24 Hours in Houston, Texas
Space Center Visit
This was a hectic weekend for us for sure. We need to be in Houston on Saturday Morning to meet the girl’s father for a hand off, then Felipe and I had to catch a flight to D.C out of Austin Sunday Afternoon. So naturally, we made some plans to maximize our (VERY) short visit.
Friday
After our appointment we gathered up the girls and packed up the car to head out to Houston which was a little less than 3 hours away. We opted to use Turo (for the first time) since our only vehicle options were the F250 or the very (very) small Nissan Juke. We typically took my VW Tiguan for road trips like this, but I already sold it in preparation for our move to Kenya. So we rented a vehicle just for a day and a half to meet our families needs and it really didn’t cost all too much.
We drove directly to the Space Station, arriving with 3 hours remaining for visitation. And to be completely honest, a 7 and 9 year old and the Texas heat, this was plenty of time for us. This gave us time to take two tours, explore the exhibitions, walk through real life shuttle mounted outside, and even get in line for a virtual reality ride. It was enough to spark some curiosity in my girls the things that can be achieved in the world of science and engineering. We stayed until closing time, taking in as much as we could.
We left to grab dinner somewhere local (a dumpling place), but the real show stopper was where we stopped for dessert.
Dessert Gallery
This place was even overwhelming to the girls. If its sweet, it was made from scratch here. Cake, pies, cookies, brownies, cupcakes…. the list was endless. We opted for a glass of milk and each chose a yummy sweet to end the evening. Cheesecake, chocolate cake, a cupcake, and a sugar cookie were our final choices.
Saturday
No matter how long you’ve been separated, parting from your kids never gets easier. We met the girls father that morning, bid farewell (for now), and I began the countdown until I could breathe easy again when their back in my arms.
After the goodbyes we needed to make our journey back to central Texas (San Marcos), but not without making one quick stop… The Rothko Chapel. Many moons ago (almost a previous lifetime) I was a Liberal Arts Major studying Art History so of course I had to visit. This may have pushed the limits on my husbands hippy tolerance, but he indulged me nonetheless. After parting from my munchkins that morning, standing in the absolute silent chapel in front of massive canvases of dark blue, purple, and black- there were no images to interpret, just you sitting here with your thoughts as you took it in. Ok, maybe it was a little hippy, but it has been on my places to see (if in the area). Maybe not your thing if you not an Artsy person, I definitely would not bring kids here, but I enjoyed our 15 minute (free) pit stop here
Quality vs Quantity
Although we were just in Houston for a little over 24 hours we decided to maximize our time together. Making memories, visiting new places, and squeezing just one more adventure together. There’s always something new to do that doesn’t involve breaking the bank for flying somewhere exotic, we can still be explorers, it may be just a tank of gas away.
