yea that sugar house was pretty amazing , wonder how it looks on the inside I liked those humming birds too I know we could have spend double as much time in Texas alone . I always say if you find a cool place like this ( not temperature wise ) it's just a sample visit and the next time I look at it closer and by area An American girl once asked me how many tourist attractions there are in Germany ( silly girl) I told her I don't even know how manny there are in my home town ( which happens to be pretty big )
I liked the sugar house too. And the Planetarium was totally awesome. The hummingbirds were moving so fast I thought Uwk was going to have a heart attack. Uwk must have used that Feral run speed buff they have. I sort of figured Schmet would get a new traveling companion with all the animals running around.
The guy at the microphone is a young Roy Rogers. I should probably knew who some of the rest are, but memories fade.
Good Afternoon ROAD TRIPPERS!!! I know its Wednesday and this update should have occurred yesterday, especially since everybody went home yesterday, but with the pre-order for Blood of Luclin, the new server launching, all the game servers down, and all the hullaballoo going on, the forums kept lagging out, so I decided to wait until today to post the final update for our Mini Fall ROAD TRIP 2019!!!!! Our last day we spent exploring the rest of the area around El Paso, obviously not as in depth as we could have but we started with Marfa, West of El Paso, as Schmet did a lot of research for Marfa. First we visited the Hotel Paisano. This Hotel has had a lot of ups and downs but I guess it is best known among the social circles because in June of 1955, Warner Brothers came to Marfa and made the Hotel Paisano its headquarters for the filming of the classic movie GIANT. Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean plus 150 other cast members and crew made the Hotel Paisano their gathering place for six weeks of that summer. Two weeks into filming, the three main stars moved to private residences in Marfa, but they all continued to dine at the hotel, they socialize in the lobby and lounge area, and would meet to watch dailies from a projector that director George Stevens set up in the ballroom. In 1977, Houston Real Estate developers bought the Hotel and partially converted it into timeshare condominiums. In 1978, the US Department of the Interior placed the Hotel on the National Register of Historic Places. By March of 2001, the owners had virtually abandoned the business and the structure had lapsed into a state of major disrepair with sunlight coming through ceilings and sheets of plywood covering several doors and windows. Presidio County foreclosed on the property for back taxes. The news of the pending sale was published in The Wall Street Journal, The Dallas Morning News, and other newspapers and periodicals around the country. The Hotel was sold at tax auction on the courthouse steps with over 800 timeshare investors forfeiting their ownership and over 200 citizens or Marfa watching the most monumental sale of real estate in Presidio County history on the Courthouse steps. Now, the Hotel Paisano has been completely renovated with 41 rooms including a number of suites as well as some of the original historic rooms, a seasonally heated pool, 3,000 sq ft of retail and office space, a 3,000 sq ft ballroom and conference space, a fitness center, a GIANT memorabilia room, and a restaurant and lounge with courtyard seating. I personally had never heard of this movie, but this was a very interesting trip through history and looking at the renovation of a structure that had almost collapsed from neglect and decay was amazing. Next we visited Building 98. Building 98 was built as the Bachelor's Club for the U.S. Army's Fort D. A. Russell in 1911. The fort was built to secure the US Border with Mexico during the Mexican Revolution, but remained active and useful during WWI and WWII. The fort was expanded during WWII as US Army and Air Force recruits were trucked in to be trained at the Marfa Army Air Field (above this Air Field, the Mysterious Marfa Lights can be seen). The fort was also used to hold approximately 200 German Prisoners of War. These prisoners of war were tasked with painting a mural on the inside of the Building 98 Officer's Club. The two POWs selected for this job were Hans Jürgen Press and Robert Humpel, both artists. They based their mural on the dusty Texas landscape they saw around them and scenes from Western films they had seen in Germany with cowboys and horses, covered wagons, and things such as this. The fort closed after WWII and laid empty for years until it was purchased by an artist and turned into a foundation, but Building 98 remains exactly as the Officers and POWs left it. This was a very interesting step into history, I didn't know any of this existed either, bravo Schmet!!! Next we visited the Marfa Holocaust and Historic Model Ship Museum. Some European Jewish people of WWII, seeking safe haven in Palestine, set up a clandestine operation including more than 144 ships. Marfa Holocaust and Historic Model Ship Museum features one-of-a-kind, handmade, plank-on-frame models along with historic artifacts, documents, and books concerning the Aliyah Bet (Jewish “illegal immigration” ships). Other historic ships from Texas and around the world are also included in this collection. This ships are all handmade by a model shipwright. He does fantastic work and they are all of various scales. He has some very large ones in his collection that are approximately 4-5 feet long and 1-2.5 feet wide and 2-4 feet tall and some very small ones that