Merry Texmas, Y'all!

20 Dec 2011--Hi everyone! It's been a while, but I think we are finally back in the blogging business now...not full time yet, but we should be able to take a few trips here and there over the next few months, so we are happy to get going.

This past Saturday we took a trip up to Johnson City, the birthplace of Lyndon Johnson. It is about 75 minutes north of San Antonio, so it wasn't a bad drive.



We visited both the visitor center and the actual LBJ Ranch, which was another 10 miles down the road. At the visitor center they had a small display with pictures of him throughout his life, along with a list of his accomplishments as president. It was not anywhere near the display we saw at the LBJ Museum several months ago, but it was a quick summary of his life, so that was alright. I found these 2 pictures interesting...doesn't he have an old face for a kid! haha And doesn't he look the same whether old or young? A little scary on a kid, I think!



This is a picture of his ranch that we may remember seeing pictures of when we were kids. In the 2nd pic, the stitch picture, you can see a corvette in the back of the house. That is the car he gave to Lucy for her 18th birthday. The 3rd pic is of the one room schoolhouse he attended.

What was surprising about the house was that although it was 8500 square feet, and we were told it has 8 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms, it didn't look or feel anywhere near that big. We toured the bottom floor, and because there were a bunch of small rooms, it felt much smaller.



This claims that Johnson was responsible for the greatest burst of domestic legislation in the nation's history. I don't know if that is a factual statement, but if you went to the LBJ Library and looked at everything they had about him there I think you would be hard pressed to refute it.



The LBJ Ranch is about 680 acres, was originally owned by his grandfather, and was donated to the government sometime after his death. There was an actual runway on it that led right up to the house...this is what he called "Air Force One Half"...the plane he use to take to the ranch as President. From left to right, that is Barb, Donna, me and Hallie in front of it.



I just finished a biography of Alexander Hamilton and read about the continuous and ugly battle waged between the Hamiltonians and the Jeffersonians during the birth of our country. It all revolved around the question of what the proper role of our government was. It is amazing to me that not only in the 1960s, but even today, we are still fighting about it!



This reminded me of George W. Bush, and how he bought his Crawford ranch about a year before running for president. I guess we haven't changed as much as we might think...still shallow! haha



I like his sense of humor!!! This would have cracked me up!



Here is Hallie ruining my "My Fellow Americans" speech. And who knew that LBJ was the 1st one to take the "Tebowing" stance???



LBJ and Lady Bird are both buried here on the ranch in the family plot. He died in 1973, 4 years after leaving the presidency, while she lived until 2007.



This is taken from his last "State of the Union" speech, in 1963. I thought it was nice.



Riding down the road after leaving the ranch, we saw this display of a Texas Longhorn on the side of the road. I posted it because I knew Barb would want me to. haha



From Johnson City we headed to Marble Falls, another 20 miles north from where we were. We had read about the Christmas light display they have there, a spot where people supposedly come from all over the world to see. It was nice, but I am not sure I would have flown in from Japan to see it.

It is called "The Walkway of Lights", and the 1st pic is as you approach it from the other side of the river. The 3rd pic here is just a weird display inside the walkway...haha. We couldn't figure out who she was supposed to be.



Cathy just finished taking a photography class, so we were practicing some of the techniques she learned. If you have ever tried to take pics at night, or of lights, you know how impossible it can be, so we were pleased overall with our efforts. I took the one with the dolphins because I knew Marie would like it, and I like the moon in the picture right next to the dolphins...didn't even notice the moon while we were there, so I was surprised to see it when we posted it!





And then we went back to Johnson City to see more lights. Most of the downtown area
goes all out to decorate, but this area beside the Electric Coop really outdid themselves! This was amazingly pretty. Click on the 1st pic to see it best.




The city's courthouse, and one of the many horse carriages in front of it.



The Little town square all done up.



This picture looks like we should have been holding candles under our faces to scare unsuspecting children. haha



About a mile from home, Cathy and I realized we had a flat tire! UGH!!! But once again, Cathy to the rescue!!! I swear to God she changed that puppy in 11 minutes flat, and we were back on the road. Lucky I had my camera to document it all! haha




Merry Christmas to everyone!!! And may the New Year be our best year yet!!!