Houston Trip February 2023 Part I - Space Center, Aquarium, Children's Museum, and Science Museum

This past February we decided to take a trip to Houston to celebrate our 17th anniversary. Unfortunately it did not start off well. We had snow the day we flew out, enough that school was cancelled for the kids both that day and the next. You can see from this photo that people were getting stuck near our house just trying to turn off our street onto the next road. Our flight still said it was on time, so Oscar used our snowblower to give us a clear path out, and we took the extra long way to the airport since we were only willing to drive on the most used roads. Even then the drive was still pretty scary. We made it to the off-site airport parking and thankfully a shuttle was coming by right away so we didn't have to wait out too long in the snow. We were dropped off at the airport and got through security only to find out the flight was, in fact, delayed by over an hour. 

We made it to Texas eventually, but our first night's stay was awful. We'd booked this particular hotel because it had high ratings on booking.com, free breakfast, and a free airport shuttle, none of which actually benefited us in any way. The room smelled like pot and the air conditioner was useless. We opened the window at first to air out the smell, then tried to close the window and just use the air conditioner, but with the window closed it was too hot to sleep and the smell was still noticeable. The room was absolutely stifling when we arrived. My room temp app said it was in the mid 80s. We turned the air conditioner on high and kept it on all night long but our room would not cool down at all unless the window was open, and even then it only cooled down very slowly. I did not fall asleep until after 3:30 a.m. after arriving at midnight. Around 5:30 a.m. the room reeked of pot again from someone smoking outside, so we closed the window and the room temperature went back into the 80s. We hadn't been able to take the airport shuttle from the airport because our flight was delayed, and their driver had already gone home by the time we got off the plane. That's understandable, but the next morning Oscar needed a ride back to the airport to pick up our rental car, and they could not get him a ride on the shuttle even though he waited 2 hours for them to get in touch with the driver. The front desk person told us the previous night that the shuttle ran every hour on the hour, not that we needed to schedule it or that it might not come at all. We ended up having to pay for a Lyft both ways, which totally defeated the purpose of getting this hotel in the first place. Since we were arriving late the thought was to get a close hotel to the airport and use the free shuttle to and from the airport to save ourselves 1 day of rental car. Since we couldn't use the shuttle either direction, it would have been better just to get the rental car when we first arrived and then drive down to Pasadena where we spent the bulk of our stay.

As for the free breakfast, the pancake machine was broken, and there were no pastries or bagels or toast or yogurt or anything. There were two cereals. That was it. We ended up going to the Waffle House next door, which was also disappointing. For a large chain called "Waffle House" you'd expect more than a few waffle choices, and they were just single waffles, nothing particularly special about them. 

Fortunately things improved from there. Although Oscar was told it could be an hour wait to get the car, he only ended up waiting a few minutes, and we were given a nice spacious vehicle even though we'd signed up for basic economy. Once he came back to pick us up we drove down to the Houston Space Center. Tyler is crazy about space, so going to an actual NASA space station was a large part of the reason for coming here. 

They had a nice exhibit of the moon, and Oscar got these great photos of Tyler looking like he's eating it and holding it up. 

It was nice to relax and explore after the stressful day we'd just had.

The kids also had fun playing with their MagnaTiles and in the Angry Birds exhibit. 

When we went to lunch at the nearby Wendy's, Oscar discovered Tyler has inherited his own ability to do a half cross eye. Tyler did this in many of these pictures for the rest of the trip.

Towards the end of our time there we took the Space Center tour to see the actual areas where astronauts train to live in space. The guide also pointed out to us the very building being contacted when NASA says "Houston, we have a problem."

Rocket Park!

It was pretty cool to see a real, giant rocket. I'm not sure why, but it seems bigger when it's lying sideways than when it's standing straight up.

The kids wanted to go back in the Angry Birds in Space exhibit, and the Space Center was nearly empty by then, so I walked around and got much better pictures than I had with crowds and with my kids in tow.

As they were asking everyone to leave, we got a quick picture with the Space Center Houston sign.

Our hotel for the next several days was much better with a great air conditioner and a yummy breakfast, so we all slept well before going to the downtown aquarium the next day. We somehow came into the aquarium through the exit and had to go through it backwards just to find our way to the actual entrance and redeem our tickets.

We enjoyed seeing all the fishies and their two tigers. We got great pictures of this orange one, but there was also a white one on our way in. We hadn't stopped to photograph it since we were coming in through the exit and just trying to figure out where the entrance was. By the time we made it back this direction the correct way, the white one was gone and the orange one was lounging about. 

We pet the stingrays before heading outside to ride the rides.

Our first choice was the Shark Voyage Train. The train took us around the aquarium then into another building that had the sharks in a circular tunnel around us. 

The Lighthouse Dive was a lot like an adult frog hopper. It bounced you around rather than just shooting you straight up or straight down.

The kids had fun on the Aqua Wheel

and the Frog Hopper

We all enjoyed the nice views from the top of the Diving Bell Ferris Wheel.

I hopped on the Carousel with the kids. I rode a dolphin, Allison rode an otter, and Tyler rode an alligator.

We enjoyed making Texas shaped waffles for breakfast each morning. 

The next day we parked at lovely Hermann park before heading over to the Children's Museum.

The museum was really fun. I wish we could have stayed longer and gone on a day that wasn't so crowded (it was a Saturday). 

We stayed for the 3 hours we were allowed to park in Hermann park then drove out to see Tyler's friend Phillip. We knew Phillip in Washington, and his family moved to Houston the year before we moved to Colorado. We had a nice visit at their house. They'd been a family of 5 in a 2 bedroom apartment in Washington, so it was nice to see them in a much more comfortable home. 

The next day we went to church at a ward between our hotel in Pasadena and downtown Houston. I played the organ for their Sacrament service since they didn't have anyone to play. They were just starting to play the hymns from the bishop's phone when I walked up and offered to play.

Phillip's family wanted to meet up with us at the science museum, so we headed there next. We got there a little bit before they did, so the kids had fun playing with this interactive screen. Allison found a little girl who's just as social and playful as she is.

Once Phillip and family arrived we went up to the Cabinet of Curiosities

and the hall of animals.

The marine life exhibit was impressive.

We saw giant amethyst geodes and other valuable rocks and jewels.

After getting some munchies from the cafeteria, we went to see the dinosaurs and human evolution hall.

Oscar and Allison went up to the Wiess Energy Hall on the 4th floor, and we followed along a bit later.

Phillip's family had to get going, so we let the boys have some hugs goodbye. We hadn't had a real goodbye when they left Washington. She mentioned they might be moving to Texas then the next time we went to the bus stop, they weren't there. I'm glad the boys were able to get in a nice goodbye this time.