Casey and I returned to Houston Saturday morning. She took me to what appeared to be a very normal-looking neighborhood. And then I saw the rocket ship trailer:

After that I was pretty sure it wouldn't be a normal neighborhood. I was right, because next door was 'The Orange Show'. The Show was built by Jeff McKissack over a period of nearly 30 years. The idea was something to do with oranges, steam power, education, and entertainment, though I'm not sure how all of these things were supposed to combine. McKissack expected over 300,000 visitors per year. He figured that by charging each one $2, he would become rich. Unfortunately, his revenue projections were a little too optimistic, McKissack died of depression, and The Orange Show became an underground cult attraction. 

CLOWNS NEVER LIE! The Orange Show is a trip. Go, if you can. When you have finished visiting, they give you a questionnaire. Be sure to fill it out.

After that, we went to the Beer Can House. This is a house made out of Beer Cans. But it's not actually made out of beer cans, it's just sort of ridiculously decorated with them. Houston people are weird.

Here's the guy responsible for the Beer Can House:

Next, we went to the Saint Arnold brewery for a tour. Casey had quite the efficient itinerary and we just made it. It was about 110 degrees inside the huge warehouse. Saint Arnold offers 1 tour each week, and it's a favorite for Houstonites. Each week the founder, Brock Wagner, gives a talk outlining the history of the brewery, explaining what goes into making the different types of beer, etc. The place was packed with thirsty sweaty people holding empty beer mugs. We all watched him speak for the better part of an hour. I think he enjoyed the power he had over us. He could have said anything and we would have sat there and listened. Nobody was going anywhere - then you'd miss the beer.

It was very good. I liked the IPA the best. The heat wasn't so bad once you got cold beer. They gave everybody enough tokens to more or less get drunk by 2pm.

From there we went to the Houston Galleria shopping center, which has a giant ice skating rink on the ground floor.

Next door was the Williams Water Wall - a giant water wall sculpture in a park.

The next stop on the whirwind tour was Casey's friend's house in the city, where we played a role playing game involving werewolves, villagers, magicians, and so forth. It had something to do with the werewolves having hidden identities and trying to eat all the villagers before their identities were discovered. I'm not really sure what was going on, but it was fun. 

Afterwards we hit some bars and chilled out before heading back to Galveston. Casey and I were exhausted and on the drive home we had to play loud music and keep the windows down to stay awake. It was one of those days that make you happy to be a person.