Presidents in Dallas: The Sixth Floor Museum and George W Bush Presidential Library

Dallas--it's a big, political city.  K, in town for a conference, used extra time on her travel days to take in the Presidential sites there.  When looking for something to do right before or after a flight, there are good options--even on weekends!

Every visitor to Dallas should visit the Sixth Floor Museum, an extensive exhibit about the Kennedy assassination in November 1963.   Tastefully done, the museum provides a thought-provoking exploration of the tragic trip to Dallas.  A basic overview of the spirit of the times is provided, and the exhibit presents powerful information about the investigation, communication surrounding the news, the political climate, and the like.  It's fascinating to reflect on how security and journalism have changed over time.  An audio tour is key to guide you through the exhibit (and part of your admission); the exhibit features more photographs, videos, and text than artifacts.  If you are an educator, ask for the admission discount and present ID--the discount on admission nears 50%.

If you go, don't forget to walk out to the grassy knoll.  The X you see on the pavement pictured above is the informal marking of the spot where the fatal shot hit.  You could easily visit the museum in the afternoon and then spend the early evening in the Reunion Tower area nearby.

K was also able to visit the George W Bush Presidential Library and Museum on the Southern Methodist University campus.  SMU is an attractive, open-feeling campus right in the "big D."

The site is a reasonable place to visit of individuals of various political persuasions.  It conveys a fairly objective perspective on the contested 2000 election, followed by the optimism of the initial months of the presidency.  Right after an exhibit on the hope conveyed in the law that was No Child Left Behind (ever how challenging the law was) and a diplomatic visit from high-placed Mexican officials, one rounds the corner right into a display of girders from the Twin Towers.  The layout conveys the shock and tragedy of 9/11 and affords visitors an opportunity to record their memories of that day.  Other challenges are also addressed, including Hurricane Katrina.  The museum also gives attention to the more casual side of the family, describing changes Bush made in his early life, the perspectives of his daughters in the White House, and Bush's desire to have fun.  Overall, he comes across as a very likeable personality--again, irrespective of politics.

If you go, parking is available across the street, but you can also research reasonably-convenient use of public transportation including a shuttle bus that travels near the site.  There are photo ops, and the grounds are well-landscaped.  We know the first picture from this site is dark, but we had to include it--it is K at the Oval Office desk, you see.

Through the Ages: Fort Monroe and the Casemate Museum

A few years ago, J had an enthusiastic colleague tell him about the Casemate Museum, a relatively small but highly-interesting museum located inside the fort structure at Fort Monroe.  On our tenth anniversary trip to the Williamsburg area, we made it to this truly intriguing site.

Intrigue begins when you drive into the fort over a one-lane bridge, crossing through its walls.  It may sound cliche, but you really do feel that you have driven back in time.  We visited the Casemate Museum first (check its hours--they are not as long as some), walking through the fort interior walls to view displays about activity in the area in the early years of the US, during the US Civil War, and into the 1900s before its decommissioning in the early 2000s.  Significantly, the site held POW Jefferson Davis during the US Civil War.  There is no cost to tour the museum.

Visitors should take time to walk around the grounds, and a self-guided walking tour is available.  For this reason, you may want to visit in the temperate spring or fall, but it was doable for us as determined adults in the summer.  We walked to the "top" of the fort, finding a pet cemetery, cannon placements, and interesting views.  There's a pretty chapel, a very large gun known as the Lincoln Gun, a house in which Lee stayed, and an attractive nearby lighthouse.  A Virginia Historical Marker also denotes the landing of the first African people to reach the shores of the colonies.  The site is being re-developed as a National Park Service site, so watch for enhancements in the next few years.

If you go, consider combining your trip with a visit to The Mariners' Museum as we did.  We drove back in to Williamsburg for dinner, but the area is full of good picnic sites, including some along the waterfront.  There are beaches!  If you are a teacher, consider adding professional development offered at this site to your summer lineup--the museum has a history of being included in the Virginia War Memorial Teacher Institutes.

Now That's a Museum: The Mariners' Museum

J and K have been blessed to travel to many museums.  We enjoy the offbeat, the classy, the historic, the kitschy--if it is a museum, we probably like it, at least on some level.  We'd been intending to travel to The Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia, for years, and we got around to it as the centerpiece of our tenth anniversary trip J planned for us.  K's dad was in the US Navy, and he visited here before its last major renovation adding the USS Monitor Center.  He would have been so pleased to see us enjoy it so.

Billed as the premiere US Civil War exhibit, the USS Monitor Center at the Mariners' Museum and the associated exhibits detailing the famous Battle of the Ironclads is extremely impressive.  We spent hours in this exhibit alone.  It presents and contextualizes this history of the war, the associated shipbuilding, and the battle--as well as the finding of the wreckage of the USS Monitor in the Atlantic and its ongoing preservation today.  If you have interests in technology, seafaring, engineering, exploration, war, history, and/or museum science, this exhibit is captivating.   Visitors hear the stories of the shipbuilders and soldiers--and the oceanographers, archaeologists, and others who find those memories.  As an added plus, we visited during a rare "tank draining," as the Monitor turret, kept in saltwater during the current stage of conservation, was in a drained tank when we visited.  If you have particular interests in conservation, follow @USSMonitorLab on Twitter.The teachers in us would find it a very suitable field trip for serious students of Virginia and US history of any age.

