days to Dallas and many claimed that it could be seen 75-miles away on a clear night. The two red horses were located 14 feet apart and revolved. Pegasus instantly became the landmark symbol for the City of Dallas and remained one of the most striking features of the Dallas skyline.

For many years the sign was the highest element within blocks, but by 1974 it had quit revolving. In 1977, Mobil moved their headquarters out of downtown and the sign and building were given to the City of Dallas.

Lunch at Smashburgers....By the time they arrived at their lunch destination, they were starving.

Aaron Sanders, Kathy & Jerry's son,  was so sweet and set up a tour of the Meyerson Symphony Center.

That evening we went to one of our favorite Italian restaurants, Venezia. 

We really love this restaurant these days as Keith, Elysse and Anna live just around the corner so we stopped by on our way home to visit them....ok...see Anna since I didn't get a picture of Keith & Elysse.

Friday I sent them to Fort Worth for the running of the herd (actually it was the walking of a few very tired old long horn cows). It sounded fun when reading about it on the Internet.

 I love this picture of Maggie.

They had lunch at Sundance Square, Pot Bellys to be exact.  They couldn't find the Thai restaurant I suggested.  It was silly to go to FW for Thai anyway.  While they were downtown they decided to go inside the Bass Music Hall.  We just love this venue. It's a great concert hall.

Moving on to get some culture at the Kimbell Museum and Modern Art Museum.

Enough culture...let's go see Jerry World, AKA Death Star, AKA Cowboy Stadium.  Maggie looks to tiny in this picture.

I will think of this picture every time the Cowboys have a press conference this fall.

After a very long day, Keith, Elysse and Anna came over for dinner.  Can't believe I didn't get any pictures.  The next morning we drove to Houston to visit Julie, KW and Lauren. 

This is a statue of Sam Houston in Huntsville.  Such a large statue on the side of the road.

Julie had the table set so beautifully and inviting.  We swam for a while and then actually ate dinner outside.  Sure wouldn't be doing that in Dallas this time of year.

Lauren invited a couple of friends over for dinner.  L-R, Alex, Katelyn, Maggie, Lauren and John (Lauren's boyfriend). 

Someone thought it would be a good idea to play train.  How many Aggies does it take to get one full deck of dominoes for a game of train?

Now more people are showing up..Grab a chair and join the fun.  We played until 1:00 in the morning listening to Michel Jackson...what fun. BTW, I came in second!

We all decided to sleep in Sunday and attend the later worship service.  Here Julie, Maggie and KW look all refreshed from the long night before.

We are saying our goodbyes to Maggie and leaving her in good hands with Julie and KW.  We had a wonderful time with you Maggie and hope you will come back and see us.