Wedding, Rockets and Space stuff

On the 23rd of June we went on a journey to see our granddaughter tie the knot. We were worried about the weather as the remnants of a tropical storm were off the coast of Louisiana. We ran into pretty dense rain as we left Texas on the 24th but managed to get there in plenty of time.

The wedding was beautiful and so was the bride. We enjoyed the trip there and we even managed to find the reception and got to enjoy some of that. It rained for a good bit of the afternoon but managed to quit for the evening. We didn't stay late because we had a long day the next day

Sunday was a travel day and we drove north through Louisiana, and Mississippi toward Jackson. We had to get off the Interstate finally due to traffic jams and did the last 20 miles or so on this day on winding back roads. Monday we headed north east and stopped to shop a couple of places and then we passed by the US Space and Rocket center. This is a place that I have seen on TV before but was neat up close. We didn't have time to tour the whole thing as we were on a tight schedule. So we just took a few pictures ad called it good. Here are some of what we took.

A Saturn rocket from the road

A couple of Saturn boosters from the Apollo era

A Space Shuttle but not one that flew

This would be a great place to visit but the entry was about $24 a person and we didn't really have time to do it justice so alas we cold not see it all, Maybe next time. After leaving there (Huntsville Alabama) we went Northeast again into Tennessee where we arrived at Martha's sisters house and spent the afternoon catching up on the news.  

Slow boats

Clarence & Martha on the Bayou

Last Friday we had an opportunity to go with some HPU folks kayaking on the bayou. Pecan Bayou in Brownwood is the outflow of lake Brownwood. We enjoyed it a lot. These are simple boats although as we have looked into them, there are many add on items that can make them more complicated and expensive. You can get one at Walmart for a couple of hundred dollars or you can get one from one of the specialty shops and spend several thousand. Somewhere between is where most of us are. The kayaks belonged to one of our HPU faculty and he allowed us and some of the Registrar staff to use them for a few hours.

Martha getting used to a Kayak

We paddled up the bayou about 2 miles to a small dam where we could go no further. There is another small dam below where we were and after that the bayou flows all the way to the Colorado river. Above the dam that stopped us there is another primitive park and several more miles of good paddling. We hope to try it out in the near future. There are many other sites scattered over our area that are ideal for paddling as well.

Clarence relaxing on the bayou

 Stay tuned.