NRA Annual Meeting 2026 : Day 1 Sights and Sounds! video by BigRedEDC
Summary:
A few segments of my day 1 walk around the 2026 NRA annual meeting in Houston, Texas.
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| Above, the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center building. Whenever astronauts are in space, a U.S. flag flies over the center. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
A highlight of my trip to Houston, Texas was to visit the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.
It has been a focal point of the U.S. manned space program almost from the beginning. It opened in September 1963.
From Wikipedia:
The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight in Houston, Texas (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U.S. president and Texas native, Lyndon B. Johnson, by an act of the United States Senate on February 19, 1973.
JSC consists of a complex of 100 buildings constructed on 1,620 acres (660 ha) in Clear Lake. The center is home to NASA's astronaut corps, and is responsible for training astronauts from both the U.S. and its international partners. It also houses the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center, which has provided the flight control function for every NASA human spaceflight since Gemini 4 (including Apollo, Skylab, Apollo–Soyuz, Space Shuttle and Artemis). It is popularly known by its radio call signs "Mission Control" and "Houston".
The original Manned Spacecraft Center grew out of the Space Task Group (STG) headed by Robert R. Gilruth that was formed to coordinate the U.S. crewed spaceflight program. The STG was based at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, but reported organizationally to the Goddard Space Flight Center just outside Washington, D.C. To meet the growing needs of the US human spaceflight program, plans began in 1961 to expand its staff to its own organization, and move it to a new facility. This was constructed in 1962 and 1963 on land donated by the Humble Oil company through Rice University, and officially opened its doors in September 1963. Today, JSC is one of ten major NASA field centers and the city of Houston's primary cultural footprint, earning it the official nickname "Space City" in 1967.
Last Saturday, we took a drive down to Galveston, Texas. It was only an hour's drive (about 50 miles) from Houston.
One of the first things we noticed upon entering the city was that many homes were built on stilts so that they don't get flooded from the Gulf of America (or Gulf of Mexico).
We drove by the cruise line terminals and the cruise lines we saw were Carnival and Royal Caribbean.
While in Galveston, we found a bagel shop and we treated ourselves to some coffee and bagels. My bagel was with lox (smoked salmon) and cream cheese. Both halves were loaded with salmon.
Afterwards, we stopped at a cigar store and made some purchases.
Before heading out, we saw what looked to be a graveyard of railroad engines of Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad.
Some photos of our visit:
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| Above, the May issue of American Rifleman I picked up at the NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits |
A few minutes ago, I found out that the magazines published by the National Rifle Association, American Rifleman and American Hunter, have gone from monthlies to quarterly magazines.
I called the NRA Member Services this morning and they told me of the change. I get American Rifleman with my membership. The nice lady on the phone said that May, August and November will be the months American Rifleman will be published this year.
I was wondering why I didn't get the April issue or, to date, the May issue. The aforementioned change is the reason why. She said the May issue should be arriving shortly.
However, I did get a copy of the May issue of American Rifleman at the NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits convention in Houston..
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| Above, yours truly at the NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits. Photo by Mitch Geriminsky. |
It was touted as 14 acres of exhibits. After having been there, I have to agree. I am still suffering from a cramping of my left leg muscle. I have been practically walking around like the Mummy Kharis.
My friend Mitch Geriminsky was smart, he rented an electric scooter with a seat. The cost for it was $70.00.
I did manage to take a few photos at the exhibit hall of the George R. Brown Convention Center.
Here's some of them:
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| Above, an Orion spacecraft trainer. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
During our visit to Space Center Houston, we took a tour to the Astronaut Training Facility.
Inside were mock-ups of various spacecraft including the International Space Station, Orion, Soyuz and future space station facilities.
Here's some photos I took during the tour:
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| Above, the Apollo capsule at the top of the Saturn 5. Photo by Armand Vaquer |
I just downloaded the photos I took with the Canon camera. They range from the Space Center Houston to the NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits to Galveston.
Here, I took some photos of one of three existing Saturn 5 rockets. It was built for an Apollo moon mission but the mission was canceled. It actually was certified to flight status before cancelation.
After six days, I am finally back home from Houston, Texas.
That's another place that I can check off my "bucket list" of places to travel to. Along with the NRA Annual Meeting & Exhibits, we managed to see the Johnson Space Center and take a drive to Galveston.
That should be it for traveling for a while.
I scanned the photo taken at the Johnson Space Center and it is posted below:
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| Above, an Apollo Lunar Module on display at the Johnson Space Center. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
The trip to Houston, Texas will be wrapping up tomorrow.
