Williams Tower

Metro bus routes at the Williams Tower stop

Okay, its time to get started with some of the photos from last week's trip to Houston. A good place to start is the iconic Williams Tower on South Post Oak in the Uptown District, also known as The Galleria Area.

Williams Tower was constructed in a record 16 months, and was completed in 1983. It was originally known as Transco Tower, and many locals still refer to the building that way. Transco Energy, the major tennant, was acquired by Tulsa-based Williams, thus the renaming of the building.


Williams (formerly Transco) Tower.
Notice the lone cloud reflected in the buiding's glass surface.

I worked across the freeway from this structure during its construction, and watched over the months as it rose from the ground to its ultimate height of 64-stories and 901 feet above the street below. The tower's architects, Philip Johnson and John Burgee, created in glass the echoes of Art Deco skyscrapers of stone. Topping off the building is a rotating beacon that sweeps across the nighttime skies of Houston. When I fly into Hobby Airport, it is one of the things I look for on approach, although most flights I have taken into Bush Intercontinental take a path too far to the north to readily identify it.

This building's design is unusual in other ways; for example, it is actually built as two separate buildings stacked one atop the other, each with its own lobby and elevator system. At the time it opened, it was the tallest skyscraper in the world outside of its city's central business district. Currently, it is the fourth tallest building in Texas.


Front facade

Adjacent to the Williams Tower is the Waterwall. Situated across a park green to the south of the tower, the waterwall is another Houston landmark. The first photo below is a view of the entire north-facing front of the waterwall.


Waterwall

Here is a picture I took up close, under one of the arches. I like the arcs, lines, and angles of this shot.


Waterwall close up

Anyone interested in architecture should definitely make a stop at the Williams Tower when visiting Houston.

Ah, the Joy of Broadband!

The wifey's sandals, abandoned for a wade in the Gulf of Mexico at Galveston

Well, as my parents do not have broadband Internet at their home and I have no dial-up account, I have not been able to post for a few days. So, tonight I am at The Coffee Groundz in Sugar Land to log into our flight back to Colorado tomorrow on the Internet, and decided to make a quick post. I have lots of good road geek pictures to share, photos of Galveston and a few around Houston. When I get back home, these will be going up for all to enjoy.

In the meantime, let it be known that ole Randy is still rambling and has lots to say and photos to share, so stay tuned. Below is one to whet your appetite. This is The Swinging Door barbeque just outside of Richmond, Texas. They have, hands down, the best Texas barbeque around. Smoked on aged pecan wood, their tasty fare cannot be beat. I used to eat here frequently when I lived in Fort Bend County, and had to return during this trip to Texas. It remains as good as ever. A little out of the way on FM 359, but worth the hunt.

See you all back here soon!


The best Texas barbeque in the world is at The Swinging Door

Good luck and good flying!

Yesterday was interesting as far as Saturday's go. My lovely wife and I went to Denver International Airport for our trip to Houston. Our morning flight was overbooked, so we decided to volunteer for a later flight, particularly since we had middle seats and not together. In exchange, we got two free round-trip tickets to anywhere in the 48 contiguous United States, good for two years. What a deal. We were confirmed on a flight 6 hours later, and put on standby for one in 3 hours. Lucky us! We got on the one 3 hours later, which was a nice Embraer regional jet with wide, leather seats. Still not seated together, but a United pilot who was riding along next to me changed seats with my wife, so we got to sit together on the flight down.

It used to be that when I rented cars from Thrifty at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, I had to go to a remote lot on Beltway 8. Now, all the rental car companies have a huge complex of their own on the airport grounds, with a shared shuttle bus for all of them. Very nice! Our car ended up being a Chrysler PT Cruiser, which I like, but my wife doesn't. Oh well, it is only a rental. We aren't buying it, and it will be fun to tool around town in.

So, here we are in southeast Texas, with free airline tickets to use at a later date, and it is a beautiful (albeit humid) day. Pictures will follow soon as I take them and get back to a broadband connection. Currently I am posting from Panera Bread in Sugar Land. In addition, I hope to get down to Galveston this week. Should have good pics from there as well.

