This friend of mine was telling me that there was an animatronic LBJ down at the LBJ museum and library, and I was all like "You’re totally high, there’s no animatronic LBJ," and she was all like "I ain’t high. And he tells jokes."
Well, we went down there yesterday (it’s a free museum, no reason not to go) and it turns out that there is indeed a robotic LBJ.
And he does indeed tell jokes. We decided that if he suddenly started climbing the fence to get at us, we would completely freak out.
The museum had surprisingly little biographical content about LBJ. Most displays focused on things that happened about the same time as LBJ lived, but not actually in proximity. Like Dustin Hoffman or Twiggy, who probably never had a significant influence on the Johnson administration, but they have an entire wall to themselves at the museum.
There was also a lot of space program content, like this moon rock:
I was a bit starstruck, even though it was just a rock it was the first definitive alien artifact I’ve seen up close.
They also had this model of the Mercury 7 astronauts:
It’s like a photograph, but more rubbery.
I would also recommend the laser lightshow spectacular. It’s ostensibly about the quest for space, but mainly it’s a darkened room with swirling laser patterns while the speakers blare 60s psychedelia music like "Age of Aquarius." The show is hands down the most amazing museum exhibit I’ve ever seen, and also probably the least educational.