Visit to Houston Museum of Natural Science - A Twitter thread

A very Happy Newfamily, went for a trip to Houston. Houston is a 4 hour drive from Dallas and is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the state of Texas. The city is named after Sam Houston who was the first President of the independent Texas Republic.

On the first day of our visit to Houston, we went for the Houston Museum of Natural Science. The institution is more than hundred years old having being established in 1909 and is one of the most popular museums in the United States.

During the visit I clicked a number of pictures of the exhibits for which I created a twitter thread. I created the twitter thread rather than a detailed blog post as I found it much easier to maintain and update the thread rather than a blog post. I can easily update the thread from my phone where I have all the pictures stored. Doing all that for a blog post is a bit cumbersome.

I am still in the process of updating the thread with pictures and information on new exhibits. Also during the trip I did visit few other places of great interest for which I will be creating separate threads. So please keep watching.

Wishing you all a very successful and Happy New Year.

Platybelodon... mammoths with a shovel like tusk. Estimated to be there around 17 million years ago. pic.twitter.com/7wYuXnnQPi

— RaktimⓂ️ (@1cosmicguru) January 2, 2019

A journey by Grapevine Vintage Railroad

We recently undertook a journey on the Grapevine Vintage Railroad from Main Street Station of Grapevine to Fort Worth Stockyards. It is a 21 mile route which is part of the once St. Louis South Western Railway also called the 'The Cotton Belt Route'. It generally operates with a 1896 ear steam engine or a diesel engine. The steam locomotive is called 'Puffy' and is the oldest continuously operated steam loco in the south. The diesel locomotive is known and 'Vinny' and is of 1953 make. 

The coaches are from 1920s era and are well maintained. There is one which is air-conditioned and one which is open; no windows. Guests can choose from either of the options. The coaches are well maintained and there are few refreshment options available on-board as well.we

Main Street Station of Grapevine is a historic station which dates back to 1888. The Fort Worth Stockyards came up in late 1880s to stock cattle which the the railroads reached the region. The current Stockyards station is housed in a building which was originally built in 1912.

The famous Cattle Drive Sculptures at Pioneer Plaza, Dallas

Texas is famous for it's long horn cattles first introduced to the New World by early European settlers. Texas has a long tradition of these cattles being driven from the south to railroads and business centers in the north. Shawnee Trail was the Eastern most and earliest of these trails which passed through the current area of Dallas, Austin and Waco. Drovers used to drive hundreds of cattles collected from this area along the trail to northern rail heads. Shawnee Trail was in use before and after the American Civil War but gradually declined because of protests from farmers of the territory through which the trail passed. Later on Friday other trails to the west developed and Shawnee Trail was gradually closed down.

A trip to Frisco Heritage Museum - Glimpses into the History of Frisco

Frisco is one of the many cities in the Dallas Fort-Worth Area and is one the fastest growing ones. We recently visited the Frisco Heritage Museum and having gone through some of the artifacts over there followed by some reading over internet could well appreciate the fact that Frisco's history dates back more than 150 years. And railways has got a central to play in this history.

The early settlers came down following the Preston Trail, current Preston Road, and settled in the area around 1840s. The first community to be formed was called Lebanon as some of the settlers had their roads in Lebanon, Tennessee. In 1902 a line of the St. Louis - San Francisco railroad was built through the area and they had a watering stop for the steam engine around 4 miles west of where the community was setup initially. Many of the Lebanon community moved to around this new location. The dwellers of this new town called it Frisco City after the name of railway line; later shortened to Frisco. The city even derives it's current coat of arms from the logo of St. Louis - San Francisco railroad. The Frisco Heritage Museum preserves a part of that history. It is a nice small museum where you could spend couple of hours browsing through Frisco's history.

A visit to Fort Worth Zoo, Texas

Forth Worth Zoo is a 64 acre zoological garden situated in Fort Worth, Texas. Opened in 1909 the zoo is more than 100 years old now. It is the second largest zoo in the DFW area just behind Dallas Zoo. We recently visited the zoo and here are some pictures of the Zoo inmates. It is definitely worth a day's visit if you are in town. Children would specially find it enjoyable.

There are many more animals in the zoo apart from the ones captured below. But for rest of them the pictures available are not of good quality. All pictures are taken by the writer using Huawei Honor 4x.