Oh, by the way. Happy Mothers' Day to moms everywhere. You all have the most important job there is.

Even More Signs Along the Road

The old school state line signs welcoming you to Texas

When I was a kid and we used to travel to Oklahoma City to my grandparents' homes, the trip home always had one of these style signs along the highway re-entering Texas. I came upon this one back in the summer of 1999 at Texline, Texas, entering the Lone Star State from New Mexico on US 87. Texline is near the far northwest corner of the panhandle, near the convergence of New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. Had I been making my upcoming trip to Houston via the highway as originally planned, I would have passed by this spot. I am curious if this marker is still in place, although I imagine that it probably is. While this spot is only about 300 miles from where I live, you lose one hour passing this sign, as this is a point where you leave the Mountain time zone and enter the Central. Just a few miles to the west is Clayton, New Mexico, and about 50 miles west is the extinct Capulin volcano.

Since this post is another about signs along the road, lets show a few more. Here is a sign directing motorists to Houston's Westpark Tollway, curiously spelled as "West Park". This toll road is a new one that follows the corridor of the former Westpark Road, extending from the big bend in the Southwest Freeway (US 59) out to the west toward the town of Katy.

The Houston Toll Road Authority also operates the Sam Houston Tollway (Beltway 8), and the Hardy Toll Road that parallels I-45, the North Freeway from the 610 loop northward. These pentagonal blue signs are commonly used as county road markers in many states around the nation, but they are used in Houston in this fashion, designating toll roads. The Westpark Tollway has no toll collectors, as you must have an electronic toll transponder on your vehicle to use it. The HTRA calls their transponder EZ Tag.

Since I mentioned Beltway 8, a little known fact is that Beltway 8, a state highway, is technically only the feeder streets along the tollway wherever the main lanes are tolled. The main lanes are just the Sam Houston Tollway. This is because of a rule that state highways cannot be toll roads.

Just for grins, here is a signpost hosting a junction sign in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. This is where one of the city streets approaches an on ramp to the I-244 / US 412 freeway. Despite its 3-digit, even initial digit number, I-244 is not a loop, but instead connects I-44 on the west side of town to I-44 on the east side of town, paralleling I-44 a few miles to the north. The so-called Inner Dispersal Loop, or IDL, is a little loop around downtown comprised of I-244 and unsigned I-444, also not a full loop. Tulsa is also laid out a bit unusually, since downtown is not at the city's center, but is near the northwest corner of the city limits.

The Grand Canyon of Texas

When Coronado's expedition was traveling across what is today the Texas Panhandle, they were exploring a flat prairie. I can only imagine their surprise to find a beautiful canyon cut into the arid, level landscape by a river. Today we call the river the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River. We call the Canyon Palo Duro.


A view from the floor of Palo Duro Canyon

This natural wonder located to the south of Amarillo and just east of the town of Canyon is the second largest canyon in the United States, the largest being Arizona's Grand Canyon. Formed by erosion of 240-million years, Palo Duro Canyon was home to people since prehistoric times, as the attraction of the river's water and its sheltering walls made it appealing as a habitat. The walls of the canyon are over 800 feet high, and it is home to a wide variety of indigenous flora and fauna.


A view from the top

Today visitors to Palo Duro Canyon can enjoy a variety of activities, from exploring fossils of extinct life forms, to a presentation in an amphitheater, to riding a chuck wagon train into the canyon for a cowboy breakfast.

When people think of Amarillo, they often think of the Big Texan Steak House or the Cadillac Ranch. I prefer the natural beauty of Palo Duro Canyon. It is a place you must see if you enjoy geology, history, or just the artistry of the forces of nature.


Yet another view from the top of the canyon

Toonerville Trolley

Early 20th Century version of "light rail", the Bellaire Line.
Click on photo for larger version.

Bellaire Boulevard is a wide, tree-lined thoroughfare as it traverses the city of Bellaire, Texas. It has a wide, park-like esplanade, and is a very pleasant part of the greater Houston area. After it leaves the cities of Bellaire and West University Place to the east, it makes its way to the Texas Medical Center as Holcombe Boulevard after re-entering Houston.

