Our trip to the Grassy Knoll….

Today we went to the sixth floor museum…the place where Lee Harvey Oswald fired the fatal shot that killed President John F. Kennedy. Upon arriving in Arlington, Texas, to do this job, I had seen mention of this museum as something to see and do in the area and thought what an odd name for an attraction. If it wasn’t for Cindy and Wendy telling us that it’s the book depository where the assassination took place, I never would have made the connection. So glad they told us about it. I would have hated to miss something like this; something that had such a prominent place in American history.
The museum is an audio tour, narrated by Pierce Allman, the first reporter to report from the Texas School Book Depository on November 22, 1963 and that fateful day. Through photographs, news reports and eye witness accounts, it takes you through that day. The picture on the right shows the depository (brick building behind that teal van). Lee Harvey Oswald was in the far right window on sixth floor (building is seven stories tall). This picture shows where the motorcade took the sharp turn onto Dealey Plaza and started down the road. In the middle lane, to the right of that teal van, there’s an “X” that marks where the first shot hit President Kennedy. A second later the second shot rang out and this was the shot (where the “X” is in the empty street) that killed President Kennedy. In that split second, our country’s history was changed forever.
The museum shows footage of the funeral, swearing in of Lyndon Johnson and the outpouring of emotion felt worldwide. There’s an interesting video by Walter Cronkite, making us ponder if what happened almost 50 years ago, was the beginning of the unraveling of civility among US citizens. After Kennedy’s assassination came his brother’s assassination, Martin Luther King’s, tormoil and unrest. The hope and optimism that Americans had been feeling during those thousand days of Kennedy’s term in office, went up in smoke when he was killed. The museum also has pictures showing Lee Harvey Oswald’s killing, by Jack Ruby, as Oswald was being transported to county jail.
There were some school groups there today. A number of the children were African American in heritage which made me wonder if they grasped the enormity of what they saw today in what Kennedy did in bringing equality to the table for them. I was only three when he was shot so I don’t remember any of this but from watching footage of the man and reading quotes from his speeches, he was a charismatic and insightful man with a wonderful way of speaking that touched everyone…young and old, rich or poor. I’m so glad that Linda and I got to see Dealey Plaza and the book depository while we were here.

Fairhope, Alabama

This afternoon we drove towards the coast to the cute little town of Fairhope. It's an artsy town with neat shops and the Fairhope Historical Museum. We went into the museum and there were some interesting items on display. This picture shows the accomplishments that one of the early mayors passed during his term (I believe it was from 1912 - 1914). Click on the picture to enlarge it. Looks like a pretty aggressive agenda of accomplishments, don't you think ? More than our modern day congress accomplishes with its bi-partisan bickering.

It appears that there must be a wealthy clientele of folks that live in Fairhope. I've never been in a thrift store, as they had here, where there is an extensive selection of furs and stoles for sale. Hmmm....
Once we left town we drove down to the coast where the beach was and there was a very nice park.There was this huge fountain at the entrance to the waterfront park and this sign showing all the wintering birds that come to the area. We drove down the coast for a little ways, looking at the nice houses along the shore. We circled around and came back down rt 32 and stopped at Coastal Haven campground to check it out. I got a quick look at it as we went past it, on the way to Fairhope, and it looked nice and clean...with concrete sites so we wanted to check it out. We drove in and went to the end of one row and came around to the backside of the office. I noticed a woman walking along behind our truck but didn't pay much attention. When Linda and I got out of the truck to go in the office and get a brochure we heard someone holler to us. Turned around and that woman who had been following us was Linda from the Amazon campground in Coffeyville. Seems her and her husband have been staying there for a while. Right across the street from her is where Vickie and Bob are staying (unfortunately they weren't home)....we were so surprised to run into them there and got a chance to find out where Vicki and Bob are staying as we want to visit with them while we are in the area. Small world....Seems the last month or so has been like an Amazon Old Home Days...bumping into the folks we worked with in Coffeyville. What fun !