Saturday we went to the Houston Space Center down south of town. It started off a really gorgeous day but by the time we left at about 5 pm, the temperature had dropped 20 degrees and it was pouring cold rain! We ran for the car and got soaked in the process. The Space Center was fun - lots of people - holiday weekend, you know. They have a great display of all the different stages of the space program including the moon rover, Apollo capsules, a full size mockup of Skylab and a moon rock which we all had to touch of course (see silly picture above), several good presentations including one regarding what it is like to be an astronaut.
After lunch, Bill and Matt went off as Bill was getting tired, so Laura, Danielle and I decided to take one of the tours. First mistake. We should have done it early. Second mistake. Then we decided to take the tour that supposedly "they only offer a couple of times a year" -- sounds interesting, right? THIRD MISTAKE! by that time we were committed and trapped in a line like the ones at Disneyland, but unlike Disneyland, IT DIDN'T MOVE!!! After we waited and waited for an hour and made the acquaintance of our fellow queue-standers, we were ushered into a big bus, drove in utter silence for nearly 20 minutes and finally arrived at the underwater training center where they teach astronauts to do the repairs and installation on the Space Station. It would have been pretty interesting if something was happening, but it was Saturday and there was NOBODY DOING ANYTHING and no one to explain what we were seeing or anything. Now, it IS the biggest pool in the world, about the size of a football field and 40 feet deep. But we should have had a clue when we saw the faces of the people coming off the bus - totally deadpan. Why didn't someone TELL us????
We tried to make up for this total waste of two hours by going to an IMAX presentation about becoming an astronaut and doing a little shopping, but by that time we had had it.
On the drive home, I was reflecting about how Hurricane Ike must have roared through there. The Space Center is about halfway to Galveston, which was totally leveled, and it is nearly completely flat from the coast to Houston. Not a single bump of a hill to slow the thing down. No wonder they got walloped. We saw lots of evidence of the hurricane, but most of the damage is in the process of being repaired, and you could see stumps of trees everywhere. I'll take an earthquake any day. Matt and Danielle had no power for 17 days and were totally bug eaten by the time the power came back on (no window screens since they almost never need to open their windows), no fans. It's still really hot in Houston in September too. Remind me to stay out of there during hurricane season.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
texas two step
Well, we are back from our trip to Austin and Houston to see Laura, Matt and Danielle which was full of drama, as usual when I travel with Bill. We left on 12/21, but the drama started the day before when I couldn't find his identification card. I tore the house up before I finally told myself to take a breath and figure out another solution, as there was no way I was going to be able to find the darn thing. He has not used it since we went to Texas in April and I have no idea where it is. The lady from American Airlines told us to take any identification we had, so I ended up with his 25 year old expired passport, his birth certificate and a Kaiser card.
The next day, we drove to Palm Springs Airport (another new experience - nice little airport, like Ontario used to be)and they just said that he would get extra checking, which he has to do anyway since he can't walk through the metal detector. Other than that it went well, they put us on the bulk head and we rode in first class by ourselves from Dallas to Austin (big whoop, 35 minutes). When we got to Austin it was freezing cold, about 35 degrees and stayed that way until Tuesday. Laura and I went to the Christmas lunch at her new job at the hospital and I enjoyed meeting her co-workers who are all social workers, so we all had something to talk about. Nice bunch of people. She is now working in a hospital (medical social work) and is really enjoying it - she feels like she is using her education now - always a good feeling.
