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Texas 2K10

a travel blog by Kugs on the road

My Trip to Texas and back home in the spring of 2010.
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Presidents and Prisons

Huntsville, United States


George H.W. Bush Library & Museum - College Station, TX

I'm running a little ahead of schedule so I'm spending the next couple of days seeing things in the Huston area. Today I went to a couple of museums just North of Huston. First was the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum. This was so much better than the LBJ Museum. The LBJ was mostly pictures and text on the walls.


The White House - George H.W. Bush Museum

The Bush museum was very interactive, and they had a lot of things for kids. In the section devoted to Bush's years in the CIA I watched a kid put his hand on a palm scanner, the monitor then showed how it was narrowing in on his location using satellite camera's until it zoomed into the top of his head with a camera in the ceiling. The kid thought it was the greatest thing. My favorite was a room that was setup as a replica of the Bush's Living room where they had a TV playing outtakes from PSA's that the bush's had recorded and clips of Dana Carvey Impersonating the President. Overall, a very well done museum.


Texas Prison Museum - Huntsville, TX

Then it was off to the Texas Prison Museum. Actually not my first prison museum. As far as prison museums go... it was about average. It had all the things you might expect at a prison museum, weapons that the guards used over the years, Weapons that the prisoners used. They also had a cell setup so that you could have your picture taken in prison. They will even lend you a striped shirt for the photo.


"Old Sparky" Texas Prison Museum

The other thing you tend to find in a prison museum is a chair called sparky. I don't know why but all prisons seem to call their electric chair "Sparky". The other thing you'll find in a good prison museum, is their wall of fame. One of the most famous prisoners of the Texas prison system was David Crosby from Crosby, Stills, Nash and sometimes Young.

Dinner tonight was nothing special, I went to a place called Bob Luby's Seafood Grill. I think they should change their name to Bob Luby's Seafood Deep Fryer...

Kugs

permalink written by  Kugs on the road on April 11, 2010 from Huntsville, United States
from the travel blog: Texas 2K10
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Kind of a Dead day... in more ways than one...

Houston, United States


Giant Sam Houston Statue - I 45 - Houston, TX

Along I 45 North of Houston is a Giant Statue of Sam Houston. I don't know why they put it someplace where you can only view it at 70 mph. Oh, and those trees behind the statue, are not short trees. This is a very tall statue.


Hearse - National Museum of Funeral History - Houston, TX

So my tour stop for today was the National Museum of Funeral History. I don't know how this place stays in business, the place was completely dead when I got there. I was the only one in this huge Museum. After a while a bus full of senior citizens arrived, But I think they were just there to shop.


Marcellus Casket - National Museum of Funeral History - Houston, TX

Surprisingly they did have a display on the Making of caskets at the Marcellus Casket Co in Syracuse. They also had a couple of Marcellus Caskets on display including this one that is identical to the one Ronald Regan was buried in.


Embalming Table - National Museum of Funeral History - Houston, TX

Of course the museum is much more than an extensive collection of hearses and caskets. They also have a collection of embalming equipment throughout the years. Ever wonder what the procedure is for burying a Pope? Well they have a large section of the museum dedicated to just that. They also have one of the Pope mobiles that J2P2 used in the UK.

For dinner I did a return to T-Bone Tom's. It was good once so I figured I would give it a second chance. This time I had "Tom's Choice" a 14 oz marinated rib eye steak. Like the food last time I was here, it was very good.
Tomorrow I am taking a "Level 9" tour of the Johnson Space Center. The Level 9 tour is only available to 12 people a day and takes you to parts of the space center that you normally would not be able to see.

Kugs

permalink written by  Kugs on the road on April 12, 2010 from Houston, United States
from the travel blog: Texas 2K10
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Johnson Space Center was so cool

Houston, United States


Johnson Space Center - Houston, TX

Wow, What a cool day. I got to the Johnson Space Center about an hour and a half early. I figured that would give me time to see some of the things they had on display in the main building. I was a bit surprised that they had very few historic items on display. Mostly they had a lot of activities for kids, some of them were for big kids too. One of the first things I did was lay on a bed of nails, Real nails. it was amazingly comfortable. After that I went to a flight simulator and crashed the shuttle twice. I hung around and did a few other things until it was time for the level 9 tour to start.


Fabrication Lab

The first stop on the tour was lunch in the cafeteria where the employees and astronauts eat. Then we went to the fabrication lab. this is where thy build prototypes of things that could end up being used in future missions. Right now they are working on designing inflatable living quarters to be used when we land on other planets. This area is not on the normal tour.


Neutral Buoyancy Training Lab

Next was the Neutral Buoyancy Lab. This is a pool that is 200' x 110' and 40' deep and in the pool is a full size mock-up of the International Space Station. This is used for astronauts to train in an almost weightless atmosphere. At the bottom of the picture you can see two astronauts that were just pulled out of the pool and are getting out of their suits. Again, this is an area you would not see on the normal tour.


Full Size Mock-up of The ISS

The full size mock-up lab is just what it says a full size mock-up of the ISS. Every module that is part of the ISS is in this room. Normally the level 9 tour would be able to go down to the main floor, But because the shuttle is in space they only want employees on the floor and all tours must stay up in the observation area.


Mission Control

One of the coolest parts of the tour was to be able to sit in the observation room for mission control. This is the room where they are controlling and monitoring every aspect of the current shuttle mission. Again, you don't see this on the regular tour.


Historic Mission Control

Then there is the Historic Mission Control. This is the room where they ran all of the Apollo Missions Including the Apollo 13 mission that happened 40 years earlier to the day. The other cool thing was while we were taking turns having our pictures taken in the Flight Directors chair, the regular tour was in the observation room watching us, because the regular tour isn't allowed in the main room.


