Today we headed over to the George W. Bush Presidential Library. This is the 5th Presidential Library we have visited. On previous road trips we have gone to the libraries of JFK, LBJ and Jimmy Carter. We also have gone to the Reagan library which is close to our home. This visit we were joined by Patrice’s cousin, Paula and her husband Tim. I had heard that the “George W” library only had one book and it was a coloring book. I am here to bear witness that that is NOT true. Actually there are two books (see below).
After the Library we headed over to “Cafe 43” to have lunch. George W was the 43rd President so they call it Cafe 43. Isn’t that cute? Of course he was number 43 only if you count Grover Cleveland as our 22nd AND 24th President (Our 23rd President, Benjamin Harrison, served two terms between Cleveland’s two terms).
At lunch we were joined by Tim and Paula’s lovely daughter, Allison. I sat next to Allison at lunch and immediately liked her. Yes, you guessed it, I liked her because she laughed at all my stupid jokes. By the way, Paula is Patrice’s first cousin once removed and Allison is Patrice’s second cousin. If you want an explanation of the various types of cousins, you are reading the wrong blog. For that information you have to subscribe to the “Robert Reiss Genealogy” blog.
When we got back to the hotel it was time for a little work out. We both hit the hotel gym for about 30 minutes of cardio before heading out to meet our daughter-in-law’s brother, Marc. We affectionately call him Uncle Marc and when he lived in LA I used to call him my son, since he filled in very nicely for my David who no longer lives in Los Angeles.
Marc picked us up at the hotel and took us to a great restaurant called “The Rustic” [3656 Howell St, Dallas, TX 75204; (214) 730-0596]. The food was great as was the decor. But even greater was the fact that the air conditioning was not set at “Arctic Circle”. We had a great meal and caught up on old times. After dinner Marc took us to see his newly purchased home. That made us both sad and happy. We are certainly happy that he has found a place he enjoys living but we miss having him in LA.
Tomorrow we head to Memphis for the BBQ portion of this trip. We are going to try to make it to Little Rock on our way so we can visit the Clinton Library. I don’t think we will be going to all the Presidential Libraries after we finish with all the MLB parks. It is one thing for me to convince Patrice to go to Cleveland and Cincinnati but asking her to go to West Branch, Iowa and Abilene, Kansas might be too much for our marriage to survive.
Robert Reiss Travel Blog and Other Ramblings 