Houston: Traffic, Smog, and Space
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We rolled into Houston after a long day on the road, and traffic was a mess. Lots of lanes, lots of cars, and everyone in a hurry except us.
Houston Space Center
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We stayed at Houston Leisure RV, a large private RV park about 20 miles east of downtown and roughly 30 miles from the Space Center. During planning, we do our best to stick to public campgrounds, but Houston didn’t have any good state, county, or NPS options without a serious commute. This ended up being the most practical choice. Full hookups, big rigs everywhere, and sites packed in close, but it worked for what we needed.
The next morning we headed out to Space Center Houston, which has been on Danny’s list for a while. He’s always been really into outer space and the space program, so this stop was a must.
On the drive over, the smog was the worst I’ve ever seen in my life. Thick haze hanging over everything. It thankfully started to clear as the day went on, but between the traffic and the air, Houston did not make it onto my “places I’d like to live” list.
We lucked out on timing because our visit lined up with the Moon 2 Mars Festival. The festival focused on NASA’s plans to return to the Moon and eventually head to Mars, with extra exhibits and special programming throughout the center. One of the highlights was seeing two competing lunar rover prototypes on display, showing what future astronauts might actually be driving around on the Moon. Seeing them side by side made the whole thing feel a lot more real.
We caught an astronaut talk with Mark Polansky, who flew on three space shuttle missions. Hearing his stories about life in orbit and his 2011 flight added a personal layer to the experience that you don’t get just walking through exhibits.
That evening the festival included a Third Eye Blind concert, which was a totally unexpected bonus and a fun way to end a day surrounded by rockets and space hardware.
The next morning we headed out to Space Center Houston, which has been on Danny’s list for a while. He’s always been really into outer space and the space program, so this stop was a must.
On the drive over, the smog was the worst I’ve ever seen in my life. Thick haze hanging over everything. It thankfully started to clear as the day went on, but between the traffic and the air, Houston did not make it onto my “places I’d like to live” list.
We lucked out on timing because our visit lined up with the Moon 2 Mars Festival. The festival focused on NASA’s plans to return to the Moon and eventually head to Mars, with extra exhibits and special programming throughout the center. One of the highlights was seeing two competing lunar rover prototypes on display, showing what future astronauts might actually be driving around on the Moon. Seeing them side by side made the whole thing feel a lot more real.
We caught an astronaut talk with Mark Polansky, who flew on three space shuttle missions. Hearing his stories about life in orbit and his 2011 flight added a personal layer to the experience that you don’t get just walking through exhibits.
That evening the festival included a Third Eye Blind concert, which was a totally unexpected bonus and a fun way to end a day surrounded by rockets and space hardware.