Downtown Dallas Tour

Tomorrow morning Dallas comes to an end. My last night in Dallas ended on a sour night with a tough Michigan State loss to Wisconsin. I’m sure I’ll be getting some grief from the girls I stayed with in Madison who attend the University of Wisconsin.

At mid-morning Debby and I headed to downtown Dallas via the Dart. It was a day of walking around seeing the city. The tour started with one of the most historical sites of the century, the site of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The year 1963 was long before my time and my generation doesn’t understand the impact the assassination had on the world at that time and that it has had ever since. It changed a generation. During this trip I have visited four sites that have had defining moments on this century: Ground Zero in New York City, Pearl Harbor, Oklahoma City Bombing site, and now the site of the JFK assassination. They are all very sobering places. To take in the experience of all four of these sites is difficult. I’m fortunate to see these places and grasp more of this country and what has defined many generations.

From the site of JFK we headed over to the original Dallas Courthouse and onto Reunion Tower. Reunion Tower makes it onto the list of several buildings I’ve been to the top of on this trip: Sears Tower, Empire State Building, Space Needle, that’s a pretty good list. I love the Dallas skyline… there are three buildings that stand out: Bank of America Plaza (1985, 921 feet), Renaissance Tower (1974, 886 feet) and Fountain Place (1986, 721 feet). Have you ever looked at digital renderings of skyscrapers and see how surreal they look floating in the sky? They look fake (well they are in those photos) and it seems that they are almost translucent, seeing right through them to the sky and clouds behind the building. These three buildings particularly have that exact same effect in person during a sunny day. The glass windows reflect so well that you feel you’re looking right through it, not to mention it feels like you really are looking into the future. I’m sure that it will be a growing skyline in the future, it is one of my favorites I’ve seen on the trip. In addition to that I just have to say that the American Airlines Center is probably the nicest arena that I have seen on the outside, beautiful architecture.

And that folks was my experience of downtown Dallas. I’m sure there will be many more metro areas along the way.

Today’s side note
Have you ever seen those commercials where one person does a good deed and then that person does, then the next, and so on? There have been a few commercials like that in recent years. For some reason today I was just convinced of how true that is and how easy it is to make that happen. It can all start by saying “Hello” to the person sitting next to you on the bus or train.

Today’s second side note
I’m having trouble being creative with my blogs. The hardest thing is that when the end of the day comes and I get a chance to do my writing, edit my photos, and everything else I’m always in a rush to get as much done as possible. I mine as well just put stuff I’ve done in a bullet list as dry as it’s been. But I am working on a speech already for the end of the trip, even though it’s six months away. And I think it’s a pretty good speech so far, titled, “Friends we have not yet met.” Any creative tips?