Last night in The Woodlands

We hadn't really planned on staying here last night, but the Austin area RV park had no spots for us. Luckily, the spots here were. Sheila came over mid-morning and we got to visit all day. Rick had a hankerin' for barbecue--Sheila had heard about a place called Pit Master that was constantly getting good reviews, so that is what we got. Along with the pulled pork, sausage and brisket, sides of potato salad, slaw, beans and bread accompanied the meal. I heated up some leftover chicken and veggies and everyone was happy!

Dottie snapped our picture as we enjoyed some postprandial relaxation!

A Day Late and a Few Dollars Short

The first thing we did was find a Verizon store where Cary and I each got new phones. The salespeople in there all gasped when they saw what we had. No trade in, ugh. And he couldn't transfer my numbers for me, so I will try to do it manually! And since the phones are different, that will be a fun experience learning them both. That was the first big expenditure of the day.

We decided to spend the day being tourists in old town Spring. Sheila thought this was a fitting sign!

This sign was fitting for us!

The Steel Horse was originally a bank with the distinction of having been robbed by Bonnie and Clyde!

Cary is inside the vault of that bank reading a little bit about Bonnie and Clyde. You can a picture of the duo over his left shoulder and the safe, also on his left.

A close up, sort of

Lunch was here.

 My second purchase of the day (not counting lunch) was three yards of fabric at this cute shop. An Easter promotion gave me a 30% discount.

The Texas state flower, blue bonnets, have been scattered around the whole area.

Another shop

I am pretty sure this is the first time I have actually seen one of these little free libraries (http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/)--very cute and such a good idea.

Just before we left town, Dottie and Sheila investigate a large bird cage.

Our last stop of the day was Walmart, a wonderful experience on the Friday before a holiday. Sheila and i and the lady behind us in line were ready to open her wine!

Things to do in Houston

I guess there is a museum for everything. Ever since I heard that Sheila took her niece and her hubby here, I thought we should also pay it a visit.

Cary brought his notepad and took notes again.

Many types of hearses were on display.

Samples of funeral home advertising

Very nice Cadillac

This Mercedes was in Grace Kelly's funeral.

This casket, covered with bills and coins (at one time totally $1000) has only been used as a display and in parades.

A flower car, used to take flowers to the funeral

An older hearse

A hearse bus!

See sign below for explanation...

These are all caskets!

To represent one way of celebrating El Dia de Los Muertos

One whole section was devoted to presidents. There were copies of funeral bills, news articles, thank you cards and so on. This model train was very faithfully replicating Lincoln's funeral train. The man who did it even researched the heritage of the soldiers and gave the little figures faces that would show German and English-looking features.

Another whole section was dedicated to the popes and this is an actual pope mobile!

 

Rick examines a casket making workshop.

Here is Cary taking notes. The lighting and my camera often fought with each other.

For my sewing friends, another example of refashioning. This jacket was made of money bags.

Another section was devoted to embalming over the ages. The Egyptians figured it out early.

Our of sequence, we actually toured this museum after lunch.

I cannot imagine even collecting the items used on this car, much less applying them.

Sheila examines one of the other cars.

This was set up to show the Austin Art Car Parade of a few years ago; the kaleidoscope effect really gave you the sense of how strange the vehicles were. And the drivers of them.

This was where we had lunch, sort of a serendipitous happening. We had no plan and no idea where we would find a resaurant. It happened to be just down the street from the art car place. And very good food.

Next stop, St. Arnold's Brewery

For $8 you got four tokens each good for a glass of beer, a souvenir glass and a tour of the brewery. It was a popular place! None of us had four glasses, or even three, and that is my rootbeer you see on the table. We also skipped the tour.

Whew, finally home and out of the traffic. Dottie and I took time to do laundry. Now Cary tells me he needs some clean t-shirts! Manana!

We Made it to The Woodlands!

After a long drive, most of it the last hour going through Houston traffic, we got to our RV park and were able to relax. For awhile. Until after supper when we realized that our toilet (yes, the same one we had trouble with before) won't quit running--it just fills. So I guess we turn off the water tonight. Since we have a full day planned tomorrow, the plumbers (aka Rick and Cary) will work on it Friday.

Sheila came over and joined us for supper.

Oh, and I guess I am going to have to finally get to a phone store and replace mine...the battery has swollen and the phone won't close!

I think I will get ready for bed before anything else happens.

Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History

Before we entered, we had to pose for pictures.

 And we didn't want them to feel left out.
Our guide for the Pinta, a reproduction here.

The ships are reproductions built by Spain to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus`s voyages to the New World. They took five years to build and cost $6.5 million. The three ships embarked on a tour of the Mediterranean and Atlantic ports of Europe in 1990 and 1991. After a successful tour of 18 United States ports, they arrived at their permanent home in Corpus Christi in 1993. The Pinta and Santa Maria are located at the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History. The Nina is currently undergoing repairs at a local shipyard.*

The "shelf life" of these ships, when in water and maintained by a crew of 27, is 10 years. Because that is not the case, and these are 20 years old, they probably will not be around much longer. It will cost more for the repairs than to build new ones.

You can sort of see some of the tools used on board. The rope to measure knots, an hour glass that had to be turned every 30 minutes, an astrolabe for directions, and seen in a close up below, a sounding line or lead line.

In this sense, sounding refers not to sound, but to the word for water or sea. It is very heavy, with markers along the line to indicate depths. The bottom of the lead is concave; tallow was placed on it to bring up sediment from the ocean floor, giving the sailors an indication of where they were.

Natural history and geology were well represented.

This dress and train are encrusted with many, many jewels. I would guess it weighs over 100 pounds. A crown or tiara is located in the left front.

Needlecraft

 Lighting

Laundry

Cary was quite fascinated with this room and its ornate wooden ceiling.

This is the floor of that room and below is

the ceiling. It was originally in Spain, brought here when the building was being torn down.

Cary wanted to write down some things about the room.

I was able to "stitch" four pictures together to get this image!

Doc's on Padre Island, where we finally had lunch. I think it took us longer to locate the restaurant than to eat. Yummy though.

*http://ccmuseum.com/columbusships.htm