Go Underground

This place is my own add-on to the 101 Places You Gotta See Before You're 12! list.

Caves were a regular feature of family vacations when I was a child. Cool(er) and moist, a cave can be a sweet retreat from the heat of summer.

Texas has some great ones to visit. Stalactites, stalagmites, flowstones, and more!:
Natural Bridge Caverns
Cave Without a Name
Longhorn Caverns

You don't have to be in a cave, though, to go underground.
Visit the downtown tunnels
or walk through the Turrell Tunnel at the Museum of Fine Arts (free on Thursdays and always a cool 68 degrees!).

Fluffy Clue #3

You would think that getting away from a Houston summer would be a great chance to go somewhere cooler, but somehow I have mostly managed to select places that involve less air-conditioning and more sweating than a Houston summer would . . .

This time, though, I had to pack a scarf, gloves, sweaters, and jackets because Fluffy and I will be celebrating the Winter Solstice in this place while you're celebrating the Summer Solstice back home.

Hint: Think about our lessons on the seasons and the tilt of Earth's axis as it revolves around the sun. If Fluffy and I are in a place that is celebrating the Winter Solstice while it is summer at home, what does that tell you about where we are on the globe?

Clue #1
Clue #2

A Folk or Junk Art Creation

Number 44 in 101 Places You Gotta See Before You’re 12!




“One person’s trash is another person’s treasure. Some really interesting people devote their whole lives to piecing together what others call junk to make indescribable artistic statements. They’re not trained artists: they use bits of whatever—bottles, cans, broken glass, scrap metal—for art supplies. It’s not the kind of stuff you usually see in a museum: a sky-piercing cathedral of bicycle parts, a painted concrete fantasy world, acres and acres of spinning whirligig contraptions. You won’t believe it until you see it, and you may even be inspired to create some amazing art of your own.”

Off the top of my head, I can think of some great examples in Houston:
The Orange Show Monument
The Beer Can House
The Flower Man's House (2305 Francis St.--Please be respectful of Cleveland Turner's private home.)
Inspirational Art (Glass) Garden (1134 Yale St.)

Some folks even turn their cars into art!








The Cathedral of Junk is in Austin, but if you're in the area check it out!
Visit one or a few of these places—or scout out your own!





Resources:
101 Places You Gotta See Before You're 12! by Joanne O'Sullivan
Hot Town, Cool City (If you get a chance, the movie is well worth seeing! and its creator is a Montessori mom!)

Fluffy Clue #2

Fluffy and I are enjoying the fact that all the hotel rooms here have electric kettles instead of coffee makers! We are in a land of tea drinkers! Coffee drinkers must be content with making instant coffee with the hot water from the kettle. My kind of place!

Hint: Think about what you know about the countries with tea drinking traditions. This mystery place is either one of those countries . . . OR has been influenced by one those countries.

Clue #1

A Place of Worship

(other than your own)



#55 in 101 Places You Gotta See Before You're 12!

"Most kids would agree that what the world needs now is a little more peace and understanding. But what can a kid do, and how can you start? Well, you can start by getting to know people who are different from you so you can better understand their culture or beliefs. Visit a place of worship that's different from your own to find out what it's all about. Attend a service or ask your host to explain the symbols, rituals, and beliefs to you. One of the most surprising things you'll probably learn is that we all have a lot more in common than we think."



A few places of worship:

Shri Swaminarayan (Hindu) Mandir (Additional visitor guidelines--You will be asked to remove your shoes; Tank tops, shorts, short skirts, cell phones, and photography are not permitted)

Chung Mei Buddhist Temple

Villa de Matel Convent (Arrange for a visit by contacting the Sisters of Charity of The Incarnate Word)

Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church

Chapel of St. Basil

Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church

Antioch Missionary Baptist Church

Live Oak Friends (Quaker) Meeting House

The Painted Churches of Fayette County

Congregation Beth Israel Synagogue

Congregation Beth Yesherun Synagogue

Congregation Emanu El Temple

A mosque

Resources:
101 Places You Gotta See Before You're 12! by Joanne O'Sullivan
Orange Show Eyeopener "Places of Worship" Tours
Houston Historical Tours

Fluffy who?

Fluffy Justin Fernando.

That's the kind of name you get when it is chosen by process of consensus . . . with children ages 6 to 9. Fluffy doesn't seem to mind. Fernando (which I've discovered sounds best with a Brazilian Portuguese accent) was chosen because it means "explorer" or "adventurer" (our first graders were deep into name research at the time).

Fluffy and I got started because I needed a way to make geography more real for my students (many of whom have never left Houston, much less the United States) and more fun for me (unlike my father, pulling the atlas off the shelf is not one of my favorite ways to party). I had recently seen "Amelie" when I discovered a book in the Museum of Fine Arts gift shop (I love museum gift shops!): Letters from Felix. Serendipity and synergy at their best!

Mostly, Fluffy travels with good-natured friends and family members. Occasionally, I'll get a phone call that's not really for me at all but instead for my alter ego who serves as Fluffy's volunteer travel agent. "We're going to _____ on _____! Is Fluffy available?" In fact, sometimes Fluffy is in such high demand that he has to turn down such invitations because of other conflicting engagements. The thing about Fluffy is that he doesn't eat much, he takes up very little space (he's been known to squeeze into a fanny pack!), and he never complains. Who could ask for more from a travel companion?

