Remember The Alamo

  Our two weeks in Houston will soon draw to a close. As when we arrived in Florida six weeks ago, our arrival here ushered in two weeks of crappy weather. It was 29C the day we arrived and, aside from one other day, it's been in the teens since with a forecast of 4-9C for the remainder of our stay. Of course, when we leave Sunday temps will return to normal with the forecast calling for 24-26 every day after our departure. Of course.

  That doesn't mean we've had an unpleasant time here. Houston is a vibrant city with a lot of similarities to Toronto. There aren't any striking physical attractions or famous landmarks but the culture, arts and restaurant scene is lively and varied. Also, unlike Dallas and west Texas, the Houston area has absorbed a lot of immigrants and migrants from other "blue" states so the political climate isn't MAGA but, rather, more "purplish".

  We started our time here seeking indoor activities because weather. Our first stop was the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the surrounding Hermann Park. There is a Museum District here and the HMNS is the centerpiece. It's an impressive space with a Butterly Conservatory, Planetarium, theater and terrific exhibits. The impressive fossil collection alone is worth the price of admission. We'll be back to take in the butterflies and Planetarium later this week.

  Our walk in the park brought us to this guy:

  Sam Houston, esteemed leader of Texas' independence from Mexico almost two hundred years ago and the guy they named the city after. Behind him is something that might look familiar:

  Yep. Obelisk with reflecting pool, a familiar and recurring theme we've seen in many places during our American travels. Remember the guy in Virginia last spring who was selling bargain basement versions of the Washington Monument? Same guy, I'm sure, except this one is much smaller. Things are supposed to be bigger in Texas, amirite? More about both these guys later.

  The next day we headed off to the Johnson Space Center. The exhibit space isn't as impressive as the Kennedy Space Center in Florida but they have completely refurbished the Mission Control used during the Apollo program and that is worth a visit.

  We sat through a half-hour presentation where they animated the screens with actual data and images displayed during the Apollo 11 moon landing, bringing the room back to life just as it appeared on July 20, 1969, right down to the empty paper coffee cups, dial phones and overflowing ashtrays. We were there as Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface, sitting in the same chairs VIP's and family members occupied that Sunday evening.

  After Mission Control there was time to explore a mock-up of a Space Shuttle which was mounted atop the actual 747 that was used to transport shuttles back to Florida when they landed in California, early in the program.

  On a more modern note, there was a used SpaceX booster retired in 2019, similar to the one we saw returning to port the previous week in Florida.

  With my rockety requirements satisfied we headed off for more Texas history. This time it was the San Jacinto Battlefield Monument.

  The first thing you should know is, this obelisk is bigger that the Washington Monument so we know these guys paid full price. The obelisk guy even threw in a reflecting pool since, who wants an obelisk without one? An interesting additional detail here is that the four sides of the base are inscribed with the entire story of this famous battle, allowing you to absorb the entire history lesson in a fifteen minute walk. Cool idea.

  The second thing you need to know, if you don't know Texas history, is that Sam Houston was the commander of the Texas forces during this battle which ultimately secured Texas' independence by massacring Santa Anna's army here in 1836. Upon entering the battle he urged his troops on with the famous slogan, "Remember the Alamo!" I suspect you've heard it. Anyway, Santa Anna wasn't killed or captured during the battle so no official surrender was possible.

  As we left the area we happened upon a sign pointing us to the spot where Santa Anna was captured after the Battle of San Jacinto.

  Quite the inspirational leader that Santa Anna. He escapes on horseback dressed as a private. This spot was located around the corner from a donut shop in behind an oil refinery. I'm surprised no one recognized him, riding up to the drive-thru on a horse.

  One of the neat things my research pointed us to in Houston was the old Cistern in Buffalo Bayou Park. It was used to contain a significant portion of the city's drinking water supply until it was decommissioned in 2007.

  Now, it's open to the public and the trust that operates it uses it for concerts periodically. There is a seventeen second echo in there and the musicians actually use it like another instrument. We won't be around here for the next one event but it sounds like a cool thing to experience if you're planning to be in town.

  Our last Houston-y thing that day was a drive by the Beer Can House. I'm sure the neighbours love it.

  The house is covered in thousands of crushed beer cans, installed like siding. We were going to go inside as the sign said it was open until 4 pm and it was only 3:30. Except the sign lied and it was already closed. Our loss.

