Freeport, Texas

Frank, Sydney & I headed out to Freeport yesterday morning to see if we could go fishing and bring us some Spanish & King Mackerel and maybe a shark or two and whatever other fish we could catch.

We left the house at around 5 a.m. and headed out. It had been 3 years since I'd been out there when I first one back in July 2006. Back then I did real good and caught me 2 Spanish Mackerel's and some other weird fish that I was unable to keep.

On the way down there, right after we exited downtown Houston, we passed up some statues of 5 presidents that looked so cool. I told Frank I wanted to stop on the way back and grab some pics.

We finally arrived in Freeport around 10:45 only to be lost for the next hour and a half looking for the boat ramp we'd used before. Come to find out, that boat ramp had been closed down and so we had to use another one that a local bait shop charges $5 for. Frank went in there because if you purchase something from them, the ramp is free and he came out with some more bait. He mentioned that the owner of the shop had a picture on his wall of the water level of the ocean right on that spot when Hurricane Ike hit last September. I didn't get a chance to go in the store and get a picture of that, but I did take a picture of the bridge near the store and let me tell you, it is pretty high.

After getting everything in order, it was time to head into the water. We made it in and I must admit, I was very nervous. Not so much for me but because we had Sydney with us and just the thought of something happening to her scared the nerves out of me. We must have been in the water for about maybe an hour when we started hearing thunder on the horizon. I kept watching this huge yacht and kept telling myself as soon as that sucker starts coming in, we are too - there is no way I'm staying in the middle of the ocean.

The clouds got a little darker and darker and the thunder began to sound closer and closer and next thing I saw was the yacht heading towards the shore. That's when we decided it was time to come in as well. We made it back to the channel where we had come in through and waited there for about 30 minutes or so. Luckily the storm passed and all we got was a few rain drops.

The bigger problem now though was none other than me! Yes folks, I was so sea sick it wasn't even funny - thankfully it wasn't to the point of throwing everything in my insides up but the motion sickness was just as bad if not worse. I still think I was quite the trooper and told Frank I'd go in and attempt to do some more fishing even though I wasn't feeling good.

Me being sick didn't make much of a difference as we didn't catch one darn fish - NOT ONE! I guess it was around 5 o'clock and we decided to call it a day and head back home. Frank and I were extremely impressed and proud of how well Sydney had behaved - considering the elements and being out on the boat and on the road all day long. She crashed on the way back though - I mean she was out cold. Poor thing, I don't blame her, I think I snoozed off a couple of times as well.

I had wanted to stop at the Sam Houston statue and get some pictures on the way back but being that we were all so worn out opted for a picture as we drove by. The one thing that I did stop for was the statues of the presidents.

Those statues were just impressive. The presidents were as follows: George H. W. Bush (41st); George Washington (1st); Thomas Jefferson (3rd); Abraham Lincoln (16th); Theodore Roosevelt (26st) and John F. Kennedy (35th).

After getting those pics, I must have fallen asleep because the next thing we knew, we were exiting 635 and were close to home. It was around 11:00 p.m......definitely a long day, but fun day!



Houston Skyline!



Our destination!



The open sea!



The local beach!



The rough waters!



No, this is NOT a shark, it's a dolphin! We saw lots of these cute little creatures!



Ocean front home. As beautiful as living here might be, I would never do it - couldn't live through a hurricane!



This is the bridge I talk in the blog about - water was almost as high as it - scary stuff!



Stephen F. Austin. We passed him up too on the way back home!



Los Presidentes!!!



George H.W. Bush.



George Washington.



Thomas Jefferson.



Abraham Lincoln.



Theodore Roosevelt.



John F. Kennedy.



Sydney completely worn out from the day's outings!



Sam Houston.

King Tut: Minor Ruler, Major Legacy

Here is a brief biography of King Tut and his discovery:

In November 1922, Howard Carter was in the Valley of the Kings eagerly searching for the tomb of a mysterious king named Tutankhuman.

Legend has it that a boy employed to fetch water spotted the first step of a set of stairs descending to an underground tomb.

On Nov. 26, 1922, Carter got his first glimpse through a small hole cut into the tomb. Standing behind him, the financier of the dig asked if anything could be seen. "Yes, wonderful things, " Carter famously replied.

Little is known about Tut's life, and much of that information is still debated.

He was probably born around 1341 B.C. as the son of Akhenated, the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh who radically changed Egypt by disavowing the pantheon of gods, creating his own capital and establishing a cult devoted to the "Athen" sun-disc symbol, representing the sun god. Atenism is now considered the world's first monotheistic religion.

Tut became king at age 9. By then, his parents were dead, his father denounced as a heretic. The capital had returned to Memphis, outside of modern Cairo, and the Egyptian pantheon had been restored.

There's little dispute that the real power during Tut's reign was held by his trusty advisers - Aye, his father's chief official, and perhaps Tut's uncle; and Horemheb, general of Egypt's armies. To strengthen his claim to the throne, Tutankhamun was married to his sister Ankhesenamum.