In the early years of the last century, there was a trolley line that connected Bellaire to the Houston trolley line at South Main Street. The city of Bellaire has one of the old trolley cars preserved for posterity in the middle of the esplanade, along with an historical marker, seen below.

The text on the marker reads as follows:

Bellaire Streetcar Line

In 1909 the Westmoreland Railroad Company, directed by Bellaire developer William Wright Baldwin, began construction of a streetcar line between this site and Houston's Main Street (4 mile) to improve transportation between Bellaire and Houston. Laid out on the esplanade of Bellaire Boulevard, the streetcar line consisted of one railway track and an overhead electric wire. The line terminated at this site, where the company constructed a waiting pavilion and a turnaround loop. At the same time, the Houston Electric Company extended its south end line from Eagle Avenue down present Fannin Street to connect with the Bellaire line at Bellaire Boulevard (now part of Holcombe Boulevard). The trip between Bellaire and downtown Houston required one transfer at Eagle Avenue. Service began on December 28, 1910.

The streetcar line, often called the "Toonerville Trolley", became an integral link between Bellaire and Houston and played a vital role in the development of this area. The availability of motor transport and frequent derailments caused by worn-out track led to the abandonment of the line on September 26, 1927. Motor bus service began the following day.

For the sake of comparison, here is Houston's 21st century version, MetroRail.


MetroRail southbound in Hermann Park

Common Sunflowers

The common sunflower, the state flower of Kansas

Drive along the highways and you will almost certainly come across the common sunflower, or Helianthus Annuus, growing in fields along the roadside. These bright yellow blooms not only resemble the common image of the sun, but also turn their faces toward old Sol as he traverses the sky.

The common sunflower is a plant that almost every part can be used to create products, such as yellow dye from the petals, purple dye from the seeds, cooking oil, soap, and many others. The common sunflower is a much smaller bloom than its relative, the giant sunflower. Not only does the giant variety grow taller and have a huge flower, it also has only one flower per plant; whereas the common sunflower branches out and has many blooms per plant. The giant sunflower is actually a product of human intervention in directed evolution, being developed by people from the common sunflower.



In the photo above, you can see the fuzzy stem of the sunflower. While many times the sunflower is seen as a weed, it is a very beautiful flower in its own right.

Below is the sunflower as depicted on the Kansas State Highway shield.

Playing a Little Bit of Catch Up

Okay, how the heck did I get so busy that I haven't posted in a week? Well, lets talk about a few things, shall we?

Trip to Dallas


Looking up inside the biodome at the Gaylord Texan resort

First of all, my week at the trade show last week in Grapevine was a full agenda, from the daily opening of the eyes, until nearly midnight. The Gaylord Texan resort is a very nice facility, but after a week inside this enclosed environment (even the "courtyard" is inside a glass dome), I was aching to get some non-conditioned air. We did get one night outside, as my company took bus loads of employees and channel partners for a barbeque night out at Lone Star Park to see the horses race, but it is regrettable that I didn't have the time to do much other than teach seminars and work a booth. Still, that is why I was there, was it not? In actuality, Sunday was a free day and they had me scheduled on a flight out at 8 PM, but with a work week ahead starting on Monday morning, I flew out on standby before 10 AM. Back in Denver in time for lunch! Maybe next time I get down to Dallas I can enjoy more of what that great city has to offer.

The indoor courtyard was welcome last Wednesday night though...a line of catastrophic thunder storms and tornadoes ripped through the DFW area, but inside the Gaylord Texan, we all had plenty of room to roam around inside the biodome, while it looked like the Apocalypse had begun on the outside.

On the way to the horse track, I did see one Big Green Sign on one of the freeways that used the new Clearview font (read about this new font in my previous posts). Also at Lone Star Park, we were entertained by the Texas Gypsies and their mix of western swing, folk, and bluegrass sounds.


The Texas Gypsies make beautiful music

I also was surprised to see lots of families with their kids at the track. "Hey kids, forget doing your homework tonight! We're gonna go play the ponies!"


