Eric taking a space pee. Suctions are used during defecation and urination in space. (Not just for the good feeling but to keep waste from floating around the spacecraft.) The "goer" is strapped into the seat and a rear view mirror is provided to ensure nothing follows him or her out.

Houston probably has more museums and tourist things to see and do than any other city in Texas. We only spent one day in the area (less three hour transit time to get there) and it was devoted to Space Center Houston, the official visitor's center of NASA's Johnson Space Center, home of mission control. This is a wonderful place to spend a day. We ran out of time before we experienced everything, but what we did do included:

Eric and a Kennedy Space Center astronaut giving the thumbs up.

• Controlling a Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) to accomplish a sequence of spinning dials, pulling levers, and punching buttons while floating on a floor of air (like an air hockey table)
• Controlling an MMU in two vertical directions while directing a laser to hit two small targets
• Operating a radio controlled Mars rover in a simulated Martian landscape
• Jumping while attached to a machine that simulates lunar gravity
• Riding a lunar rover as it navigated a lunar terrain
• Launching air-powered toy rockets
• Touring a full scale mockup of the shuttle flight deck and mid-deck
• Trying on space helmets from various space programs
• Using a computer to dock a shuttle to the space station
• Seating ourselves in an Apollo capsule for a simulated splashdown
• Taking a tram tour of the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory and the Mockup and Integration Laboratory (as the tour we were on was the last of the day, it did not stop and let us walk around the Saturn V rocket lying on its side)
• Viewing an IMAX (actually IWERKS) movie on astronaut training entitled To Be An Astronaut

Galveston is a barrier island city and beach with a fascinating history. It reminded us of North Carolina's Outer Banks. From 1817-21, Jean Lafitte and his pirates operated out of this area. Because of its location, it grew to become, by 1890, Texas' largest and wealthiest city. Galveston lost nearly everything, including 6,000 people, to the hurricane of 1900--the largest death toll from a natural disaster in U.S. history. Part of its recovery efforts involved turning to illegal drinks and prostitution during Prohibition (it became "the sin city of the Gulf"). Over time, engineering and restoration efforts, its proximity to Houston, and its 32 miles of sandy beaches have made Galveston a leading Gulf Coast resort.

We drove along Galveston Island and stopped at Pier 21 on the mainland side. We would have enjoyed spending several hours there. We would have boarded instead of just admiring the Elissa, a 400-ton sailing ship built in 1877, watching movies about the 1900 hurricane and Jean Lafitte, and touring an oil rig museum--all within walking distance of each other. Instead we crossed the island to the beach, where we collected whitewashed bones, made sandballs, and played in the surf. (Actually, only Eric in his underwear played in the chilly waters.)

Most of our touring day would be spent at Moody Gardens, one of the "premier educational/recreational facilities in the Southwest." The four hours we spent there wasn't enough to see it all. The place started in the mid'80s as a horse barn and riding area to be used in therapy for people with head injuries. Within a few years a convention center was added, a beach was built, and buildings were added for production and entertainment value. We didn't visit any of those places. In the last six years, three huge pyramids have been built and that's where we spent our visit. (After lunching with the pigeons in the parking lot.)

Eric breaking bread and sharing lunch with the seagulls in the Moody Gardens prking lot.

Moody Gardens prices its attractions separately. If one bought tickets for each attraction, one would pay upwards of $60 for them all. As it was just after Thanksgiving, the Gardens was offering a holiday special, $25 for all attractions. Our first stop was the Rainforest Pyramid. This Pyramid contains more than 1,7000 exotic plant, animal, and insect species from the rainforests of Asia, the Americas, and Africa. Wonderfully done. The path meanders around and over streams and ponds, through tunnels and a bat cave, beside a Mayan colonnade and butterfly hatching hut, and behind a waterfall.

Eric and Missy outside the Rainforest Pyramid.	A view from inside the pyramid.

We next took in a 3D IMAX film about dinosaurs (cool effects but not a very well cast or acted production) then visited the newest and largest of the pyramids, the Aquarium Pyramid. The Aquarium is divided into four large exhibit areas (highlights of each are in parentheses), the North Pacific (fur and harbor seals), South Pacific (large tide pool with vividly colored fish and other sea creatures), South Atlantic (King Penguin exhibit), and the Caribbean (underwater glass tunnel passing beneath sharks, eels, and colorful fish). Eric especially enjoyed the touch tanks at which he got to pet starfish, crabs, stingrays, and small sharks.

The smallest of the pyramids was not necessarily the least interesting, though we did spend the least amount of time there (as our time to tour ran out while we were there). The Discovery Pyramid exhibits "Living in the Stars," inspired by NASA. As we had just visited the Houston Space Center the previous day, this was less "new" to us. Unfortunately the radio controlled Martian vehicles, which might have been our favorite part, were not functioning. As it were, our favorite part was sliding into seats on the X-38 space station lifeboat. The Discovery Pyramid also contains an IMAX ridefilm (the seats move to the action in the film). We chose a film in which we swam with dolphins. Very cool.

We left Galveston as the sun was setting so we could get back to our Austin hotel at a reasonable hour.

Eric and Curt simulating escaping a catastrophe on the space station.	Happy to survive and happy to be touring in Texas.

© 2000 frantzml@juno.com