Abilene, Texas - What More Is There To See: statues galore and museums, literature,

Problem
Abilene, Texas is a two and a half hour drive from Fort Worth. Last time I was in Texas I did a two cetnre tour of Dallas and Fort Worth. Is it worthwhile going to Abiline to the Ciliex Museum. If there's more to see should I stay overnight, or make a long weekend of it?

Answers
https://www.nccil.org
Firstly, the Childrens Art and Literature museum is closed on Sunday and Monday, so you want to be going up on Friday, or starting very early on Saturday if you are driving over.

Is it worth a special trip? Most people love it.

A few were disappointed to see an exhibition on only one author/illustrator.

Bookshop
Some loved the bookshop which contains a few signed books. Others thought it was small.

The exhibitions, usually three a year, concentrate on all the illustrations from a book or books by a particular illustrator. The drawings are often larger and more detailed than they appear in the final version of the book. If you live in the area, and many do because Abilene is larger (in population - more populous is the correct term), then you may find that visiting a free museum three times a year is worthwhile and satisfies your desire to learn about more than one author/illustrator.

Multiple Authors?
If you want a museum which covers lots of authors and books, consider the Museum of American Writers in the USA. It opened in 2017. It was inspired by the writers' museum in Dublin, capital of Eire. (That's only about Irish writers).

Back to Abilene. What else might you include on your trip?

Texas and Pacific Depot, Abilene, Texas, now Tourist Information Centre. Photo by Billy Hathorn in Wikipedia article on Abilene.

Pick up a map at the visitors centre in a converted, restored old railroad building. By the railroad on the South blvd is Everman Park.

 Or print off a map which can be found online.

Look for six Dr Seuss statues on N 1st.and statues of Guardians, 3 Little kittens, 3 Little Pigs, Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little and quotations from books.

Storybook Garden
Adamson-Spalding Storybook Garden, 1008 N 6th Street, number 1098 Abilene, Texas 79601 5151.
Also see the giant dinosaur. Plus the VW Beetle on the Grace Museum.

Buffalo
My favourite statue is the big buffalo at Frontier Texas, 625 N 1st Street. (Oddly, the statue of the bull at the Bullring in Birmingham, England is also rated highly, though the nearest beef is in supermarket sandwiches.)

When to go? Festival Time!
Second week of June every year. CALF, Children's Art and Literature Festival.

Military Museum
The military museum got very favourable reviews. People loved the tank at the back (Americans say out back, which to me sounds like the Australian phrase Outback, which means not the back yard, but the wilderness).

Parents and grandparents said children loved the area of the toys for children to play with. It's all family friendly, except you are warned that in the WWII section the Holocaust room might not be suitable for children of all ages.

Discovery Centre
The Discover Centre is not like the Discovery centres in many other cities which are based in science.  This takes the bible as a starting point. Abilene takes its name from the Hebrew bible. See reviews on TripAdvisor. You might discover that others don't believe what you believe.

Abilene is nicknamed The Key City, and The Friendly Frontier. Now you know why.

Useful Websites For Travellers
www.visittheusa.com
https://www.traveltexas.com/#/
visitbritain.com
http://visitbirmingham.com
http://www.abilenevisitors.com
https://www.visitdublin.com
https://www.ireland.com/en-gb/
https://www.nccil.org

Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my other reviews on Abilene; Birming, England. Please share links to your favourite posts.

This Week's Wish List: Perot Museum, Dallas, Texas

From Wikipedia.

Problem
What is it and where is it and how can I upload the video from Facebook?

Answer
On Facebook I saw the most amazing video. A double door opens to reveal what looks like the inside of a gleaming gemstone in purple from the Lydia ... Gems Hall. As you can see on their website, they have eleven halls which include a Children's Hall and a Sports Hall.

Story
Why did I not see it when I visited Dallas, Texas? Although Dallas had various museums, this one was built and opened to the public in December 2012. It is named after the Perot family who raised the funds.

What is unusual about it? The greenery roof. The unusual things you can see and do include recording your own heartbeat.

Practical Tips
If you buy The Dallas City pass it includes admission to this museum.

The online gift shop sells a fifty year calendar and a Fibonacci necklace.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perot_Museum_of_Nature_and_Science
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=perot%20museum (See the amazing video of the gem hall)

Perot Museum of Nature and Science,
2201 N Field Street
Dallas,
Texas,
75201-1704
USA
tel: (From Europe +001) 214 428 5555.
https://www.perotmuseum.org


Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Grapevine In Texas, near Dallas - Hop on and Off

Grapevine - with the symbol of bunches of grapes. I had to stop and ask about it. That's what Americans do so well, marketing. The symbol of the town says what it is. The man stands up to greet you and tells you the main feature of the town. Ask a question and you get an answer.

First, where is it? Half way between Dallas and Fort Worth, five minutes from the airport, around the airport. Why is it called Grapevine? Because in the good old days the area was covered in grape vines. Then what happened? The airport was built and you could get more money selling your land to the airport.

So what is left of the old days? An historic town like in the old cowboy films, where you ride or drive into the main street and see the buildings down one main street, including the old style hotel with a bar below, rooms upstairs and a balcony.

What is left to remind us of the old grapevine days? You can hold a conference meal Delaney Vineyard which has a ballroom for events with big wine barrels. What if you are not on a big conference, just a couple of tourists on holiday? You can go wine tasting in several places.

Can you eat there, like in South Africa, where vineyards have restaurants? One wine tasting place has a restaurant alongside, but most of the tasting rooms are just tasting rooms, but the place has family-owned restaurants, not chains, all around you.

So, if you were visiting Dallas and Fort Worth and wanted to do a tour or three day trip, which way round would you go? Grapevine is by the airport. So you could get off your place and have a rest in Grapevine before going off to see the big attractions of Dallas and Fort Worth. Alternatively, do Dallas and Fort Worth, then spend your last day or half day in Grapevine, right near the airport.

In Grapevine you don't have to worry about transport. Your hotel will collect you from the airport. There's also a hop on hop off bus going around constantly, costing about 5 dollars a day,
so you can go from the airport to your hotel and any other main attraction, or reverse from your hotel to a attraction and then to the airport.

I counted nine wineries on Tripadvisor, including a museum, plus a brewery. Every year there's a festival featuring Texas wine plus one other state's wines and one other country's wines. Last time they had Texas wine plus California and South Australia. What is there to do besides tasting wines. Join in or watch activities such as grape treading.

Last time the event lasted three days and was free on the first day.

I lived in the USA as well as visiting Texas on press trips. I have been to Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston. Still on my list of places to visit are Amarillo, and I've just added Grapevine.

More Information on Grapevine
www.grapevinetexasusa.com
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g55930-Activities-Grapevine_Texas.html#ATTRACTION_LIST
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapevine,_Texas
https://twitter.com/GrapevineTXCity?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, photographer, author and speaker.

Souvenirs - Local Quotations - JFK and places in the USA

I like to collect quotations from every country I visit. When writing a travel article or blog you can attach them to places associated with famous people.

An error is not an error unless you refuse to correct it.
John F Kennedy

You could attach this quotation to a story about The Whitehouse in Washington DC, or Dallas, Texas, or the museum in Boston, or a car museum with a Kennedy car.

Angela Lansbury BA Honours, author, travel writer and speaker.