Another Texas giant is the city of Houston located along the eastern parts of the state. I’ve kind of visited Houston twice, the first time was to see a friend where I spent most of my time and did little touristy things. The second time I had visited NASA space center and also did nothing within the city itself. This is a shame, since Houston is actually the fourth largest city in America. It’s hard to believe that after New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, Houston is next in line for population. When I return I look forward to visiting the several different districts the city has to offer, and some unique places like the underground tunnels and shopping centers some 20 feet below the city streets! Above is a shot of some of the highest buildings in Houston, with a city park built among the skyscrapers on the right.
These surrounding photos are from the greater Houston area that I was able to stop by. If you read the quick story about the Alamo being the first major battle in the Texas Revolution above, then that will preset the importance of the Battle of San Jacinto. At the time Texas was not part of the United States so their victory here ended the Mexican invasion and earned their independence. The battleground themselves are mostly made up of a memorial and the USS Texas seen above. If you’re coming from the northern part of Houston, you’ll need to take a free Ferry to cross Crystal Bay and reach the battlefield. At 570 feet, the memorial below is dedicated to San Jacinto is the tallest memorial in the world.
A place I couldn’t believe I let myself miss my first time in Houston was the NASA Johnson Space center. On my second return I made coming here a priority and it was well worth it. On the upper left is the real thing, the NASA Mission Control Center you always see on movies and TV shows. This exact room is where the famous quote, “Houston we have a problem” was received from outer space. On the right is another important piece of history, the Saturn V rocket that helped propel astronauts into space for the moon walk in the late 60s and early 70s. This rocket was absolutely enormous. The engines were by far the most impressive part of the rocket. On the lower right are the engines themselves, on the left is an astronaut suit on display within the visitor area of the space center.
The visitor center and the tours they offer kept me here for hours. There is a ton of interesting facts on outer space as well as historical space crafts and rockets on display. Something interesting I overheard from someone who worked at NASA was how Obama canceled the space plan to return to the moon. The man was saying how they had a large banner which would show visitors how we would return to the moon and when. After this project was canceled, they faced the banner against the wall and replaced it with the current banner that showed the benefits of going to the moon. On the upper left is the new banner. I crawled behind it and sure enough against the wall was the old banner.
