President Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library & Museum.Johnson was our 36th president, from 1963-1969. He became president upon the assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas TX on November 22, 1963. He won his own term in a landslide in 1964.Bust of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.Pretty cool hologram of LBJ.Perhaps the most beautiful display in the museum. This is the collection of LBJ’s presidential records.Also a cool series of sculptures depicting LBJ with the different presidents he met with during his career. First was FDR.LBJ with President Harry S Truman.LBJ with President Dwight Eisenhower.LBJ with President John F. Kennedy.President Lyndon B. Johnson.1960 presidential campaign.Newspapers announce JFK’s assassination in 1963.LBJ was sworn into office as president aboard Air Force One returning to Washington DC with the slain president’s body on board. JFK’s wife Jacqueline Kennedy attended the swearing in.American pop culture in the 1960s. I still have that exact version of Battleship!Legos from the 1960s.LBJ was a very energetic president, working on quite a few programs. He greatly enlarged the federal government with many of these programs. The Vietnam War was the number one foreign policy issue of the 1960s. This was a complicated time, as for the first time, a war was shown on TVs in near live time. The war became very unpopular, especially as leftist media such as Walter Cronkite lied about our military successes. I will be happy to discuss in more detail for anyone who wants to.LBJ was stuck with bad options in Vietnam.The Six Day War was a devastating victory for Israel against Egypt, Syria and Jordan in June 1967.Thsi is a rock from the moon.After a close primary early in the 1968 campaign season, LBJ chose not to run for reelection in 1968.LBJ was a big man (about 6’3″), and he used his size to intimidate people, up close and personal. He had a long career in Congress, and with all the relationships he had built over the years he was able to get quite a few laws passed.LBJ’s Oval Office. This is about an 80% size replica.LBJ’s presidential limo.LBJ presidential china.There was a special section for First Lady “Lady Bird” Johnson.Some of the dresses Lady Bird wore as First Lady.Lady Bird Johnson’s office.This is a picture of President and First Lady Johnson bidding farewell to many of his supporters as he left office in 1969. An interesting note about this picture is that future president George H. W. Bush is also there to wish LBJ well. Bush is at about 2 o’clock in the picture, not far from the right edge. Can you see him?
I have been to the Texas State Capitol several times in the 1980s, but I didn’t really go all through the capitol, Of course, there must be scaffolding to mar my picture!The building is constructed of pink granite from Texas.The sculptures on the grounds were very well done, great detail and relief.Confederate memorialBattles listed, including Fredericksburg.Other battles listed, including Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spotsylvania Courthouse.Honoring Spanish Tejanos. Spaniards were in Texas as early as 1519.Monument to the Heroes of the Alamo.Looking up in the rotunda.Between the points of the star are letters spelling TEXAS.Surrender of Santa Ana in 1836, creating the independent Republic of Texas.David CrockettPresident George W. Bush, as Governor of Texas.Governor John Connally was riding with President John F. Kennedy in Dallas in 1963 when the president was assassinated. Connally was hit in the arm.House chamber, dressed for Christmas.House Christmas tree.Senate chamber, dressed for Christmas.Senate Christmas tree.The lights spell out TEXAS.Dawn at the Alamo – fall of the Alamo – “The Moral Victory” by H.A. McArdle.The Battle of San Jacinto – “Retributive Justice”, by H.A. McArdle.President Lyndon B. Johnson.Governor’s Public Reception Room. Governor Abbott was not in when we visited.“The Spirit of Texas”, by Gerald Harvey Jones, bronze.Chandelier in the reception room.“Mexican Huts, San Antonio”, 1881, by Edward Grenet.Cool doorknobs. Only in Texas.Cool hinges, only in Texas!David Crockett.Sam Houston.
Visiting Blacksburg for a funeral, we had some extra time so we took a ride through the Virginia Tech campus.Lane Stadium.Statue of former football coach Frank Beamer.April 16 Memorial.32 Virginia Tech students and faculty members were murdered on campus on April 16, 2007. This memorial honors those who were killed.Miller’s Cabin at Historic Springfield, built around 1850. Private residence not open for tours.“The Merry Oak”. This tree was already present when the Preston family built Smithfield Plantation in 1774. It is probably more than 500 years old.The Smithfield Plantation house was built 1772-1773 for Colonel William Preston, and was the home of three governors of Virginia, James Patton Preston, John Floyd Jr. and John Buchanan Ford.Blacksmith shop.Slave cabin, circa 1820.Cross section of the trunk of a walnut tree that was planted here in 1852. The rings track to the history of Virginia Tech.
Luray Caverns is the largest cavern in the Eastern US. It was discovered by Andrew Campbell in 1878. Its most famous features are the stalactites and stalagmites. Definitely worth a visit. We visited on Thanksgiving Day.X marks the spot of the original discovery of the caverns. So many different formations throughout the caverns. It is amazing.Stalactites hang from the ceiling.The famous stalacpipe organ.Stalagmites grow up on the bottom of a cavern from the same drip-water source, the mineral from which is deposited after the water droplet falls across the open space in the rock.Underwater lake reflects like a mirror the stalactites.Another reflective lake. Pretty cool.
At the end of our Deltek ProjectCon conference, we were treated to live entertainment. First up was Sixwire.Sister Hazel.Sara Evans.Gary LeVox, formerly of Rascal Flatts.Steve Augeri, formerly of Journey. They played quite a few of Journey’s hits. Pretty cool.
