Robert Reiss Travel Blog and Other Ramblings

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.

Today Patrice earned her keep. Followers of this blog know that some of our best adventures have been discovered by Patrice. Today she added to the list of wonderful things she has discovered for us to do.

This morning we went to The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.  You probably know this place by its previous name, The Texas School Book Depository.  The building from where it has been said that Lee Harvey Oswald shot and assassinated President John F. Kennedy is now a museum.  The exhibit is mostly housed on the sixth floor where taking photographs is prohibited.  You can see the area from where Oswald allegedly took aim at the President.  There are also a series of displays showing video and audio recordings of the events leading up to the assassination, the event itself and the aftermath.

People younger than us have learned about the assassination but having lived through it makes this museum much more riveting.   Everyone my age knows exactly where they were when JFK was assassinated.  I can still hear my junior high school physical education coach (Mr. Criss) leaning his head into the coaches office and saying, “It’s true, he’s been shot”.  Then I asked Mr. Badran (another coach), “Who was shot?” and he said “The President”.   Then about an hour later I was in the hall with my friend Gerry and we heard on a radio that the President had died.

Reliving the event at the museum brought back many memories not only of the assassination.  I remembered the 1960 Democratic Convention being at the Los Angeles Sports Arena just a few miles from our apartment.  I remembered hearing the then President-elect saying after the election results came in, “We are now going to get ready for a new administration and a new baby”.  Hearing him say those words again made me tear up.  I know, I know, that’s nothing new for me.

Of great interest was seeing how close the President’s limousine came to the Depository and then turned in front of the Depository and as it proceeded away the area where he was shot.  I have heard a lot of conspiracy theorists ask a lot of questions but one thing I do not recall hearing is why Oswald waited until the limo turned and was going away from him.  Why didn’t he shoot when the limo had turned on to Houston Street and was heading directly toward him?  That and many other questions will never be answered.

After a very emotional and tearful morning at the Sixth Floor Museum we had a wonderful dinner with our friends Sam and Kathy.  We know this wonderful couple from when they lived in Hermosa Beach many years ago.  They moved to Texas because Kathy wanted to be closer to her family in Texas (Erica please read the previous sentence at least 10 times).   When they lived in Hermosa, Sam and I enjoyed Indian Guides with our sons Michael and David.  What could be better than two Jewish guys in a Christian father and son organization?  After Sam and Kathy moved we lost touch.   I tried in the past to find them but Dallas is a big city.  Last year I decided to use Facebook and much to my surprise I found that Sam had a FB profile.  It was clear that Sam was not very active on FB but I found Sam’s son Michael and he got me connected with his dad.

We had a great time tonight reliving old times.  We also talked about parenthood (after all today is Mother’s Day), Texas, travel and all sorts of topics.  Sam made a wonderful dinner (sorry I forgot to take a picture) and we decided our next meeting would be much sooner than our last hiatus of 26 years.

Tomorrow more friends, family, and sightseeing.

This morning we checked out of the heavenly JW Marriott Downtown Houston and headed to the Houston Space Center (aka Johnson Space Center).

The Center was built on land donated by Rice University and dedicated by President John F. Kennedy on September 12, 1962 in a very famous and often quoted speech. I have to admit I didn’t know about the speech but had to be told about it by my son, David.  In 2003 I was visiting David at college and Texas had just beaten Rice 48-7 and I muttered aloud, “Why does Rice play Texas in football?”  David looked at me and said “John Kennedy asked the same question”.  Go to the following link to hear a portion of the speech at the dedication of the Space Center. It’s worth a few minutes of your time and you will find out why Rice plays Texas.  This is only a 2 minute excerpt of a marvelous speech.

The space center was spectacular. They had exhibits that appealed to all ages. There were great videos, some of which made me teary eyed (Patrice here: Robert teary eyed? some surprise….. NOT).

The highlight of the visit was “Lunch With an Astronaut”.  For a modest fee you can have lunch (along with about 30 other visitors) with a former astronaut.  We ate with Dr. John-David Bartoe who flew on a Space Shuttle mission in 1985.  Dr. Bartoe spoke for about 10-15 about his experience and then answered a great number of questions.  He also posed for pictures with every guest.  He was a great speaker with lots of fascinating information and an excellent sense of humor.  After that we visited a number of the exhibits including the Space Shuttle Independence atop its Boeing 747 transport vehicle.   This is a must see experience if you find yourself in Houston.

