Big Tex Hits 60!

Big Tex

A 60-year old man in size 72 boots wearing a 75 gallon hat and standing 52 feet tall with a few more wrinkles and slighly more grey hair, took his place at Fair Park today at the annual ceremony at 11 am when on the Monday before the fair opens, he is hoisted into place and immediately proclaims,"Howdy". Friday,at 10am, the 126th Texas State Fair begins its annual run. I had wanted to be there for todays "howdy"  but had a doctor's appointment at 11.It was a little after 12:30 when I got there. For about two hours, I walked around the lagoon looking at the Chinese Lanterns Display. There is a fence around the entire Lagoon area and the guy putting up the last section of the fence said that there was going to be a $10.00 fee to enter, which is above the regular ticket price.
The display is breath-taking and the Dino's on display look so real. It will be a popular exhibit, I'm sure. The workers were building the main stage in between The African-American Museum and the Music Hall complex. I know, I said last weekend that it was my last trip until after the fair and  here I am back at Fair Park again! Well, it's the bee hive of activity, construction, vendors testing equipment,rides being tested. The smell of taffy in the air! People visiting Fair Park's active museums in the complex. It's just the most festive atmosphere. Kind of like a behind the scene type of atmosphere, but also the get-out-of-the-way atmosphere that goes on as workers lay tiles,build sets and stages with just days before completion. I've missed that hustle-bustle atmosphere. My camera just shoots image after image. I'm not shooting my stock images that sell but I'm having tons of fun! The last two days I've shot more fun images from horse-drawn carriages,antique rail cars moving to a museum to Big Tex's head and hands on a skid waiting to be assembled for this years state fair. I've even managed to have a dish of Rocky Road ice cream a couple of times!

Ladies--you think you have beautiful nails. Check out my nails!!

Beautiful Nails

 

Moving on the Rails (2 of 2)

The third consist arriving at Irving. It passed the Mockingbird yard at approximately 13:45 this afternoon.

Moving on the Rails (1 of 2 post)

The tank cars were used for support in the move and are not part of the museum collection.

The Last Car

Here are a few images of the old rail cars moving to a museum as they passed between the Medical District and the Wye at Irving where they are spending at least one night.

The City Lights of US East Coast at Night

These images to me are the most amazing use of the international space station.

   The images are in the public domain but credit goes to NASA and the crew of the International Space Station. Please give them credit if you copy this image. If you want the full credit you can go to NASA's web page.  

Timing Is Everything and ..........

On Sunday's last trip to Fair Park before the State Fair, the Chinese Lantern Festival had created some very tall Lotus Blooms. The thought did cross my mind as to how they would be used. Today, a sky crane helicopter lifted them from the staging lot near Gate 5 to the Lagoon where they were placed. Now only did I miss the lift, I missed seeing them in the large lagoon where the big swan paddle boats can be rented. It's just one of those things......you cover what you can and sometimes it works out and some times it does not.
The train move has occupied some time. The Chihuly glass exhibit has been at the Arboretum for nearly five months and it leaves the first week of November and the pumpkin display opens this Saturday for it's annual run. On top of that---the Perot Museum of Science and Nature opens in it's new building in downtown much earlier than first announced. The new 5-acre deck park opens too! There is a lot of stuff happening! The old adage that it never rains but what it pours seems to be holding true.

Waiting to move to Frisco

Most likely, the big boy will be the last to leave Fair Park
 

With just the things mentioned here would  add another $100 just for parking and admissions. Gas and food would be extra, of course. The cost of an enjoyable hobby today is an expensive undertaking, though not complaining. So for now, since timing is everything and I came up short today.....here are a couple more shots from this past Sundays shoot.

 

Part 2: Cirque du Soliel Post

The Red Carpet Way Inside

The side of the VIP tunnel you didn't see.

The End.

Cirque du Soleil and Kooza

Well, although it was raining this afternoon, my third trip to Fair Park turned out to be a good trip. Because the Texas State Fair is about to start and navigating the grounds and roadways are filled with obstacles---mainly large tent structures and stages going up---this was the last trip until after the fair. The corny dog stand was complete this trip and the lights were on. It could have been open for business.Sure would have liked a corny dog since there was no one in line!!!!

