Galveston and Houston, TX (03-13-11)

    Sometimes I really wish I had a video of what I do every day, so I could watch it (on fast forward) when it's time to write  my blog.  There are many times that I think to myself that I should remember something, but the odds of me actually remembering when it's time to write aren't so good.  I do rely a lot on my pictures and actually take some pictures of signs or other things just to trigger a memory.
   As we head across Texas towards Louisiana, we've stopped for a few days in a place called League City.  It's about halfway between Galveston and Houston, which gives us the opportunity to head either way.


Mission Control

 Our first outing was to Johnson Space Center in Houston.   We started the day with a tram ride to the building that contains the "Mission Control" room. Security for that tour was really tight.  Our bags were searched (for the second time) and we were issued "passes" that we had to show and after leaving the building they were collected, to make sure everyone was accounted for.  No one was allowed to wander off anywhere. There was an observation room  that we sat in while the guide explained the Control Room and how it was set up.  On one wall were a bunch of plaques, each one unique, representing individual completed missions.  On the opposite wall are the plaques that represent current missions-right now, the plaque for the shuttle Discovery, which is still considered to be an active mission.  Once that mission is finished, whoever in the control room gets voted "MVP"  will move the plaque over to the "finished" side in a small ceremony.  Also on the "ongoing/active mission" side are the plaques for Challenger, Columbia, and Apollo 13.  They will always stay on the "ongoing" side.



       The next building contained a Saturn V rocket.  That thing was Huge!  It was hard to fit it into a picture!  The different stages of the rocket were separated by a few feet so you could stand between them and check it all out.  

Saturn V rocket

   Once back in the main building we looked at the exhibits, a good portion of which were interactive and many of them were aimed at kids. We skipped the simulators and watched a live presentation showing how astronauts handle everyday tasks on the space station.
   I enjoyed the presentation about the Apollo missions, especially, of course, Apollo 11.  I think that day is one of those occasions where everyone remembers where they were. So, on July 20, 1969, at the age of 10, I was standing in the livingroom of my parent's house, with all the furniture piled in the middle of the room, because we were re-wallpapering the walls.  We all took a break and watched on our small black and white TV as Neil Armstrong took the first steps on the moon.

    The next day we headed in the other direction, down to Galveston Island.  We had no specific idea of what we were actually going  do, we just wanted to check out the area, so we meandered around the island and went for a long walk on the beach.  I saw a blueish jelly fish- the first one I've ever seen that wasn't clear or white.  All of the houses anywhere near the beach are built on very tall stilts.  Its very odd looking.  Some people have closed in the bottom floor, and others have left it wide open.      We had thought we would stop at the Kemah Boardwalk, an amusement park with a boardwalk like Universal Studios Citywalk, but it's spring break and the line of cars waiting to get into the parking lot made us change our mind.