Astronaut training center

More Texas!  The Houston area is quite nice, but the weather can change very quickly.  The first few days were quite warm (80-ish) and humid, and we had a day of pouring rain.  Then it got colder and we had some strong winds that kept us from leaving until Friday.  But there is plenty to do in the area. 

First we went to the Kemah Boardwalk and ate at T-Bone Tom’s (a “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” recommendation).  The rainy day we went to a huge mall and watched the Christmas shoppers.  The next day was beautiful, so we went to Galveston.  I’m posting a picture of the Gulf Coast as well as a sample of how they build homes on the second story because of the possibility of hurricane flooding.  The area underneath is parking.  There are lots of old, historic houses on the island.  Some are very nice, but there are also many homes that are in disrepair or abandoned.  It’s certainly different than the beach towns of Southern California.  Tuesday we went into Houston to Bayou Bend, an estate and gardens built by Houston philanthropist Ima Hogg.  The estate is now a museum – Ima never married so she gifted her home and property to the city.  Her family made their fortune in oil, an industry that is very visible in the area.  We also went out to the Battle of San Jacinto monument.  It is on the site of Sam Houston’s victory over Santa Anna several months after the defeat at the Alamo.  Were it not for Houston’s success, the whole southwest might have stayed part of Mexico.

The other important site in the area is the Johnson Space Center.  The museum and exhibits are excellent, but we especially enjoyed the part where you get to go inside the NASA facilities there.  We saw the control center used in the Apollo program, the astronaut training center, and some of the actual rockets and space capsules. 

Today we drove to Lafayette, Louisiana, so next week I’ll have Cajun adventures to report on.  Until then, we wish all our friends and family a very Merry Christmas!

Kemah Boardwalk

Gulf coast at Galveston

Galveston coastal style house

Bayou Bend estate

Apollo space capsule