This page has grown as we have gotten to know our new home better and better.  Since we moved here we have done some touristing around on our own -- and continue to learn more and more about Houston and the whole state of Texas.  First of all, it's really quite big!  So this may take us a while.  We finally went to see something outside Houston in Dec./98 when we ventured off to San Antonio and saw some Texas countryside as well.  We did come all the way through Texas on our road trip here, but by the time we got here we were too tired of traveling to do much sightseeing.

**Look for some new things -- I've added a links section and also to the Galveston and Space Center sections.  New/Updated stuff is marked in red.  I am also going to add a new page, linked to this page, with things to do around Houston.  All y'all need to know about the Blue Bell Creameries tour in Brenham and the whole wildflower thing out here in the spring. 

Summer 1998:
So I was waiting with great anticipation for my friend Rose to come to Houston so I could go out and play every day.  It's great not having to work, but it also means that my regular playmate, my husband Joe, is working all day when I want to go and do those touristy things.  I can usually get him to go on Saturdays but it's also fun to go with a girl friend who won't roll her eyes when you want to go into another tourist shop!  This page contains mostly stuff that Rose and I discovered when she was here and some stuff Joe and I did before and after her visit.

Rose and I started off slow -- there was some adjusting for Rose having just come from what had been a cool Vancouver summer.  She got here in July '98 and was plunged into 100°F heat on the heat index.  Whew!  So we just took it easy for the first couple of days.  We did go to the Galleria/Post Oak area of town on the second day and found the "Wall of Water" -- a really cool (and cooling too!) man-made waterfall just outside the Williams Tower, formerly known and still referred to as the Transco Tower.  The tower is so tall that we couldn't get a picture of the whole thing from this close.  There are 64 stories and although the First Interstate Bank and the Texas Commerce Tower are taller, they are both in the downtown business district of Houston.  The Williams Tower is the largest built outside a downtown core.

Update 05/03:  The Williams Tower no longer has an observation level for the public.  I went there with my friend Sandra in early May and we were told that the observation deck had been closed 'about a month and a half ago".  Bummer.  We did enjoy the Wall of Water and were amazed to discover that 11,000 gallons flow over the top every minute!

The real fun started on the third day when we decided to do a walking tour of Downtown Houston I found in A Marmac Guide to Houston and Galveston.  It suggested that you start early in the day.  They might also have suggested that you leave this tour until it's a little cooler in the year.  Joe and Winston and I did do a little of this tour in November, but not to the extent that Rose and I did.  The Tour starts at Sam Houston Historical Park and tells of the park and some of the structures there.  A number of them have been moved to the park over the years.  The oldest oldest home and church have been moved here.  There is also the "Long Row" which is an exact replica of the city's first commercial structure.

The historic Long Row:  first commercial structure in Houston.

Sam Houston Park and the fountain.

The Sam Houston Historical Park also includes a really cool Fountain -- it's set up to look natural and there are sculptures of coyotes around the water.  From there we went to the Julia Ideson Library and the next door Central Public Library.  The Ideson Library is an old-world style Spanish Renaissance building.  The inside is very impressive and houses some of the historical documents relating to the city as well as spanish murals and exhibits.  The new Central Library is an impressive structure as well -- and if I get homesick, has both the Vancouver Sun and Province papers!

Across the street is City Hall.  This building (like Vancouver City Hall) is built in the art deco style.  It has a very interesting lobby -- lots of ornate art deco pieces like the ceiling with North America in relief and Texas in gold.  Also the drinking fountains are even in the art deco style.  The doors are cast aluminum and above them are medallions of famous law-givers, from Akhenaten to Thomas Jefferson.  Apparently the structure was very controversial when it opened in 1939.  In front of it is Hermann Square, a lovely tree lined square, well used by office workers at lunch with a reflecting pool.  It is a very pretty area.

Next it was on to Tranquillity Park.  This park commemorates the Moon Landing in 1969.  It has sculptured grass mounds which hide some of the really cool parts of it.  In one is an authentic boot print made from the boot Neil Armstrong made when he took "one small step" on the moon.  You can also see a wall with the path of Apollo 11 depicted on it.  There are also some impressive fountains there, which are designed to look like rocket boosters.  We stopped long enough to see the boot print but it was getting HOT out!  It was time to skip ahead to the indoor part of the tour!

