First things first. Houston has some REALLY cool attractions, namely, one of my dearest college friends and her family live there. Worth visiting Houston for her alone.
I haven't seen Susan since we graduated from University of Missouri in the mid 80s (I'm not so inclined to say WHAT year, for fear someone will start counting and realize my true age. My celebrity age is 38!)
Susan has been asking me to visit for the past several years, and now that I've been to see her and seen some delightful areas of Houston I wonder why it took me so long.
The trip to Houston really started last year with my trip to Kansas City, Mo., to do the Komen Race for the Cure in that city and visit my college roommate Patti and her family.
At some point during that trip, I said to Patti, wouldn't it be fun to do Komen in Houston and visit Susan at the same time. A more-or-less casual email to Susan about the idea and suddenly we were serious about the trip.
Got in early Friday morning and ran into Susan at Hobby Airport. She recognized me before I did her, but she looks just as she did in college (only with a few more gray hairs). Even more wonderful was her husband Robert and daughter Caitlyn took the day off and were there too.
We found Patti in the baggage claim area and we headed out to Johnson Space Center to tour NASA.
Caitlyn, Susan and Patti in a mock up of the Space Shuttle
Me in the space shuttle mock up
Astronaut food, looks "yummy"
Hey, didn't we eat this in college?
Hard to see, but some of the training space vehicles
The business end of a Saturn rocket
These things were HUGE
But then, so was the rocket
All to get this little bit into space
Cool stuff
Had to buy some astronaut ice cream. It tastes like chalk.
If you ever find yourself in Houston with time to spare, don't miss NASA. The tour of Johnson Space Center is interesting, but it's sort of like herding cattle. First you are loaded onto a tram and given a laminated card with a number on it, which you are told is for "security reasons." I'm not sure what would happen if you didn't turn it back in. None of us risked it, but we did laugh about it, since these cards are well worn and clearly used over and over again.Then it's in and out of buildings quickly. Until we got to the Saturn V rocket area, we didn't get to just wander around.
Our being shuttled around on the tram became quite an adventure. Turns out, you CAN seat four adults and one child in a row, but not comfortably. Row 16, the row number we sat in on the tram, became a running joke with all of us. We could now tell Caitlyn "Eat your vegetables, or we're sending you to Row 16." Then again, maybe that's considered a violation of the Geneva Convention. Ha!
Inside the Space Center, a more interactive area, I got to see and touch a moon rock, saw the actual computer controls of the original moon mission -- dear God, did we send men to the moon with THAT? -- and got to see the insides of space capsules of various sorts. I came away thinking astronauts were incredibly courageous and/or insane, and they could not be claustrophobic. My goodness they were jammed in there tight.
Of course there is a gift shop. I bought astronaut ice cream. It's freeze dried and tastes like chalk. But I bought a couple extra and sent them to my nephews who are 4 and 6. They'll get a kick out of it.
Next we went to the Kemah Boardwalk, an area with shops, an amusement park, and several restaurants.
Some Kemah fun, matey
Susan and Popeye
Robert, Susan and Caitlyn
Me and Patti
A carriage ride around Kemah Boardwalk
Our horse Molly
A lovely carriage ride
The next morning Susan, Patti and I were up very early to walk the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K in downtown Houston. Susan doesn't live that far away, so we got there early enough to park and walk around before the walk began.
Susan, Patti and me, before the race
A giant boob, that you could walk through and see what tumors look like. Lovely
Patti and me on the walk
Me and Susan on the walk
At the start
Wortham Fountain in downtown Houston, along the walk route
Patti and Susan at Wortham Fountain
A dragon boat
More of the dragon boat
More of the giant boobs
We finished the race and then finished out the day at the Williams Waterwall.
Houston's Waterwall
The Waterwall is a multi-story sculptural fountain at the south end of Williams Tower in the Uptown District of Houston. When you are up close to it, it is pretty loud.
Caitlyn at the Waterwall
Caitlyn and me at the Waterwall
A long view of the Waterwall. It's pretty impressive
One other thing I loved about this weekend was how it felt like there was no time between when I last saw Susan. Twenty five years is a long time, but it melted away.I reconnected with friends in a whole new way, deep in the heart of Texas.
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