Wednesday, day 3, we woke up with more strength and positive attitudes about the day, we had 2 hours to get to our next destination, which meant less rush and more time to be a tourist. We started our day as would any American, at Starbucks, plotted our route, sipped our Mocha's, devoured our turkey sandwiches and put gas in the car!
First stop was the NASA Johnson Space Centre. It was here we truly absorbed the information and experience the greatness of such a piece of history could offer, and that's what we can thank Houston for. We took the white tour, which is offered 10 times a year, where we were driven to the station the astronauts do their years of training, the Sonny Carter Training Facility of the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. It contains a pool which is 202 feet long, 102 feet wide and 40 feet deep and contains 6.2 million gallons of water. Experiencing the simulation machine, where 360 turns provided Chey's entertainment, provided myself with potentially joining the Meg club ;)
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| The space simulators |
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| Buoyancy pool |
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| Space shuttle main engine |
After an intellectually stimulating session, we were back on the road and heading towards Galveston Island, South of Houston. We made a pit stop in Santa Fe, a small quaint town with nothing much to offer, to experience some local cuisine. We stopped at an isolated red barn looking place called John's Hometown Bar-B-Q, it said open and we were hungry. With our "let's try something new and Texan " attitudes, we ordered some steak sandwiches and some rather mashy potato salad, to see what John was all about. The quietness and very basic set up of the place, called for some rather entertaining lunch talk. Pubic hairs and finger nail stories - need I say more. On completion of our Santa Fe meal, a rather delicious one might I add, I could happily sing the line of Train, Drive by's " New York to Santa Fa," truthfully (even though its not the same place, oops)
Back on the road, open spaces, flat and straight we headed towards Galveston Island. Having been in the city of Houston, the second the aroma of salty, sea and shore hit out noses we shrieked with excitement. However, the anticipation leading up to the rise on the road we all sighed as we saw brown murky looking water. We parked the car and dipped our toes in the seaweed ridden water only to spot a Bubba Gump Shrimp bar on this neat little pier called " Pleasure Pier."
It was at this awesome place, completely Forrest Gumped out from table decor, to cocktail names to an all round perfect ambiance. Brad our waiter was cute, and even though he never watched the movie, he supplied us with some delicious souvenir cocktails.
It was at the table we all mutually agreed to skip the sleep over in Galveston and cut our journey to South Padre island in half. Clean decisions, a stop at the local store for some bits and bobs, and it was night time driving at its best. The cooler weather, and perhaps the dark of the night encountered for some humorous driving, hallucinations, head light hysteria where it looked as if trucks and cars were heading straight for us. We marvelled at what we initially thought were beautiful cities, turning out to be factories and made a pit stop at Whataburger. The boys from Forth Worth said that this was a must. Exhaustion and heat, we drive through the drive through, laughing and pumping up the jams, we spent a good 10 minutes browsing the menu, arrive at the pick up window, look at each other and we hadn't even ordered. It was moments like these where your stomach hurts from laughter that make these trips so special. The giggles continued inside, and with a few skew looks, we could leave shouting " WHAT - A - BURGER " !! Going onto 11pm, we were nearing our destination, which again, mad Google skills lead us to affordable decent accommodation. As we saw our little race car checked flag on our GPS, putted over the last hill, we all felt a great sense of happiness rush through us as we looked into the beautiful bay of Arsansas, Rockport, the full moon glistening on the water, numerous docks with green fishing light posts colouring the water and making it lap with beauty and serenity. Making small talk with some local fishermen, we checked in, cuddled up and eagerly awaited the next days events...
First stop was the NASA Johnson Space Centre. It was here we truly absorbed the information and experience the greatness of such a piece of history could offer, and that's what we can thank Houston for. We took the white tour, which is offered 10 times a year, where we were driven to the station the astronauts do their years of training, the Sonny Carter Training Facility of the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. It contains a pool which is 202 feet long, 102 feet wide and 40 feet deep and contains 6.2 million gallons of water. Experiencing the simulation machine, where 360 turns provided Chey's entertainment, provided myself with potentially joining the Meg club ;) 
Back on the road, open spaces, flat and straight we headed towards Galveston Island. Having been in the city of Houston, the second the aroma of salty, sea and shore hit out noses we shrieked with excitement. However, the anticipation leading up to the rise on the road we all sighed as we saw brown murky looking water. We parked the car and dipped our toes in the seaweed ridden water only to spot a Bubba Gump Shrimp bar on this neat little pier called " Pleasure Pier." 
It was at the table we all mutually agreed to skip the sleep over in Galveston and cut our journey to South Padre island in half. Clean decisions, a stop at the local store for some bits and bobs, and it was night time driving at its best. The cooler weather, and perhaps the dark of the night encountered for some humorous driving, hallucinations, head light hysteria where it looked as if trucks and cars were heading straight for us. We marvelled at what we initially thought were beautiful cities, turning out to be factories and made a pit stop at Whataburger. The boys from Forth Worth said that this was a must. Exhaustion and heat, we drive through the drive through, laughing and pumping up the jams, we spent a good 10 minutes browsing the menu, arrive at the pick up window, look at each other and we hadn't even ordered. It was moments like these where your stomach hurts from laughter that make these trips so special. The giggles continued inside, and with a few skew looks, we could leave shouting " WHAT - A - BURGER " !! Going onto 11pm, we were nearing our destination, which again, mad Google skills lead us to affordable decent accommodation. As we saw our little race car checked flag on our GPS, putted over the last hill, we all felt a great sense of happiness rush through us as we looked into the beautiful bay of Arsansas, Rockport, the full moon glistening on the water, numerous docks with green fishing light posts colouring the water and making it lap with beauty and serenity. Making small talk with some local fishermen, we checked in, cuddled up and eagerly awaited the next days events... 
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