Wayne woke up early this morning all excited about going to see the DC United opening match tonight.

I woke up excited about going to NASA - thank you Matt very much for suggesting that rather than picking up a space suit for Will at the airport!  I was practically giddy - total geek, am I.

We had a circuitous route heading to NASA.  Our first stop was to go down to a lake area in Jodi & Matt’s community - they have resident bald eagles!  We walked for a while along the path and saw houses that would fit our little shack in the foyer.  Wow.  The air was pretty crisp, but we were both comfortable out on the path.  We didn’t see any bald eagles, unfortunately.  Nevertheless, it is an absolutely beautiful community.

From there we proceeded to Jodi & Matt’s dive shop (they arrange what appear to be great dive trips), and then headed out south (I think) of Houston.  The city skyline is very impressive, and much taller than that of Honolulu.

Lunch was Indian cuisine en route, and then we got to NASA!  My first stop was the gift shop, where we picked up goodies for Will and Kate.  I think he will love his orange space suit!  Then we walked through exhibits on the floor of the entry building, before seeking out one of the tours.

The first stop on the tour was the original mission control center, which is located above the current mission control center.  We got a detailed history, and we got to look around quite a bit before heading back onto the tram.

We then rode over to the rocket park, and we toured around outside and inside - both were equally cold!  And amazing.  You get to look inside the space capsules/rockets/etc and see how very small the living space is inside.  It is amazing that people have been able to withstand the journey up and back again without excessive claustrophobia! 

Afterwards, we returned on the tram to the main exhibit floor (you may NOT walk back through the NASA property, you must travel only by tram), and then we headed back to Houston to meet up with fellow DC United Screaming Eagles fans.  We met up at the Home Plate, a bar across from the stadium.  There was no room for us downstairs with the rest of the fans, so we grabbed our four tickets (Jodi and Matt agreed to sit with the DC fans!), and went upstairs to nosh.  The main body of the group left before we did, so we weren’t part of the police escorted group.  Didn’t really miss out on much, I don’t think.

Seating was a little fluid (we wound up near the banner, which was good since it served to hold off the wind), and the weather was frigid!  The Eagles screamed themselves hoarse during the course of the match, which started off pretty well defensively.  Bill Hamid (my fourth husband) fended off multiple shots on goal successfully - for a long while.  Unfortunately, Houston then scored off of a DC United own goal.  Totally depressing.  And the punishment continued thereafter, with DC having no shots on goal at all during the game, and losing 3-0 at the end.  We (as part of the larger group) were asked to stay and wait, and then we had the police escort back tot he parking area.  Despite the loss and the freezing cold weather, it was good to be out of Hawaii and visiting with friends.

We will have to come back and spend some more time in Houston - Jodi thinks a week - and see more of what it (and surrounding areas in Texas) has to offer.  But maybe in April or May, not in the winter!  :)

Thank you Jodi & Matt for hosting us this weekend!