The Gulf

Driving around the Gulf the devestation from hurricanes is very clear.  Hurricane Rita swept through in 2006 and Hurricane Ike did a lot of damage in 2008 when it hit Port Arthur and Galvaston in Texas.  A lot of communities never recover and Port Arthur is almost like a ghost town - business buildings lie empty (some 6 storys tall) and street after street has little left but concrete slabs. 

Galvaston is an island south from Houston,  11 miles long and reached by ferry from the east (the direction we came) or by Bridge to the north.  It is a holiday playground reminding us of the Gold Coast at home, no high rise, but hotels, clubs and restaurants along the beach front, canal development, large marinas.  They claim to have some of the finest beaches in the world, well I'm sorry Galvaston, but these are not 'fine' beaches.  Very flat, the sand is grey, very weedy, no surf, the water milky caramel colour.  People paddle but that's all.  As it's the summer holidays, it is very busy but hurricane damage is very clear.  Entire hotel resorts have been washed away or demolished as a result.  One had it's neon sign still standing, with no hotel behind it.  In residential areas, entire suburbs have been, or are being, rebuilt.  The new homes are brightly coloured weatherboard, multi storey, on high stilts (a building standard because of the storm surges)  The island is only a few feet above sea level and when a hurricane hits, the storm surge can wash over the entire island.

There is a mind boggling number of oil and gas refineries in the Gulf region.  We have seen them all the way from New Orleans, and here they surround the city of Houston. Suburbs full of them, one after the other with a massive array of pipelines, with roads under and over them.

We stayed one night in Galvaston and then two nights in Kemah, a town on a bay near NASA and also near an historical site we wanted to see and it's about 10 miles from Houston city.  Kemah has an interesting Boardwalk along the river at the edge of the bay, with shops, restaurants and permanent carnival.  The only surviving wooden roller coaster in the US is here.

We vistited the Jacinta Historical site.  Texas won the right to independance from Mexico here in a battle between General Sam Houston and Mexican General Santa Anna.  There is a tower, 570 feet high, built from limestone, to commemerate the battle, and it is the tallest masonry tower in the world.  There is an interesting museum and an elevator to the 34th floor for a fine view over the area.

Nearby the Battleship Texas is permanently moored and is a museum.  This dreadnought type battleship was commissioned in 1900 and served in both World Wars and was the flagship of the fleet in WW2.  We had a good look over it despite the stifling heat, especially on the lower decks.

Day two took us to NASA and we needed nearly all day to see it.  We are told it is not just a museum, it is a working space administration facility.  We tour Mission Control from which all the Appollo Missions were monitored, the huge hangar which houses the Astronaut Training Centre, with 'mock ups' of the Shuttle, space labs and various prototypes of vehicles.  We also see the Saturn..Rocket, 362 feet long (it is huge when one stands next to it).  There is a 7 storey Imax theatre, a mock up of the Shuttle one can walk through, simulators one can try their skill at, demonstrations, talks, fun activities for the young.  On the serious side, plans are under way for the Orion Missions due to start in 2013 and further missions into 2030.

We finish our day with a browse along the Kemah Boardwalk and a very nice seafood dinner overlooking the waterfront. It's Friday night and a dazzling firworks display over the water is a weekly event.