Such fun times! Granddaughter, Lindsay, 20, flew into Houston so we drove up to get her. It's about 4 hours from the beach. We had a hotel on the South side of Houston and decided we'd do the NASA space center on Monday because it was pouring in Houston AND the beach. She had a Texas shaped waffle for breakfast so became a true Texan:=)
It was very interesting to see the Houston Space Center which none of us had ever seen. Space exploration and walks on the moon were such a big part of our lives that it was like a big trip down memory lane. We got to see the new Mission Control which will be used for the new space shuttle that will go to Mars. We learned a lot about the ISS (international space station) and what it's like living there. Can you imagine the astronauts work out 2 hours a day because the blood runs to their heads causing the 'pumpkin head' look. It's due to the lack of of gravity which forces all the blood from their legs and lower extremities up to their heads. The entire visit was very informative with lots to see and do. We saw the memorials to the space disasters, Challenger and Columbia. Seeing the Johnson Space Center is definitely a must-do at least once.
We drove back to Port A on Wednesday and got a few peeks at the sun, a walk on the beach and a happy hour with friends. While we were 'home, we went to the Padre Island Seashore National Park and did some beach store shopping in Port A. Lindsay was looking for a specific type of rubber key chain to commemorate here trip to Port Aransas and we hardly could find any rubber ones. After about 8 stores she finally found a hibiscus one that said, "Port Aransas, Texas"! She said when she was departing at the Houston Airport Shops, she said they had tons of rubber ones!
We planned to have a bonfire one night with s'mores and hot dogs with our neighbors. It rained so hard we had to move the picnic inside....that of course, meant microwaved hot dogs and marshmallows roasted over the gas burners on the range!! It all worked!
On Thursday we headed back to Houston for the rodeo. Going to a rodeo was a first for Lindsay and I. Donned in my jeans, cowgirl boots, jean jacket I felt totally local. Let me say, this is some rodeo! It's huge, with enough great-looking cowboys to last me a life time. Tons of shopping, animals, pig races, Mutton-Bustin' (my all time favorite!) and a full-fledged rodeo with chuck wagon racing and Brahma bull riding. What a great event.
The rodeo was followed by a Zac Brown Band Concert until 11:00 p.m. All of this for $18 a ticket! Of course, it was still raining and we exited the concert at a totally different place than where we entered. And while we'd taken a photo of "yellow 38" when we parked, we spent a good 45 minutes in the rain trying to find our car!!! Good grief it was horrible, made no sense and the numbers had no order and not one of the 'parking people' could help or had any idea where 38 was located! We finally found it only to meet up with a serious traffic jam that lasted another hour! An ordeal not to be repeated for sure.
On Friday, we went to the Kemah Boardwalk for lunch. This is a charming area with an amusement park, shops, restaurants, a big boardwalk which is located on Galveston Bay. It was great fun and while we didn't get any sun, we didn't get any rain either.
How odd that it started raining the day Lindsay arrived and stopped the minute we put her on the plane at 6 a.m. on Saturday! The other odd thing, is that Minnesota had a super warm stretch of weather at the same time and it was warmer AND sunnier in Minnesota than 1800 miles south here in Texas!
We feel so lucky she came to visit us. We worried we would be too boring, but she seemed to welcome the departure from school, working and studying. It was such a special time and we had a chance to really get to know her better, hear about her school, ideas and future plans without all the interruptions that come with family events and holidays!
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