Don't miss any other part of the museum, either--including the particularly interesting Crabtree Gallery of miniature ships (there's a great exhibit book to buy), Abandon Ship: Stories of Survival, Defending the Seas about the history of the US Navy, and the fascinating International Small Craft Center, a display of everything from gondolas to canoes to classy motorboats.  Until late summer 2015, there's also a nifty exhibit of deep see exploration, Extreme Deep.

If you go, we're thinking this is a museum that, while interesting for some kids, would require a different touring style with kids under 10--it's better suited for museum readers than museum runners, if you will.  Come prepared to walk the well-landscaped grounds if you are so inclined.  The Grey Goose Cafe onsite serves the delicious food of a local catering company and is pretty reasonably priced for a yummy, well-prepared meal.  If you are traveling with kids, know you are very close to the Virginia Living Museum.

Age of Revolution: Yorktown, VA

On our tenth anniversary weekend trip, we took an afternoon trip to Yorktown Battlefield that is worthy of its own blog entry.  Highly-driveable from Williamsburg, Virginia, or any other spot in the Historic Triangle, Yorktown is known as the site of our nation's victory against the British.  Tour it with J, and you'll also hear about how Yorktown produced a truce more than our immediate nationhood, and you'll hear about the greater context of the Age of Revolution--and how the world did not revolve around the American Revolution.  He'll still inspire you with American history, of course, and you'll leave with a better understanding of the whole shebang and a different sense of gratitude for our nationhood.

For this visit, we did a large portion of the driving tour, walked to the preserved and reconstructed redoubts (earthen forts), and saw the seasonally-open Moore House where the terms of the truce/surrender were negotiated.  Little is known about the Moore family, but the site is significant in the history of preservation, as it is the first NPS preservation of its kind, accomplished by a CCC group.  The redoubts provoke similar curiosity, and one suddenly realizes "George Washington was here" when walking around them.  The NPS Battlefield site also has a small visitor's center that displays Washington's tents from the battle--the real deal.  Walking around in the park, while historic, is also beautiful.

If you are also going to Historic Jamestowne within the year, it may be smarter for you to buy an annual admission pass to the local NPS parks.  When planning your trip, keep "new" and "old" Jamestown and Yorktown separate in your mind--they are four separate entities.  The "new" sites are living history parks managed by the Commonwealth of Virginia; the "old" sites are preserved remains managed by the National Park Service.  "New" Yorktown is being redesigned--we're sure to bring you a blog about that next year!

Offbeat Virginia Beach: Because We Would Go for the Beatles-Themed Restaurant and the Pirate Ride

On a recent anniversary gift-of-a-trip weekend (thanks, J!!), J and K drove from our base in Williamsburg, Virginia, to Virginia Beach, Virginia--about an hour + traffic of a drive.  Now, many people might have gone for the shoreline, and K enjoyed peeking over to the Atlantic, the boardwalk, and the beach crowds.  However, a less-urban beach like Holden is more our style, and we were really here for the touristy whatnot.

We'd always wanted to visit Captain Cline's Pirate Ghost Ride, a dark ride through black-lit displays of pirates (and a few relics of previous dark rides on the site, like some Egyptian figures and a dinosaur).  The Cline in the name is Rockbridge County's Mark Cline of Foamhenge fame, and the attraction is fun like you'd expect.  There are no drops on the track nor are there big thrills in the daytime, but there are live actors present after 7 PM.  The ride is around $8 a person, which is pricey for 5 minutes of general fun but not bad for Roadside America supporters and pirate fans.  In researching this blog entry, K learned that there is a coupon available via the website--and that it is the ride's last season.  If you are thinking about it, you should go!

K, having heard of the Abbey Road Pub from a friend, wanted to take Beatles-fan J to this small near-the-ocean restaurant.  It's a nice place for breakfast or a casual lunch, and yes, they do have Fab Four memorabilia on display along with fabulous outdoor murals along the parking lot.  It is also a live music venue and a late-night place if you are interested.  We received a nice welcome and enjoyed lunch at the window, watching people walk by.

Being so close to ocean kitsch, we also had to play putt-putt.  Pirates Paradise Mini Golf was right on the corner and was a well-maintained, reasonably challenging course.  It had fewer "bells and whistles" than Myrtle Beach or Pigeon Forge putt-putt, but we had a great time.  Before evening, buying any game automatically gives you play-all-day privileges, a good deal--especially with a coupon on their website, too.

If you go, you are very likely to have to pay for parking (about $10) unless you luck into a restaurant with private parking who is willing to let you stay on their lot after your meal.  All of these places were extremely close as we entered the beach from I-295.  Again, Virginia Beach feels like an urban beach to us--lots of beachwear stores, people selling timeshares, ice cream stands, etc.  It put K in mind of the area near the Gay Dolphin and the former Pavilion at Myrtle Beach, SC, in the 1980s with its bustle.