One of my favorite photos from Fluffy's travels was courtesy of some high school friends. One of them had been working as an investment banker and (several years ago) took a sweet lay-off deal. So he decided to spend a year living in a villa in Italy, learning Italian (I know--this is a life just slightly beyond the edges of my wildest imagination). Three other high school friends went to visit him, and they had a high old time cavorting around Europe together. The kicker was that Fluffy was invited to go along (not me, you'll notice).

This trip was one of my more impressive feats as Fluffy's travel agent. You see, Fluffy is not big enough (or ambulatory enough) to travel unaccompanied. So after returning from Japan with a high school friend who was attending business school at MIT, Fluffy joined a college friend living in Boston who took him with her to the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Fluffy then returned to Boston to be handed off to one of the high school friends who was flying off to join the boys in Europe.

The guys did a fabulous job of taking Fluffy around with them wherever they went. (I suspect that perhaps Fluffy turned out to be something of a "chick-magnet" on this particular trip--a conversation starter, if you will . . .) Anyway, they took Fluffy with them to a certain museum where they photographed him with a famous painting of a reclining nude. One of the fine gents kindly used a hand to shield Fluffy's eyes from indecent exposure. The resulting photo (which, I'm sorry to say, was taken before digital cameras were in everyone's pockets) makes me laugh out loud.

Frankly, I'm a little jealous of Fluffy. He's more well-traveled than anyone else I know. He's been to castles in Scotland, the Great Wall of China, the mountains of Tibet, a wedding in India, the beaches of Hawaii, the Greek islands . . . At first, my skeptical and tech-savvy children accused me of having Photoshopped Fluffy into these scenes. This, when Fluffy's travel agent was working so hard to secure travel companions and connecting flights to his exciting destinations!

On rare occasions, I get to go along with Fluffy. Mostly in the summer because I've got this pesky job. :) As the promise of summer looms large on the horizon, the questions begin. “Are you going anywhere this summer?” “So, do you have a trip planned?” “Where are you going this summer?” “Are you taking your rabbit?” “Will you show us pictures when you come back?”

Together, Fluffy and I have had some wild adventures.

We've climbed to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan (in addition to the ruins of Monte Alban, Palenque, Uxmal, and Chichen Itza and the Olmec heads) in Mexico.



(the steep steps of a pyramid at Uxmal)

He's chatted nervously with a baby black caiman,






sat upon a water lily,





and swung on vines in the Amazon Rainforest of Brazil.

We've traveled to our country's Colonial past, where Fluffy quickly nabbed a job as kitchen help






while I tried my hand (I mean, foot) at brick-making.

At Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, we watched women weaving on backstrap looms.





We explored the Mayan ruins of Tikal




and Copan (in Honduras).






On Eleuthera (a long, skinny island in the Bahamas), Fluffy watched the waves










while I snorkeled (a somewhat soggy Amazon experience taught us that Fluffy should keep his distance from the water).





Fluffy and I spent a couple weeks last summer digging for Dimetrodon in the Red Beds of North Texas.

I love to learn about the world, and travel is a way to be in someone else's place.

Well, I've packed my Amazon hat, and Fluffy and I are off on another adventure!
The first hint is that we are traveling to a place that is surrounded by water . . .
One of my first graders--thinking locally--spread a rumor that the mystery place is San Antonio, which does have a very nice river . . . but is not surrounded by water. Others have suggested Hawaii or Puerto Rico.

(Note: The photograph is from a different place we've traveled, also surrounded by water.)

Stay tuned for more Adventures of Fluffy and Crazy Hat Lady!


***For those of you who now have a hankering to host Fluffy on an adventure of your own, there are a few guidelines (because when we started, I was not wise enough to realize Fluffy might need a doppelganger):
1) Fluffy doesn't travel with students' families.
2) Fluffy only travels with those responsible enough to bring him home.
3) You may have to take me with you!

A Sculpture Park

Number 36 in 101 Places You Gotta See Before You’re 12!


“It’s like a museum without walls and without the try-to-keep-your-voice-down rule. No walls means nothing’s too big to fit, so you’ll see the most gigantic sculptures, and sometimes you can touch them or even climb on them (check the park’s rules before you do, please). No walls also means the weather and the sculpture can interact: the wind blows movable parts, the sculpture casts cool shadows on the ground, snow rests on top of it, and rain makes its surfaces slick. The sculpture becomes part of the landscape, like a tree or a rock. And if the sculpture makes you want to do a cartwheel, go right ahead—try doing that in a museum!”

There are several fun outdoor art places in Houston, but Saturday, June 6, AIA will host its 23rd Annual Sandcastle Competition, temporarily transforming Galveston’s East Beach into a surf-side sculpture park!


(Obviously, not all of the sand sculptures are castles. You gotta love a sand sculpture of worms!)



Here are a few more outdoor art places to get your hunt started!
The Eclectic Menagerie Park (awarded “Best Menagerie” by Houston Press readers in 2006)
The MFAH Cullen Sculpture Garden
David Adickes's SculpturWorx Studio
Buffalo Bayou Art Park
The Artery (best viewed from within the walls of “the garden” at night--attend an event there)

Or discover an outdoor art place that’s not on the list!

Even the streets of downtown could be considered a sculpture park!





Resources:
101 Places You Gotta See Before You're 12! by Joanne O'Sullivan
Hot Town, Cool City (If you get a chance, the movie is well worth seeing, and its creator is a Montessori mom!)