TEXAS: FORT WORTH MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND HISTORY, OUR LAST TEXAS BARBECUE, AND A LONG, LONG JOURNEY HOME

On our last day in Texas we happened to be driving past the FORT WORTH MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND HISTORY, a place not on our itinerary, but when we saw a marquee for the showing of the movie Jerusalem in their IMAX theater, we made an unscheduled stop because we have a trip to Jerusalem coming up in 2015.

We had very little time for checking out the actual museum, but it looks like a wonderful place to spend a day. On our way to the theater, we did admire a 9/11 Tribute that included this piece of the North Tower of the World Trade Center:

The Fort Worth Omni Theater was the first IMAX screen in the Southwest, and it's still the largest screen west of the Mississippi. If you get vertigo, the soaring images on the 8-story tall 120-foot-wide screen will definitely be a challenge, as it was for me. However, the movie, produced by National Geographic, was a spectacular visual introduction to Jerusalem, and I am glad we went.

TEXAS: DINOSAUR VALLEY STATE PARK, THE FORT WORTH STOCKYARDS, AND THE Y. O. RANCH STEAKHOUSE IN DALLAS

A life-sized diorama near the exit of Fossil Rim got us ready for our next destination, DINOSAUR VALLEY STATE PARK, located just a few miles away.

Dinosaur Valley presents an epochal contrast to the living animals of Fossil Rim. This place is haunted by the ghosts of dinosaurs past who have left their heavy footprints in what was once mud at the edge of an inland ocean, but which has since become hard stone.

 The gloominess of the late afternoon added an appropriate sense of mystery.

 A flat rock bed just under the surface of the water contains the first sauropod footprints ever discovered. Sauropods are among the largest animals ever to live on land.

DALLAS: THE MUSEUM OF BIBLICAL ART / FORT WORTH: AMON CARTER MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART

What is it about art museums that I love so much? Maybe part of it is that good art, like good literature, makes me ask questions because it challenges me to see the world through different eyes. Or maybe it is that every time I look at a painting or a sculpture, I find a different answer to those questions, the same way I see new things in a book with each reading.  

Take, for example, this crucifixion scene by American artist Gib Singleton. I've seen lots of variations on this theme, and most artists put women at the base of Christ's cross, not a watchful shepherd. The way the shepherd is posed looking upward brings to mind the angels' visit to the shepherds on the night Jesus was born and one angel's words: "Fear not: for behold, I bring to you good tidings of great joy."

Where is that joy now? And what of the way Christ hangs from the cross on strips of cloth rather than by nails through his hands? Are those pieces of fabric Jesus' burial clothes, or do they have another meaning?

That crucifix was our first exposure to the Dallas Museum of Biblical Art, a museum about which I have mixed feelings. It's purpose is to display works related to the New and Old Testaments. Unfortunately, there was a fire here in 2005 that pretty much burned the place down, and I think they are still in the process of rebuilding their collection. I thought there were a few too many copies and not enough originals.

My other gripe is that the museum doesn't allow photography of most of the art inside. I've taken pictures in almost every museum I've been in, from the Louvre to the Prado to the Hermitage to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Why not here?