Arlington and area

A statue of Sam Houston- they do things big in Texas.
Pamela at the park swinging her stuffed bunny. She is 4 1/2 yrs old now.
Jackie and Pamela in the coach.
Pam playing like she is an animal in the zoo.
Pamela loves to swing and go very high.

NASA and more Texas

Bill caught this Tylosurus_crocodilus (common name needle nose fish) in San Leon the following photo shows the teeth. they are rather wicked looking.
The teeth of the needle nose fish. Double click it to see how wicked it really is.
Dolphin that played in the ocean everyday we were there.
A couple of Big horn sheep that live by the sea.
Seagulls are all over the area in huge flocks.
This was a Flounder that Bill caught.
View across the bay area.
A roll of hay dressed up like a turkey-they were all over the place.
A stingray caught by someone fishing with Bill. He is showing the stinger that is a killer.
The steel house is one way to stay safe against the hurricanes and high seas.
NASA the space station.

Rockets in front of the NASA buildings.
Bill touching a moon rock.
The Endeavor mounted on the rocket and ready to go. (mock up)
The various stages of the rocket.
The living quarters on the sky lab. They have almost all the comforts of home. They use magnets and Velcro to keep things in place.
This is a sample of eating on in space. Note the magnets on the bottom of his shoes, they are triangular and fit in the mesh just under his feet. Due to modern technology they can hydrate and eat most of the same things we eat here and they are said to be quite tasty.
This is the sleeping bag used for the beds. While it may look uncomfortable they say it is not. since there is no gravity they are strapped in, even their head and they are weightless.
This is the space potty. They have to be held down here as well with the black devices and their feet go in the footholds at the floor level. Since there is no gravity they use strong suction to pull everything into the disposal area.
This is the shower and most do not use the actual water due to difficulties with water. They use a lot of things like the sanitation lotions.

Galveston, Bolivar Peninsula & adding Louisiana

A statue was erected in honor of the hundreds of people lost to the 1900 Galveston hurricane. Due to the loss of life and property they built a high seawall and raised the whole island 17 feet at the seawall and sloped downward at a pitch of one foot for every 1,500 feet to the bay. So this would not happen again. There were 6000 people lost on the island and 10 - 12,000 total lives lost. for more info see: http://www.1900storm.com/rebuilding/index.lasso More than 3,600 homes were destroyed on Galveston Island and the added toll on commercial structures created a monetary loss of $30 million, about $700 million in today's dollars.

The trip across the ocean in the coach on the ferry from Galveston to Bolivar Peninsula.
The famous concrete ship -- the S.S. Selma -- in the foreground, while downtown Galveston, in the background, seems to float on the Gulf of Mexico. The Selma served several ports in the Gulf of Mexico quite successfully. Unfortunately she ran aground on the South jetty at Tampico, Mexico on May 11, 1920, creating a size able crack about 60 ft. long in her hull. She was towed into Galveston for repairs. Although the damage was repairable, the dry-dock crew lacked the knowledge and had no experience repairing a hull of such material. With no guarantee of proper restoration, the U.S. Government's Emergency Fleet Corporation decided not to gamble. see http://www.texas-flyer.com/bolivar/selma.htm for more info.

This is an old metal lighthouse on the Bolivar Peninsula.

A house on Bolivar Peninsula left from the last hurricane damage. There were only a few left like this.
the majority of houses are built on stilts so the high tides from the hurricanes will go under and not damage the house.

Bill was doing some surf fishing. Either he had a big one and lost it or was caught on the bottom. no fish but he did not loose the tackle so it is open to interpretation. Note how bent over the pole is.

You can catch many things--turtles are hard to get off as they snap at you. This was from the pond at the campground on the peninsula.


We added Louisiana when we went for some good Cajun food and a look at the countryside.
The next three shots are across part of Louisiana

Portland and Corpus Christi

Evening moon over Portland Texas from our campground.
one of the beautiful sunsets we enjoyed while staying at the ocean.
interesting how the sun looks like it has a halo.
As always Bill goes fishing where ever he can. This time he caught a blue crab.
This is called a black drum fish.

This is looking from our campground out to the ocean across a duck pond. The owners have several various sized ducks and geese in the ponds (decoys) that bring in real birds. It is a rather neat estuary. Double click to see all the birds. At the ocean side you can see the pier that Bill fished from.
Just a neat shot of the sun on the water.
Looking across part of the estuary toward homes near the campground.
The bridge from Portland to Corpus Christi as seen from the USS Lexington.
Seashore also seen from the USS Lexington.
The USS Lexington is birthed off Corpus Christi and provided a day of exploring for us.
The flight deck of the ship has numerous planes on it.
Bill as seen inside the brig of the USS Lexington.