The rest of Tutankhamun's life is murky, largely because later Pharaohs removed his and his father's names from official records. What is known is that he died around age 19 and was hastily buried in a small tomb.

Questions swirl around the boy king.

Did a jealous adviser deal the fatal blow that modern X-rays indicate on his skull? Tut was known to enjoy hunting and riding chariots. Did he have a fatal fall? Or, was it someone closer to Tut who murdered him, perhaps his wife or his personal aide?

As far as Dr. Hawass is concerned, "The case of King Tut's murder is closed."

In January 2005, with the world eagerly watching, Dr. Hawass and his team removed Tut's fragile mummified body from the tomb for the first time in decades and performed an unprecendented series of computed tomography (CT) scans on it. Never before had such research been performed on a royal Egyptian mummy.

We've now dismissed the murder theory," he said. "Now I can say we know accurate information about his age, health and cause of death."

Fifteen minutes of CT scanning yielded nearly 2,000 images, but Dr. Hawass' research found no evidence of a blow to the head. Dr. Hawass said earlier X-rays showed possible skull trauma due to Carter's careless handling of the mummy.

Instead, Dr. Hawass found a severe fracture on the king's left leg, leading him and international experts to believe Tut succumbed to gangrene a few days after having an accident. "I cannot say that the fracture on his leg was fatal, but the subsequent infection could have been," Dr. Hawass said.

By Christopher Sandlin, Special Contributor.

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The exhibit included 12 galleries:

Gallery 1: Tut's imposing statue is the only object you see, and it sets the tone, dramatically, for the embarrassment of riches that follows: 11 more galleries featuring 130 Egyptian artifacts, 50 of which come from Tut's tomb.



Statue of Tuthmosis IV and his mother.

Gallery 2: "Egypt Before Tutankhamun, Daily Life in Ancient Egypt." Here, you're first introduced to Tut's ancestors and his immediate family. The daily life of ancient Egyptians in the second half of the 18th Dynasty is depicted in a series of stunning artifacts. Some were used in life; others prepared for the afterlife, which hangs like a shadow over the exhibition.



Composite statue of Nefertiti.

Gallery 3: "Traditional Beliefs" focuses on religion. The Egyptians worshipped hundreds of gods, depicted here in statues. Vessels, amulets and figurines relate to the Egyptians' funerary beliefs as well as their "personal piety and religious ritual."



Shabti.

Gallery 4: "Death, Burial and the Afterlife" contains a coffin, death mask and servant statuettes. They come from the tomb of Yuya and Tjuya, a nonroyal couple who received permission to be buried in the royal Valley of the Kings. As the parents of Queen Tiy, they might have been the great-grandparents of Tut, the key word being "might." It was so long ago, no one knows for sure.



Gilded funerary mask of Tjuya.

Gallery 5: "Religious Revolution" involves Tut's presumed father, Akhenaten, and his unorthodox faith. It was neither fashionable nor acceptable back then to even suggest that there might be only one god. (Tut later reversed his father's monotheism, which made Tut quite popular, albeit a bit of a puppet.) Here, you see and Egyptian temple and standing before it, the statue of Akhenaten.



Balustrade showing Akhenaten and family.

Gallery 6: "The Discovery of Tutankhamun's Tomb" is devoted to Howard Carter, the British archaeologist who discovered the tomb in 1922, and Lord Carnarvon, who financed the expedition.



Howard Carter.



Lord Carnarvon.

Gallery 7: "The Boy King" comes closest to the focus of the show. It contains one item - the painted torso of Tut himself, easily one of the show's most dazzling pieces.



Painted wooden mannequin.

Gallery 8: "Daily Life in Tutankhamun's World" contains items Tut used "during his lifetime and desired to retain in the afterlife." The rulers of the 18th Dynasty were nothing if not wealthy. You see the boy king's chair, inlaid with ivory. A gilded case contains his silver mirror, the carved and inlaid calcite container for his cosmetics and an ivory game board.



Mirror case in shape of ankh.

Gallery 9: "Tutankhamun's Tomb" focuses on his role as a Pharaoh, with a pair of gilded statuettes portraying him as the king of Upper and Lower Egypt. You see the staffs and a coronation necklace. A shield, mace and camp stool mark him as commander-in-chief and various gilded deities depict him as high priest.



Canopic stopper.

Gallery 10: "Causing His Name to Live" deals with the afterlife and how Egyptians believed one needed to make the necessary preparations for what lay beyond. Here you see one of the more acclaimed pieces, a miniature coffinette inlaid in gold.



Canopic coffinette.

Gallery 11: "The Burial Chamber of Tutankhamun." This is the showstopper: Brass inlays suggest, in the organizers' words, "the positioning of the nested layers of the outer shrines that prevented the robbers from infiltrating the coffin...five exquisite artifacts found on the mummy, including the royal diadem and the dagger, appear suspended in glass cases."



Dagger & sheath.

Gallery 12: "New Discoveries" is the exhibition's answer to the Kennedy assassination's grassy knoll. It examines conspiracy theories behind Tut's death. It includes video of the recent unveiling of Tut's mummy in Luxor and CT scans conducted as part of a five-year research and conservation project.

