A Timely Visit to Dallas' Perot Museum

DEBORAH CROMBIE: You know how it is when you live in a place and you never get around to doing the "attractions?" (I'm a native Dallasite, for instance, and have never been to the JFK museum at Dealy Plaza...) Nor had I been to the PEROT  MUSEUM OF NATURE AND SCIENCE, open more than a decade, although I must have driven by the striking building in downtown Dallas a couple of hundred times.

I mean, how could you NOT notice that????

But life is busy, and sometimes you have to make time for things. So, my sister-in-law is visiting from Tasmania for the week , and my daughter and I thought it would be fun to take her to the Perot. And there is a fabulous exhibit on, THE ART OF THE BRICK, by Lego artist Nathan Sawaya.

We booked ahead, then woke yesterday morning to the news that Ross Perot had died.

Such an interesting person, Ross Perot, a truly self-made man, billionaire, philanthropist, and such a fixture in Dallas history and culture. He cared passionately about science and education, and the Perot museum is only a small part of the legacy he left us.

Here's a little pictorial tribute from our day, staring with my daughter towering over me in her heels:-)

Here are some highlights from the fabulous ART OF THE BRICK  exhibition. If this comes to your city, do go see it! Nathan Sawaya recreates many famous masterpieces with Lego bricks--you can probably name a few of them!

I'm sorry I didn't get a photo of his Girl with a Pearl Earring, which is the one I keep thinking about. But we liked his original work even more. "Swimmer" was a particular favorite for all three of us.

And how about T-Rex here? Can you believe that is made from Lego?

And then on to the museum itself. We only really saw two out of the four permanent exhibit floors, but they were fabulous, especially the fossils! Check out these guys!

And a close up of my very fave, the sea turtle.

All the exhibits are so interesting and so well designed. I'll be going back, and I highly recommend those of you who are visiting Dallas for Bouchercon to give the Perot at least a few hours.

I'm grateful to Ross Perot for his generosity and for his dedication to education and to his city. But my favorite quote from the obits I read yesterday was this: 

When asked in 2016 how he wanted to be remembered, he said, "Aw, I don't worry about that." 'Nuff said.

You can read more about Perot and his philanthropy here.

REDs and readers, who do you admire for their charitable legacies?