The lanterns were still being constructed. However, across the street where the display will be home, the pieces of the last two weeks had been assembled as a whole and the displays were spectacular. The trains were also included on the trip and I noticed an old box car in the area with open side doors and two coke machines inside the old box car. It was unusual and a bit out-of-place for a departing railroad museum.

The route was a bit in reverse from last week  as I started out on the service road of Woodall Rogers and cut across to Dealey Plaza where I took Reunion and followed it down and around the hotel and tower coming out on Memorial Drive on the other side of the complex. The Houston Street Viaduct Bridge is between where Reunion Arena once stood and where my main photo op was located. It is where the massive tent and all the support equipment that goes with such an operation was located.It is where Cirque du Soleil's Kooza will happen. The size of the operation was very striking. After stopping at the security post and getting the parameters of what and where I could photograph, I was basically shooting under an umbrella as the rain was coming down at a pretty good clip. Still, as it always happens, something on your list to shoot in the future appears while you are shooting something else. This serendipity was a gondola car of scrap metal coming under the western end of the Convention Center.

Also, Wiki Commons has a national photo contest going until the end of September of historic architecture on the Department of the Interior's National Park Service's List of Historic Places.
I am thinking about entering. There are several images that I could weed out from my portfolio and submit. Something I saw last week also rang a bell that it might be a good candidate for submission so I retook the image from several angles today just for comparison purposes.

Opens Septermber 19-October 21,2012 in Dallas

The Show
 

 

Union Station Coming and Going Today

Old Amtrak Rail Cars Headed to a Museum

The TRE running regular commuter service from Downtown Ft. Worth to Downtown Dallas

Modern and not so modern. Even the modern is becoming outdated. The new "A" train in Denton that connects with Dart in Carrollton is fully modern and being imported from Europe. It will replace the old Budd cars that are in  "A" train operation and on loan from the TRE. It won't be long before they will be in regular service.The first car arrived nearly a year ago but have not been put into service.

A Vintage Funeral Carriage

In the age of technology where some of you are reading this on your i-phones,others on their i-pads,and who knows what else, you get what I'm saying about technology. While I do embrace technology with mostly open arms, I think that some things done with vintage equipment adds a whole different class of something having class, displaying dignity, paying honor and tribute that technology can't offer.

On the way to my doctor for an appointment, I came across this vintage funeral carriage and two beautiful black animals that would be fitted to the carriage as the time drew more near for a military funeral ride.The horses are a breed like Clydesdales but are not Clydesdales.They are French bread Percherons. Amazing animals. These have the same shag on their mane, feet and tail and come black or white in the breed. It would have been nice not to have the doctor's appointment so that I could have watched the funeral corteges on a beautiful late summer's day. By the time I returned, the funeral was over and the military men were walking back to their cars, Military funerals,while sad, are still one of the most honored tradition this country affords a family for the loss of a son or daughter,father or mother, sister or brother. Their price paid for our freedom is honor and service at the highest level. Thank you and Rest in Peace.

Vintage Carriage

Funeral Carriage awaits its Drafts

My special thanks to George at Vintage Carriage for allowing me to shoot these images. He also has carriage for hayrides and beautiful white carriages with the white horses for holiday light tours in Highland Park and Uptown.

Fair Park in Transformation

This is the second weekend that I have made the trip to Fair Park to check on the trains and to see the transformation that occurs in preparation for the State Fair. I'd like to see Big Tex in place  before the fair starts but not holding my breath.
There was some activity at the train location where the Museum was before the shift to Frisco. There was a  fair amount of people who seem to be doing the same thing. I talked with a lady that was there yesterday and was back today taking pictures. It was pointed out yesterday that the Big Boy will probably not move until after the fair is over in October.That does not surprise me one bit. The logistics of such a move was much more than anticipated. The Santa Fe Engine 48 is being used to move pieces around in the cramped yard so it's going to be at the tail end of the move as well, one would guess.

