Columbus to Baytown – 16 February 2023
The scenery remained green and lush as we moved to Baytown, Texas. Baytown is the location of ExxonMobil’s Baytown oil refinery which produces 584,000 barrels per day. The plant is situated next to the Houston channel and we could see the steam from the plant all day.
Lucy and Liam had flown in from Victoria in the early hours of the morning and were waiting for us at their Houston hotel. We collected them about 3pm in the afternoon and stopped to fill up for gas at Buccees. Having never been to a Buccees before, we went to check out their store. Well this was certainly not something you would expect at a gas station. It was huge and like walking into a Walmart. In the center of the store they were preparing and selling BBQ food and the smell was amazing so we all selected a BBQ meal for dinner. Derek, Lucy and Liam were very happy with their brisket and I went for the chicken.
Our RV campground was a little disappointing – it had a very brown bayou running on the side that was full of litter. Also during the time we were there, litter was continuously blown from the freeway all over the RV campground and no one seemed to pick it up. The site itself was level and a good size but there was nothing of interest in the park at all. The good side was that it was near the freeway so we could easily get to where we wanted to be. Unfortunately, everywhere we wanted to go was at least 40 minutes away so Derek did a fair amount of driving every day. We did select this campsite because of its proximity to Houston because we wanted to take Liam to the Houston Space Center for his birthday.
Houston was an impressive city to drive into. The Fred Hartman Bridge in particular was quite beautiful. Spanning 2.6 miles long it connects Baytown and La Porte Texas. Houston downtown was divided into several districts – the Museum district was the first place we went as everyone wanted to visit the Houston Museum of Natural Science. When we got there Derek and Liam went off to look at energy and science related exhibits and Lucy and I focused on the animals, shells, rocks, dinosaurs. We had a great day and had we not had Jax at home we probably would have spent a couple more hours there.
Eager to try authentic Texan BBQ food we googled good BBQ restaurants in our area and based on reviews, ended up going to a restaurant called “Goings BBQ.” This was a huge mistake. The food was cold, dry and only palatable seeped in tons of BBA sauce. Even the fried Okra was greasy and lacked taste. Bummer, such a disappointment.
Keen to get some exercise in, I dragged everyone off to Cary Bayou trail. This was a lovely trail through the forest and some really swampy areas to a large park where there seemed to be a big family event. While everyone poo pooed by suggestion that there might be Alligators in the brown bayou running alongside the trail, we did see signs indicating they were in the area. After that we were really cautious but didn’t see any.
The following day we went to the Color Factory in Houston. This was an interactive art museum consisting of a number of themed art rooms. Lots of fun, especially the massive ball pit which Liam kept of disappearing under. In the last room we all got black ice creams which made our teeth black. From there, we were supposed to see the “Twilight Epiphany” which is a grass covered pyramid whose side gently ascend to a flat top that is covered by a 72 sq foot roof. The ceiling is illuminated by LED lights and acts as a frame to the square opening in the middle that provides a view of the sky. A light show is projected through the opening which apparently is beautiful. When we arrived at the art sculpture at Rice University to watch the show it was not open. This was very disappointing as Google had shown the light show to be every day at sunrise and sunset.
Another very interesting and different trip was to the National Museum of Funeral History. Kim Watermeyer in South Africa had suggested we go there. Well it was well worth the visit. Not morbid at all. There were lots of collections of memorabilia from funerals of past presidents and celebrities. Also exhibits regarding burials of the Pope and the embalming of Egyptians. There was also international exhibits showing the customs of Japanese and Mexicans. There were several motorized hearses as well as ornate hearse carriages. Well after a couple of hours of hearses, we had built up an appetite and went across the road from the museum to a Steak house for supper. BBQ food second time around was much better.
Jax needed a good walk so we went one late afternoon to Bark park. Not a dog park but a small park with a baseball pitch in the middle. It had several trails around it taking you through a residential area which was quite interesting. We were lucky enough to see an Owl sitting on the lower branches of a tree as we went past.
Lucy and Liam decided to save the best for last and had booked the Houston Space Museum for the day of their flight back to Victoria. They left early in the morning with Derek as Derek and Liam were booked for a VIP mission control tour at 9 am. Liam had been really looking forward to seeing Houston so it was a good way to finish the holiday on a high before they returned to snowy Victoria. Lucy went on a trolley tour around the space center and did the normal space center tour while Derek and Liam did the immersive experience. I stayed at home to look after Jax as we would have had to leave him by himself for an extended period of time which I did not want to do. Everything turned out according to plan and Lucy and Liam were able to catch their flight with no problems
