Aside from seeing some of our children and attending the Traffic and Conversion summit there were two other places that I wanted to see while I was in College Station and Austin Texas.
On my bucket list was the Bat Bridge which was right outside our hotel in Austin. I did not know that the Bush Library was in College Station but as soon as I found out I told Nestor I was not leaving College Station without a visit to the George Bush library because of the significance in my life of some major events that are exhibited in this library.
We also knew that the Bush Library would be great for a homeschool field trip about that time period of our country, learning about one of our Presidents and interacting with different exhibits.
Well, we could not get him to leave. He was having such a blast he would have stayed there all day long. We were greeted by a volunteer who told our son that this library was perfect for kids because they encouraged the kids touching everything! Now, what eight year old boy would not love to hear that!
The main reason that I wanted to go was because they have a great exhibit of the Berlin Wall coming down. In fact, the Germans gave President Bush Sr. a piece of the wall and it is on exhibit in the library. Seeing the wall brings chills down my spine because I lived as a child right on the border of East and West Berlin. I lived this horror. I saw people get shot for trying to escape over the wall to a better life on the west side of the street. I was not there when the wall came down but my brother was. Here is the post I wrote about the Berlin Wall.
Explaining this life to our son was a great teaching moment. I will write more about the wall later. There is a sculpture outside of the library that signifies the Freedom when the Iron curtain fell. The horses are jumping over the wall which is falling down with the western side graffiti clearly visible. Horses represent man's desire to be free. Veryl Goodnight fro New Mexico made this sculpture. The first casting was a gift from the American people to the German people.
The other thing that I was very impressed by was President Bush and Barbara Bush's humble, very humble beginnings which I did not know. The strength that Barbara Bush had when their daughter died of Leukemia was very touching and inspiring. There is a letter that George Bush Sr wrote to his daughter on her passing.
I also did not know that he was a pilot on a bombing mission over Japan. He almost died had it not been for a US Naval submarine that spotted him alone in the ocean after his plane went down and rescued him. We were able to watch the actual footage of that event.
There is a replica of the oval office in the library. The volunteers take photos of you sitting behind the President's desk. Our son got a kick out of this room. He went through all the drawers in the desk and then pretended to be the President.
We went into the Security Counsel room. This was another favorite room for our son as he learned all the responsibility our Presidents have in that room.
If you ever have a chance to go you will not be disappointed. To read more of our Travels in Real Estate click here.
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