The prize of the day was finding the Chinese Lantern Festival crew taking up one full section of the parking lot at gate 5 assembling the large displays. Another photographer that I run into now and then and at locations were I shoot as well was there shooting the same lanterns.

From Fair Park it was up Exposition to Main Street and a trip through Deep Ellum before entering downtown. I love the eclectic atmosphere of Deep Ellum. There are really two Deep Ellums. One by day----the other by night. The one by day is my favorite because you  find so many interesting things. One discovery  that I made and been wanting to shoot for a while was the new Las Vegas-style neon sign.  There are several meters but only one parking meter outside  the landmark venue for rock groups to perform. It was open and  I parked, put my two dimes in for 24-minutes, walked down to Good Latimer at Main and got my shot. Then, it was a walk back toward the bar to where  you could see downtown Dallas from that part of Main Street to put it all in perspective.

Traveling down Main thru the heart of downtown to Griffin, it gave me a chance to see the new deck park that covers 5-acres of Woodall Rogers Expressway and is scheduled to open in October. It really is the much needed mental bridge between downtown and Uptown Dallas. There were a lot of people in downtown and mass had just let out at the Cathedral in the Arts District.The sidewalk vendors all had lines of hungry and thirsty church-goers. The City's new performing arts center for smaller groups had a lot of traffic going in and out of the building.  It's just amazing what that stretch of Flora Street houses today. The arts district is truely unsurpassed anywhere! New York Theater Companys are stunned by what they see in the Arts District and rave about the technology and planning.

Here are a few more shots from today.

Neon For Deep Ellum. This is at Good Latimer and Main Street.

Chinese Lantern Festival is being assenbled at Fair Park.

 

Lost Images Revealed

The Baddest of the SS. This is for real an example of "Don't Tread On Me"! 

Air Force One on Final at Love Field,Dallas
Taken moments before my prized image from that day's shoot.

Basically, I hate it when I index images and mis-direct one here and there. Such is the case with this post. These two I have searched high and low for a year. Today, it was "Bingo" because they were found and now have been re-indexed to be where they should be filed. But, since  they have been found, I think there is still some interest by my readers. Enjoy.

Looking Like The State Fair at Fair Park

State Fair Dates: September 28 -  October 21

Work is well underway at Fair Park putting up all those favorite fried food and refreshment stands. The old landmark Midway arches have been repaired from this past Springs expensive hail storm. And there is less rolling stock at the former Railroad Museum.  One of two security guards told me that the rolling stock was going out on the third shift because it wasn't happening on first or second shift, which confirms what one of the employees in Frisco has said to me more than a month ago. She had call me,infact. From that conversation it was easy to see that the exit from Fair Park was going to be a "under cover of darkness" move. It's turned out that way so far as the first cars rolled into the  Frisco's property from off-site storage with limited public information. The tweets,facebook post and website updates seem to be all "after - the- fact" which is not surprising.

This morning, one of the television stations had a sound bite about the move and the newspaper ran a story that basically said nothing. The route map published matched the hand-drawn one  that has been on top of my computer for over a month  Anyone with any train interest as an enthusiast already knows where the line junctions are located or can figure it out like doing math in you head.

 I hate to say it but I can remember when steam engines were running regular passenger service in the town were I grew up. It was second or third grade when I saw the first diesel that appeared on those tracks where the steam engines had been running regular service. Still, trains and planes hold my interest to this day. The physics of both are more interesting now than they were in my 8th grade geometry and 10th grade  physics. It was that knowledge gained, however, that cemented my interest in later life.

Colorful Tent Booths Go Up

The West Side of Admiral Nimitz Drive

Here is a little splash of color from Fair Park this afternoon. One thing for sure is that corny dogs and fried foods will be around longer  than some organizations. My dad expressed to me that everyone wants their jewel to be front and center on the crown and some just never ever will understand that it is all the jewels combined that make up the crown, not just a single jewel. Fair Park is a crown and all the little jewels make it what it is and will become. Loosing one or two here and there will be replaced with others that will shine just as bright and not worry about their placement on the crown. Next time you visit Fair Park look up at the two gate markers.The left one in engraved 1836 and the right one bears 1936. The art deco period for Fair Park blossomed in the 1930s.