The Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine, Texas is a convention center just outside Dallas. Corporate headquarters for Deanfoods, my place of employment, is in Dallas so I traveled there to attend corporate meetings. Full days of meetings did not allow us much time to visit the city except for one dinner at a nice Texas barbecue but we did have time to enjoy the amenities of the resort. As it was 100 degrees in Dallas at the time I did not mind staying inside. The convention venue was top notch and the accommodations were what you would expect from a high end convention center. The rooms were facing inwards towards the atrium.
A business trip brought me to the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tennessee. Unfortunately full days of meetings and workshops did not allow us to see much of the city but the resort had plenty to offer for after hours entertainment. The restaurants and bars were what you would expect from a high end convention facility and the interior decor exemplified what the Gaylord family of resorts offer. Just taking a walk through the landscaped interior garden was a great way to relax after a long day.
Founded in 1951, the Birmingham Museum of Art in Birmingham, Alabama, today has one of the finest collections in the Southeastern United States, with more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts representing a numerous diverse cultures, including Asian, European, American, African, Pre-Columbian, and Native American. Among other highlights, the Museum’s collection of Asian art is considered the finest and most comprehensive in the Southeast, and its Vietnamese ceramics one of the finest in the U.S. The Museum also is home to a remarkable Kress Collection of Renaissance and Baroque paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts from the late 13th century to c.1750, and the 18th-century European decorative arts include superior examples of English ceramics and French furniture. The Birmingham Museum of Art is owned by the City of Birmingham and encompasses 3.9 acres in the heart of the city’s cultural district. Erected in 1959, the present building was designed by architects Warren, Knight and Davis, and a major renovation and expansion by Edward Larrabee Barnes of New York was completed in 1993.