Lynda with her foot in Neil Armstrong's boot print, Tranquillity Park.  Photo Copyright © 1998 Rose Bell

This is the fountain at Tranquility Park.  The large cylinders are reminiscent of rockets.  They remind me that scene in Apollo 13 when  the rockets blasting off and the water vapor is shedding off the engines?  It looks like that -- very cool! (This picture taken in November '98)

We found a close building to cool off in.  It was the NationsBank building -- a signature piece of the Houston Skyline.  It has an impressive atrium and there was an art exhibit going on when we were there.  I haven't found any giant pendulums as they have in downtown Vancouver (in the Hong Kong Bank of Canada building) but there was a lot of beautiful and cool space in there!  After looking at the display and cooling down a little, we headed down into the tunnels.  Just like some of the colder cities in Canada, there are tunnels connecting the downtown buildings so people don't have to go outside.  Only here it's to protect people from the heat!   I did notice that Houston has it's share of smokers who have to hang around outside the buildings they work in to have a smoke.

The tunnels are more than six miles long and still expanding.  There are restaurants and shops in some portions of them and the buildings above them are responsible for maintaining and adding to them, not the city.  So every tunnel is a little different and none seem to go in a straight line for more than a block!  They do get well used by the office workers -- we timed it poorly and arrived just after noon.  So we didn't stay for lunch -- all the lines were too long.  I would suggest adding a couple more public restrooms though -- we had to walk many blocks to try to find one.  After finding one, we just wanted to escape and have lunch.  This involved trying to find the car -- easier said than done!  When we finally found it, we headed out of downtown for lunch on the way to Spring.

Some of the many old style stores in "Old Town Spring".

Old Town Spring, like Galveston, has lots of shops in the original buildings of the area.  We didn't take any pictures here (the above picture was taken later) -- we just shopped!  There was a great selection of crafts in the different stores -- and some were very eclectic.  We didn't get a chance to go into Y'Alls Texas Store since it was lined up with Beanie Baby Buyers the whole time we were there!  There are lots of interesting stores with a variety of products there in a pretty setting.  While we were there, it was really hot and we cooled off with a refreshing fresh made lemonade.  The old buildings are really interesting and quaint, and before we left we went to the museum where they have lots of information on the history of the town.

If you are into stamping at all there's a great store here called Eccentricities with a very helpful owner and a terrific selection of stamps.  Darla runs classes if you are interested in learning about stamping and paper making.  The store is in Gentry Square and there are lots of examples of the great things you can do with stamps on the walls.

Galveston!

Galveston is named for Count Bernardo de Galvez, viceroy of Mexico under Spanish dominion.  This was after the Spanish claimed Texas and Mexico in 1777 (the French were there before that, naming the island "San Luis" for their king).  The history of Galveston is very interesting and shown in in part in the multi-image documentary "The Great Storm".  By 1850 Galveston was known as the "commercial and cultural emporium of the Southwest" and was a leading port and the largest and wealthiest city in the state.  Houston was lagging far behind Galveston until the worst natural disaster in US history struck Galveston Island.

The 1900 Storm: It all began September 8, 1900.  A Hurricane was approaching Galveston, but people didn't seem worried, they had weathered them before.  They had no warning system as we have today, in fact the chief of the weather bureau, Dr. Isaac Cline, recognized that the weather was unusually bad and warned residents of the danger.  There was no way off the island though, the railroad tracks were already under water.  Few heeded his warnings anyway.  By evening the winds were gusting to 100 mph and then the wind gauge was blown away in the storm, preventing any further readings.  The storm surge had already covered the island, buildings protruding from the waves.  The storm continued through the evening and the winds battered and tore apart homes, which then crashed into other homes.

When morning broke on September 9, 1900, the devastation and loss of life were unbelievable.  The dead were everywhere, it is estimated that over 6000 people were killed in that one night.  Whole blocks of houses had just disappeared.  Debris, in some places two stories deep, covered some parts of the island while others had been scoured of all that had been there.  The survivors were determined to rebuild though and when the immediate emergency passed, set about doing so.  They built a seawall 17 feet high and raised the grade of the whole island by working over 6 years to protect their city from succumbing to such a disaster again. I guess you can tell that "The Great Storm" show made an impact on me!

Rose by a statue on the pier near Landry's Oyster Bar
with a semi-submersible oil rig in the background.

Aside from that there is lots to see and do in Galveston.  There is a free trolley that runs around the downtown area as well as one that will take you to the beach on the other side of the island for 65 cents.  There are also lots of restaurants and a thoroughly evil confectionery -- ice cream and chocolate in the same place -- a converted general store. Rose and I took the trolley to the other side of the island to see the beach -- it is really a great beach, but the water is 85°F in the summer.  For Canadians used to shivering in the ocean, this sounds more like a bath than an ocean!

