Velvet Taco for Dinner, Out all afternoon at Presidential Center's Nature Trails

 Well, the perfect fall weather day finally was at hand. It was a delight to be out in that type of weather. 

It never crossed my mind that today was the final weekend of the Texas State Fair at Fair Park and the buses and most of all, the trails were loaded with bodies going to the fair. So, some of the schedules were a bit off as it takes the non-regular riders more time to figure out what to do at the station. Well, you start by getting your gear ready and ready to move when the train stops and the doors open.  Anyhow, there was a bit more time lost because of that than anything else and I made it to Mocking bird station by riding a bus and a train to get to Mockingbird. Saw some SMU video crews outside the Angelica. Stopped to chat with one of the girls about what was going on. The SMU students had made a movie and it was being premiered at the Angelica. On to SMU via Bush Avenue to enter the Nature Trails of the George Bush Presidential Center. The nature trails cover the entire south end of the property from SMU St. and Bush Ave. to the southbound service road of the North Central Expressway (US75) which had that section named for George Bush as well. Then, its across the shopping center on Mockingbird to Bush to complete a few acres of property.

Last year was the first year to check out the plantings and this year have been looked forward to,to see how much the annuals had grown and what was new for this season. It was somewhat a surprise to see 6-7 foot tall golden rods. Wow, the allergies of students, faculty and nearby residents will love that as well as the  docs  who make their living by treating patients with allergies. While they are very pretty for color, Going there was a total surprise with that straight out the gate. 

After walking two of the trails (they all come back together from south to east and west sides of the center) the landscape was pretty but I was a bit disappointed to find so much of those golden rods. If it hadn't been for the large Monarch Butterflies surrounding the tennis courts and the La Cross field, it might had been a bust. At Mockingbird station retail sections pumpkins had been on sale. But when I was there the remaining pumpkins and hay bales were being given away to those that wanted them. 

Instead of walking back to Mockingbird or catching one of the free shuttles from the Center back to the trail station, I walked up SMU toward Greenville Avenue, then decided to stop at the Velvet Taco to have dinner. Then, I watched for the buses but missed all of them and ended up back at the Lovers Lane Rail Station on foot. So with that, I have now walked the distance from Lovers Lane to Mockingbird in both directions; then caught the train to my regular stop and then my bus home. It was so nice I might 

 

do something like that tomorrow. As far as the weather goes, it doesn't get much better than this. Low tonight will be 48°F and 73°F during the afternoon tomorrow. Clear and blue sky.

 

                                  Fruit tree produced fruit this year.                              

Monarch Butterfly stops to refuel on its migration to the mountains of North Mexico for the winter.

At the George Bush Presidential Library & Museum

The nature trails that surround the Library and Museum on the south side of the main building, covers the area from North Central Expressway on the East to the George Bush Avenue on the western side, shows new trails that have been cut and some bridge work seems to have been done in some areas, along with a couple of new memorial areas where contributors have paid for new benches. The Rory Meyers Meditation Garden is a neat little area with twin benches.

The main things that is more important here is that after the hard freezes in February that have killed a number of plant species have done little or no damage at the trails landscape. Flowers were blooming; trees had blossoms and buds. Last fall was a stunning nature adventure in University Park.