Museums not far from Home,

I have decided that I will make it my mission to see as many of the small, local museums as I can find. I have collected a massive pile of brochures and will start – now – checking them out.  Houston has a very large area, just west of downtown called the museum district.  We have a world class collection of large, well managed and well funded museums.  The Contemporary Arts, Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Health and Science and, my favorite, the Museum of Natural Science are all within a mile radius.  But I have found that there are many, that is MANY, small privately owned museums scattered throughout the Houston Metropolitan area – these are the ones I will hunt down and visit.

This week I went by the 1940 Air Terminal Museum, a small, privately owned museum, consisting of the original Hobby Airport art deco styled terminal, (the only one in the USA left standing) and a couple hangers not yet open to the public.  When I read about this museum, I wondered how Camillo and I had missed it.  He was an avid lover of all things aeronautic. Knowledge of a hanger full of vintage plane, pulled out the 3rd Saturday of every month would have gotten him out of the house for sure.  This building and its show of small planes only opened in mid 2003 – shortly after our move to Brasil, and frankly it never occurred to us to visit Houston as tourists like we did all other cities – visiting churches and museums with real enthusiasm. 

The museum is still under restoration.  Left empty and deserted when the new section of Hobby was constructed; filled with debris, rodents, and the homeless, the The Houston Aeronautical Heritage Society is now hunting for the $3 million estimated to plaster the interior walls.  Right now the interior walls are in red block, the same materials used in the original construction.  The plaster was a mixture of gypsum and asbestos.  The main entrance level is complete and when they can, they will complete the walls in the wings in a gypsum/fiberglass mix to mimic the high gloss finish  of the original.  

   
For now, even with its incomplete restoration, a walk through the memorabilia was a real pleasure. 

Out and about in Houston

“Out and About - Take us on a walk through your town. What are the sights you see when you are out doing your daily or weekly chores, or when you are out for some leisure? (by Barb)”

Had to smile at the idea of walking about my town, doing errands and seeing the sights. Incase anyone is confused because I post from “Houston”, that’s Houston Texas, then talk about Missouri City, or Galveston, and maybe thrown in from time to time,, Sugarland and even Rosenberg, it is because all these towns are butted up, side by side.  The street names may change, and occasionally you can see a sign that says leaving Houston or entering Missouri City, but it is really one big city.  Linked by highways and bayous, shopping malls and shopping strips; stretching, spread-out, proliferating.  Reaching from the Gulf of Mexico to Huntsville, and from the Louisiana border to the prairie west of Katy this town is not something you stroll through seeing the sights. 

There are places to walk about…. from the fringe of a parking lot to the store front is sometimes a good hike.  During the Christmas holidays and other major shopping days, you are just as likely to have to drive to the fringe to park as to be lucky enough to find an empty spot up by the door.   On those days shopping is good for your heart….

Even getting back to the milk and eggs at the supermarket may take you by surprise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Generally the effort to get to the supermarket or to the movie theater is about a 15 to 25 minute drive; just like it might be for those of you who live out in the countryside.  But this is just the amount of time it  takes to get out of the neighborhood and head up the highway a bit.  The days I meet my hiking group to walk the bayous or through the forest is about driving an hour or more (3) each direction.  If I do get out and drive this time of year, I am rewarded with the Texas wildflowers that thrive along the highways.