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Here are some of the items also on the exhibit:



Canopic Jar contained the mummified organs of Queen Kiya, one of Akhenaten's two wives and possibly Tutankhamun's mother.



Coffin of Tjuya belived to be King Tut's great-grandmother. Special permission was requested to her buried in the Valley of King's.



Falcon collar - found on King Tut's mummy.



Flail and Crook, Royal Symbols from Tutankhamun's Burial are made of gold, copper alloy, glass, wood and carnelian.



Tiny game board from the Tomb of Tutankhamun was carved from a single piece of ivory. The pieces were kept in its small drawer. It is just under 5 and a half inches long.



Guardian Statue of Amenhotep II, King Tut's father.



Inlaid Pectoral Spelling Out the Name of the King.



Ancient Egyptian Jewel Chest from the Tomb of Tutankhamun's possible great grandparents, Yuya and Tjuya, is made of wood, decorated with gilding, ivory, faience and ebony. The colors are so fresh it looks like it was made yesterday.



Gilt statues depict Tutankhamum as the King of Lower Egypt (left) and King of Upper Egypt (right).



The Haunting Face of the Boy King.



Child's Chair and Footrest.



Tutankhamun's Royal Diadem, of gold, glass, obsidian and semiprecious stones, was found on his mummified head. The cobra's hood is made of gold, inlaid with dark blue glass and carnelian.



Exquisite Pectoral is made of gold, inlaid with silver, glass and semiprecious stones. It depicts the king with the god Ptah and his wife, the goddess Sekhmet, both reinstated by Tut.



The handle of an unguent spoon in the shape of a naked, swimming girl is made of painted and gilded carved wood. It would have belonged to a lady. Such unclothed figures were said to suggest sexuality.



Head of Amenhotep IV, Tutankhamun's father. He changed his name to Akhenaton when he changed the religion of Egypt to the worship of one god, the Aten, or the Sun God Ra. After his death, Tutankhamun reinstated the old gods.

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This composite sketch was made after the CT scans were made on the mummy of King Tut. If he were alive today, this is what he might look like.

"Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs"

We had decided we'd do the last show, which again, according to Ticketmaster, would be at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday. I know better now NEVER to listen to them - they really have no clue about what's going on and charge you extra fees to give you bad information!

Right before we were getting ready to leave, Frank mentioned that one my friends, la Sra. Adriana, had expressed interest in going. I went ahead and called her and she said they wanted to come along with us.

We left the house at 4:45 and headed towards downtown. I had realized that morning that the parking ticket ($10) that I had paid for the night before was good through 5 a.m. on 5-18, so I guided Frank to the same parking lot and saved ourselves on parking this time around.

We started walking towards the museum only to find ourselves with yet another long line of people waiting to purchase tickets. For a brief moment, I seriously wanted to cry just at the thought that I might not get in. The museum people started going up and down the line trying to get people to purchase yearlong museum memberships and get in instantly to the exhibit instead of risking waiting in line only to be told that tickets were sold out.

We decided to stick it out and finally got up to the ticket booth. I was able to purchase 2 tickets (adult) for the 7:30 showing which coincidentally was the last showing. My friend as well got tickets for her husband, herself and her daughter.

It was just 5:30 and we were a little hungry so we started on a hunt for some food to eat. Next time we'll now that all the food venues on a Sunday near the Arts District are closed I guess by that time, as after finally finding the place where all the food was supposed to be at, we come to find out all the business are closed down for the day.

We decide at 6:00 p.m. there was still maybe some time to drive out and find something. The nearest restaurant we located was a Burger King. Though the location wasn't the safest one (seriously, you could get killed 2 for 1 here), we got our food and satisfied our tummies and then headed back. Finally after what I thought would not happen, we went towards the entrance to see the exhibit. I have to add that we were able to pass Sydney off as a 5 year old - I tell you being small/petite has it's advantages!

We waited in yet another line for maybe 10 minutes then got placed into a room where we were notified of the rules - no cameras (which sucked royally), food or drink. We watched a 90 second video that explained what we would be viewing. I swear it was the coolest set-up ever. The screens (3) were up in the sky so everyone was looking up at the video in this dark room. When the video finished, everyone moved their eyes from the screens and the next thing we realized was that directly in front of us, was a statue of King Tut himself all illuminated in a beautiful blue. At this moment, I just got a big chill down my entire body - I knew I was in for a great exhibit and was just happy I was there to see it.



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These were some of the pictures I took before going into the museum for the exhibit.



El Museo.



These were all around the museum directing the way towards the King Tut exhibit.



Finally, my ticket into the darn exhibit - let me tell you, it was well worth every penny!



This was painted right above the entrance.



A cool display outside.



Being silly - I can't believe I fit in between this metal thing!



Just like an Egyptian!!!!!!



"Our little secret - between the King & I!"



Frank, Sydney & I! Look closely at Sydney - she passed as a 5 year old and got into the exhibit for FREE!



One of my souvenirs from the exhibit.



A small replica of King Tut's tomb.