Museum Weekend!

First off, I want to thank all of you who commented on my "lonely" post. Each comment made me think as well as encouraged and uplifted me. I can almost guarantee that I will be talking about that subject again, but for now, let's talk about my weekend.

It was just what the doctor ordered. We had a great time seeing five different museums, meeting new friends, and catching up on family gossip.

We headed up to Ft. Worth on Friday night and stayed at my cousin T's house. Calling her "Cousin T" makes me picture here as a farmer girl with a piece of hay in her mouth which is weird and not at all accurate, just so ya know. But she is one of the most generous and fun people I know and it was great being able to hang out with her, even if it was only for a little while as she had to work a lot that weekend.

It was also a little sad for me because my grandparents lived with her from about the time I entered middle school so most of the memories of my grandparents revolve around that house. I have only spent one night there since my Grandma's funeral so being there without them around was really different and I was a lot more emotional than I would have thought. It has been a number of years since they died but when I walked through the door, it seemed like it was yesterday that I was there with them, playing Scrabble and swiming and hearing stories. It was sad but good since Craig was there and I was able to share those memories and experiences with him. I wish that he had been able to meet them, but having him around this weekend was a nice way to share that part of my life with him.

The next day we started off early at the parking lot to the Natural Science and History Museum. I say the parking lot because we found that easily enough, but we couldn't find the entrance to the actual museum. Eventually we discovered that, due to construction, it was combined with the Cowgirl museum. I knew that was happening but the website said it wouldn't start until Sunday; well, the website lied.

That meant that most of the museum was not available to see, but we did see some dinosaur stuff. Craig even enjoyed a moment to sit and relax in a footprint. The little baby sitting up in the real print is cute, but I still think Craig is cuter. I will admit I'm slightly biased though.

Then we headed upstairs to the Cowgirl museum. It was a lot more interesting than I would have thought. We saw lots of costumes, sat at our own mini juke boxes to listen to some country music (I picked Patsy Cline, Craig picked the Dixie Chicks) and even had a chance to try out rodeo skills.
And of course, we had to check out the gift shop on the way out.
Since we hadn't spent as much time as the Science and History Museum as we planned, we had time to check out the Kimbell Art Museum and their special exhibit on Impressionism. I'm so glad we did as it turned out to be my favorite museum. It was really busy and you had to push to see some of the more popular pieces but I got to see my favorite painting ever! If any of you are up in the Ft. Worth area and have time to check it out, I highly recommend it. And the non-free days are probably a lot less crowded.

We then took a break, rested our feet, and grabbed lunch with bloggity friend Tina and her Mr. Aggie. It is always a little awkward at first to meet people that you know through blogging, but don't really know but they were super nice and I, for one, had a fun time.

We then headed over to the log cabin village. It was crowded but fun and interesting. There were lots of special exhibits for the day but my feet were killing me by the end. Plus, I really had to go to the bathroom but there was only a porta-potty. If you know me, you know - I don't do porta-potties. And there would have been lots of cute photo opportunities, but that previous thing had me distracted and I didn't get any at all :-(

We finished at the Sid Richardson museum with its western art. I didn't really want to go to this one but it was Craig's pick and he went to mine so it was only fair. I actually liked it. They had a neat brochure that talked about the pictures without you having to stand right there to read it so I could sit and read about them and enjoy them. Plus there was nobody there most of the time and it was nice to enjoy the paintings in the quiet.

Thus ended our day of museums. Cousin T was able to take off the next morning so we had a nice brunch with her then headed back. Though Saturday was busy, the whole weekend seemed really relaxed and stress free. But even so, it is nice to be back home.