Tuesday she worked, so Bill and I drove on down to Houston so I could help Danielle get ready for Christmas. By the time we got there it was clear and warm, about 65 degrees and stayed nice until Saturday. She and I shopped for everyone (I didn't take any presents except two candles for Laura and Danielle), wrapped everything, decorated the house and made a centerpiece with some antique silver from Danielle's grandma, bought a tree and decorated it, filled the refrigerator, planned Christmas dinner and cooked enchiladas, chile and corn bread in the space about about 36 hours. Talk about a power Christmas! Honestly, I rather enjoyed it as I had only done some shopping for folks in my office up to that point. Laura came down the 24th. Otherwise, we watched movies (Fred Claus and Tropic Thunder), played Scrabble and the kids resurrected the FAMTASTEX rock band -- Laura has discovered that she does VERY well on drums, something she hadn't tried before. Matt has always been the drummer and Danielle and Laura take turns doing the vocals. Everybody takes turns on guitar. It's really fun to watch, as I am waaayyy too klutzy to actually participate. Hand-eye coordination? -- not so much!! The Scrabble games are always fun as we are all pretty evenly matched except for Matt who cheats! (Not really, he is just really good at it...)
Christmas we ate quiche and panneton, opened presents and just generally enjoyed the day. Matt said it was the best Christmas he had had in years. It was just good to be together. Dinner was a joint effort - Danielle made some great gouda-laced mashed potatoes, I made the Texera broccoli, Laura did the stuffed mushrooms, and Matt made a tenderloin roast with a spicy crab salad (wow!). What a dinner. It was really nice and relaxed since nobody was slaving in the kitchen. Pumpkin pie later followed by a chaser of whipped cream directly into the mouth....
Bill did ok, although there were a few issues with accessibility at both Laura's and Matt's houses -- nothing that couldn't be overcome, however. He really enjoyed the trip and was willing to accept some inconveniences.
The next day, we drove to Palm Springs Airport (another new experience - nice little airport, like Ontario used to be)and they just said that he would get extra checking, which he has to do anyway since he can't walk through the metal detector. Other than that it went well, they put us on the bulk head and we rode in first class by ourselves from Dallas to Austin (big whoop, 35 minutes). When we got to Austin it was freezing cold, about 35 degrees and stayed that way until Tuesday. Laura and I went to the Christmas lunch at her new job at the hospital and I enjoyed meeting her co-workers who are all social workers, so we all had something to talk about. Nice bunch of people. She is now working in a hospital (medical social work) and is really enjoying it - she feels like she is using her education now - always a good feeling.
Tuesday she worked, so Bill and I drove on down to Houston so I could help Danielle get ready for Christmas. By the time we got there it was clear and warm, about 65 degrees and stayed nice until Saturday. She and I shopped for everyone (I didn't take any presents except two candles for Laura and Danielle), wrapped everything, decorated the house and made a centerpiece with some antique silver from Danielle's grandma, bought a tree and decorated it, filled the refrigerator, planned Christmas dinner and cooked enchiladas, chile and corn bread in the space about about 36 hours. Talk about a power Christmas! Honestly, I rather enjoyed it as I had only done some shopping for folks in my office up to that point. Laura came down the 24th. Otherwise, we watched movies (Fred Claus and Tropic Thunder), played Scrabble and the kids resurrected the FAMTASTEX rock band -- Laura has discovered that she does VERY well on drums, something she hadn't tried before. Matt has always been the drummer and Danielle and Laura take turns doing the vocals. Everybody takes turns on guitar. It's really fun to watch, as I am waaayyy too klutzy to actually participate. Hand-eye coordination? -- not so much!! The Scrabble games are always fun as we are all pretty evenly matched except for Matt who cheats! (Not really, he is just really good at it...)
Christmas we ate quiche and panneton, opened presents and just generally enjoyed the day. Matt said it was the best Christmas he had had in years. It was just good to be together. Dinner was a joint effort - Danielle made some great gouda-laced mashed potatoes, I made the Texera broccoli, Laura did the stuffed mushrooms, and Matt made a tenderloin roast with a spicy crab salad (wow!). What a dinner. It was really nice and relaxed since nobody was slaving in the kitchen. Pumpkin pie later followed by a chaser of whipped cream directly into the mouth....
Bill did ok, although there were a few issues with accessibility at both Laura's and Matt's houses -- nothing that couldn't be overcome, however. He really enjoyed the trip and was willing to accept some inconveniences.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
