Dad had found a brochure for Ocean Star
Offshore Drilling
Museum Galveston ,
where all the piers are, this decommission rig had been towed into the harbor
and anchored there. This was a self-guided tour about the history of oil
drilling in the gulf, and some of the processes that went into it.
This was very informative.
There was a display at the beginning which showed all the consumer goods
which are created from oil, whether as plastic containers, or derived from oil. I recommend you zoom this picture in to see
how many of these things you use in your daily routine.
We got to see what the drill bits
look like, and how they were designed to remove debris as it dug.
And we also got to see some of the
undersea equipment used, like the dive suits…
…Or the Billy
Pugh net used to help haul people around. (And yes, I was allowed to
stand on it.) The information here was
very extensive, and it gave a good idea of what life was like for those living
on the rig.
Outside was the tower that
contained a drill…
…And some of the heavy equipment
used, like spools for cable, control compartments (created by Halliburton, of
course), decompression chambers, and an escape pod for those that needed to get
to the surface. The pod wasn’t much bigger than the Apollo capsules we
saw the day before.
Much of the interior of this rig
had been converted to become the museum (and there were some hands-on science
items), but there was one crew bunk which remained. The bunk room was the size of a small dorm
room, and was actually pretty comfy looking. I was expecting it to be
more like the racks you’d find on a military ship. In order to enhance your tour, you could pay
a little extra for a personal audio player (like what we encountered yesterday
at NASA), but we chose to pass on that.
There were enough detailed informational cards available.
We were highly impressed with the
wealth of information at Ocean Star, and I considered this a “hidden gem.”
This is one of the reasons why when you go to a new area, look at the
tourist brochures or stop by the visitor’s center, because otherwise you might
miss things like this.
As most things close at normal
business hours, it was “rush hour” when we drove back to Webster, but the
traffic wasn’t that bad as far as I was concerned. Once we’d had our
afternoon swim (in the pool all to ourselves), we set out for Pappa’s Bar-B-Q,
as we now knew where it was. My parents started to drool with anticipation
of getting brisket. Pappa’s was really
easy to get to, and it wasn’t crowded at all, so we could take our time to look
at the posted menu … and see that brisket wasn’t even there. We could get
BBQ sandwiches like what we got the previous night, but no actual brisket. Since
it didn’t have what we wanted, there was no reason to remain there. I’m
sure the food was decent, but we didn’t order. As usual, I had a back-up
plan. Also on the drive to Galveston
this morning, I’d seen a Rudy’s not to far from where we were now. So there
we went.
My parents like Rudy’s, and it
served in a pinch. This establishment was set up the same way as the ones
in the Austin
area that I go to, but the people were far less-friendly and fun. It
wasn’t even that crowded. When I came in started telling the gentleman at
the register that I knew how the process worked, it was coolly received (as
opposed to ones at home, which result in cheering). Also, all the ones
near home have vats to be pour sauce into small cups (especially useful for to-go
meals). This one didn’t have that. While the large liters bottles
of sauce sat on the tables, you can’t pour it out of those very easily.
The brisket was good, but we had nothing there to “enhance” it.
For more information on the places visited or mentioned:
Pappa’s Bar-B-Q: http://pappasbbq.com/home/
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