Day 10: Austin > Houston

A *real* spaceshuttle

This was Lisa's first day catching a ride on the Pathfinder Express. She'd need to adjust to the early departure routine because we had a relatively short  (<3 hour) drive from Austin to Houston where we were going to visit Space Center and show a six-year-old spaceships and everything else that a little boy should love. Upon arrival we took a picture of Adler next to the old 747 transport plane with the Space Shuttle on top of it.

Mom and Adler at the Apollo exhibit

Inside, however, the exhibits were kind of boring. Most of them required reading but didn't *do* anything. There was a kids section with a lot of Angry Birds related stuff (sponsored?) which got the attention of young minds but I'm not sure what it has to do with NASA or the space program. They had an IMAX type screen where they played a sleep-inducing film that could have been set on loop at a trade show with everyone walking straight past it. They missed a great opportunity for story telling and creating passion around STEM education. Conjure up images of the NASA program from the 60s and it felt like they put one of those pocket protector wearing employees in charge. It was just a bunch of flashy exhibits that amounted to nada. And it cost $84 for the three of us to get in there. Remember the picture from above? That's a REPLICA of a space shuttle--not a real one. We left disappointed.

Making Castles on Gavelston

Adler's soccer and baseball coach, Billey, is from Houston and when I quizzed him about what we should do his recommendation was Galveston Island. So after a unremarkable few hours at Space Center we headed to the beach for some sand, surf and sun. It's been a couple of years since Adler was at a beach last and his fear of the ocean had subsided now that he's comfortable swimming in the pool. He befriended some other kids and together they spent time building a sand castle with an elaborate moat and wall. It was well past six o'clock when we had to pry him from the beach.

That night we stayed in a hotel in a small town east of Houston called La Porte. After checking in we found a Tex-Mex restaurant called Gringo's to eat dinner at. It's a restaurant chain in Texas and is notable for its large sign out front that is patterned after the iconic Welcome to Las Vegas sign that Adler and I had stopped at on the second day of the trip. Outside of the restaurant was a placard which messaged that regardless of Texas's open carry laws that weapons were not permitted in the restaurant nor was smoking or vaping. Strangely enough I watched two patrons walk out with sidearms as we waited for our table. They were both vaping also. So much for enforcement. The food was good but the experience and service were impeccable. And when you leave there is a soft-serve machine where guests can make a cone to take on the road. Brilliant!