I think I won $17 with a $2 bet on the lead horse in this race!

Other entertainment at our trade show included Huey Lewis and The News, and country music phenom, Gretchen Wilson. I enjoyed their shows, but with the volume up so loud that it shakes your internal organs, there is no way the music isn't distorted to the point you can't even make out all the lyrics to the songs. This is one reason I don't go to concerts. I have no pictures of their performances, as cameras were forbidden, despite the fact that some people brought them anyway. Oh well, what'ya gonna do?

Also, comedian Jim Gaffigan kept us all in stitches with his hilarious comedy routine. His monologue about bacon and Hot Pockets was extremely funny.

Change of Plans

My anticipated road trip to Houston has also met with a change of plans, but it is my own doing. As much as I would have liked to drive, my wife and I decided to fly down so as to maximize our time with family down there. Still, I will get more photos while I am there. I guess the speed trap cop in Estelline will have to wait for another day to have his crack at me. I'll be 35,000 feet over him speeding by at over 500 mph.

OJ

Former football player, movie star, and murder suspect Orenthal J. Simpson was booted from a restaurant by its owner. The man reportedly sickened by the murders of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman, along with the behavior of Simpson, asked him to leave the premises. Now OJ's lawyer is saying it is because OJ is black. What the hell? Puhleeze! Race has nothing to do with it. Could the attorney have a clue regarding any other reasons why Simpson is so despicable that a business man would want him to leave? Could it be because many people still consider Simpson to be guilty of two horrible butcherings of human beings? Could it be his mocking treatise, If I Did It? Being black has no part of why many people think that OJ Simpson is one of the most vile human beings on the planet. As for me, if I came across OJ on fire, I wouldn't bother to piss on him to put out the flames. Hate to waste good pee like that!

Kingdom Coming

I am just about finished reading a very eye opening book entitled Kingdom Coming - The Rise of Christian Nationalism, by Michelle Goldberg. This book has shot to the top of my must read list for anyone who cares about America. Goldberg spent her research interviewing and researching the people involved in the Christian Nationalism, or Reconstructionist movement. These folks have taken over not only the Republican party, but also hijacked much of mainstream Christianity in the United States in their effort to rule our beloved country by their narrow interpretation of the Bible, rather than by our Constitution. This book shows how many of the movements leaders, such as Tim LaHaye, are former John Birch Society members, and have taken the extremist views of the JBS into the modern Republican party and into the evangelical church. Such views were once repudiated by even the likes of Barry Goldwater. Now, through a grassroots takeover of the GOP, they have become the platform of much of the party.

It Must be a Sign . . . Yep, It's a Sign Alright!

The merry, merry month of May already? Wow! Where is the year going?

Today, I am in the Dallas-Fort Worth area on business, and this morning on the news is a story that fits in with the theme of freeway signs that I have going. It seems an 18-wheeler has hit a sign support, destroying the sign gantry and bringing it down on top of a van. The truck that caused the problem has also been totaled. Looks like TxDOT has some work to do after the cleanup is finished.


Screen shot from Good Day on Fox 4 in Dallas

Well, it's off to some meetings, so this is a quick post. More to come!

Late afternoon update: Sadly, the news is reporting that the driver of the big rig fell asleep at the wheel, and that one person was killed. They didn't say if it was the truck driver or someone in the van.

Of Freeway Walls and Windy Man

I-610 Southbound Feeder at Bissonnet St. in Bellaire

As with most cities, Houston's freeways always seem to be under construction. However, since I moved away from there in 1992, there seems to be an new concern about aesthetics. All the new freeways are being built with attention to how they look and fit in with the surrounding neighborhoods.

Let's start out with the photo above. I took this while sitting at the stop light on the southbound feeder of the West Loop (I-610) at the intersection with Bissonnet Street, which crosses from left to right. In this photo, you can see the brick retainer walls used at the interchange. This is not an inexpensive proposition at all.

