Road Trip 2008: Day 8 of 17 (Galveston\Houston)

Looking towards the ocean from our campsite at Galveston Island State Park

Packing up

Fishing in the morning before heading to Houston

Space Center Houston

Taking the tram tour of Johnson Space Center

Mission Control for the Apollo missions

Space Center lab with life size replicas of the Space Shuttle and the Space Station

Me and the boys checking out an old Saturn V rocket

Friday May 30

We slept fairly well in the tent in Galveston Island State Park. The wind was gusting but not too bad. As usual, the boys ended up on our air mattress. Derek wanted to know why we got an air mattress. We told him that we were old, but they were young and their bodies were pliable so a sleeping bag would be just fine.

We packed up the car and said our goodbyes to our new friends and then went to the other side of the park to fish. The area where we went fishing was beautiful. It was nice and secluded. The boys had fun alternating some fishing and some playing and, as usual, Adam ended up soaked. I don't think we've ever gone fishing where Adam didn't end up soaked. We didn't catch anything, but it was still a beautiful morning.

After fishing, we headed for Space Center Houston. We had heard from one of the families at the campground that you could get discounted tickets online, so we stopped by the Galveston Visitor Center and had a very nice lady order tickets for us.

We really needed at least 5 hours to tour the Space Center, but we only had about 3 - thwarted again by attractions that are only open during regular business hours. It was a whirlwind. There are a bunch of movies\shows to see, but they all overlap so you have to figure out how to maximize the time.

Space Center Houston is just the visitor center for Johnson Space Center, so you have to take a tram tour to Johnson Space Center. We did that first. Johnson Space Center is definitely one of those places that give you goose bumps because of the history and significance of the place. The unfortunate thing is that the tour took about an hour and half of our time. Then the kids kept wanting to play in the giant kids area they had set up, so we let them play some and then would hustle to make some of the other stuff. We got to see some of the fantastic movies, but wish we could have seen them all. The sight and feel of a Space Shuttle blast off is incredible.

After the space center we ate at Mario's Pizza, a local chain, near the space center. We got a recommendation from one of the families at the campground. It was really good and we were glad that we went.

We weren't really sure what else we wanted to do in Houston, so Helen drove while I looked at some tourist info. We drove north through the city at night and enjoyed the city all lit up. It looks a lot like Atlanta - big and unwieldy. We weren't sure where we wanted to stay and finally settled on a Holiday Inn Express somewhere near the airport.