I Took Way Too Many Photos, and the Houston Airport - 2009-07-21 20:02:42
<<< Previous - Return from New Orleans: Food Hangover | Next - Getting Around to Slowly Posting Photos... >>>So somehow I managed to take 800 photos on our New Orleans trek. Luckily many of those include something like 8 to 10 shots of the same thing with varying amounts of blurriness. So that'll cut down the amount I have to twiddle with and post.
I secretly enjoyed our layover in Houston because (as usual) Texas always has something to both marvel at and roll your eyes over. For instance, as in most airports that are gradually becoming more and more like shopping malls, there are quite a few places in the Houston Airport where you can buy clothing. However I think there's only one that has a giant bull's head mounted over the entrance.
Although the store
Stelig Ranch calls itself a Houston legend, I'd never heard of it. And it may only exist at the Houston airport for all I know. Eventually Jon and I will have some sort of cow art like this mounted on our walls, just because sticking up something with horns or hoofs seems a traditional "I'm from Texas and I can't help it" kind of thing. And I still consider myself to be partly from Texas, because you just somehow can't escape it.
Next to the store with the cow's head is our former president and the current reason for the renaming of this airport.
Like many other Texans who've lived with and traveled through Houston Intercontinental, I've known the airport much longer than just during its current tacked on name of
George Bush Intercontinental Airport. If in a few decades someone more interesting is in government I have no doubt they'll rename the thing again - it's all about the publicity after all. But anyway, I always forget the George Bush part. Until we pass this sculpture, which for some reason I seem to pass every time I visit. I'm not quite sure what the sculptor was going for, but the jacket blowing in the wind always makes me think he (or she?) was trying for some sort of hero wearing a cape kinda thing. I'm not terribly impressed. And it's not really like they gave the statue a very central location - it's tucked into a nook next to the store and the security folk/TSA area. Which insures that anyone won't harm it, I suppose. Still its placement seems like sort of an afterthought. And frankly I've never been interested enough to find out more about it. Knowing a little about bronze casting though, I do know that it was probably very expensive to create.
When Jon saw this armadillo in this store window - yet another shop selling Texan items - he suggested that what I really needed was an armadillo that was made into a purse. After telling him (as he knew I would) that I adore armadillos and do
not want a purse made out of them, I did have to admit that I knew such things existed. (I'll let someone else google them, I'm afraid of what I'll discover.) I do know that armadillo items can be made out of plush and cloth - but there are honest to goodness armadillo....wares made out of actual armadillos. Like the one in this window. Ah, the glorious art of taxidermy; it never fails to equally amuse and creep me out. I suppose I should admit at this point that I actually own a framed photo of a taxidermy armadillo holding a Lone Star beer.
Oh and be sure to notice what is being served on that Roadkill Cafe tshirt in the photo up there.
Hmmm. Random Airport Fact time. According to
this press release from 2004 that I just googled my way into:
George Bush Intercontinental Airport, part of the Houston Airport System (HAS) is a major factor in the southeast Texas economy. HAS has an annual economic impact of more than $24 billion in greater Houston, and over 100,000 jobs can be attributed to the presence of HAS and its activities.
I've always known that airport was massive but I had no idea it generated that much revenue. Of course it's a press release and thus only moderately factual, but still, even if that's an exaggeration by 50%, it's still impressive.
One last shot from Houston Airport and then I'm going back to work with photoshop on the New Orleans stuff...
This is the metal and tile artwork on the floors. A little thing, but I really liked the simple design. I appreciate that many airports are trying to add sculpture and artwork to the walls and floors and open areas in the buildings. After all, we do have to spend quite a few hours wandering around these places. At least they're giving us something interesting to look at.
I also like that the
wikipedia page has a section just on Artwork. I'm not sure if I've seen any of them - because it depends on which terminal you're stuck with for your connecting flight. And I've probably only seen the outside of the airport once, at night. Ah well.
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