Kemah Boardwalk, Space Center Houston, Microtel, and a spacey McDonald's

Greetings from Nassau Bay/Clear Lake City!

About a month ago, a lady posted to an unschooling group that she was wanting to visit Space Center Houston, but that tickets were $30 per adult. She said if she could get a group of 20 people together, it'd just be $10 per ticket... so we jumped on it. Now, we also decided to make a weekend of it, book-ending the discounted day with nights at a hotel, so we did spend more than $60 total, but we really needed a little family getaway! It's been about a year and a half since our last trip. Our teenager stayed home to cat- and house-sit, which also saved us some money.

First, we headed out from west of Austin at our own leisurely pace. We visited Brenham first, stopping by the Funky Art Cafe to get lunch to take to a park. I'm glad we had planned on picnicking, because that place was PACKED!

The famous pumpkin burger, vegetarian. From the menu: pumpkin, wild rice, corn, jalapeno, cilantro, & jack cheese; served on a whole wheat bun with chipotle sour cream spread, avocado, lettuce & tomato.

The Don't Knock It Until You've Tried It wrap, also veggie. A wrap "dressed with savory tahini poppy seed spread then filled with roasted sweet potato cubes, avocado, red onion, shredded jack cheese, lettuce & tomato,"

Those were both ridiculously good. If you're taking out, I highly recommend calling in your order. It took about 20 minutes for our food to be prepared. TOTALLY worth the wait, but we ended up spending $30 on a construction utensil and plate kit at the adjoining specialty store.

We ate and then played at Fireman's Park in Brenham. Lots of fun stuff to do. We happened to hit it just as a school group (three buses worth) was finishing up lunch, but we got to play on the playground alone for a bit before sharing.

You can't visit Brenham without visiting Blue Bell, so we did. They don't offer guided tours like they used to (before the listeria thing), but you can still look out from an observation window at the packing area, and you can get a very generous scoop of ice cream for $1.

We had one more obligatory stop before we reached our destination:

We checked in to our hotel which is, I guess, in Nassau Bay. The address is Houston. We're RIGHT across the street from Space Center. But I'll get to that in a bit.

After we got our bags to the room and settled in, Mal and I took a trip across the parking lot to CVS for some sundries while James heated his knees. Then we were ready to drive out to Kemah for the evening.

We went on a Thursday night, and it just wasn't too busy. There was a sign that said "free parking under the bridge; free shuttle" but we parked literally right beside the roller coaster, and we didn't pay anything.

Mal was super excited to be at the Gulf of Mexico, and beside himself while we waited in line for tickets to a few of the rides. He was less excited when we started to board the Century Wheel, but he ended up liking it a lot.

He liked the Hypnospin (aka Tilt-a-Whirl) SIGNIFICANTLY less, crying most of the time we had the most fun, i.e. spinning like crazy. Later, I think it was because he'd hit his head, but he was coping with the stimuli by tilting his head to put his hand over his ears, and that just makes the spinning worse. But there's no explaining that to a hysterical 3-year-old.

Once we got back onto the boardwalk, he was pure joy again, dancing to the "beautiful music" and chasing seagulls around.

This playground just behind Flying Dutchman is great. Super soft ground, and plenty for little kids and bigger kids. Mal burnt off steam before and after dinner.

The entire boardwalk is pretty much owned by Landry's, and the Aquarium Restaurant is part of it. The prices weren't overblown, and the food was really delicious. I got grilled shrimp tacos, and James got Cajun tilapia with shrimp, crawfish, and scallops. Mal got macaroni and cheese, and even though fries aren't listed as a side dish for kids' meals, they have "fish and chips" on the menu, so we asked for them.

There is plenty to keep a kid visually occupied while waiting for food, plus they bring you some delicious, mushy soft sourdough slices with soft butter. 

As we left the boardwalk, which was pretty much shuttered except for the rides by 8:30, we were able to give our three unused tickets (which Mal would not deign to use for one more thing, lest it was terrifying) to three tween boys in line waiting to get their own tickets. They were pretty excited.

Now I'll tell you about the Microtel. It's located literally across the street from the Space Center. In fact, here's a zoomed-in picture from our room's window.

For comparison, here's a zoomed-in picture of our hotel from the second level of the Space Shuttle tower.

We had breakfast included in our stay price, which was just at $100 per night for a mini-suite. Breakfast options included Texas-shaped or "half dollar" waffles, bagels, English muffins, toast, muffins, biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, juice, coffee, instant oatmeal, and cereal... but ponderously no milk to be seen. It might be that they run out of stuff and just don't restock.

We realized that this is the perfect place to stay if you're taking a little kid who might tire out to the Space Center. By midday, when Mal was done, James just walked back to see more stuff while I stayed with our child. Then James walked "home" and I spent a couple more hours at Space Center.

There is a small outdoor pool, a (very busy) Luby's and a CVS right in the same parking vicinity. There are plenty of restaurants around, both chains and local places. And I'll get to that in a moment, too. So, our impression of the Microtel Houston is a positive one.

We were able to walk over and get some pictures we wouldn't have gotten from the car. Then we met our contact and entered right as Space Center was opening. The lines look daunting at 10 AM, but people process quickly through security and disburse through the building. The same cannot be said for parking, which seemed to have a constant line until about 3:00 PM (the center closed at 5 PM the day of our visit).

Most important tip: If you want to do the tram ride, queue up for that immediately upon opening. Space Center used to do "timed tickets," where you'd reserve your ride. They have stopped that within the past month, so it's first-come/first-served. James tried to get in line at 1:20 and was told that he was too late for the last shuttle tour, which was to leave at 3:00 PM. Who wants to spend two hours of their day in line for a 90 minute tram tour?!

So get there early if you want to see "backstage."

If not, the first place you should head is Independence Plaza, which is the big Boeing airplane with the "high fidelity" Space Shuttle mock-up, Independence. We toured it at around 10:50, and when I went back alone to review a couple of exhibits, it was standing room only. I couldn't move around freely, but had to be herded with the crowd. So if you're planning to take time and really enjoy this exhibit, and I think that the interactive elements here are much better than the ones in the kids' area inside (and less beat up!), the morning definitely beats 3:00 PM.

Here are some highlights from our morning.

Midday, we just walked practically next door to a cool space-themed MdDonald's.

There's an Indian fusion place next door, between McDonald's and Space Center, where my husband got a veggie burger to go and just brought it to McD's, where our kid blew off some steam in the play area.

Walking to lunch is a great way not to have to pay $5 to reenter the parking lot, if you decide you don't want to eat whatever they're serving at the center. Also, you can't take food inside of Space Center, but they have a lot of picnic tables outside, so you can keep food in your car and eat on the cheap.

This was when Mal decided he wanted to go back to the hotel and chill. James walked back to the center and we walked "home." Then a couple of hours later, the grown-ups traded places.

Final thoughts: If you like space, you can easily spend a whole day, especially in this slower period when they're only open 10-5, at Space Center. Getting our tickets for a third of the price probably helped us feel like we were having a great time at a bargain, and actually the picture at the top of this post cost more than our entire entry did (because Mal is 3 and was free). And, yeah, I know his eyes are closed and there is hair in his face, but immediately before and after the photographer snapped this picture, my son had his finger in his nose, so this was the premium take.

I can't believe some people made this a day trip from Austin, and I'm glad we didn't have to.