Veterans Park Vietnam War Memorial Thorny Spring Hike With Meatloaf

The first day of Spring seemed to be a good day to visit the closest to my location Vietnam War Memorial, which is in Arlington, in Veterans Park.

Unlike yesterday's last day of Winter, for this first day of Spring I layered myself in sufficient outer wear to insulate from the windy cold.

After paying my respects at the two Veterans Park War Memorials I continued on to have myself a mighty fine, cold hike in the Veterans Park back country.

Til today it'd been awhile since I've hiked the Veterans Park back country. Years ago I hiked those backwoods frequently. Today I managed to get a bit bollixed up, sort of having to blaze a trail through a thicket of brush, some with thorns. I had two incidents where I was stopped by getting tangled up in brush.

I only remembered there being one creek that needed crossing in the Veterans Park back country. Today I had to figure out how to ford three narrow creeks.

By the time I made it back to paved civilization my shoes were not too muddy.

There was quite a large throng of people enjoying the first day of Spring, including a lot of disc golfers. The appeal of disc golfing is not understood by my feeble imagination.

I see an incoming email from Mr. Prairie Notes, Don Young, with "Happy Vernal Equinox!" as the subject line. I must go read  that and then have lunch.

Meatloaf, rice and beans....

With An Old Lady Saluting Arlington's New Veterans Park Vietnam War Memorial

The other person besides myself who reads this blog is likely looking at that tidy row of outhouses and thinking I must have visited one of Fort Worth's many outhouse infested parks today.

Well, that person would be wrong.

The tidy row of outhouses you see here is a temporary installation in Veterans Park in Arlington.

Arlington is a town whose parks have few outhouses, unless one counts the amazing number of outhouses which dot the parking lots surrounding Arlington's ballparks, as in the place the Texas Rangers play baseball and the crashed spaceship in which the Dallas Cowboys try to play football.

I believe it likely that this tidy row of outhouses was installed in Veterans Park for the use of the crowd which attended the dedication ceremony for the new Veterans Park Vietnam War Memorial.

Let's take a look at the new Veterans Park Vietnam War Memorial.

As I hiked west, up a brown grassy knoll, towards the new memorial, I saw what appeared to be a white-haired little ol' lady saluting something. What is she saluting, I wondered? We will find out.

As I walked towards the saluting senior, and stepped onto the memorial area, the first thing I came upon was what appeared to be a large gold Buddhist urn, filled with coarse sand in which many spent stick of incense were stuck. At the center of the memorial there is a statue of two soldiers. The soldier on the left appears to be Vietnamese, fighting next to an American soldier. The red, white and blue wreath on the left paid tribute to the American soldiers. I assume the yellow and red wreath on the right paid tribute to the Vietnamese soldiers. But I could not read what that wreath was conveying because I am unable to read Vietnamese.

After looking at the wreaths I looked left to see what it was the white-haired senior had been saluting.

A long message on a shiny slab of polished marble or granite or some such polishable stone, of which my photo only shows about half of the message. At the top, in capital letters, "THEY SACRIFICED SO OTHERS COULD LIVE".

The first paragraph, being saluted, "Vietnam was for so many years engulfed in the fires and destruction of  war. More than 2 million soldiers in the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces, and more than 1,000,000 soldiers in the Armed Forces of the United States of America and Allied Nations fought valiantly and selflessly side by side for South Vietnam. Countless soldiers suffered injuries and became disabled. More than 300,000 South Vietnamese soldiers and more  than 58,000 American soldiers gave the ultimate sacrifice, dying so the people of South Vietnam could live. They died, but their heroic spirits will never die. They were gone, but they are not forgotten."

I think I will not touch the irony in the sentiment expressed above and just leave it alone.

Above and below is a look at the American and South Vietnamese soldiers, fighting side by side. I believe the yellow and red flag, above, in the middle between the American flag and the state flag of Texas, was the South Vietnam flag, back when there was still a South Vietnam.

I was very impressed by Arlington's new Vietnam War Memorial. On one of the shiny slabs of stone we learn who donated the funds to build this memorial. Many of the donors were Vietnamese Americans, some of whom I assume were born in America, some of whom I assume were among those who escaped to America during the final sad chapter of that sad war.

