Houston, We Have A Problem!

For my very short US trip, I made a 4-day detour to Houston, Texas to visit family. As I wasn't originally planning to go there, I didn't have time to research about things to do and places to see there. I decided to take it easy and just go with the flow. =)

1. Space Center Houston
Our first stop was, of course, the Space Center which is probably the most famous tourist attraction in Houston. I was super excited to see all the space and astronaut stuff!

The non-existent line should have given me a clue, but I thought it's because it was a school day that's why the place was not crowded. Apparently, the place has had very few visitors in the past years, probably because of the budget cuts made by the US government on their space program. I was even told that years ago, real astronauts used to train and exercise inside the Space Center!

Despite the lack of more 'hi-tech' attractions, I was still very much in awe of the exhibits, especially the astronaut suits and actual items that were brought in space. And of course, who wouldn't be amazed looking at an actual space shuttle?!

Evolution of space suits

What an inside of a shuttle looks like

The Saturn V

But the highlight for me was being inside the mission control where NASA monitored the historic Apollo 11 mission to the moon! It felt like being part of history!

The Command Center

I do wish that they add other attractions and activities here to give visitors a more interactive and fun way of learning about space and astronomy.

2. The National Museum of Funeral History

My cousin was being mysterious when I asked him where he was taking me for the day. He only said that we're going to a museum that's unique and can only be found in Houston. I made several guesses but a funeral museum was definitely not one of them.

True story: Coffin made for a family of 3!

Who says you can't bring your wealth to the grave?!

I was expecting to see morbid and gruesome stuff, but the museum's totally cool! Of course they had the usual coffins and other funeral and embalming memorabilia, but they had lots of interesting stuff as well like exhibits on the history of embalming and funeral methods, strange coffins from around the world, and even a replica of the Papal mobile and Pope John Paul II's grave.

Mummified

Replica of Pope John Paul II's grave

An actual embalming table. This gave me the shivers

Coffins from Ghana. People actually use these.

This is definitely one of the most interesting and unforgettable museums I have been too. I think if they add a horror booth here, that would be sooo cool! Right? ;-)

3. Houston Museum of Natural Science

I was pleasantly surprised by this museum because they had a great exhibition on dinosaurs.It was definitely smaller than the Museum of Natural History in New York but I liked their installations and layout better. I especially like that, beside the skeletons, they put a picture of what the dinosaur looked like at that time. Helps me better visualize what they look like with flesh, hehe.

The museum also has other great exhibits on gems, underwater marine life and wildlife. Pretty much lots of things to see and explore here!

4. Houston Zoo

The zoo is in the same compound as the museum. Too bad we weren't really able to explore around because when we got there it was already 1 hour before closing time. I still enjoyed though since I really love zoos. I will definitely spend more time here if I get a chance to visit Houston again!