I have been spending this past week “on vacation” with our oldest daughter Heather in Houston. I have never been in Texas before other than in the Dallas airport so it has been fun to see Texas.
The first day I had the privilege of seeing Rice University where Heather studies. She is in the Ph. D. program in English with a concentration in Victorian and children’s literature. She has finished her third year in the program and has two (at least) more to go.
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| Heather being my tour guide on campus. |
That same afternoon we visited the Holocaust Museum. Although not a very large museum it is a very sobering place to visit. Standing in a boxcar that carried hundreds of men, women and children to their deaths was an overwhelming feeling.
Our next stop was the museum of fine art. That too was an impressive experience. I particularly enjoy the art that simply tries to communicate a straight forward message. The pictures of John the Baptist, for example, I can understand but the painting that was simply a black panel with a little bit of some other color at a spot or two on the edge did nothing for me (barbarian that I am).
Friday morning we left fairly early and headed out to San Antonio and a tour of the Alamo. Along the way we had to stop at Buckee’s (kind of like Wall Drug, but not as big) for a bag of Beaver Nuggets. The Alamo is an experience worth having and helps one to give pause about the price of American Independence and freedom.
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| Remember the Alamo! |
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| Visiting the oldest mill in Texas, near the Alamo. |
Saturday we were off to Galveston and the beach. The sun was warm, our beach umbrella was broken, we discovered too late, and my feet and legs are sunburned.
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| The welcoming sign at the beach. Could my greatest nightmare be about to come true - drown while being attached by snakes? |
Sunday was perhaps the most fulfilling experience. After attending Heather’s church for the morning service we went with other members of the congregation to share a meal and activities with a group of refugees from Nepal. Heather and I practiced up our balloon animal skills and made animals, hats and swords for the kids. It was quite reminiscent of Bolivia. The kids seemed to have about the same rules for social interaction, namely chaotic. But it was enjoyable and whet my appetite for getting back home.
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| How many balloons do I get? |
Our last adventure took us on Monday to the Johnson Space Center. Heather had purchased a Level 9 tour for the two of us in honor of Father’s Day, Birthday and whatever. It was about a five hour tour. The highlights were seeing a couple of astronauts training in the neutral buoyancy pool (the pool is twenty feet about ground and twenty feet below ground with a full scale model of the International Space Station in it for practice in working on it), visiting historic mission control where the Apollo 11 and 13 flights were monitored, among many others, and eating “for free” in the NASA employee cafeteria. There is much I don’t know and understand about the space program but it was a special day spent with Heather exploring and learning together.
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| Historic Mission Control. |
So now I sit in the Houston airport awaiting my flight back home. I have enjoyed the visit. I am so thankful to God for my children and mother-in- law (I didn’t write about my visit with her but it was fun as well) but am ready and anxious to be back at home with Niki and Mark.
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