Arlington has a large Vietnamese American community, who have made quite an impact on Arlington in many ways. A positive impact, working hard to make it in their new land, opening restaurants, grocery stores and other businesses.

The last time I had to renew my driver's license, back in August of 2012, I waited in line for hours behind a funny Vietnamese lady. She was one of the Boat People who made it to America back in 1974. She was very young when she left Vietnam, leaving her mom behind. She has made it back twice to Vietnam to visit her mom and other relatives. And her mom has visited once in America.

It works out best for America when we welcome new people, no matter how they get here, with open arms, not demonizing them as illegal aliens. Or so it seems to me.

Another thing. Arlington's new Vietnam Memorial was built very quickly. It seems like only a month ago, or so, I saw the foundation work underway. Clearly no unqualified son of a local congresswoman was in charge of getting this project finished.....

In Arlington's Veterans Park Checking Out The Incoming Vietnam War Memorial

No, that is not a selfie photo of my new hiking boots you are looking at here.

The boots you see here were not made for walking. These boots are being worn by the tall statue of an armed soldier who stands guard over the memorial in Veterans Park in Arlington.

I was in the neighborhood so I decided to take myself on a relaxing walk in one of the best parks in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

That sign you see between the soldier's legs is telling you that a Vietnam War Memorial is being built. Construction appeared to be well underway, as you can see below.

The soldier whose boots we were previously looking at is surrounded by those white pillars you see in the background.

The Vietnam War Memorial looks as if it will be quite large. No clue as to what it will look like.

In Dallas, in Fair Park, where the State Fair of Texas is currently underway, there is a Vietnam War Memorial of the same sort as the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. A wall with the names of all the Texans killed in that unfortunate war. It is a bit shocking to see that wall with all those names, representing only a fraction of all those killed in that awful war.

The thing about Arlington's Veterans Park that makes it such a great park is the variety of attractions. There is a paved trail for walking, biking and blading. There is a disc golf course. A Wildscape Xeriscape deal with all natural landscaping of the low water needs, grows well in Texas type. The trails through the Wildscape are like a walk in a woods. There is also a more formal type garden adjacent to the Wildscape. The park has a couple covered picnic pavilions. There is a big playground for kids.

And then there is the undeveloped part of Veterans Park. A hilly, heavily wooded maze of trails that one can get  lost in the first couple visits. In the hilly, heavily wooded part of Veterans Park it does  not seem one is at the heart of a metro zone with over 6 million people in residence.

The big dead tree, atop a cliff, is in the aforementioned hilly, heavily wooded part of the park. At this location there used to be a rope hanging from a tree that is behind me. Thrill seekers would hold on to that rope and jump off the cliff for a long swing back and forth.

The rope still dangles, but years ago vandals lit a big fire under the rope, burning it into uselessness. I don't know why no one has  replaced the rope. Well, except for the fact it would be a scary operation, climbing up the host tree and going way out on a limb. I always wondered how that rope got there in the first place.

No regularly scheduled Saturday Tandy Hill hiking for me today, with no Town Talk visit. I am trying real hard to get out of my predictable rut. That and I have not been liking Town Talk all that much of late.

Rolling Wheels Through Wilderness Searching For Arlington's Vietnam War Memorial

Today I decided to roll my mechanized wheels to a wilderness location to pedal my handlebars to the scenic scene you see here.

I don't have to go far in my rural location on the planet to be in wilderness that looks untouched by man.

About 8 miles takes me to a park in Arlington called Veterans Park, which would make that which you see here the Veterans Park Wilderness.

Bus loads of school kids celebrating the end of the school year were cluttering up the park today, along with way too many disc golfers.

It was way back in mid December of last year that I was last at Veterans Park. At that point in time I saw a sign that indicated to me that some sort of Vietnam War Memorial was going to be added to the existing Veterans Memorial. I figured with it being about six months later that the new memorial would be ready to be seen.

I figured wrong. Nothing new, the same sign I saw months ago.

Now I'm wondering if maybe the sign is the Vietnam War Memorial.

Unlike America's Biggest Boondoggle, that being Fort Worth's Trinity River Central City Panther Island Vision Boondoggle, Arlington is very modest with its signage.

In this instance, however, Arlington seems to maybe be emulating American's Biggest Boondoggle in putting up a sign indicating something is about to be built.

And then nothing happens....