A Small tour of Texas

We came to a small city called College Station,Texas all the way from India. This drastic relocation is due to Texas A&M University where my husband is a doctoral student. Now it has been a year we are staying here so we thought to explore Texas this Spring being a part of Texas Tour Troop. Here goes my vivid description about the 4 days trip.

Cameron Park Zoo - It is a 52-acre (21ha) zoo located in the city of Waco, Texas United States next to the Brazos river. The Cameron Park Zoo features species from North and South America, Africa, Asia and Europe. Including a large reptile house, an African lion display, and Lemur Island, a large open lemur habitat. In 2005, a large new area was opened called the Brazos River Country, featuring a 50,000-US-gallon (190,000 l) saltwater reef aquarium, a large swampland habitat, and many other native Texas type habitats, featuring numerous species found within the state. The exhibit is so large, it nearly doubled the animal population, and overall size of the zoo. There were many animals whom I haven't met in our Kolkata's Alipore Zoo earlier like the American Bison which is also known as American buffalo but I couldn't find any resemblance with the Indian buffaloes.

Afterwards we had American style lunch which was also a new experience for me who is accustomed to daal,bhaat and maacher jhol though once in a while having whole wheat bread, thin turkey salami, peanut butter,mayonnaise and jelly is not bad. Our next stop was Mockingbird Station in Dallas for shopping in the evening.

Mockingbird Station in Dallas- As we reached the market, we experienced greenery in the atmosphere! It was not because of oak or pine trees, rather the Irish community were celebrating St.Patrick’s Day. The roads were excessively crowded with people wearing amazing attires all in green. Another eye-catching sight was the pipers in their traditional costume playing their bagpipes, the music added extra charm to the celebration. It was not the end after a lovely evening a gallant rodeo event in Mesquite was to be explored.

Bull riding Event at the Mesquite Rodeo- Many a time in the above lines I mentioned that “It was new experience for me”but really I am falling short of words in describing such a amazing and unique culture,tradition,location and cuisine of Texas. Texas has been famous for its cowboy culture and rodeo events worldwide. It has a long tradition and even today there are rodeo schools to keep it alive and professional. The arena was floodlighted and surrounded by a wire fence. As we had places in the front row, we were very close to the action - sometimes even were sprinkled with sand by the passing steers or horses and in fact felt involved in the breathtaking actions. The performance started with an Opening ceremony with horsemen, dressed in bright colours and carrying flags. All the competitors were announced by their names and places they came from and when they had finished, the audience was given the achieved results through the loud speaker . All the rodeo actions are timed beginning at the starting gate. The whole event was no less exciting than watching an action movie. After a gallant rodeo it was time for Texan style Bar-be-Que dinner,which indeed was mouth watering.

No more adventures for day one! I was too tired and a deep slumber was due! There was much more left for the next day.

It was Sunday 14th March 2010. Attending a Sunday morning service with other Church members, which was a divine experience.

Whether it's a glimpse into Texas history, viewing famous artwork, or capturing a child's imagination, Texas has a museum that fits the bill. Across the state, museums dedicated to art, history, nature, cultural history.

Kimbell Art Museum- The Kimbell Art Museum is situated in the Cultural District of Fort Worth, Texas, USA. It houses a small collection of European, Asian and Pre-Columbian works, as well as hosting travelling art exhibitions.
It has vast European collection, works by Michelangelo (including his first known work, The Torment of Saint Anthony), Picasso, Caravaggio, El Greco, Rembrandt, Monet, Gainsborough, Vigée-Lebrun, and Rubens are included among many others. There resides the only painting by Adam Elsheimer on public display outside Europe.

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (widely referred to as The Modern) was first granted a Charter from the State of Texas in 1892 as the "Fort Worth Public Library and Art Gallery", evolving through several name changes and different facilities in Fort Worth. The mission of the museum is "collecting, presenting and interpreting international developments in post-World War II art in all media."
The Permanent Collection includes more than 3,000 works including pieces by Pablo Picasso, Anselm Kiefer, Robert Motherwell, Susan Rothenberg, Jackson Pollock, Gerhard Richter, Richard Serra, Andres Serrano, Cindy Sherman, and Andy Warhol.

Forth Worth Stockyards - We heard of famous Texas longhorn and cowboy culture but we had to believe our eyes when we reached Forth Worth Stockyards. It is difficult to draw a picture of that retro style national historic district. We were there to view the Cattle Drive that travels through the Historic Fort Worth Stockyards on E. Exchange Avenue in front of the Fort Worth Livestock Exchange Building. It was not only the Texas Longhorns but the Texas cow boy tradition, 10-gallon hat, boots,antique style motor bikes gained my attention.

It was a nice Opera performance in Bass Performance Hall which made the night more enchanted.

Bass Performance Hall - Live Opera is not something very juvenile for we Indians rather a modernized form of Jatra, these days western operas are being shown in Hindi movies too. It was Dil Chahta Hai where I saw for the first time on the screen and second time enjoyed live “Fiddler on the Roof” in Ball Hall !

Next morning started with a informative trip to US Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Fort Worth. It is a 45 minute free tour where we can actually see billions of dollars being printed as we walk along an enclosed elevated walkway suspended over the production floor! The tour experience also includes a high-definition theater film, the Money factory Gift Shop, and a vending and rest area. Other than Fort Worth, it is Washington where the currency is engraved and printed.

Visit to Six flags over Texas, Arlington was a real treat for the child within all of us. Six Flags Over Texas is a major amusement park located in Arlington, east of Fort Worth and about 15 miles (24 km) west of Dallas. The name of the park has interesting story attached to it which says,The park's name "Six Flags Over Texas" refers to the flags of the six different nations that have governed Texas: Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the United States of America, and the Confederate States of America. The original park was (and still is) split into separate regions, such as the Spain and Mexico section which featured Spanish-themed rides, attractions and buildings.

The park has many breath taking rides like Titan, Texas Giant, Batman, Shock wave, Big Bend and many more but it was Six flags railroad which attracted me the most. The Six Flags Railroad is the only attraction still operating from the inaugural 1961 season of Six Flags Over Texas. Within the park there are many shopping centres as well dinning places, we concluded our trip with Granny’s Sugary Fennel Cakes.

Next day was the last last day of our Texas tour but there were still many things awaited on the way to College Station.

On the way we stopped to see Texas ranch in Stephenville, I couldn't remember the name of the person who owned the ranch but it was a family owned farm manufacture home made cheese and mainly Cheddar cheese. We had short informal demo of the the equipments and technique required to make fresh home made cheese.

After tasting samples of sharp Cheddar cheese it was the time to have some sweets. Our next stop was Hico, a small city located in Hamilton County in Northern Central Texas. We were in Hico to explore Wiseman’s House of Chocolates. It was really awesome to see so many chocolates being made, wrapped and laid around you! It was generous of Wiseman to spend some time with us and yes offering those fine hand made chocolates to us. Our troop agreed with Wiseman that “Chocolate is proof that God is good... Very good”!