Big Tex

We spent the day at the Texas State Fair, held at the same site, Fair Park (itself a National Historic Landmark), since 1886. Today was the second day of the month-long fair, but we arrived pretty early so the crowds weren't too bad until people started arriving for the Grambling State vs. Prairie View game at the Cotton Bowl (also onsite). We rode the Texas Star Ferris wheel (tallest one in the US), saw livestock exhibits, a dog dancing show, a Tango demonstration and did lots and lots of people watching. Thankfully (sort of) we successfully avoided everything on the list of 2007 Big Tex Food Award Finalists: Mama's Fried Sweet Potato Pie, Zesty Fried Guacamole Bites, BW's Original Fried Banana Pudding, Texas Fried Cookie Dough, Country Fried Peach Cobbler on a Stick, Deep Fried Latte and Fernie's Fried Chili Frito Burrito. We did however eat a jalapeno cheese corn dog, a Coors light, pizza, a tamale, watermelon lime agua fresca, a free ice cream sample and a lemonade. I don't know if that's much better, and I still wonder how they do a fried Coke?! Click here for some photos.

Sixth Floor Museum

The former Book Depository in Dealey Plaza, downtown Dallas, TX, houses the Sixth Floor Museum, chronicling the events leading up to John F. Kennedy's assassination. The museum includes film, audio, photos, some Kennedy family history and other artifacts. You can see the sniper's perch, where police found piles of boxes where Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly hid and shot from. This corner of the Sixth Floor is plexiglassed in to preserve it. The window is open. The Seventh Floor had an exhibit pertaining to Texas Law Enforcement, including the suits two of the detectives were wearing when Jack Ruby shot Oswald in the basement of police headquarters. Outside you can walk around the grassy knoll.

Historic Guthrie

We wanted to get a head start on our drive back to Dallas from Wichita, so we ended up stopping at a known quantity: a Sleep Inn and Suites in Guthrie, OK with a relatively big parking lot just off the highway. It didn't hurt that there was a Braum's within walking distance. What we hadn't discovered on any of our previous three overnights in Guthrie, is that its downtown is a sprawling National Historic District. Armed with this knowledge overheard during dinner at Johnny's Original Rib Shack, we delayed our morning departure for a brief visit to downtown Guthrie.

In 1889, Unassigned Lands (about two million acres of Indian Territory) were opened for settlement by non-Native Americans in what was called "Harrison's Hoss Race" or "The Great Land Run of 1889." At high noon, cannons were fired. During the next six hours, an estimated 50,000 settlers grabbed sections of land up to 160 acres, and claimed their new homes. In an afternoon, the city of Guthrie became one of the country's largest cities west of the Mississippi. This first land run was a free for all, and numerous legal battles ensued over who was where first. Incidentally, the term "sooners," now used for the fans of OU football, was used to identify those who hid out early, before the "official" time, to then pop up and snatch up the prime homesteading spots. Residents continued constructing buildings of brick and stone, a mass transit system, and perhaps most interesting: underground parking for horses and carriages. You can still see the foundations of many downtown buildings extending below the street. Tunnels connected many of these buildings. In 1907, Oklahoma was admitted as the 46^th state to be admitted to the union. Guthrie was the first capital of the new state, but this was also its downfall, as politics within the state government succeeded in moving the capital three years later. The city lay quiet for many years, until historic conservation efforts recently restored many of the old buildings.

Guthrie's National Historic District (one of the largest in the US) now contains 2,169 buildings, 1,400 acres and 400 city blocks. One favorite was the Post Office, built after the newly appointed Postmaster spent many months under a tent passing out mail by hand with the help of volunteers to hundreds of people anxiously waiting for news of when the wife and kids would arrive. The Oklahoma Frontier Drugstore Museum houses an amazing collection of turn-of-the-century medicines, tonics, pills, advertisements, prescriptions and an authentic soda fountain. Mark Ekiss, the proprietor, is a pharmacist himself, and can provide a wealth of information on the collection and its history. Click here for some photos of Guthrie.

Standin' on a corner

Eagles fans will know why we finally took a rest stop in Winslow, AZ on our last long drive (California to Texas). It was a quick overnight after a long day, but there was a county fair going on in a big parking area across the street from our hotel, so we couldn't resist a little walk.

Ever been to a Braum's?

We'd seen Braum's Ice Cream and Dairy Stores on past visits through Kansas and Oklahoma. A visit proved to be surprising and tasty. In addition to the ice cream, they had Braum brand cold cuts, eggs, juice, and a grill with old-fashioned burgers and chicken sandwiches.

Braum's is unique in its industry, owning its dairy herd, farms and ranches, processing plant, bakery, retail stores and delivery trucks. It also has the largest milking parlor in the world. According to their website, "Three times a day, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, Braum's is milking 10,000 cows!" They grow alfalfa and corn to feed them, and buy local soybeans, wheatstraw and other crops. They also don't use any hormones or antibiotics. The farm-to-table operation is still family owned and run. Way to go!

Labor Day on the East Coast

Vacation at last! Long hours in the airport were well-worth a long-awaited vacation. It was a whirlwind that felt like a lot more than five days. Stepping out of the airport may have been a highlight of the whole trip. The air was cool and refreshing, a drastic change from inland California's daily triple digits. It was nice to be in a real city, instead of the strip mall-Applebees-Chilis- on-every-corner outskirts usually mandated by our schedule and the size of our vehicle. We went straight from JFK to a tasty home-made breakfast of yuca, platanos, salchichon, eggs and the best coffee we've had for six months, all lovingly prepared by the best friend a girl could have, Arismendy. Later that afternoon we went to a picnic in a newly-renovated park in the Bronx. There were 30 or 40 of us, with food to feed twice that many. The kids had fun playing and running around, and there were some impromptu soccer and volleyball games. It was great to see everyone. Excessive dancing at the after party led to an appetite for leftovers. Since several people mistook him for a cop (due to his quiet observation of the whole affair), Donny's going to practice his merengue skills for next time. The photo below is Adonis and me. I can't believe I used to carry him around on one hip, and now he's starting high school. I guess it's true: time does fly.

Sunday night we head to a small club in Brooklyn for the pre-wedding "Labor of Love" party for my friend Kavitha and her husband-to-be Chewy. As an added highlight, we got my good friend Joe to meet us there. The two bands and DJ were worth coming out for on their own, but it was also nice to be able to see Kavi before her big day. The music was modern jazz, later transitioning into some urban funk. The wedding will have elements from Hindu and Christian, Indian and African-American traditions, and that includes the food. I'm sorry to miss the greens and samosas. I know it will be a beautiful day.

Monday we drove up to Cape Cod, MA. Dinner at Dad's the first night was sirloin tips on the grill, mushrooms and onions, squash and potato, asparagus and salad. Mmmm. The meal and visiting was followed by a round of miniature golf where someone beat someone else by three strokes on her home course. I won't give Donny the satisfaction of going into detail. The next day, we walked around the harbor, played at the 6A playground, and did the boardwalk at Bass Hole. Salmon on the grill was for dinner at my sister's, then we got my brother-in-law Tim hooked on geocaching during a walk in the dunes the next day. We were even able to snag a coveted Jeep Travel Bug from a cache in Mashpee. (For more on this see http://www.jeep.geocaching.com/.) Our last night of vacation we all got together for a New England seafood dinner by the Hyannis Harbor at the Black Cat. Thanks to Tim and Caroline we got a ride to the airport in Boston after a walk and lunch on Newberry Street on the way. For pics from Cape Cod, click here.