Houston Space Center

Today we drove to Houston to visit the Space Center.  What a cool place!  We started with the Tram Tour which took us to Building 30 which houses Mission Control, followed by the Astronaut Training Facility and the Rocket Garden which holds a refurbished Saturn V rocket now housed in a new building.

We had to climb 87 steps to see the historic Mission Control which has been preserved with all its original equipment - not a computer in sight!  It ran all Gemini and Apollo missions and Space Shuttle missions from 1981 to 1992. It was a neat feeling to see the place where so much space history happened, from the Apollo 11 Moon Landings to the Apollo 13 near disaster to the early space shuttle mission.

Our next stop was the Astronaut Training Facility which contains mock ups of all International Space Station (ISS) modules to orient future astronauts to their layout and equipment. Here's a picture of most of the U.S modules.  Also present are the Russian modules, a space shuttle mock up, and the new Orion and SpaceX Dragon crafts.  It also contained a robotics lab where various robotic equipment can be run through an obstacle course.

With all that, the Space Center opened a brand new exhibit last Saturday - the Independence Shuttle mounted on one of the two shuttle transport crafts - a modified Boeing 747. Here's a distance shot of both and a close up nose shot of the two craft hooked together.  The nice thing is that, unlike seeing the three shuttles that actually flew into space that are no-touch exhibits, on this craft (which came from the Florida Space Center), you can walk through this shuttle and the carrier aircraft!  That was very special.

So now we are in Houston with only our drive to Dallas and our flight home in front of us tomorrow.  

San Antonio - Day 2

We enjoyed our second day in San Antonio today by sleeping in and having a leisurely breakfast.  After heading out, our main activity was a boat ride through the River Walk.  It was an enjoyable and surprisingly long boat trip. We had a sunny, beautiful day for it as you can see in this picture.

After the boat trip we enjoyed lunch at an Irish Pub before catching some rays in the Alamo Plaza in the 72 degree heat, much better than the 32 it is back home today.  Mary took this picture today with the Texas flag fully extended.
We're planning a quiet evening since we'll need an early start tomorrow for the 3 hour drive to Houston to visit the Space Center.

San Antonio

Today we headed out VERY early on an extended weekend trip to southeastern Texas. A few weeks ago I got a great deal on a 6:00 am flight to Dallas and return flight on Tuesday so the planning began. Once in Dallas we picked up our rental car and drove to San Antonio, a place we both wanted to visit.

We arrived at 1:30, checked into our hotel, then headed across the street to the Alamo.  It was a bright, sunny, 65 degree afternoon and we found the exhibit very interesting.  I especially enjoyed reading the history and context of the battle.
This evening we met Dianne Hooper, a friend of Mary's who lives in this area, for dinner. Mary had not seen her for a few years so it was really nice for them to catch up in person.  We ate at Casa Rio which is on the Riverwalk, and had Mexican meals along with local craft beer, a great evening!

Tomorrow we will spend more time at the Riverwalk -- walking and taking a boat tour -- before heading to Houston on Monday to visit the Space Center.  On Tuesday we  head back to Dallas to fly home. Quite the whirlwind trip and a chance to get warm (It's supposed to be in the 70's the next 2 days) and see a part of the country new to us!