After the Space Center it was off to Dallas.   On our way we stopped off for dinner at Uncle Bob’s (that is not me, I am Uncle Robert), a BBQ place just off Interstate 45 about 45 miles north of Houston.   The food was good but does not compare to what we have had in Memphis.  We will give Dallas a chance to show us that Texas can compete with Memphis BBQ.

Today we were up early to catch our plane to Houston.  We were early but the plane was delayed.  Apparently one of the pilots was late.   I make a rule to never fly without a pilot up front.  I got a gander at the pilots upfront and it looked like we had a 50 year old crew.  Each looked about 25 years old.  One was a female which made my daughter-in-law pleased.  Male or female I don’t really care.  I just care about landing on the plane’s tires at the intended landing strip.  Luckily things worked out fine in the air.  Things on land were a little more difficult.

We picked up our rental car without any problems.  We opted to not rent a GPS equipped car since our cell phone maps have worked just fine all over the world (including Ireland where we were warned we might have problems).   We got out of the airport without any problems but quickly saw a traffic jam.  Our phone directed us out of harms way to a wide open lane toward our hotel.  What it failed to tell us was that it was a toll road that required a car equipped with a toll payment system.  Our car has Florida plates and does not have the needed Texas toll paying device.  I kept the car to the right side of the road waiting to see a toll booth but instead I saw a sign saying “EZ Tag payment only, no cash”.  At this point I knew we were in trouble.  I realized this would be costly but then I saw a sign that said “Warning Violators Will Be Prosecuted”.  I read the sign aloud to Patrice who seemed unmoved.  Then in a louder and higher pitch I said, “This is a state with the death penalty and they like to use it!”   She still seemed unimpressed when she said, “I am not the one who took us this way”.   Is this my wife?

We survived the toll road and the police have not contacted me as yet.  My mood was quickly changed when we entered the hotel.  We are staying in the JW Marriott Houston Downtown and this place is amazing.  I was immediately reminded of the JW Marriott in Austin which I think was the best room we have had in any hotel.  Well maybe the Hilton on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls had it beat.   Doesn’t really matter, you get the point, I could spend the rest of life in this place.  At least if I didn’t have to go outside.

Like I said, I could live here as long as I didn’t have to go outside.  Today was a gorgeous day in Houston.  By Los Angeles standards it was a day in hell.  Sorry but humidity is my kryptonite.   After a shower and a quick bite to eat we headed to the stadium.  Minute Maid Park is the home of the Astros and a beautiful stadium.  The staff were great and actually knew where we needed to go to get our tickets.  I don’t think I mentioned that at the Oakland game on Wednesday no one (I am not exaggerating) knew where I had to go to get our tickets.  I guess I did exaggerate, I did finally found one person who did know my tickets could be found.  She said, “This is not the right place, give me your ID and I will get them for you”.

We had great seats and enjoyed the game except the Astros who slugged the A’s into submission on Wednesday only got one hit and lost 1-0.   The good news is that I have now been to 16 stadiums and only have 14 left to go.  Some side notes, we sat next to one of the Astro player’s dad who flew in from Pennsylvania to see his boy play.  Unfortunately the kid struck out in a pinch hitting role.  We also sat two rows in front of “Manny” from Modern Family.  Apparently he is a big Astro fan.

Tomorrow we are going to have lunch with an astronaut.  More about that tomorrow.

Loyal followers of this blog are well aware that each of the past 2 years Patrice and I have been BBQ judges at the Memphis in May BBQ Festival.  Each year we have combined our judging with a road trip that has included a lot of baseball.  In 2016 we combined BBQ with a trip to a variety of National Parks.  In addition to Monument Valley, Antelope Slot Canyon, Canyonlands and Arches National Parks, Patrice agreed to include Chase Field which is a Park for National League Arizona Diamondbacks.  Last year, in addition to judging BBQ in Memphis we attended baseball games in New York, Miami and Atlanta.

This year we will again combine baseball and BBQ.  We leave tomorrow for Houston to see the Astros play the Rangers at home.  But before we headed out I got Patrice to agree to first go see the Astros play against the Athletics in Oakland.  Three magic words got her eager to make the trip.  Those words were Owen, Charlie and Julian.  No that is not the starting outfield for the Astros but rather our 3 grandsons.  Patrice volunteered to stay home with Julian while David, Robyn and I took Julian’s two older brothers to the game.

Yesterday we ventured to Oakland Alameda Coliseum to see the Astros play the A’s.  That trip made it 15 MLB parks for me with only 15 more to go before I can say I have seen them all.  We had great seats and a great time.  The weather was perfect and we enjoyed an Astro victory.   Tomorrow we leave for Houston for more baseball but the aroma of the best BBQ in the world is not far from our noses.