For our 2019 Spring Break, we decided on a brief mid-week trip to the Houston area, surrounded by buffers of mostly relaxing, non-intense days. The plan went off without a hitch.

We decided on two days, eating part of each day with driving time, one night of hotel stay between them, and two destinations: (1) Kemah Boardwalk, because we had fond memories of it from 2015 and hadn’t been back since, and (2) Space Center Houston (“NASA”), because the kids don’t remember our 2016 trip and the 2018 visit ended poorly.

Outbound Trip

We’ve tried multiple routes to and from Houston (and usually Galveston), and I timed and measured each one. This year we took the one that served us best of the previous routes: I-14 to I-35, to Temple, then US190 east to Bryan/College Station, then TX6 down to Hempstead, US290 to Houston, and I-45 through Houston. It worked well enough, despite me missing our final exit off I-45, and we made it from our house to Kemah in four hours and 37 minutes. This included only one 10-minute stop in Hearne, and my (approximate) 10-minute driving error (exacerbated by construction in the area). It was 249 miles. It was, in my memory, the best our kids have ever behaved on a road trip.

Kemah

Last time we visited Kemah (during our 2015 Galveston trip) was on B’s second birthday. It was hot (upper 90s, I think) and very humid. I courted the shade and reapplied sunscreen regularly. We had to carry a diaper bag in addition to normal stuff. Both children were ineligible for several rides, and at least one had a bathroom-related accident. And still we had fond memories.

This time was very different. The weather was upper 60s, entirely overcast (the tops of taller rides were obscured by fog), breezy, with occasional drizzle. I actually returned to the car for jackets at one point. R could ride anything she wanted (a couple required accompanying parent), and B could get on most things. Also, RnB both have been in school so they’re more patient while standing in line. We rode enough rides to feel like our costly wristbands were worth it, ate at the same expensive restaurant we enjoyed in 2015 (RnB ate everything this time!), and all of us were ready to leave about the same time. More fond memories were created.

Kemah is a place to take your kids if you don’t want to spend Six Flags money but still want to visit something like a theme park.

I can only think of a handful of downsides this year. Unlike 2015, when we arrived early and easily found parking, this time we arrived after lunch and parking was a chore. Not actually finding it, because we could see empty parking spaces, but all of the driveways into the parking lot were blocked by metal barricades and three teenage traffic directors were steadily directing all vehicles around a large circle without telling anyone where the secret entrance to the parking lot was. I saw a parking garage and wanted to go in, but the teenage directors stood in the way and kept all cars moving around the big circle. I asked the next one: “Is this the way to parking?” He kept making the “keep moving” signal with his hands, and snarled, “I don’t know. Just keep moving.” The second time around, I asked the teen who had earlier kept us from the parking garage if we were going to get to park at some point. She said, “Oh yes, just go in the parking garage right over there.” And pointed at the one I’d wanted the first time around. Sigh. This right here added a good 15 minutes to the length of our trip.

Secondly, the service in the Aquarium restaurant left something to be desired (compared to our previous visit). And thirdly, why are bathrooms always so rare and hidden at these places?

The Hotel

My wife chose the Hampton Inn & Suites on Bay Area Boulevard for our one-night stay, and it turned out to be perfect — we wished we’d booked more nights so we could spend more time there. It was a two-room suite with a decent kitchen (which we didn’t use but could have), a comfortable sofa, two TVs (with correct aspect ratio setup!), and two comfortable beds. It was on the top (fifth) floor, separated from the non-suite rooms by a hall, which made for a very quiet night.

The hotel was also just 3.7 miles (10-15 minutes) from Space Center Houston, making it beyond simple to get to that destination in the morning — after our tasty free breakfast. There were no downsides to the hotel itself.

Our only negative moment at the hotel was during breakfast: a douchey white guy in the common eating area had his laptop and briefcase set up like an office, taking up space for four people and loudly talking on his phone at 07:00 in the morning as if he was in the middle of Wall Street doing Very Important Business. It was almost like the late 1990s when mobile phones and laptops were still kind of rare, so you know those people were doing well, except it was 2019 and it was early and families were just trying to eat before touristing all day. Like. Dude. You’re making us all look bad.

Space Center Houston

We arrived just as the attraction opened, and it wasn’t very busy to start with (unlike last time, when it was a madhouse), though the crowd grew thicker throughout the day. After twice visiting Mission Control on a tram tour, this year we took a tram tour to the Astronaut Training Facility in “Building 9”, the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility. The building is longer than two football fields and includes full-size mockups of the International Space Station and other space-bound equipment. We didn’t see any astronauts practicing on these mockups, but this is supposedly where they do it. We were allowed to walk along a catwalk and take pictures. There were robots and rovers, and a couple of technicians working on stuff below us.

RnB were more interested in the promised souvenirs than anything at the actual Space Center museum, though they dutifully looked at a few exhibits and posed for a few photos. They behaved well enough (because that was the deal, if they wanted souvenirs). After an overpriced lunch in the food court and a tour of the 1:1 space shuttle mockup, we headed to the gift shop. B chose a knockoff Lego spaceship, R got two “squishee” keychain ornaments (an Apollo spacecraft and an astronaut) and I bought another NASA-themed coffee mug.

Somehow, we were there almost five hours.

Inbound Trip

Leaving Space Center at 13:58, we made it through Houston and to Hempstead before having to stop (17 minute R&R). I chose the exit because a sign said “Dunkin Donuts”, but I missed the “Express” part of the sign. Apparently, a “Dunkin Donuts Express” is just a counter inside a gas station, where you self-serve donuts and coffee, for the same price you’d pay if an employee served them to you. I refused on principle. From there, we made it back home without another stop (technically we spent two minutes at a Little Caesar’s, picking up supper to go), arriving at 18:25.

So, the trip home was 234 miles in four hours, 27 minutes (4:08 driving time).

Conclusion

It was an experiment to try a two-day trip like this, and I’m happy with the results. The drive wasn’t bad, the hotel was nice (and one night was affordable enough), and we enjoyed both our destinations. It’ll make us more apt to do this in the future, perhaps in places like San Antonio or Dallas, which are even closer than Houston and have plenty of things to do.

I’ve fallen behind on photo-formatting again, so the rest of what I got on this trip will be on Flickr eventually. If you follow me there, you will eventually see them all. If you don’t follow me on Flickr, at least consider it.