  The next day I woke up with a cold so further exploring was put on hold for a couple of days  due to the miserable weather. By yesterday morning, though, I was feeling better and we decided to head off to San Antonio for the day to visit The Alamo itself and complete our Texas history lesson.

  Now then, it's important to note ol' San Antone is a three hour drive from Houston and what do we do on long drives? Yep, time to break out the Atlas once again. Our first stop was a place called Luling, home of a bunch of watermelon farmers, as you can tell from their water tower.

  Since we were back to "things on sticks" mode, this guy across the street seemed worth capturing:

 I'm sure there's other fascinating stuff to see there... or not. We didn't stay to find out as we had bigger fish to fry. Like the World's Largest Pecan in Seguin. There's a story here and, like it or not, you're getting it.

  You see, a while back one of the residents decided to honour the local pecan farmers by creating a large sculpture of a pecan nut. Like all things Texan, it had to be the biggest. He made it six feet long and placed it in front of the City Hall so townsfolk could proclaim it as the World's Largest Pecan.

  Remember our drive through Missouri at the beginning of our odyssey? Remember Uranus? The biggest fork? The biggest elbow macaroni? Missourians have quite the sense of humour, based on our experiences. Therefore, we weren't surprised to learn that someone in Missouri built a bigger pecan sculpture, declared it to be the World's Largest and, get this, started regularly sending postcards to the Mayor of Seguin to rub it in. I love these guys. Well, it didn't take long for Seguin to respond and another concerned citizen decided to blow those guys from Missouri out of the water by building a new one, fifteen feet long.

  And there it is, the World's Biggest Pecan! Aren't you glad you read this now?

  Finally, just before entering San Antonio we stopped to snap this giant, forty foot sculpture of a stag in the midst of a housing subdivision.

  In order to see it we had to drive through a neighbourhood along the World's Bumpiest Road. Methinks the developer should have redirected the deer sculpture funds into the "Stable Roadbed" account. Just sayin'.

  Finally, we arrived at Alamo Plaza in the old part of San Antonio. It's a pretty spot surrounded with nineteenth century buildings and lots of history, centred on the old church itself.

  The Alamo is central to the story of Texas independence as some of the state's greatest heroes died here on that fateful day in 1836. Well known names like Jim Bowie and Davy (call me "David") Crockett

were all killed by the Mexican Army in a desperate stand for freedom from the repressive regime.

  Like a lot of Texans, these men originated in Tennessee and Kentucky and had headed west to seek their fortunes as the US expanded west of the Appalachians. Bowie was an expert knife fighter back home who inspired many boys to learn such skills but soon after arriving in Texas contracted tuberculosis and died by bayonet in the battle never having unsheathed his famous knife.

  Crockett was known back home as an expert hunter and marksman but gained fame as an entertainer who captivated his audiences with tales of the backwoods. He was elected to Congress twice but, after losing his last election told everyone to "go to hell" and headed off to Texas. Although he was killed at the Alamo people claimed to spot him years later in California. I guess he was sort of like Elvis.

  In front of the church lies a commemoration of Travis' historic "line in the sand" he dared the Mexicans to cross while his small band lay in wait behind the doors.

  It wasn't much of a battle but it did ignite passions amongst the Texans and, as we saw earlier in the week at the scene of the final battle, provided the famous rallying cry that ultimately led to victory.

  With history done for the day we headed off to the River Walk for a stroll, some lunch and a search for more obscure things, like a pig house.

  I won't even begin to wonder why someone would build such a thing but, if their sole purpose was to attract people like us to make it famous then they succeeded.

  And that was it for San Antonio. Except for the giant cowboy boots.

  I mean, why not? What could anyone do that's more "Texas" than that? A three hour return drive awaited us and there were no more oddities to uncover.

  Today, the weather is closing in with lots of real cold on the way. Nighttime temps will be Toronto-like starting with tonight's -3C. No snow on the way as Toronto kept it all for themselves but it won't be golf weather anytime soon. We'll be searching for more inside-y things to do during our remaining few days here then, Sunday, it's off to North Carolina. The weather there is supposed to be around 20 but I expect we'll drag this crap with us and they, too, will experience a couple of weeks of below normals. Bet on it.