We have been here for three weeks and have not really done a whole lot. I have to admit that I have enjoyed having some time to relax. I had a bunch of things that I wanted to do on the computer and I have been able to complete the items of highest priority. Some of the other ones will take several more years to complete.
We have taken a couple trips down into the Houston area. One thing I wanted to do was to go to the Johnson Space Center. I have driven close to it several times but have never had the time to stop. So that was one of the objectives while we were here. When we went down it was not really a hot day. I suppose that it was in the upper 80's or low 90's but one thing that we decided was that we would never want to take their tours on a hot day in the middle of summer. At a couple points on the tour we were told to be very quiet so we didn't disturb the working personnel. For the life of me I do not know who we would have disturbed. First of all because there is very little or nothing going on in space right now besides the International Space Station activities there were barely any people at work. Especially since it was a Saturday. And then we were never anywhere except in areas partitioned off with glass so I don't know how any worker could have heard us. But in places that quiet was not requested the people on tours talked so loud that it hard to hear the guides. It was a good tour at any rate. I was very surprised that a large building was devoted to activities that would be best described as kids games and activities. If it sounds like I am talking "sour grapes" maybe it is because only kids can play the games that were set up. If a person was skilled on Nintendos, and Pac-Man and Mario they would do better than I could ever dream about. The games were beyond my skills. We had a fun time. This picture shows the main control center at Johnson Space Center. During a normal space flight this would have every chair manned. It would likely be more fun to go back during those times.
MAIN CONTROL CENTER AT JOHNSON SPACE CENTER
On another trip to the Houston area we went out to the Forbidden Gardens. That was almost a wasted trip. The information that we had indicated that it was open until 5:00. We did not rush to get to the place because we did not figure that we needed a lot of time to see it. So we did not get there until shortly before 3:00. They had changed their closing time to 3:00. We had just a few minutes to look around and take a few pictures before the gates closed. Forbidden Gardens is a miniature replica of the tomb of QuinShi Huang-di the First Emperor of China with the 6,000 piece terra cotta army which was discovered in 1974. It is replicated at 1/3 scale. This was about all that we were able to see. The part that we were not able to see, except for a few roof tips, was the 1/20 scale replica of the Forbidden City which was the home to the Imperial family of China for over 500 years during the reigns of two dynasties. The little bit that we could glimpse in the time we were there looked to be impressive. We had called to check to be sure that the place was open before we went there but as many places do their phone answering machine did not have any useful information.
6,000 PIECE TERRA COTTA ARMY OF QUINSHI HUANG-DI
In our travels we have seen many turtle that were extremely shy of people. When they would see movement they would go into the water and disappear from sight. At the Forbidden Gardens they actually swam to the bridge going across the pond TOWARDS the people as soon as they saw movement. I had a hard time believing that they did that until I found out that they had gotten accustomed to getting food which is thrown into the pond by the visitors. Between the turtles and the huge coys it was quite a show.
SOME OF THE RED EARED TURTLES AND THE COY
Our next destination is by a bay where I should be able to get some good pictures of some of the Texas water fowl.
Till later this is Uncle Duck
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