Texas!

Now that we are moving to Oregon, I feel an increased need to do a few things.  One thing that I have always wanted to do is see Texas and Oklahoma, while they are still so close.  We decided it was now or never and embarked on a crazy trip.  The day after Christmas our family pulled out of the garage at 4 am sharp.  We drove through the corner of New Mexico and crossed the border into Texas just as the sun was beginning to rise.  It was a beautiful sight.  We spent 15 hours of that day driving and with the time change, checked into our hotel at 10 pm.  It went amazingly well.

The next day we woke up and headed to the Houston Children's museum.  It is ranked as the #1 children's museum in the U.S. by Parent's magazine.  I think it is up there with many we have been to, but it was a little crowded for my taste.  I didn't realize until we got there that Houston is the 4th largest city in the country.  It seemed to go on and on.  The older boys didn't enjoy it as much as they would have 5 years ago, but the younger kids ranked it their favorite part of the trip.

Danielle was especially in heaven!

They loved climbing in this 3 story maze.  Nathan was a good sport and took Danielle through it.  I opted to snap photos.

The next day was the big event that really prompted this trip.  There are 3 Saturn V Rockets that are left on the earth.  One was a test rocket that was never intended to be used, but the other two were built for missions that ended up being cancelled.  We have seen the two that are in Florida and Alabama.  The final one was at the Houston Space Center.

We went on a tram ride to "THE" mission control and the building that housed the Saturn V rocket. Danielle was kind enough to fall asleep right as we got to the rocket.  She slept through the outstanding tour given by a retired NASA employee that was fascinating.  I was interested to learn that the first and last words spoken on the moon were "Houston."  (Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." and "We're On Our Way Houston.")

It was amazing to see the place where so much history occured.  The buildings were built to look like a college campus to promote the feeling of learning and cooperation.

I have a similar picture of this in Florida.  2012:
 

2008:

 

 They have really grown up.

The boys all went on a fun ride.  It was a really fun day.

We took one night to drive out to the Houston Temple.  It looked like Texas to me.

 The drive home was a little more rough because of our many hours in the car.  We stayed the night at Oklahoma City and saw the Oklahoma City memorial which was quite peaceful and beautiful.  We discovered an amazing hamburger/ ice cream joint called Braums.  I will forever crave their food.  Hopefully we can get back some day. 

The kids liked joking about how everything is bigger in Texas.  I must say that we went to the unequivocally largest gas station that I have ever encountered.  There was even a woman who worked full-time keeping the restrooms clean!  We also ate at a restaurant made famous by their fruitcake.  I'm not a big fan of fruitcake, but this was amazing.  It better be for $67.  We enjoyed the free taste test.  We finally pulled into Alamosa on the evening of the 30th to enjoy between -22 and -30 degree weather the rest of the week.  I must say that I won't miss this bitter cold.  I now have been to 31 states....only 19 to go!