Yesterday, we enjoyed the company of Howard and Beverly on a windy days outing. We started with lunch at Cracker Barrel and then went to tour the Port of Houston. The Port of Houston Authority offers a free public charter boat tour of the ship channel and port. It is a great way to get a behind-the-scenes tour of a small portion of the ship channel. The tour is approximately 90 minutes long starting at the Authority Pavilion, which is in a gritty industrial area just east of downtown Houston. The Pavilion area itself has a nicely landscaped park-like setting, with a neat looking covered gathering spot. The building has interesting mosaic art work depicting things like the oil industry, space shuttle, and port business. The facility has nice restrooms and the dock loading area was easy to navigate with friendly people to assist. We boarded the MV Sam Houston at 2:30 p.m. without incident, although the staff did say "no" when I asked if we could hang with the Captain. The tour takes you from the ships turning basin and goes under the Sidney Sherman (Loop 610) ship channel bridge. It takes you past refineries, metal/steel recycling plant, gypsum facility, and Coast Guard Station. You're able to see lots of ships and barges doing various things up close and personal! We saw tall cranes, claw loaders, and other industrial equipment. We saw U.S. Government ships that were docked with their cavernous loading doors open and attached to loading bridge equipment. We saw giant ships with top-loading bay doors, likely to haul grain, gypsum, and other bulk product. The tour continues to its turn around point just over the top of the Washburn Tunnel. Of course, you can't see anything in regards to the tunnel, you're just told that you are now sitting atop it! The bonus to the ride was passing the marker and site of the capture of General Santa Anna after the historic battle of San Jacinto. A little piece of history right in the middle of this industrial port.
http://www.earlytexashistory.com/Pasadena/capturesite.html
We had taken this very same tour a few weeks ago with our grandson, Adler. He's a mere three years old, so much of the tour was spent chasing him around the decks! He did enjoy the huge crane equipment but most of the time he was more fascinated with the tiny steps going below deck, the latch to the boat's cabin doors and cabinets, the step-on water fountain & cups, and trying to help the staff member serving coffee behind the galley counter. I would certainly take the tour again as each time, I think you'll see something different! And, it's neat to see things from different peoples' perspectives. For example, Adler loved looking at the giant anchors and got a big kick out of me telling him that the covered orange life-boat pods were submarines! Touring with Howard and Beverly gave different points of view as we discussed the uses of the equipment, ships, and barges. So if you get a chance to go, you must call or go online to book it! The best part is that it's free! Here are a few photos (one which I snagged from the website) and the website link. http://boattours.poha.com/boattour/
http://www.earlytexashistory.com/Pasadena/capturesite.html
We had taken this very same tour a few weeks ago with our grandson, Adler. He's a mere three years old, so much of the tour was spent chasing him around the decks! He did enjoy the huge crane equipment but most of the time he was more fascinated with the tiny steps going below deck, the latch to the boat's cabin doors and cabinets, the step-on water fountain & cups, and trying to help the staff member serving coffee behind the galley counter. I would certainly take the tour again as each time, I think you'll see something different! And, it's neat to see things from different peoples' perspectives. For example, Adler loved looking at the giant anchors and got a big kick out of me telling him that the covered orange life-boat pods were submarines! Touring with Howard and Beverly gave different points of view as we discussed the uses of the equipment, ships, and barges. So if you get a chance to go, you must call or go online to book it! The best part is that it's free! Here are a few photos (one which I snagged from the website) and the website link. http://boattours.poha.com/boattour/
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