In actuality, this photo is not technically in Houston, but rather in the city of Bellaire, a small town completely within the Houston city limits. This is a town that in recent years has undergone gentrification in a big way, as small homes built in the 1940s & 50s are torn down and replaced by huge custom homes. This same phenomenon is occurring near Denver University's campus as well. While the transition is taking place, many older homes are sold for very high prices just for the purpose of tearing them down. One of the reasons Bellaire is so desirable is its proximity to the Texas Medical Center. I don't know if the interchange is partly paid for by Bellaire taxes or not, but it is known for its extremely high tax rates, along with its tree lined boulevards.

This photo gives you a peek at another phenomenon of Texas' freeways; the Texas Turnaround. Since the feeder streets are one way, traffic engineers have implemented U-Turn lanes under or over a freeway just before the cross street intersection happens. This allows motorists to get to the opposite side feeder going back the other way without waiting through the lights at the cross street and feeders. I can tell you from first hand experience, this is a simple, but major improvement.

Another new freeway wall design of note in Houston is the reconstruction of the Katy Freeway (I-10 on the west side of town). I did not take the following photo and don't remember where I got it, so if the owner objects, I will remove it. I actually hope to get a shot of my own when I get back down there. In any case this is the new freeway design on the Katy. Different intersections have the big star in different colors. Very striking, and maybe a bit overwhelming.


Katy Freeway retainer wall

The city of Sugar Land southwest of Houston has its own new freeway design as well. The Southwest Freeway (US 59) now has California-style HOV lanes with solid stripes in the middle, rather than full-blown, separated HOV lanes. The new design includes tall pillars topped with the city symbol, a crown within a Texas star. The crown alludes to the Imperial Sugar Company, the business that started Sugar Land and gave the town its name. In the photo below, you can see a Jeep Grand Cherokee coming out of the Texas Turnaround to head back northeast on the Freeway feeder street.



Freeway walls have not been without controversy in another part of Texas. Lubbock, home to Buddy Holly, Mac Davis, and other music notables, has a state highway loop, Texas 289 (Martha Sharp Freeway), that circles the city. I was there in June of 2004 and saw some of the construction for myself. One thing I saw there caused a tremendous controversy by some fundamentalist Christian wackos. Unfortunately, I didn't shoot a photo of it myself, but here is the official picture from the TxDOT web site:


Lubbock's "Graven Image", the pagan Windy Man

The issue was that TxDOT had carved images in the walls, one of which was known as the Windy Man. He was basically a depiction of the head of old man Winter, blowing air. Well, the fundies decided this was a pagan abomination to the Lord God, creator of heaven, earth, and Waffle Houses; what with it being a graven image of a pagan deity or some such thing.

Now you have to understand that Lubbock has the well deserved reputation of being the most conservative city in America, so apparently that includes religious conservatism. So after the image was continually being defaced and vandalized, no doubt by good Christian folks, TxDOT decided to remove them. This cost the taxpayers of Texas more than the cost of installing them during freeway construction.

Of Highways, Tolls, and Another Sign Goof

Denver, Colorado skyline from I-25 southbound - Click for larger view

Denver is the largest city for many miles around. Go east on I-70, and you have to get to Kansas City, Missouri before you encounter a city of any size. Go south on I-25, and its over 400 miles to Albuquerque, New Mexico. West, not much at all. Go to the end of I-70 and the take I-15 north to Salt Lake City, Utah or south to Las Vegas, Nevada. Head north, well, no cities of any significance. Cheyenne is 100 miles north, but it is not very large. Beyond that lies the Great White North.

So the Mile High City stands alone as the major metropolis of the Rocky Mountain West. Even so, it is not an enormous city. It does have an impressive skyline, and its freeways have undergone some badly needed renovations lately, most notably the Transportation Expansion Project, or TREX along I-25 south of town. TREX not only widened the freeway, but ran light rail service along the side of the highway.

