Galveston and Houston

Headin' into Texas

As we continued our way along the Gulf, we crossed over into Texas. We had put our toes in the water, so to speak, by visiting Hueco Tanks, just outside of El Paso, and Guadalupe NP on year one and driving through the panhandle on year two of our adventure, but this year, we were headed for a pretty immersive experience into our second largest state, that, along with Vermont, was once a republic before joining the US. Full disclosure here. I've not always held Texas and Texans, as a group, in the highest regard. Based on reading, the news, politics and history, right or wrong, I had generally cast the people (and by extension, the whole state) as the sort who are primarily, boastful, “bigger than”, “better than” people. Not my favorite type. Now, before I lose all my Texas friends…let me say, I WAS WRONG! MY BAD…MEA CULPA! I'M SORRY .. Okay, there may be a few people like that, just like there are in any state, but most that we encountered were warm and friendly and proud of their home state and its traditions. Just like most of us. And while there were some parts of Texas I won't have to visit again…many were really lovely and I enjoyed seeing and learning about them very much.

I do learn new things everyday, and sometimes what I learn is that my previous assumptions were wrong. 🙄

Galveston

Galveston is located on a barrier island along the northern Gulf Coast of Texas. It was originally established by the Spanish, used by the Republic of Texas as the home port of their Navy and by the end of the 19th century the Strand (the main street along the coast) was the Wall Street of the southwest. Check out these "houses" built during that time period.

However, on Sept. 8, 1900, something happened to change all that. The deadliest natural disaster ever to befall our country hit this island. Yes, EVER. The Big Storm, the Big Flood, the Hurricane of 1900. It killed more than 8000 people on the island and thousands more on the mainland, destroyed 2656 houses, damaged thousands more and the city lost $28-30 million. There are less than a handful of those stately old houses left in Galveston now and after losing its place as the economic hub to Houston, it was left to try and find a new purpose for rebuilding. Although they tried a few different things, manufacturing amongst them, much of their current economy is based on tourism.

We explored Houston while we were in the area. There was much to see!

Houston

NASA Space Center

The Gemini space capsules. They were super cramped spacewise. Not sure if you can see from the pic, but the astronaut is on his back with his legs up in the air. I'm pretty sure I would have gotten a charley horse strapped in like that! Haha

On a spacewalk

We toured “mission control”. It was set up exactly the way it had been during the first moon landing and we watched Walter Cronkite’s commentary on little black and white TV sets. We sat in the section that had been reserved for families. It was such an amazing moment in history to remember and to relive it. To think about where I was, how ”we” did it, that we did it with extremely limited help from computers. It really is incredible if you think about it. The sheer hubris of thinking we could and then doing it.

Can we use that approach for global warming? Or peace in the middle east?

If only … sigh …

A poster of "the crew": Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin Aldrin Jr.

overlooking mission control

Blurry as it is, that is what they saw in mission control when “man” first landed on the moon. (The chart looking item to the left, is a map of the surface of the moon.)

They literally moved the position of the astronaut and lunar modular by hand on a map!

Moving on to more current times, we were also able to tour the training facility from a balcony.

Boeing's Starliner. Congrats to them on making it to the space station last week!

Mostly the floor is covered with these large cylinders that represent pods in the international space station or possible Mar’s vessels. Note behind “Harmony” hanging on the wall is a tribute plaque to the team from the Challenger Space Shuttle. Having known the daughter of the commander, Dick Scobee, unexpectedly seeing that on the wall provided an extra moment of poignancy.

Exploring Houston

I found lots of interesting artwork Interspersed throughout the city (at least the part we were in). It was very cool.

Tucked in amongst all these modern buildings, is a museum with important houses representing Texas‘s past. This is a homesteading cabin. Homesteaders were given 40 acres and a mule. In three years they had to clear land and build a home. In five years they had to make continued improvements on the property (such as clearing additional acreage, building corrals, building a barn, improving the house, things like that). If they didn't make improvements, the majority of the land would go back to the state, but the homesteader would keep his house and three acres.

We happened to be in Houston the same time as a traveling Cirque du Soleil show, so knowing how much we enjoy Cirque du Soleil, it is no surprise that we decided to go. Here are a few shots of them doing a promo show.

I have a couple of "bad" pics from the show … unexpectedly, pics were allowed... but alas, I didn't bring my camera, so I had only my phone.

Opening curtain. It was clear we were about to enter a fantasy of some sort

flying angels and uhm...check this out. This guy did an amazing act with a ladder that wasn't leaning against anything. Excuse me??? (😱)

And they had a person, a small person so she looked like a child, floating with these giant balloons all around the theater. Audience members would just push her up, (sort of like a beach ball) and she would just float off somewhere else. It was quite mesmerizing.

It ended with the ladder man riding his bike up in the air and four angels floating across the stage.

And … for the most Texasy thing that we could think of ... we went to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo! Now that was a hoot!

They have a parade around the grounds

That includes area school marching bands

Walking about we found one of the mascots hanging out

Boot Avenue - each year artists use these giant boots as a canvas

Then we headed indoors to see what there was to see … baby chicks (!)

in the meet and greet … kids of all kinds

a little joey hanging out in his “pouch life” sack

this wee one was just a few hours old

This guy is probably the most gorgeous long horn ever!

last minute touch-ups before the show

it's like being at a spa

Mr DeMille … I'm ready for my close-up

They're making me crazy, can we just get on with show. Plea-a-a-a-a-a-se

Show? Show? Which way do I go? I just got my locks shorn and I don't want to mess up my pretty do.

The show

Oh, Hello. Just look how soft and velvety I am with my hang-dog ears.

There were quite a few Brahmins. (And just sayin’, he's a big boy with a tiny head!)

a boy, his cow and his dad ❤️

mounted police

The Rodeo

Opening ceremonies. One of the women is Miss Texas (apparently being able to ride is a prerequisite for becoming Miss Texas. haha)

Rodeo openings are always very patriotic ... 🇺🇸

Riders waiting, tensions rising.

checking the saddle one more time

And they're off

this horse has all four feet off the ground

and who says you can't defy physics and change direction in the air

what perfect form

On to bull riding…things didn't look so good for the cowboys …

and the trend continues

They had a tribute to the horse

They also had an event called the calf run where they let out about 20 calves, gave rope harnesses to youth ( like 4 H youth) and if the youth could catch a calf, collar it and bring to the square it was theirs to raise. The equivalent of a $25,000 scholarship. waiting for the release

and they're loose

The calves however, were not “trained” and proved to be quite challenging for some of the youth to try and maneuver.

And then there was the “mutton run”. This was for the younger set. They would race, riding sheep bareback. I have to say, it was pretty funny. This is a pic of the winner. The pics below are of his winning race.