George W. Bush Presidential Center

Before we left Fort Worth, we wanted to try and make it over the the GWB Museum and Library in Dallas adjacent to the campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU).  We decided to stay and extra day to do it and it was worth it.  We have made it a high-interest item to see as many presidential homes, museum and libraries as we can.  We've also put State Capitols in the same category too.

Here is a photo of  GWB Presidential Center from the parking lot.

One thing I noticed right away is the grass.  The grounds are now mowed as you might expect.

Instead grass is left to grow long.  By design.  It looks like prairie grass.

Inside the building is like a large hall with displays along each side.  I liked the way the "Gifts to the American People" items were shown.

They probably have warehouses full of these kind of things.  This was only a few of the small stuff I'll guess.  Necklaces, jewelry, gold carvings and my favorite:  gold stirrups from Africa.

After the initial gallery, tourists gather in a large open area and look up to a 4 sided presentation of Texas.

The seamless video somehow is display along 4 walls at the same time.  Very unique.

We watched the short video "A Charge to Keep"

Next we moved into the galleries and displays of his life and times.  I always like the family photos and 'growing up' pictures of famous people.  And some ones that show a different side.  Like the display of signed baseballs.

There are ones signed by Sandy Koufax, Stan Musial, Ted Williams and Ozzie Smith.

Of course the overshadowing time in his Presidency was 9/11.  There was a good amount of displays and video clips concerning that.

It was an emotional for me remembering all that again and how it has profoundly changed America.

Another feature was an interactive display with some big issues and then choices of how to handle the situation.  We got 4 minutes to hear four scenarios and opposing opinions on each.  Then we had to decided what to do.

Our choices were compared with what actually happened. Interesting way to make a point and learn that part of things.

Each president is confronted with strong but differing opinions yet, they have to make a decision.

There was a display with the pens used to sign (or in one case veto) legislation.

There were some other assorted displays viewed

I am glad we took the time to see that facility.  It is almost brand new and has some very interesting features.  It was well laid out but I got the feeling the 2/3 of the building were not being used.  We only saw the museum and it seemed to be a little crowded.  There were a lot of people there while we visited but they still seemed to pack a lot of information into a small space.

After seeing the large LBJ museum in Austin recently, this one is much smaller by comparison.  Nevertheless, I would still recommend it.  We are glad we saw it.

We posed for a photo between 41 and 43 before we left.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!