Monday, July 2, 2012

Houston Museum of Natural Science

I am going to start off the blog this morning telling you what we did yesterday and Joey will finish up with his thoughts.

Yesterday, we visited the Houston Museum of Natural Science. It is located near downtown and is about a 45 minute drive from our RV park.  There is a parking garage that is attached.  It is $10 to park.  It was very nice to just park in the garage and walk directly into the museum. We did not have to walk outside.  The museum has various prices.  If you want to see the permanent exhibits, the price is $15.  They have a Titanic exhibit which is $27.  We decided not to see that one since we visited the Titanic Museum in Branson, MO and saw a lot there. Jeff surprised me by adding the butterfly exhibit onto our tour. It was $8 a person.  I thought it was a little pricey when we were already spending $15 a person for the main exhibit, but I did really enjoy it.  You are able to watch butterflies hatch and then walk out into an area where they are flying all over. There is a McDonald's inside the museum which I was very happy about for a few reasons.  1) I have not had McDonald's in eight weeks and I had been wanting it.  2) The food prices were about $.50 more than other McDonald's, so they were not inflated by much.  3) The food was good, unlike the food we had at NASA and McDonald's cost less.

I really was not looking forward to seeing the museum, but we heard many good things about it.  There were things that I enjoyed seeing such as gems, shells, butterflies and I found some of the items from the Arctic and Indians interesting.  Jeff enjoyed the dinosaurs and there were a lot of them, 30 to be exact. I thought we would never get through that exhibit.  It was the size of a football field.
Termite mound.  Jeff said he saw these in St. Thomas



A chart that we were given as we entered the area with the live butterflies.


Waterfall in butterfly area
Ceiling in butterfly area.
One of the many gemstone carvings of Harold Van Pelt

One of the 30 dinosaurs in the Hall of Paleontology

...and another one

Giant Armadillo - supposedly like were quite large at one time.

Largest snail shell in the world
Another view of the shell

More shells




Gold nugget

Another dinosaur as seen from the second floor.
There is a room with jewelry and very large gem stones.  It was dark inside with only lights on the gems and jewelry.  I did not take photos there.

We arrived early around 10 a.m. and left at 2 p.m.  There were large lines to get in as we were leaving, so I am glad we arrived early.

Last night, we decided we wanted Mexican for dinner.  There are many restaurants near us, so I decided to check the reviews. We finally decided on Lupe Tortilla.  The reviews said that they had the best fajitas in Houston and also their tortillas are homemade and paper thin and just the best.  I decided I had to see for myself.  They serve a salsa that is not traditional. I am not quite sure how to describe it. It has tomatoes, onions and maybe a few peppers.  It is not a red base though.  It is clear. They also bring a hot bean type of dip with the tortilla chips.  I really liked both of them.  I ordered the The Original “Beeg Sucker” Burrito Flour tortilla filled con beef, frijoles, covered con chili gravy queso. Served with tomatoes, onions and shredded lettuce. I chose to upgrade it to the fajita beef instead of regular ground beef for $3 more.  It was really good.  I loved the fajita beef and the chili sauce was really good.

Burrito
Jeff ordered the fajitas with chicken, beef and shrimp. He also ordered a side of grilled corn on the cob.  His food took up half the table. I asked him if he thought they were the best fajitas he has ever had and he said they were good, but probably not the best. We have found that in Houston, fajitas are not served with green peppers like we are used to in Missouri. This one had one pepper.  It is interesting to see the differences in food here compared to at home.  Most of the Mexican restaurants here serve two types of salsas with their tortilla chips and I like that. 
My attempt at showing Jeff's food.  It is not all in this photo. 

The hats are the lights.  First time I have seen that.
Here is Joey's report:

I am doing really good wearing my boot!  I love that I can go wherever I want now.  I can walk on the gravel and the asphalt.  It's very likely that the next place we stay at will not have as much grass, so I'm glad I can walk on other surfaces without hopping.  You should have seen me this morning. I walked to the far lake and then we walked all the way to the other end of the park and to the firehouse.
How do I look?  Mama says I look pretty spiffy.

Walking with Dad yesterday.
That's all I have to say today.  Mama seems to have talked enough for both of us.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Likes Being Booted

8 comments:

  1. My MOM really like fajitas but she is not a fan of green peppers. She like them with red peppers instead.
    Joey I like your boot and glad it helps you get around.
    Blessings,
    Goose

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  2. Butterflies are so cool. I've been chasing them around the yard trying to get pics. That burrito sure made me hungry for some Mexican. We are usually too impatient to soften up the corn before picking it out. I can email you the CG article on treating corns, my email is gyeong@gmail.com

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  3. I'm glad the therapaw boot making walking more comfortable for Joey. So far, (knock on wood) none of my three have developed corns. I hope you get rid of it easily and quickly. That museum looks really interesting, so many different exhibits.
    PS I like McDonald's too! They have the best fries, even after watching "Supersize Me"...

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  4. We really did enjoy that and loved seeing the museum pictures. Glad Joey is doing good with the boot.
    Best wishes Molly

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  5. Wow! The Houston Museum of Natural Science is amazing. It has so many interesting things there. Thank you for sharing your photos. We have a butterfly place like that near us and it is so nice when they land on you, these giant coloured butterflies. Incidentally, I freak out if a tiny moth comes near me but don't mind the same thing that is 100 times bigger but a nice colour, LOL.
    Well done with your boot Joey, it is really doing your foot good.
    Dip Bridge and Elliot x

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  6. Really enjoyed seeing the photos of the museum, what a great visit you had.

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  7. That museum looks fantastic! Mom would have loved going in that place. I am SO glad that the boot is helping, too! You must be really relieved.

    Bunny

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  8. I love museums! Even the goofy little private ones. That "largest" snail shell is remarkable...kind of scary too. Your dinner looks SO GOOD. I'm hungry and that didn't help me.

    Joey, the boot isn't obvious. It just looks like you have a black paw. Glad it is helping.

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