From downtown north, I-25 lacks light rail, but instead has High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes. These lanes were formerly only for vehicles with 2 or more occupants. This resulted in the case where a man was caught with a blow up doll in the passenger seat, and auctioned it off on eBay for charity, as part of his punishment. Now the powers that be have figured out a different plan. Instead of prohibiting cars with only a driver, one may now buy their way into the HOV lanes. You can't pay with cash, but if you have a toll transponder(Express Toll), you can zip on into the HOV lanes and be on your way, no worries about a ticket. The Westpark Tollway in Houston uses a similar system; one must have a transponder (EZ-Tag). The difference is that even carpoolers have to pay on Westpark.


HOV Toll Signage in Downtown Denver

In my last post, I showed a sign goof on I-45 in Houston. Here is one on I-25 in Denver. I saw a similar sign on R-Dub's website, and as I zipped along today I saw this one near Invesco Field at Mile High, home of the Denver Broncos NFL football team:


Interstate "I-25"

What the heck is Interstate I-25. It should be just the numerals 25 in the shield. Hawaii has H prefixes, and I-35 has 35E and 35W in Dallas/Ft. Worth and in Minneapolis/St. Paul. But there is no such thing as Interstate I-25. Actually, I don't think CDOT put this one up. I think it was the Department of Redundancy Department.

A few posts down, I wrote about ghost ramps on the highway. There was one on the ramp from eastbound US 36 to southbound I-25. This is the opposing ramp, I-25 NB to US 36 WB. This is notable for a couple of reasons. First, the little green sign is a bit unusual. I have not seen signs like this in many places, showing the two highways and directions the ramp you are on connects. But also, look in the background. That is the main freeway where US 36 feeds into Interstate 270. There is a mast for a bank of big green signs, but no signs are mounted on it. I imagine that eventually, CDOT will get around to putting something up there. But for now, it stands, a naked mast with no signs.

As for the sign in the foreground, something appeals to me visually about the post. It is side mounted on the barrier (see the 4 bolts holding it on?), and curves upward in symmetry to the arrow on the yellow sign. I guess art and aesthetics are where ever you find them.

Signs, Signs, Everywhere a Sign

BGSs (Big Green Signs) on the Gulf Freeway (Click photo for full size)

My upcoming road trip to Houston is still a little ways off, but since I am in a road trip mood, let's take a look at some of the photos I took last October during a visit there (yeah, I got there by air and rented a car). Here are a couple of sign banks on the Gulf Freeway (I-45) getting near Hobby Airport. There are a couple of things to note in this photo. First, there is a sign goof. Do you see it? The Interstate Highway shield for I-45 is not the right proportions. It is a wider version used for 3-digit Interstate loops and spurs. The 45 should have been on a narrower shield.

I snapped this while driving down the freeway and just pointed the camera in the general direction of the signs. The real reason I tried for this shot is in the signs in the background. I will extract and zoom in on that reason in the photo below.



Does it jump out at you like it does me? This sign features the new Clearview font that has been approved for highway signs. Clearview is supposedly easier to read while driving down the road than the older font seen in most of the signs in the first photo. Texas is starting to deploy Clearview signs, but it and Pennsylvania are making the move in the U.S. at this point. Colorado has not adopted the new typeface. After years of seeing the older font on road signs, Clearview jumps out at you just because it is different. I guess time will tell if it really is easier to read.

Below you can see a fairly new section of the Southwest Freeway, US 59 and future I-69, in Sugar Land. Even though this is a new stretch of freeway, the old Highway Gothic font is in use.


BGS in Sugar Land, Texas

This photo also shows a couple of things that you don't see here in Colorado. First, the frontage road, or as Houstonians call them, feeders, are rare outside of Texas. Almost every freeway in the state has them, and they are quite useful for access on and off. Also notice the lanes on the feeder are marked by "Botts' Dots", named after their inventor, a California highway engineer. They are raised dots glued onto the road surface to mark the lanes. They are more durable than paint, and also give you audio and tactile feedback when crossing lanes. The obvious reason you don't find them in Colorado is that we have snowplows here. During the winter, the plows would just pop them right off the road, leaving it unmarked. Botts' Dots are common in Houston and Southern California.

For more on Clearview see the following web sites:

US Department of Transportation
Samples of Clearview and Highway Gothic