 Lynda in front of the Hotel Galvez by the beach in Galveston.
(yes, I am the tiny dot in front of the palm tree!)
Photo Copyright © 1998 Rose Bell

The Hotel Galvez is on this side of the island and the Galveston Island Trolley ride there is quite something!  These trolley cars MUST be original -- they are wooden and have a great whistle and are very hot!  No air-conditioning in these!  The Beach stretches for miles in either direction and the Gulf of Mexico is at your feet.  Here you can see the 17 foot high seawall constructed after the Great Storm.  A pretty impressive feat for 1902-08!  Interestingly, Henry Martyn Robert was a consulting engineer on the seawall and is also the author of Robert's Rules of Order.  After our journey to the beach, we "trollied" back to the downtown (it was a little too long a walk in that heat) and did the last of our shopping before heading back to Houston.

March 2003:
Our friends Leah and Ross (who were participants in our wedding) came to Houston and Leah's first priority was to see the beach, so off to Galveston we went.  We walked around the Strand a little but quickly sought out information about where to eat lunch and get some sun.  Fish Tales was recommended to us -- the balcony up top was a good draw as it allowed us to see the beach and get some sun. 

After a quite good lunch and Leah's first Crawfish platter, we headed down to the beach to get some sand and sun.  It was quite breezy that day so there were some breakers coming -- somewhat unusual for the Gulf coast.  It was great to hear the sound of the ocean though, it's something I really miss from Vancouver and Victoria.  Then we found some rocks to sit on while Leah soaked up the sun.  In the picture to the left you can see some of the artwork done on the Seawall.  The Seawall was erected in response to the Great Hurricane of 1900 disaster and has protected the city from hurricanes in 1909 and 1915.

Because Galveston has so much history, it is also a great  place to just walk around an see beautiful old homes.  We did a little wandering before finding ourselves in 'Historic East End Galveston' where we admired some beautiful Victorian homes.  Wouldn't it be nice to live in one of these:

There are some walking tours available, both a self-guided tour and one called the Ghosts of Galveston tour -- I am sure there must be more.  There are many historic homes in Galveston as well -- I'll have to get back there and see some of them and get Joe to do the self-guided tour with me.


 

Space Center Houston!

Moon Buggy!
Photo Copyright © 1998 Rose Bell

Last big day of doing the tourist thing and it's off early to Space Center Houston, near the Johnson Space Center.  We were told to get there when it opens and that was a very good piece of advice!  So we had our coffee in the car -- no problem!

We got there just after (summer) opening at 9 am and we were able to enter and head straight to the tours of the Johnson Space Center.  These get very lined up later in the day (as do all the exhibits) so it does pay to get up early to go there.  We were disappointed that the "Red" Tour to Mission Control was canceled -- a Space Center employee told us that there was a power failure due to the thunderstorms the previous night -- Joe didn't believe that for an instant!  And he was right -- a different employee told us that they were testing some new equipment.)  Since the tours can be canceled at any time, we took it in stride and went on the "White" tour which went to the training facilities.  We were able to see the "tank" for lack of a better word where the astronauts train in a vacuum in a range of temperatures (-200°F to +200°F).  The door is over 3 stories tall!  You can actually see that in the movie Armageddon if you want to waste your money on that movie (don't).  The "White" tour also goes to the facilities where astronauts train in mock-ups of the shuttle, learning how to manipulate the "Canadarm" and other pieces of equipment.  Very cool!

Joe and I did the Red Tour later in October '98 when the shuttle was up.  It was very interesting and we got to see everything, but we were disappointed that the astronauts were sleeping when we were there, so we didn't get to hear anything, but it was just cool to see the CAPCOM (CAPsule COMmunicator -- always another astronaut) and the rest of the people who help support he astronauts while up in the space shuttle.  Also we got to see the giant vacuum in the training facility where astronauts practice moving in the cold of space.  You can see it in the movie "Armageddon" as it's no longer on the tour.

Rocket Park at Space Center Houston.

The last stop on the tour is "Rocket Park" -- here you can look at different rockets that astronauts used to propel themselves into space over the course of the space program.  It's amazing to get up close to these monster engine exhausts and contemplate strapping yourself to that!  Some of the early ones are pretty much a little capsule on a huge tube of fuel.  Joe and Rose and I spent quite some time looking around this part -- very interesting and awe-inspiring.  We also had a chance to quiz the Houstonian Space Center Employee about the buzzing bugs in the trees.  He informed us that they are locusts.  Lovely.  The noise is one I will always associate with Houston now, it almost sounds like a vigorously shaken baby rattle.  Amazing.

Check out the size of those engine nozzles!

The rest of the day was spent inside Space Center Houston where there are so many things to do that you really need to spend more than one day there!  We saw one of about 6 IMAX films -- "Destiny In Space" and toured the Astronaut Gallery just outside of that.  There were computer games which let you see if you could dock a Space Shuttle, or that would teach you to fire the engines so that you could increase your orbit to rendezvous with a satellite, and some that let you look up any mission from early Mercury, Gemini and Apollo flights to modern-day shuttle missions and tell you all about the astronauts and the purpose of those missions.

