The Northpark Mall is located directly across the street from the MBA and it is a great place to stop for lunch. Fortunately, there were no quilt stores; so we didn't spent a lot of time in the mall.
Although we did not visit the Dallas Arboretum on this trip, we have stopped there in the past. The 66 acre site is located on the shores of White Rock Lake and a serene place to spend an afternoon.
Waco is about a two hour drive south of Dallas and is home to the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum. The facility features over 14,000 artifacts dealing with the legendary Texas Rangers. After viewing a representative sample of the exhibits in about two hours, I realized that my older brother wasn't with the rest of the group. Retracing our path through the labyrinth of rooms, I finally found him in the first room we started at, reading the information card about each exhibit. I tried to explain that everyone in the group was ready to leave, but he was determined to read all 14,000 display cards. (Did I mention that he is a real history buff?) Therefore, after a unanimous vote, we decided to leave him at the Ranger Museum all day while the rest of us toured other sites in Waco.
The Waco Mammoth Site is not far from the Ranger Museum, so that was our next stop. We had great timing and arrived just as a staff paleontologist was starting a tour for a small group of people. The site is unique in that they discovered the bones of an entire herd (16 animals) all piled on top of one another. Researchers think the animals became stuck in the mud and were then trapped by a flash flood; thus, accounting for one large pile of bones. Some of the baby mammoth skeletons were found wrapped in the tusk of the females and it appears that the females were trying to lift the young animals to safety. Considering that a full-grown Columbian Mammoth was 14 feet tall (see picture below), it must have been some really deep water.
No visit to Waco would be complete without stopping at the original 1906 Dr. Pepper bottling plant, which is now a museum. Included with the admission price is a token for a free sample at the restored operating soda fountain. (By the way, we did pick up my older brother before we left town. He had made it to the second room and had read the display cards for about 300 of the exhibits. He plans to return to the Texas Ranger Museum, by himself, at a later date.)
For some reason, the weather at Fort Hood really hates me. I first visited Fort Hood when I was on my way to Arizona and my younger brother and his wife were stationed there. Unfortunately, the morning I left for Arizona it started snowing; but I was certain that I would drive out of storm within a few miles -- but I didn't! After traveling less than a hundred miles, DOT closed the freeway (We were told that Texas DOT didn't own any snow removal equipment, so they just closed the freeway when the snow got too deep.) and I found myself, and family, stuck in a hotel room for three days (with no clean clothes).
This time I arrived at Fort Hood to freezing temperatures and sleet that later turned into a nasty blizzard. However before it started snowing I did manage to make it to the 1st Cavalry Museum, and the 3rd Cavalry Museum that is located about one mile down the road. The exhibits were similar at both museums, except the 3rd Cavalry tanks were painted a darker color.
To west of Fort Hood is the small community of Lampasas, with its historic town square. The courthouse and many of the other buildings in town were constructed from limestone quarried locally. There is also a beautiful natural springs swimming pool that would be inviting on a warmer day.
The Commemorative Air Force Highlaind Lakes Squadron is located at the Burnet Airport and contains various planes, photographs, and other memorabilia. On certain days you can also have a ride on the "Bluebonnet Belle," a restored 1944 Douglas C-47 Skytrain, or one of three other Commemorative aircraft - a T-6 Texas trainer, L-17 Navion, and Fairchild PT-19/26. (In 2002, the name "Confederate Air Force" was officially changed to "Commemorative Air Force (CAF)." The CAF now operates over 130 historic aircraft nationwide and has over 9,000 members in 70-chartered Units. The Highland Lakes Squadron is one of the chartered units.)
Also in Burnet is historic Fort Croghan. Unfortunately, the Fort was not open the day we visited Burnet, so we just walked around the Fort's perimeter and looked at the buildings and artifacts through the chain-link fence.
The "Vanishing Texas River Cruise" is located northwest of Burnet on Lake Buchanan. Unfortunately, the only thing "vanishing" is the water in Lake Buchanan. We were told that when the lake is full, the trip up the river is really a beautiful tour: however; when the lake is not full, the tour is limited to dead-tree-dodging in the "deeper" parts of the lake. Even though the tour was not what we had expected, I still had the opportunity to take some nice pictures.
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