It was quite an eventful day and it’s late. But here is one tidbit from first thing this morning.
Prada Marfa is a permanent sculptural art installation by artists Elmgreen and Dragset, located 1.4 miles northwest of Valentine, Texas, just off U.S. Highway 90, and about 26 miles northwest of the city of Marfa. The installation, in the form of a freestanding building—specifically a Prada storefront—was inaugurated on October 1, 2005. The artists described the work as a “pop architectural land art project.”
The Rio Grande River near Santa Elena Canyon, Big Bend National Park in Texas
I’m skipping a few stops but this one was too good to wait on. Kathy & I visited Big Bend National Park today. What a spectacular place – we had no idea! This is just one photo that hardly represents the entirety of the place, only just one part. But since (for us) the point was getting to the Rio Grande, it represents that goal. I’ll post more once we get home, but it has been a busy trip so far!
The “Texas White House” at Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park near Johnson City, Texas
Kathy & I visited the LBJ Ranch National Historical Park near Johnson City. This is the “Texas White House,” home of President Lyndon Johnson and used as an offsite location for Johnson during his presidency.
“Air Force One Half” Lockheed Jetstar VC-140 used as a shuttle to the LBJ Ranch airport from Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio. Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park near Johnson City, Texas
We had an adventurous couple of days in the Hill Country of Texas. Headed tomorrow to the Rio Grande Valley region for some more scenery. Lots of photos, so little time for processing!
What would it be like to be the letter carrier for a community full of retired letter carriers? That’s a bit of a running joke in Nalcrest, that is a retirement community exclusively for retired mail carriers. Nalcrest was designed by and continues to be operated by the Nalcrest Foundation, Inc., a branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers, the union representing United States Postal Service city letter carriers. It was the brainchild of William Doherty, the first United States Ambassador to Jamaica and NALC President from 1941–1962.
The community consists of 253 acres, 153 acres of which are developed into 500 garden-style apartments. The remaining 100 acres (0.4 km2) are undeveloped and includes a manmade lake of 15 acres around which the community is developed, and that is connected to the 7,500 acre Lake Weohyakapka.
We have friends who spend the winter there, and this is the third year we have visited. It’s an interesting place with many friendly people from all over the US and Canada. But you won’t find any dogs or cats. Evidently the story about dogs and mail carriers not getting along is true. 😉
Mural depicting Melvil Dewey, creator of the Dewey Decimal System and instrumental in bringing the railroad to Lake Placid Florida, known as the Town of Murals
Known as the Town of Murals, Lake Placid has over 40 murals dedicated to scenes, important events and notable people from the town’s history. More to follow later!
Mural depicting assistance by local mechanic Swain Bowers to three tourists who turned out to be Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone in Lake Placid Florida, known as the Town of MuralsLake Placid Florida, known as the Town of Murals
O’brien Feed Depot and Hardware store near O’Brien, Florida
Kathy & I were tired of the (relative) cold and decided to make a quick escape to warmer climes. We have friends in central Florida who give us a good excuse to head that way, so we left home on Friday for about 10 days. I had found this old feed store on some website or another and had it saved in my map folder. Today we were close enough to make a slight detour and check it out. I found a few other interesting scenes nearby that I’ll share over the next few days or when we get back home.
In the meantime it was a sunny and toasty 70 at one point during the day. Yay for heat! 🙂
Rooster sculpture atop O’brien Feed Depot and Hardware store near O’Brien, Florida
Fort Larned National Historic Site near Larned, Kansas
Interesting history to this fort, which was established in 1859 and whose role consisted of guarding the transport of the US Mail as well as general traffic along the Santa Fe Trail.
The best part for us was that we spent over an hour at the fort and the only other person we saw was the caretaker, who we saw only from a distance. A very quiet and peaceful experience!
