One Day in Galveston

One day in Galveston... is not enough, but we tried.

The Bishop's Palace was completed in 1892 for the railroad magnate Walter Gresham.   From 1923 until the 1960's the home was used as the residence of the Archbishop of Galveston-Houston.

The interior is fantastic with ornate wood carvings in every room.  Awesome in all respects.

We toured the Elissa, the only tall ship still sailing regularly.

These photos are of the Elissa when she was about to be scraped in a Greek shipyard.

And now look at her under full sale in Galveston Bay.

Ate lunch at Joe's Crab Shack.

             

The Ocean Star is an oil rig museum.  It was very technical and very informing.

                                It's a bit hard to see with the reflections but this model shows how drilling is done horizonally. 

This is a model of an oil rig.  This is a model builders dream.  

Outside are the huge machines using in drilling.  Honestly I was overwhelmed by all the technology on these rigs.  I'm surprised there are not more accidents.

Loved this photo in the museum.

And enjoyed watching the pelican splashing around.

Then we were off to the movie about the 1900 hurricane which devastated Galveston Island.

I copied this photo from the film.  Over 6000 people died during the storm.  Later a 17 foot high seawall was build along the Gulf Coast.  Then in 1915 another hurricane hit the island and the seawall held and damage was minimal.  

The Silk Stocking area of Galveston is so named because the folks that lived here were the only ones who could afford silk stockings.

Some of the homes are still privately owned and well maintained.

It was a fun, busy day.  Certainly a place to spend a lot more time.  

Houston Space Center Jan. 25, 2013

Space Center Houston--Wow, so much to see and learn.

On our tour trolley we stopped at the Mission Control Center.  This particular room was used from 1961 until some time in the 90's.  All the early launches were controlled from here.  Our guide told us all these monitors were state of the art in their time.  And they had available less than 1 meg of ??  from a computer the size of a small room.  Perhaps you can see the rotary phones on the consoles.

The Space Vehicle Mockup Facility where future astronauts train for upcoming missions.  The 2 capsule vehicles against the far wall are prototypes.

The awe inspiring Saturn 5 rocket that launched the Apollo missions.

My son was photographed in front of the Saturn 5 rockets when he was at Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama.  So here I am.

Back from the trolley tour and to a movie about the construction of the International Space Station.

Actually a better representation is the display in the Visitor Center.

The Space Station could not have been built without the Space Shuttle carrying parts for construction, minus the ugly box shown here.

A display showing part of the construction of the Space Station.

A display of a small part of the interior of the Space Station.

All in all the Space Center is terrific, a must see in the Houston area, and a must see for children, especially 9-99 year olds.

TEXAS--Harlingen to Kingsville to Port Aransas

Arrived in Harlingen to wind, rain and cold.  Luckily I had electric and water hookups at the local Elks Lodge

On one of the nice days we went out to the Iwo Jima Memorial.  Here is the stone sculpture of the famous  Raising of the flag.  This was the original and the bronze sculpture in Washington was made from this one.

On the other nice day we went over to South Padre Island and I  got to splash in the Gulf waters.

We toured the Sea Turtle Rescue Center where injured sea turtles are brought in to receive treatment.

This gal is a permanent resident as she has lost more than 75% of her flippers.  Those with less than 75% loss can be returned to the wild.

On up the road is the famous King Ranch.  We took a bus tour around the ranch.

This is one of the old horse barns.  The present day ranch is 185,000 acres +/-.

The King Ranch developed the Santa Gertrudis breed of cattle seen here.

King Ranch Quarter Horses seen here are among the premier breeding stock for the breed.

We moved on to Malaquite Beach south of Corpus Christi.  Again cold, rain and wind.

The rough waters had washed up this 15" cabbage head jellyfish.

And these Japanese Man O War.

Among the dunes was this wind protected pond sheltering hundreds, if not thousands of ducks.  About half of them flew when they saw me.

Then better weather as we arrived at Port Aransas, north of Corpus Christi where we could park right on the beach.  Really nice firm sand.

We are close to the inlet to the major Corpus Christi harbor.  We saw ships coming in one after another.

One day we toured the Lexington, on permanent display in the Corpus Christi harbor.

the flight deck.

We toured the Wetlands Center.

While there this seagull dined on his fresh caught fish.

And we dined out ourselves several times, enjoying breakfast, dinner and dancing.  There are also bird tours, dolphin watching, city bus tours, and of course walking along the beach.

Now we move on to Pasadena, TX.

My New Blog

Hi Folks--Due to some difficult technical issues with WordPress I've switched my travel blog to here at Blogspot.  Sure hope it works better.  So to catch up I'll start here in late December, 2012.

We were staying in Deming, NM and took a day trip across the border to Palomas, Mexico.  This is the well known Pink Store--free marqaritas as you walk in the door.  Just a place to say "Been there, done that".

Just back into the US is Columbus where the "air force" consisted of 8 Jenny aircraft.  Since my father had flown these airplanes it was very interesting.  This also the area where Pancho Villa raided into the US.

This was the Jenny.

Wish Dad could see this.

Then on to El Paso, TX where we stayed at the Sunland Racetrack and Casino.  We watched a few races our first day and the horses and riders on early morning workouts.  For me this was great--the horse lover that I am.

At Sunland they race both Quarter Horses and Thorobreds.

We stopped one night at Marfa, TX to see the mystery lights.  Saw one that moved around in a very limited area.  Not sure it was really a "marfa" light.

Then drove on in to Big Bend National Park in the far south dip of west Texas.  A long way to a very rugged country.

On Christmas Day we took the kayaks onto the Rio Grande River adjacent to the campground.  Here the US is on the left and Mexico is on the right.

We watched as this rider brought the white horse and rider across into the US, the rider got off and the lead guy rode back across the river to Mexico, (to pick up another illegal?).

By December 31 we were near Del Rio, Texas and stayed at the Armistad NRA.  The lake is low as the drought continues in Texas.  

And so my year of 2012 travels comes to an end.   Stay tuned for 2013 and Texas, Louisiana, and ????