Galveston, Texas

To get to Galveston you must pass through Houston, and of course I timed our passage to coincide with rush hour. They have a few tolls here and it cost us about $8.00 (through 2 toll booths) to get 25 miles south of Houston to our reserved RV spot. I think a few tolls on Washington roadways would solve the states transportation budgets.

Houston is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the country, and not a place we cared to spend a lot of time at. It is the "city that oil built" and there are a lot of refineries here (even more than in Corpus Christi). Imagine the refinery at Anacortes, multiplied by a factor of 100.

Our RV park was in a grove of 200 year old oak trees with a couple of stocked ponds and the kids had their first fishing expedition. Each kid got their "first kill" and are ready for more!

Galveston has a rich history dating back a couple of hundred years with some beautiful homes from that era. They have installed a cruise ship terminal and several tourist attractions; waterparks, and Imax theaters,etc. The types of attractions that seem to be present in most large metro areas. The beach is fairly nice, but again no one was swimming or surfing. There were few trees on the water side of the roads but a nice bike path and side walks that extended the length of the island (about 20 miles +-).

Erik has been studying rain forests, and one of the attractions is a pyramid at Moody Gardens (1 of 3), 200 feet square, that is a re-created rain forest habitat. It is very cool!
Monkeys, Sloths, Parrots, caiman, very large fish, bats, etc. most free to roam the interior of the pyramid.
Another pyramid holds several theaters showing 3-D and 4-D movies. One we saw was called "Deep Sea" and was the best production any of us had ever seen! The 3-D is unbelievable. There were jelly fish that appeared to be swimming into your face. We were all trying to grab them out of the air (water) in front of us. The technology has definitely improved since the days of the red and green lens glasses. We also saw a 4-D SpongeBob movie that improved on the dimensional effects as well. If you have the opportunity to see one of these newer 3-D movies, do it.

The following day we headed to the Johnson Space Center (NASA). This is the facility where all the space shuttle missions are managed from, and where all the astronauts are trained. The visitor centers all touted this attraction as a "must see".

This had great potential, but did not live up to expectations: it was boring. All the kids wanted to do was spend their time in a 4-story "Space play land". Yes, just a big McDonalds playland. I suppose if you were very passionate about space exploration you would enjoy the experience. We're not huge museum fans however, and the kids are not patient at this age. Steven Spielberg could have created a great experience here however.

Galveston lies 50 miles South of Houston. It is a pretty nice place to visit but there's not a heck of a lot to do. We did not go into Houston, but I understand the cultural attractions (opera houses, plays, theaters, museums) are quite good. Oil and transport are the main industries, and there are a heck of a lot of people. Real estate prices are relatively low (compared to the Pacific NW) and there is a huge quantity of waterfront. The bays are shallow and appear muddy because of this. The horizons are littered with offshore oil rigs and refineries, as well as power lines for this industry. No topography; everything is flat down here, and the sun sets in a funny location.

Tomorrow we are on to Louisiana, you'all.