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Showing posts with label Dallas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dallas. Show all posts

17 May 2014

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)




14 May 2014

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...

02 May 2014

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.

21 April 2014

Oliver & His First Easter

Meet Oliver.

I spotted him at a park while on a trail, being photographed by his parents. Requested their permission for a click and they agreed to it. 


He's enjoying his first Easter today. Cute isn't he?

29 March 2014

How to discover Arlington

Quite handy...

I was advised to take a rental car from the day I landed in US. Texas being a largest state in US and there is a shortage of the public transport, traveling around in Taxi is a costly affair. You might end up paying the car rent for a month, on a week travel in Taxi. 

So I decided to use the free trolley service to get around the main stops and then use the map to discover the places around. There are 4 trolley service from the main trolley stand. Planned in such a way that I could chain and use the trollies and discover the areas around it.

There was a couple of places where I felt like lost, but the map always helped. Rather than getting tensed, grabbed a drink from a near by store and tried to figure out where I was. Fun and adventure fused weekend.

GPS would have been the best bet in this situation. Unfortunately I didnt take the data plan, which I regret about it now.

I need to find a way out :)

Trying to figure out where I am.

Now I know how to go from here.

27 March 2014

AT&T Stadium

Some facts about the AT&T Stadium:
  • Originally known as Cowboys Stadium
  • Fourth largest stadium in the NFL by seating capacity
  • The maximum capacity of the stadium, including standing room, is 105,000
  • World's largest column-free interior and the fourth largest high definition video screen, which hangs from 20-yard line to 20-yard line.
  • Originally estimated to cost $650 million, the stadium's current construction cost was $1.15 billion
  • One of the most expensive sports venues ever built.
  • To aid Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones in paying the construction costs of the new stadium, Arlington voters approved the increase of the city's sales tax by 0.5 percent, the hotel occupancy tax by 2 percent, and car rental tax by 5 percent.

Tried to squeeze in the stadium on camera and I reached at the entrance of Walmart. It is so huge.

Motivation everywhere

Walkways with fan names carved in.

A walk around the stadium

Tired of walking and trying out the clicks now


The posters welcoming the next event

Cameras are not allowed inside the stadium. So thanks to Wikipedia for the picture.

24 March 2014

Blessed Sunday - The Potter's House of Dallas


This was the only place I was sure about visiting while coming to United States. And the primary place in the list. How can I miss the word of God on a Sunday.



I knew about the church from FB and I've been following the page for a long time now. And here came the opportunity.

The Lion is still roaring inside me. Lord help me to take a leap of faith...

The ride was ready outside the hotel at sharp 7:30 in the morning.
Reached the church at 8:00 AM. Already there was 100's of people in the church by then.

Only official photographers can use the professional camera's inside the church and I didn't know how to apply for that. So used my mobile to capture the moments.

The crowd was so vibrant and thrilled. The church underwent a renovation recently and it looks beautiful with all the lights and state of the art sound system.

The church getting filled with the people. 8:30 in the morning.

Closer view of the stage

Frozen and smiling. Was so happy to be in from the freezing climate outside.


Single control system to support the worship. Awesome!

23 March 2014

Laguardia to Dallas Fort Worth

My Uncle gave a drop to the hotel. Thanks a ton for him for picking me up from the airport. Otherwise I would have stood there for some time thinking about the taxi rental.

Flight was at 6 in the morning and I was out from the hotel by 3:30. Came out to click some pics and instantly I got frozen. Rushed to the hotel again and waited for the shuttle to pick me up.

Got a Delta Airline pilot as a company. For a formality I asked about the flight control and for the next 10 minutes I had a wonderful seminar from him. Good!

New York was sooo beautiful at night. The view from the flight was just amazing. 


By the time the flight approached DFW airport, the sun started rising at the horizon.



Got out from the airport in 30 minutes and headed towards the hotel. And a new phase started in United States.