A Second Week in Central/South Texas

 

Did you all know that there is a Stonehenge replica in Central Texas?  Well, here it is in Ingram.  Apparently some guy had an extra slab of concrete and put it in his yard and then decided to make it into a replica of Stonehenge.  When his land was sold, it was moved to this Arts Center.

It's Pi

There are also a couple Easter Island heads too.

On our drives on I-35 we passed the outlets in San Marcos.....so we finally went.  And, as always, why does the brand Nautica exist?

One evening, we were invited to dinner with my friend Theresa, who was in town from Austin.

Ice Cream!  The heat is starting to break, so the evenings are nice to sit outside.

In Austin, we drove around and wanted to walk around and visit the Texas State Capitol, but, do I need to say...COVID-19 closed.

We wanted to eat BBQ, but the famous place Onions first found had a 3lb minimum of meat.  That's a lot of meat, too much for us to eat, so instead, we found a taco truck.  

The tacos were great, but I must say that not being able to sit in a restaurant and having to make the additional work of thinking about where to actually eat, and having to do all this contactless ordering is starting to wear on me.  Thankfully, Onions takes care of all the ordering.

Downtown Austin from Mount Bonnell

Looking across the Colorado River and the BIG houses!

San Antonio doesn't have any Asian Markets, so on our way back we took a trip to 99 Ranch!

Onions was impressed at the cleanliness (it felt like Whole Foods) and selection that he doesn't find in the Bay Area.

Remember the Alamo!!!

So, being a non-Texan, I had no idea what the Alamo meant.  But after the visit, it's basically a bunch of immigrants from the United States into Mexico who got unhappy and revolted.  The Alamo was where 186 of them were killed in a thirteen day siege in 1836 by the Mexicans.

This is the rear of the Alamo Church.  And that, pretty much, is a visit to the Alamo!

The buildings around the Alamo Complex are more interesting architecturally.

This is the gift shop.  Beautiful, but come one, even those of us with basic Art History knowledge see that there are CORINTHIAN columns on this building.  So no way it's original and upon further investigation, it was built in 1936. 

Proof that Onions joined me at The Alamo.

Posing like James Bowie, my phone is the knife and my mask (hidden) is the hat.

The Long Barrack, the oldest building in the Alamo Complex

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

 

So, this is what pretty much all of Texas (Central) looks like to me 

But here at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (Onions notes that SO MANY places are named Johnson here in Texas) we got to see native flowers of Texas.  The center is in South Austin.

Alas, this is what the large field looks like.  Apparently, we should come and visit in the Springtime.

Lady Bird Johnson was known as the "Environmental First Lady" and believed in the power of beauty of nature, especially flowers.

Inside the center, the flowers begin!  I expected large fields of wildflowers, but still, there were beautiful patches of flowers.  I really like it when there are two colors of flowers iat the same time.

My favorite flower called the "American Beautyberry"  It looks like a berry, you can eat.

This patch of flowers was clearly a favorite of bees.  The bees were buzzing in and out of the flowers.

Eggs Nests

And now I have mastered portrait mode!

American Beautyberry up close.

A view back towards the Wildflower Center buildings.

So this sounds really cool....on the grounds every fall artists build forts, which when open, visitors can explore.  FORTS!  It's like my inner child is being called.

Johnson Space Center

 

At this point, we've driven north, south and west from San Antonio, so it was time to drive east to Houston and our destination was the Johnson Space center.  I visited back in 2007 but there are new displays, like the Space Shuttle and the Shuttle Carrier, which ARE TOTALLY COOL

It took awhile to get into the flow of the museum, but what eventually got me "into the zone" was the timeline of the missions.  We've heard of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, but I finally understood the timeline and how each mission built upon a previous one.

Here we are enjoying the simulator experiencing takeoff and landing!

One of the highlights is a tour of the building where they house the Saturn V rocket (one of the three remaining) which is what the Apollo program used to land the astronauts on the moon.

Here's one of the Saturn V predecessors.

Here's the Saturn V as we look from the "base" or the first phase rocket.

These five boosters fire for two and a half minutes and then the first phase rocket disengages from the Saturn V.

The second phase booster.  This one fires for six minutes (I think that's what I heard) and then it disengages but burns upon entering the Earth's atmosphere.

Third Stage booster fires twice, once for almost three minutes and the second for almost four minutes.

This empty space in the Service Module holds the Lunar Module

The Command Module and the Escape System

Turns out the Apollo program scheduled 20 missions but cancelled the last three.  However, the rockets had already been built so the remaining three are on display at the three NASA space centers.

Part of the original mission control.  So 60's looking.  Turns out there are tours to the Mission Control but due to COVID-19, those tours were closed.

Rocks from the moon.  Totally cool.

After the Apollo program, NASA had the Space Shuttle program from 1981-2011.  Here is the Space Shuttle Independence and the Shuttle Carrier.  Alas, according to Wikipedia, the Indpendence (formerly known as the Explorer) is a replica and never was launched into space.

Inside the Space Shuttle looking into the payload area.

The airlock area where astronauts prepared for space walks.

I actually found the shuttle carrier to be much more interesting.  Turns out for weight distribution purposes, they had to put ballast in the nose area....so long first class!

In addition, to support the weight of the shuttle, the rounded supports had to be added to the fuselage of the 747.

A 747 engine from the rear.

The vertical stabilizers added to the rear wings of the 747.

One of the things I didn't realize is how specialized the tools must be.  I bet there are people who's entire job must be to design and craft a took for specific use in space and for a specific task.

There was a large exhibit about the Apollo 13 mission.  Here's a mock up of the famous air-filter that they designed from parts they had in space.

The Moon Car (I forget the official name)

The only ongoing mission is the International Space Station. I wish there had been much more explanation of how the Space Station works (as in what all those parts up there are doing).

A look at the hatch that connects the space craft to the ISS

The Falcon X, which is the first reusable fuel rocket.  In the past, they just fell into the ocean, but this Falcon X was used twice most recently in 2017.  It's part of the SpaceX program to explore Mars.

As I was leaving, I was channelling the episode from The Crown where Prince Phillip is floored by the accomplishment of humans on the moon.  I was thinking how amazing science is and the power of collaboration and smart people working towards a common goal.

Upon leaving the Johnson Space Center, Onions located the "Southern California" of Houston...we found the Chinese strip malls and got to dine in.  I'm starting to realize how much I dislike takeout and how much I value the simple act of dining without having to think about where you will actually eat.

Once again, Onions ordered better than me.  Typical.