The Grassy Knoll

On November 22, 1963, at 12:30 PM, President John F. Kennedy was
assassinated while his motorcade was passing by Dealey Plaza in
downtown Dallas. Although Lee Harvey Oswald fired shots from the
Texas Book Depository, it is thought by some that other shots were
fired from the grassy knoll of Dealey Plaza. There were quite a few
people milling about, as it is a sort of tourist attraction, but there are
only a couple of plaques in the area commemorating the event and
an "X" on the street where it occurred.


It would be almost two years until I was born when the President was
assassinated, but it was an important even in Lynn's childhood and
it was the first time she had visited here as well. She said that it looked
very similar to news reports she remembered. It's an important historic
place to America and I'm glad it appears as it did back in 1963.

Dallas

One of the disadvantages to being addicted to shopping at IKEA is that
there aren't a lot of them and if you don't live near one, you have to
drive a bit. We're headed to my sister Nancy's house in Oklahoma,
but we decided to drive a bit out of the way to visit the only IKEA
nearby to get some extra things for our house that we failed to
purchase on our last visit to IKEA in Salt Lake City. This also gave us
the opportunity to visit some areas we hadn't seen before on the way,
including southwest Arkansas and Northeast Texas. We bought our
items at IKEA after having a nice simple dinner of Swedish Meatballs
in their cafeteria. I am amazed at how fast the people in Dallas
drive. I don't consider myself a "hick from the sticks" by any means,
but these folks like to move rather quickly. Amazing, since it's so hot
and humid here. I would think this would make folks move more slowly.


On our way back to our hotel, we stopped at a really nice mall, called
Stonebriar Centre. It's pretty upscale and had about anything one would
need. We didn't do any shopping...just looking, but on our way out, we
watched a local hockey club practicing on the mall's own full-sized
hockey rink. Something we don't see much anymore since our rink in
Grand Junction is in a state of limbo. We had a great day and plan to
visit Dallas again sometime in the future.

Time to Fly

I started my latest flight to the far south today. Leslie and Gina were nice
enough to take me to the airport. Instead of being able to make a short
55 minute flight to Denver, I had to fly all the way to Dallas and then to
Denver. I had a rare window seat and took lots of fun photos of the leaves
turning over the San Juan Mountains and all kinds of crop circles! After a
three hour layover in Dallas, I was pleasantly upgraded to a First Class Seat
for the two hour flight. What amazed me was when we received a meal
(which in itself is amazing on a domestic flight these days), we were given
a real knife and fork...made of metal! As my friend Ben later said on
Facebook, "So I guess the way to attack
the plane would be to check your box-cutter at the gate, but get first
class seats. Because no one ever hijacks a plane from first class. Hijackers
fly coach." I thought the exact same thing. Oddly, they didn't
give us a spoon. Is the spoon the new weapon of choice for terrorists?
Anyway, the day was about three times longer than it needed to be, but
it was uneventful and I picked up about 1200 Frequent Flyer miles instead
of 250. That's a good thing!

Finally Home!

After a long flight and almost as long a layover in Dallas, I took
off for Grand Junction and found it to be a very snowy and wintery
scene.


It's always great seeing Mt. Garfield and the Grand Mesa. Two more
signs that I was home.


Of course Lynn was waiting for me at the airport, and she was the
main sign and reason I was home at last after being separated for
five plus months. It will be fun spending the next seven months in
our happy little desert town!

Off to Ecuador

In a few short hours, we'll start a long day of flights,
leaving from Grand Junction, flying to Dallas, then to
Miami and eventually to Quito. We're really looking
forward to visiting Ecuador and it will be our home
for the next three months. Depending on the
availability of internet connectivity, I may miss a few
posts over the next few days, but I'll definitely catch
up.