Saturn V Rocket

The last stop on the tour was to see the restored Saturn V Rocket. This was originally going to be the launch vehicle for Apollo 18. After the last few Apollo Missions were canceled this rocket just sat in a field at this location for close to 30 years till NASA decided to restore it and set it up as a display. This is one of 3 Saturn V rockets on display. There is one at the Kennedy Space center in Florida, and one displayed vertically in Huntsville Alabama.

The tour ended around 4:45, I made a quick stop at the gift shop then headed east of Houston for about an hour. Tomorrow I continue east heading towards my brothers house near Atlanta.

Kugs

permalink written by  Kugs on the road on April 13, 2010 from Houston, United States
from the travel blog: Texas 2K10
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Slug Bug !

Ocean Springs, United States


Slug Bug Red - I 10 East Texas

Well the trip is winding down, I drove as far as Ocean Springs, MS today then stopped for dinner and the night.


The Shed - Ocean Springs, MS

Possibly the last BarBeQue restaurant on my tour. "The Shed Barbeque and Blues Joint" is another spot I heard of on Travel Channels "Barbeque Paradise" the same place I heard about Smitty's. If this place looks like a dump there's a good reason for that, It was built out of materials that were found at the dump.


Dining romm at The Shed

The building may be a dump, but the food and music are top notch. I had the sample platter, a mix of smoked sausage, ribs, Chicken wings, pork and beef. It was all good, but I felt the beef was a bit dry. The ribs however were so tender and tasty, they just fell off the bone. So far I still rate Smitty's #1 and would place the Shed #2. and T-bone Tom's in 3rd.

I should be ariving at my Brother's House for dinner tomorrow and stay there till Sunday. Then Back in Syracuse Tuesday night.

permalink written by  Kugs on the road on April 14, 2010 from Ocean Springs, United States
from the travel blog: Texas 2K10
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Some time to rest

Marietta, United States

Not much to tell, spent most of the day driving to my Brother's House. Arrived about 6:00pm had dinner, drank about 2 bottles of champagne, played some cards and it's time to crash. Tomorrow will be another day of relaxing. My Sister-in-law is going to teach me to make fudge, I will practice eating it, and tomorrow night my nephew and I are going to a comedy club to see Dave Atell.

Kugs

permalink written by  Kugs on the road on April 15, 2010 from Marietta, United States
from the travel blog: Texas 2K10
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Chicken, Fudge and Funny people in Atlanta

Marietta, United States


Giant Robotic Chicken

A very relaxing day, Went out with my Brother and Sister-in-law to get some Ice cream and drove by the giant Chicken. This 56' tall Chicken has been a famous Marietta landmark since the early 60's. it was destroyed in a 1996 tornado, but with some help from Pepsi it was restored including the moving eye and beak.


Fudge

I also spent some time having my Sister-in-law teach me how to make her fudge recipe. Because I just can't get down here often enough to satisfy my fudge addiction.


The Punchline - Atlanta, Ga

After dinner my nephew Eric and I went to the Punchline comedy club to see Dave Atell with Mat Davis as his opening act. Very funny show but I don't recall any jokes that were clean enough to repeat here.

Saturday, my other nephew and his fiance are coming over for dinner and to hang out and drink champagne.

Kugs

permalink written by  Kugs on the road on April 17, 2010 from Marietta, United States
from the travel blog: Texas 2K10
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On my way home

Bristol, United States

I had a great day yesterday at my Brothers House. I spent the morning helping out with a few computer issues and helping to set up a computer for my Sister-in-law. After that my nephew Dan and his fiance Hilary came over, we opened several bottles of champagne and the fun began. We had a fabulous dinner and spent the evening playing canasta. I ended up staying up till 3am with my nephew Eric playing poker.

I got up at 8am on Sunday and hung out at my Brothers till noon then hit the road. I made it as far as Bristol, TN and decided to get off the road and get some rest.

Tomorrow I hope to get an early start and make one last tour stop along the way and still get home at a decent hour.

Kugs

permalink written by  Kugs on the road on April 18, 2010 from Bristol, United States
from the travel blog: Texas 2K10
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Back Home Again

North Syracuse, United States


Foamhenge - Natural Bridge, VA

Well, I started with a henge, I went to a henge in the middle, So where better to end the trip... FOAMHENGE !
That's right a full scale replica of Stonehenge made from foam. This must be my favorite henge because it's the only one I've been to more than once. In fact this is the third Spring in a row I've visited Foamhenge. It also happens to be right along the way to both my nephews House in Raleigh and my brothers House in Atlanta.

How about a few fun facts about foamhenge and the original Stonehenge.

Stonehenge was built with stones weighing 50 tons.

Foamhenge was built with Styrofoam blocks weighing 400 pounds.

Stonehenge was built in 1,500 years by 600 - 1,000 men.

Foamhenge was built in 6 weeks by 4 Mexicans and 1 crazy white guy.


Sebastian, Home Again

Sebastian got home crawled into his chair and fell asleep. I think Martina completely wore him out.

And finally, a few trip facts:
I drove 5,107.8 Miles in 84.33 Hrs averaging 60.4 MPH. I used 173 gallons of gas and got 29.5 MPG.

Well I hope everyone enjoyed following along with me on this trip, I know I enjoyed sharing it with you. I'm sure we'll do this again on my next adventure.

Kugs


permalink written by  Kugs on the road on April 19, 2010 from North Syracuse, United States
from the travel blog: Texas 2K10
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