are mere inches long, tall and wide. He is a master craftsman no doubt, it is a shame he does not sell any of his ships. Next we ported over to Lubbock. I had read about the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock and thought we might wish to visit this. This is a complex of buildings but the one I wanted us to visit was the Buddy Holly Museum. On September 7, 1936, Charles Hardin Holley, Buddy is born at home in Lubbock. In 1941, five year old Buddy entered a talent contest along with his older brothers Larry and Travis. His brothers greased his toy violin to keep him from interrupting their performance, but Buddy's singing Down the River Of Memories wins him the $5 first-place prize. This was the start of his career although he quit playing music and singing until one of his older brothers returned from the marines and bought a harmonica, this resparked his interest and the rest is history. This museum has a life size bronze replica of Buddy Holly in the Courtyard. Inside is a myriad of items donated and on loan from friends, family, and collectors. There are items such as his address book, letters handwritten by him to various people thanking them for including him and his band in their production, postcards from him to his family from his various tours, his personal collection of 45 rpm records, photos and photo albums, fan letters, stage clothing, a leatherworking kit that he used to make his guitar straps, some homework assignments from when he was in school, a slingshot from when he was a child, original tour itineraries, and promotional black and white photographs and so much more, the list could go on and on. We could have spent days in here just looking over everything that was housed in here. Then it was time to return to El Paso so that we could shower and change and relax for about 30 minutes while waiting for the shuttles that would take us to our final dinner of the Mini Fall ROAD TRIP!!! Our final cocktail hour and dinner was scheduled for 6 pm at Los Banditos De Carlos and Mickey's. They had set up a large room for us so that the videographers could do their thing while we had our cocktails and dinner. I thought it was a fantastic presentation. I did not see Pixi bow hunting at the Zoo in Houston!!! Nor did I see Uwkete "fishing" at the Aquarium in Galveston!! I did catch sight of Gero attempting to figure out how to make off with the Space Shuttle replica, until he remembered that it was a replica, it was the Boeing Shuttle Carrier that was real and in working order. I did not see the videographers following madly behind Breanna, Schmet, and I as we were racing for our lives through some of those Haunted Zones at Six Flags, the looks on our faces are somewhat embarrassing, but not as embarrassing as the shots they took of the Cabana Boys coming to the Fudge Shop and loading up what appeared to be about 2000 pounds of Fudge and taking it back to the buses and only the three of us were in the Shop at the time!!! Overall it was an absolutely fabulous time as always and I am going to miss each and every one of you. I get attached to having you all around every day. And I want to say a special thank you to our special guests, Ttobey, Gninja, Caith, Kaitheel, Gnobrin, Covic, Kander, Bunji, and Dreamweaver, you were all very well behaved on this ROAD TRIP!!! Perhaps you are getting used to travelling with us???? And now for the goodies!!! I picked up these extra large duffle bags at Six Flags Fiesta in San Antonio they have the Frightmares Logo which is glow in the dark. Every one has: Bat Critter in a Can Plushie Brazilian Free Tailed Bat Plushie Frightmares 2019 Six Flags Fiesta Black T-Shirt with glow in the dark logo Frightmares 2019 Six Flags Fiesta Black Ball Cap with glow in the dark Ghost on top Frightmares 2019 Six Flags Over Texas Black T-Shirt with glow in the dark logo Frightmares 2019 Six Flags Over Texas Black Ball Cap with glow in the dark Monster Mash on top A set of 6 hummingbird plushies A stingray plushie An angler fish plushie A collector's edition Munster Car with Herman, Lily, Grandpa, Eddie, and Marilyn An Engraved Sword from Medieval Times, engraved with Mini Fall Road Trip 2019, these are all Longswords A Mead Stein made of Oak from Medieval Times A T-Shirt from Medieval Times, 4 different styles, it is random what you may get... A Tower Orrery ***** (not actually in the duffle but carefully packed in a carton with your duffle on top) The Tower Orrery is: Materials brass, oak, walnut, semi precious stone Dimensions Height: 18 Inches; Width: 12 Inches; Depth: 12 Inches The Tower Orrery depicts correct relative speeds of all 9 planets, plus the compound relative orbital movement of Earth's moon. The Sun, 9 planets and 22 moons are made of beautiful semi-precious stone spheres. An armillary sphere surrounds the solar system planets and sun, with a brass engraved calendar ring that depicts the days of the year and the houses of the zodiac on the plane of the ecliptic. The natural variations of stone and wood ensure a unique work of art. Each unit is handcrafted from raw materials with an attention to detail and dedication to quality. Each orrery includes the following specific features: - Clockwork mechanism of solid brass gears. - Twelve sided solid oak or walnut base. - An engraved calendar/zodiacal brass ring gracefully divides the upper and lower sections of a brass armillary sphere. - Assembly takes mere minutes. Owner's manual included. - The upper section of the armillary is removable for a unique and up close presentation of the movement. I hope to see all of you and more for our Mini Winter ROAD TRIP 2019 beginning on December 12.
