We’ve really enjoyed Dallas Fort Worth (DFW). This blog post is a ripper with 3 exciting outings for us. A Civil War re-enactment, a rodeo and the murder of JFK made DFW a memorable visit.
We’ll start with the Civil War Re-enactment at Canton, East of Dallas. In the first photo I’ve tried something a bit different. I have drawn a diagram of the battlefield showing the where the Union of the ‘North’ (in blue) took on the Confederates of the ‘South’ (in red). Being held in the heart of Texas of course the ‘Feds’ had to win and so they pushed forward, canons and guns blazing to push the Yankees back to their eventual capture in their camp at the bottom right of the pic. I have also sewn together several video clips into a 5 minute condensed show so you can see the action. Click here to see the battle . Unhappily the Camera automatically attenuated the sound to a much lower level than it actually was. Those canons were deafening. There was a mock up tent town where several locals displayed (hands on) old crafts and the Yankees had a camp and all the actors just carried on as they would have 160 years ago.
The battle started with both adversaries facing each other with their respective canons behind them. With the cavalry and a breakaway group outflanking them and the main troop from the south pushing forward the Blues retreated until eventually their canons were captured then they were forced back into their own camp before they themselves were captured. The performance ended with both sides giving a multi-gun salute. We ended our day at Canton with a visit to “The Mountain”, a replica western village where gifts, food and drink were sold and a gunfight ensued. For lunch Shane had a burger while I snacked on Fried Alligator. It was a very good day.
Oh yeah I almost forgot to mention. In the 3rd last photo see if you can zoom in on the young woman behind Shane (circled in red). You should be able to make out a Glock 9mm pistol strapped to her hip. Her mum (almost totally obscured) also had a fully loaded pistol on her hip. This is Texas and this goes such a long way to explain why gun violence is so prevalent here. Why would anyone want to wear a gun to a fun park event?
Next day, back in Fort Worth, Shane and I headed off to the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. The FWSS&R is an agricultural show similar to what I remember the Sydney Easter Show is. It runs for a few weeks and has animal exhibits (cattle, horse, etc), a fun park, markets and the rodeo which is the world’s oldest indoor rodeo. Again I have supplied a video to watch and of course there is a gallery of photos to see. We didn’t get there until late in the afternoon as we were really only interested in the Rodeo but we did look at a few other bits and you’ll see those in the gallery. An odd pint of interest is in the photo of 8 people in black tops with yellow ‘V’s on them. These young citizens were being sworn in to the US Navy by the local recruiting Officer. The fellow in the suit inspecting them is Donald Trump Jnr, eldest son of President Trump.
A day or so later we ventured into the City specifically to see that famous location where in 1963 John Fitzgerald Kennedy was brutally assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald. After you’ve seen the first half a dozen photos we go inside to look at this historic museum. There are pictures here of the window from which Oswald fired the killer shots just as it was on that day. There’s an identical rifle to that used is also on display. In the next two photos I have placed a few labels. The first pic shows the Depository and the famed ‘grassy knoll’. The second pic is more interesting. The yellow arrows show the route of JFK’s cavalcade and the yellow oval is directly in front of the grassy knoll. The Red arrow at the top of the pic shows the window of the killer. If you can zoom in on the other two arrows you’ll see crosses where the car was when the three shots rang out.
Many conspiracy theories abound about the event especially over a supposed 2nd shooter on the grassy knoll. After seeing all of this I have no doubt there could not have been a second shooter. Let me explain. A simple look at the site shows that any bullet from the grassy knoll would have hit JFK from the front. This was not the case as Kennedy was struck from behind. Much of the evidence came from the only known moving pictures of the killing taken by an amateur camera man by the name of Zapruder.
After the pic with the arrows I have labelled the next pic to show it is the actual view from the 6th floor where Oswald shot from. Of course 55 years ago (yes it has been that long) the trees were not as big and the signage was different but you can clearly see the easy target that JFK was from there. I will wrap up this part of the gallery with pictures of the ‘grassy knoll’ from several different angles. Finally there are 2 pictures of Oswald’s wedding ring.
After leaving the Book Depository we walked a few blocks across town to the Reunion Tower which is part of the Hilton Hotel. That’s them in the pic after Oswald’s wedding ring. The remainder of the shots are scenic shots from the tower and again across the river (from the car – sorry there was nowhere to park) except for the last photo which is of me when I found a ‘coon skin cap’ and just had to model it.
So we hope you enjoyed this blog on DFW as much as we did. Good news is that QANTAS flys direct to Dallas Fort Worth for anyone who is inspired enough to want to visit. That’s it for now.
Next blog we’ll be in Waco (Magnolia fans will love this) so keep watching.
Cheers for now
Garry & Shane
Really enjoyed the pics fella, certainly seems like your having a great time, friend over there is one of the 2 sheep dogs at his local church, sad day when you require to be armed at church, the enactement looked great, loved it and the ‘Coon hat actually suited you, very cool.