The Hamster @ Petsmart

Americans are great lovers of pets. And it shows. Petsmart is one great example for that. I went in to one store on this weekend and I was amazed by their offerings. And with a beauty parlor and a clinic, that's a luxury for pets.

Found this funny and active Hamster doing it's routine exercise in one of the cages. He was so cute and was fun to watch his acts. 

Could find strange pets around. Like the African Dwarf Frogs, Albino Corn Snakes, Black Corn Snakes, Asian Forest Scorpions, Bahaman Anole,Chinese Water Dragon, Fancy Corn Snake, spiders and so on.

Not a big fan of pets, but spent some time around, as I felt it like being in a zoo in the neighborhood :D

Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

A short visit to the museum gave some details on the JFK assassination plot. Like any other twisted conspiracy theory, this one also had different views and opinions. However, the days are gone past with the mystery still left behind.

John F Kennedy (35th President of the United States) was killed at Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. 

Despite forensic, ballistic, and eyewitness evidence supporting the lone gunman theory, public opinion polls taken over the years have shown that a majority of Americans believe that Oswald did not act alone, but conspired with others to kill the president, and the assassination has spawned numerous conspiracy theories.

The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza is located on the sixth floor of the Dallas County Administration Building (formerly the Texas School Book Depository). The museum examines the life, times, death, and legacy of President John F. Kennedy. 

It is located at the very spot from which Lee Harvey Oswald, according to four government investigations, killed Kennedy.

I am not a fan of books and historical artifacts. I just wanted to look out through the window, through which JFK was shot to dead.

According to several government investigations, including the Warren Commission, as Kennedy's motorcade passed through Dallas's Dealey Plaza at about 12:30 p.m. on November 22, Oswald fired three rifle shots from the sixth-floor, southeast corner window of the Book Depository, killing the President and seriously wounding Texas Governor John Connally. One shot apparently missed the limousine entirely, another struck Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally, and another struck Kennedy in the head. (Wiki)

American Kerala Kitchen

Right after the Sunday church, I badly wanted to have Kerala food. Typed in 'Kerala' in the GPS and based on the Yelp user rating, which is the highest, I traced Kerala Kitchen in a 'Gas Station'. 

Was I surprised by the location? Nope. This is the second best restaurant I spotted in a Gas Station in Texas. Big building - never a mandate for a great restaurant. That's my take.

William's chettan welcomed me with a smile and we shared some Kerala memories while I the food was getting ready behind the scene.

Clockwise (Kerala Plate, Kerala Beef Fry, Pulippan Moru Curry, Kerala Style Mulakitta Neymeen Curry)

Clockwise (Thani Nadan Kerala Papad, Smiling Kerala Kitchens Williams Chettan, Nadan Avial, Nadan Beans Thoran)

I had a Kerala Plate, which is kind of a Thali, with Fish Curry and Beef fry as the specials. It came with a 'load' of rice, but I ended up eating double the quantity. 

William's chettante kannu thalli poyi kaanum. I loved the food and showed no mercy at all :)

Saw a lot of Keralites getting food in bulk from Kerala Kitchen. A touch of Kerala at Carrolton. 

M-Line Trolley Experience

I noticed the M-Line Trolley for the first time when I was driving through the Dallas uptown a month back. Drove from Arlington about 25 miles and entered the McKinny Aveneue area and suddenly the car started shivering.

And on a first sight, I thought, I am driving on rail way track. There was a perfectly embedded railway trolley line through the center of the road and I just got over it. I was confused on how to drive if a trolley comes my way.

The M-Line's air-conditioned and heated restored vintage trolleys normally 365 days a year, providing safe, clean, reliable, and convenient public transportation free of charge in Dallas' vibrant Uptown Neighborhood.

I loved the way the trolley lane is integrated to the road system. A pure result of vision, plan and execution.

There comes a trolley from a lane from the left, merged on to my side of the road and noticed how the other fellow travelers are treating that trolley. I was amazed to the fact that the trolley had all the freedom on the road. I was just behind it for a 1.5 mile distance and there was a couple of trolley stops in between.

The trolley stops and all the traffic behind the trolley waits patiently until it continued its journey. No honking, no shouting, no hurry - trolley took it's own sweet time to manage the passengers on it's way. Amazing!

I had  a tough time understanding my current location from the trolley map. My suggestion would be that they have to keep a notification message like 'Hey, you are right here'. That will help!

So last week, I wanted to hop on one trolley and experience the ride through the Dallas uptown. There are 28 stops for the trolley, connecting between the West Village to Deck Park. 

Initially, I had the plan to take the ride from the station 1 to station 28, but as I had other plans, cut short that to 10 stops. 

You know whats the best part about this trolley - The ride is absolutely FREE!

I didn't click any pictures inside. The interior looks almost similar to the Arlington trolley. It was temperature controlled and modified vintage bus. 

The ride was awesome and I was so happy to see the excitement of the kids inside the trolley.

The trolley driver in white shirt, black shorts and golden lined black cap. A nice human being.

I appreciate the patience of the trolley driver, dressed up in glowing white uniform and a rich golden cap. He had all the patience in the world to get down at each and every trolley stop and see off/welcome the travelers. That needs some humanity to do it.

Identify the trolley stops with this signage. 

There were kids with me in the trolley, went crazy about the trolley driver. In their sight, he is the person who controlled that amazing vehicle. The kids wanted to try out his cap, when they got down. So he took the cap and placed on the kids head and they posed for the photos. And this happens with all the traffic patiently waiting for the trolley to move on. Appreciate the mindset of the Dallas people a lot.

To know more about M-Line Trolley history you can visit http://www.mata.org/home.html

An Amazing Experience...

Bluebonnets - The State Flower of Texas

6 degree. That was the temperature when I woke up through the first night in Texas. Got out in Bangalore style and immediately my body alarmed on the unusual climatic conditions. Got back into the hotel and grabbed my Jacket. Went for a walk down the street on a wonderful morning.

Was looking out for things around and one flower caught my attention. I could see those in groups. Intense blue and looked fresh.

On Sunday, on the way to church, I noticed this flower in a larger group on the freeway sides. It was raining and the whole place was so bluish and beautiful. Took my camera out and started clicking this. Taxi driver noticed my curiosity and told me that it is okay to take the pictures, but it is illegal to pluck the flower. I was thinking in my mind - "Really. That's weird. How will they know that I plucked it?".And the next info, "That's Bluebonnets, the state flower of Texas". That's something of my interest.

Following days I could take some very close pictures of this flower, but I didn't dare to touch them :) Rules are Rules. Am not breaking it.

Took this picture while on a stroll through the Oliver Nature Park on a Friday evening. They had a section dedicated for bluebonnets to spring out from the earth. 

I spent sometime on the wooden chair nearby, sometimes watching these flowers and reviewing the picture I have taken on that day.

I didn't have a wide angle lense. It would have been a fantastic click with bluebonnets covering the entire area of the park

Found one interesting read on web related to bluebonnets.

• How bluebonnets became state flower of Texas