Texas

Houston, TX

Houston Museum of Natural Science One Hermann Circle Drive  Houston, TX 77030 713-639-4629 http://www.hmns.org/ One of the more impressive crystal and gemstone collections we’ve seen. This museum also has a wonderful exhibit on oil exploration (of course, given its location). When we were there a great docent with oil drilling experience was giving an absolutely-riveting talk-and-walk through the exhibit. October 2009
Houston Downtown Aquarium 410 Bagby St. Houston, TX 77002 713-223-3474 http://www.aquariumrestaurants.com/downtownaquariumhouston/flash_content/index.html It is the only aquarium we found that has white tigers. The restaurant keeps up the aquarium theme, with enormous tanks to watch while dining. Eat there. October 2009
Space Center Houston 1601 NASA Parkway (formerly NASA Rd. 1) Houston, TX 77058 281-244-2100 http://www.spacecenter.org/ Not as much launch hardware as Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but here you can view mission control. They’ve got quite a collection of Apollo-era hardware. With the cancellation of the Constellation, one wonders what will become of this historically, and technologically important location. October 2009