We also wandered around, just taking in all the things to see -- found the mock-up of the shuttle and got to see out the tiny windows that the astronauts look out.  We tried "Space Dots" ice-cream ("the ice cream of the future"!) -- that was really interesting -- little dots of ice-cream -- frozen so well that the server just scooped them with a flour scoop and poured them into the bowl!  Good flavour though.

The Starship Gallery was really great too -- a 15 minute film followed by a trip through the gallery where we saw real Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules (some of those are tiny!) and the moon buggy shown above and even moon rocks.  One of them you could touch, but it's pretty smooth now that so many have touched it.  Pretty cool though.  The last thing we saw was the Mission Status Center where we were given "up to the minute details on current and future Space Shuttle missions" as it says in the brochure!  The woman who presented all the information was extremely knowledgeable and answered questions from the audience.  Very impressive. 

All in all it was a fabulous day and we were there for about 6.5 hours.  Joe and I are looking forward to going again soon and we plan on going the next time the Shuttle is in space so that we can see Mission Control really working.

Update: I was here in March 2003 with Joe, Leah & Ross as well as in October 2002 with Lada, Tom and Amanda.  Things have changed quite a bit since the above visits with Rose and Joe in 1998.  The events of 9/11 had a huge impact on security.  You may no longer bring a backpack into Space Center Houston (annoying if that's what you use as a diaper bag...) and women should expect to have their purses searched and men to be asked if they have any knives with them!  You'll also need to demonstrate that your camera is really a camera. 

The tram tours have changed as well.  There were three (red, white and blue -- ugh!) when we were there in summer '98, but now there is just one with two stops.  As you go to board the tram, you must now pass through a metal detector -- another new security feature.  As you enter the Johnson Space Center grounds you'll notice cement barricades (like those used as highway dividers) surrounding areas where a car could gain access to buildings.  This is in stark contrast to the open inviting look of a campus that was the site pre 9/11.  There is also much more security around and the tour tape doesn't tell you as much detailed information as you got back then either.

The tram now takes you to 'Historic Mission Control' where you can see mission control as it was from 1965 until the current Mission Control (which used to be on the tour) came into use in 1996 (?).  Mission Control is just as it was re-created in the movie Apollo 13.  The computers are the same ones -- the entire roomful didn't have the computing power of the one you're reading this on!  Joe actually liked the 'Historic Mission Control' tour better than the real Mission Control of today.  Also on the tour is the Shuttle Mock-up Facility.  The viewing area above allows you to see the different mock-ups the astronauts train on.  If you're visiting on a week day, you may actually be able to see them practicing moving things around with the 'Canadarm'! 

The Mission Status Briefing person in March '03 was as well informed as when Rose and I went both times previously.  The woman doing the briefing spoke candidly of the Shuttle Columbia investigation, giving us all the latest information.  There were many referneces at the Space Center to the 'Heros of Columbia' and flags were still at half-mast 28 days after the breakup.  I also made the discovery on this trip that the Apollo 1 space capsule burned on the pad Jan 27, 1967.  This, added to the Challenger disaster (on my 21st birthday) and Columbia, leads me to believe that you really shouldn't be in space in late January!

The Galleria:

After several days of "touristing" all over Houston we took Sunday off and enjoyed Joe's lattes.  The next day we went to the Galleria and looked around at all the stores there.  It's a HUGE mall and even has an ice-rink in the basement.  However since there's a skylight in the Galleria it's a pretty wet ice-rink!  A nice lazy day and we were rather impressed by the many stores there.  But watch out -- it'd be easy to spend a LOT of money there!

Rose with a view of the Ice Rink at the Galleria.
It's pretty weird seeing an ice rink here!

That was our last expedition around Houston as Rose had to return the next day.  I certainly had a great time with her and enjoyed discovering my new home with her.  Thanks Rose for coming down to play with me.

 
San Antonio and The Alamo!

Back in December 1998 Joe and I decided that we had better go see some more of Texas that we had seen on our way to Houston.  San Antonio is one of those places that everyone was recommending a weekend (or longer) to see, so we set off to our east to see what all the fuss was about.  Have a look at our page to see what we found out and pictures from our trip.

And just in case you're wondering too....
When she arrived, Rose asked me about the "Lollipops" she saw all over Houston from the plane.  I wondered about them myself when we first arrived... Joe (Mr Engineer) told me they are Water Towers and are filled with water to maintain pressure in the water system.  Since there are no hills to provide this pressure, it has to be done this way.  And that's about everything that we did and learned in a week in Houston!

One of the many "Lollipops" as Rose calls them
visible all over Houston as she came in on the plane.
Water Towers keep pressure in the water system
in a very flat place.
Photo Copyright © 1998 Rose Bell.

And that's about everything that we did and learned in a week in Houston!