O I just love the Tower Orrery it is awesome! I also enjoyed sitting and watching all the pictures and videos of all the funny things. You are right the looks on our faces were priceless. Had a great time, and yes gratz to Ttobey for being so well behaved on this trip.
besides the ttobey plushy at the beginning o yes and you saw him too next trip we have to invite keeks too , ( this name reminds me of a Kecks ) same as a cookie . So I wonder if this Dev is sweet ? And yes that hotel was even better looking than I thought , next time I want to stay there . and that whole little town was just full of interesting thing to so and SHOPING woot. and instead of buying all that fudge let's just buy a fudge making shop with the fudge makers included.
I couldn't come up with much to say... so I modified one of my old poems and came up with this. interstellar radio whispers in the galactic night, while watching the Marfa Lights [ Copyright by me, 2019. All Rights Reserved. ] [ but you can print a personal copy if you want to. ] Sitting in a chair, on my porch, out in a solar system, on the edge of the galaxy late at night, I listen to the Interstellar Radio, whispering in the night. There are those, who say we are too distant, to hear anything in particular, but late at night, when the galaxy rises up over the horizon, I tune the radio carefully, and listen to distant music. It doesn't come in loud and clear very often, but if you listen quiet like, the instruments playing, sounds just fine. They play songs of hope, happiness, sadness, anger and dispair. Is that a light flickering over there ? Nope, just someone bicycling over to the, drive-in movie theater, outside of town. I wonder if I should tell them, it closed years ago, at least, I think it did. If you tune the radio just right, and be as quiet as a mouse, you can hear a civilization, starting up radio for the first time. Or calls for help. Can't do anything about any of it, most of the galaxy is thousands of light years away, and we have no means to get there. But the music is sublime, even when it doesn't keep good time. An old buddy of mine, claims its in 11 and seventyelevenths time, but he drinks mountain stream water, and tells tall tales. Sometimes we will send a radio song, back that way, it should get there in a few thousand years, or maybe several dozen thousand years. Super novae interfer with the signals, they make too much in the way, of radio waves, pulsar hum can mess with your ears. But if you tune it just right, moving your hands slowly, you will hear, the music playing softly, in the galactic night. [ exunt ]
I will post a reminder about the Mini-Winter ROAD TRIP around the 7th of December so everybody remembers their buttons and that the Cabana Boys and French Maids will be waiting on their doorsteps and in December, they may get cold waiting on the doorsteps.
I think you write wonderful poetry. Since the first poem you showed me for the beginning of our Summer ROAD TRIP 2019 and going to Kennedy Space Center for Moon Day.
Thanks. Aside: I tried to log in with my cell phone last night but I was informed I'm not me, or something. Only worked once months ago.
Sometimes that thing likes me and sometimes not. Then we dance around, and I can log in. Thats the desktop. Not sure what is happening with my cell phone. Its fairly new to.
Santa's been famous for many, many, many centuries... ;-> And I dunno about that "sensory deprivation/stimulation" place; so many times when they try to do Smell-O-Vision type things, the problem with scent (vs. sound or brushing against props or whatever) is that it tends to waft, spread, fade out but not soon enough, etc. :-/ Fun so far, though! Uwk
True, most "bugs" (land or water) taste pretty similar, unless they're something special, like stink bugs. ;-> Uwk
I've had gummy critters in the shape of tarantulas, so why not chocolate dip those... ;-> Uwk who's also had -- GUMMY RATS...
"Don't worry, sir. It never sticks." --Doonesbury when Uncle Duke was being like governor of Guam or some other US "protectorate"; thought it'd be a good line for that scene in "The Day After Tomorrow" when the various delegates to a climate conference in New Delhi pooh-pooh the idea of worrying about climate change while they're still alive, then come out to find it snowing... ;-> And yeah, I can see the Aurora folks not wanting a ton of idiots bothering the poor dude (of whatever sort) they buried ("Dig 'im up, Bob, I wanna selfie."). :-/ Uwk
