Wandering Orbit

Tuesday we headed out and went to the Dallas Temple Afterwards, we hit the road to find some ancestor graves We were pleasantly surprised to find that Waco Mammoth National Monument was open! It is affiliated with Baylor University + visitor fees are probably why it was open during the federal shutdown See the line on the pole next to the banner? That's how tall a mammoth was (about 14 feet up) We got to see some mammoth fossils in situ.  This one was a male (based on the amazing tusks) and you could see his teeth too! This painting of the mammoth was 6 inches shorter than they were, for reference: S is walking by and she's 5'2" Since we were in Waco, we went to the Magnolia silos! Not that I've ever seen Fixer Upper , but it was definitely a "while you're here, why not?" kind of stop! Wednesday we saw a few more sights around Waco including this restored 1929 Gulf gas station.  Just for looks, no gas dispens

Tuesday as we drove out of Galveston we snapped a few pictures of these beach houses that had names We passed this aerial lift bridge as we crossed from Galveston Island, to mainland Texas and it was moving! We were almost to Huntsville when we passed this HUGE statue of Sam Houston on the side of the freeway Thursday we went to the George W. Bush Presidential Center.  All the other presidential libraries in Texas are closed, as they are run by the National Archives.  I'm wondering if this museum was still open (the library part was closed) because it is part of the Southern Methodist University campus? Did you know Laura Bush was a librarian and teacher? They had out a nice selection of books S couldn't resist sitting next to the cat (statue) to read! One of the first galleries you enter after the introductory movie is about 9/11 Steel from the World Trade Center rubble The TV screens behind the steel, 6 screens, had a bri