Abilene, Texas

During spring break I spent some time in a little town that has plenty of interesting places--Abilene.  The city has preserved a lot of their old buildings that are light years ahead of these modern "piles", as Mark Twain would call them.   The historic district is down town.

The Grace is a museum.

Just look at the fancy work on the outside of this building.

You can still see movies in the Paramount.

I think this is the tallest building in Abilene--and it is old.

The beautiful depot is preserved and made into shops--one features chocolates.

A fine gift shop if ever I saw one.

And would you believe that little old Abilene is the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature?

This is a pop-up display of Alice in Wonderland at the NCCIL.  The curator wouldn't let me crawl under the ropes for a better shot, so this is as good as I could do.

"The NCCIL recognizes the artists achievements by curating original gallery exhibitions of their works."  These exhibits travel throughout the US.  At this time, the exhibit was The Berenstain Bears Out West.

The exhibit showed each step in making the illustrations for this popular book.  I had no idea what went into these pictures that I took for granted when reading the book to Baby Roberto!  They had the story that was scratched onto a yellow legal pad, colored overlays by the pages, and even showed how the book was bound.  And to think schools can haul bus loads of kids there to see the actual work.

A bit of whimsy down town.

Abilene came into being because of the Texas and Pacific Railroad in 1883. 

It has three church schools--Hardin-Simmons, McMurry, and Abilene Christian University.  Yes, Abilene is in the Bible Belt of Texas.  It is a pretty town, with lots of trees, and some of the biggest and  prettiest mesquites growing in yards you would ever hope to see.  Bobby is working here every day, so I plan to spend lots of time in Abilene.