Houston Trip, Part 1

Hello again! We're back from Houston, and I have lots of pictures to share. Enough so that I figure I'll need 2-3 posts to show them all, hence the "Part 1."

This first picture was taken at the Toronto airport, our stopover between Houston and Ottawa. We were able to get on an earlier flight so we had plenty of time to kill in Toronto. As such, we spent it on a leisurely lunch at Wahlburgers, a hamburger placed owned by the Wahlberger brothers (of music and movie fame). It was super pricey since we were in an airport (and had a couple of beers), but the burgers were decent.

Because we got in really late on Saturday, we stayed at a hotel near the airport. We then drove to Jon and Lara's on Sunday morning. Here, Lucas and I pose in front of the Best Western complimentary breakfast buffet.

We decided to be completely lazy on Sunday, just hanging around their house. Well, other than lunch since we went to a tasty Mexican place. You can't be that near the Mexican border and not get Mexican food!

On Monday, we decided to visit the NASA Space Center. It was kind of amusing since Lara works at NASA but it was her day off so I teased her a bit about wasting a day off by going to work. This was the first time it registered that Houston school were also on Spring Break as the lines here (and everywhere else we went last week) were massive. I had to really work my patience muscles last week!

The next few pictures are of the very impressive Saturn V rocket. It was HUGE!

No, Lucas doesn't have huge hands below. That's Marilu messing with his face. One of my friends on Facebook said he looks like Ted Cruz, and I can't disagree.

Incidentally, you can see how frizzy his hair was. The warm weather really did a number on the longer hair.

Our first (and probably worst) experience with crowds was when we were in line for the tram tour. I think we ended up waiting over an hour. The kids were actually pretty good about it, which forced me not to head back to the car and go home. :) This is the whole group of us once we actually got on a tram.

Actually, now that I look at it, it's just Jon and I with the Chinese Beatles sitting next to us. Marilu and Lara can be seen over our shoulders. And that might be Doctor Who in the row behind them.

The tram tour we went on visited the facility where the astronauts train in mock-ups of actual vehicles and space modules. I know pictures can't really convey what the place was like, but just like the Saturn V, it was huge and impressive. Here are a few photos to give you an idea.

I tried to do a panorama shot, but the result was so-so.

This group shot was taken outside the Saturn V building as we waited to return to the main center. If you squint, you can see the shuttle and its jumbo jet carrier in the background.

Speaking of that shuttle, we got to go into it later. Ever want to see the cockpit of a space shuttle?

This is the inside of the jet.

On the way home, I had to take this picture for my mom. For obvious reasons.

I don't have any pictures from it, but the highlight of the day for me was a Q&A session with astronaut Jerry Ross, who is tied for the most spaceflights with a whopping 7 Space Shuttle flights! He was a very interesting guy, and I'm glad we got to see him.

So that was Monday. In the next post, we will move on to Tuesday at the zoo. See you then!