The first full day, Thursday, was spent at the Johnson Space Center where we toured the facilities. It was an interesting place to visit and I highly recommend it.
On Friday, the day was spent at the NRA Annual Meeting and Exhibits at the George R. Brown Convention Center. I managed to see all of the exhibits, but I was worn out by the end of the day, particularly my lower back and legs.
Saturday was spent in Galveston (around 50 from Houston). We managed to find a great bagel shop and went to nearby Buc-ee's.
We have an early morning flight to Albuquerque tomorrow. I just hope we don't have problems getting through the TSA check.
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| Above, the Galveston Bagel Company. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
Today was spent taking a drive down to Galveston, Texas for the day.
While there, we drove around and stopped for a snack at the Galveston Bagel Company. I had an onion bagel with lox and cream cheese. The lox was plentiful on two halves of the bagel. Mitch asked me how much did it cost. I told him it was $17. He about jumped out of his seat exclaiming, "What?! $17 for a bagel?!"
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| Above, enjoying the bagel. Note the amount of lox. Photo by Mitch Geriminsky. |
We then went to a cigar store to pick up a couple of things. I managed to leave my debit card there. I discovered this at Buc-ee's and we went back and got it. We were looking for the cigar store when we discovered the Galveston Bagel Company.
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| Above, the front of Buc-ee's near Galveston. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
Buc-ee's was huge and packed with people. There must have been close to 30 gasoline pumps there. This was the first time I have ever been to Buc-ee's.
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| Above, the statue of the Buc-ee's beaver. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
We got into a downpour as we were nearing Houston. It looks to be a rainy night tonight.
Actress Valerie Perrine was finally laid to rest Thursday at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.
As her finances were depleted due to her medical care over the years, a fundraising campaign was started at Go Fund Me and successfully raised enough for a proper service and burial. I donated to her burial fund.
The following was posted:
The ol' blog just hit 11 million page views!
I just updated the header to reflect this milestone.
Here it is:
NRA Annual Meeting Day One 2026! video by Outdoor News America.
Summary:
We tour the show and show you cool new products at the NRA Annual meeting in Houston TX! Day one show coverage! Let’s Go!
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| Above, yours truly at the registration area. Photo by Mitch Geriminsky. |
Reuters posted 26 photos from yesterday's opening day for the NRA Annual Meeting & Exhibits at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston.
These photos will give the viewer a great idea on what the event has to offer. It was a well-attended event and one I would recommend putting on one's "bucket list" of things to do at least once in their lives.
To access the photos, go here.
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| Above, attendees waiting for the exhibit hall to open. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
Mitch Geriminsky and I spent about five hours checking out the exhibit hall that is purported to be 14 acres big. It seems that way. By the time we were done, we were pretty much exhausted.
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| Above, Houston's mounted police outside of the convention hall. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
NRA members are admitted free. All they have to do is punch in their NRA membership number in the registration computers and a badge is immediately printed up. Badge holders were provided by Midway USA.
There were raffles in the hallway that were $20/entry for assorted firearms.
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| Above, Springfield Armory's booth. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
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| Above, yours truly at the registration area. Photo by Mitch Geriminsky. |
By the time I was done looking (I managed to go through all aisles), I was exhausted. This had to be the biggest gun show I've ever attended.
Tomorrow, we'll probably go to Galveston to look around. It is about 50 miles from Houston.
Here's an oddity we spotted at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas.
It was the smoking area at the airport's terminal. But it also had a no smoking sign.
Here's Mitch with the two signs:
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| Above, the car rental agency office from hell. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
If one should ever visit Houston, Texas and are in need of a rental car, one place they should never use is York Car Rental.
They are not included in the regular car rental companies that have bus service at the George Bush International Airport. They have their own shuttle van that is black.
After waiting a considerable amount of time for the van, we were taken to their business that is several miles from the airport. Upon arrival, customers have to wait in line as they have only three booths for arranging for a rental. One does not talk to a live person, but to someone in a television monitor. Frankly, I think their whole business model is a scam to force people to take their insurance.
Here's what I posted at Yelp (be sure to read all of the posted reviews):
Horrible business. They try to gouge people to take their insurance if you don't have your car insurance declaration page. Who keep their policy declaration pages with them? Their cars in shoddy condition. One tire had a cut in the sidewall an another tire had a bubble/blister forming.
We ended up canceling and headed to a name-brand car rental agency at the airport with Uber.
Besides the above, the representatives are unprofessional and are televised from some unknown location. Also, they are so bad that most from our van group ended up going ballistic on them and walking out. The average time people are in the booths were around an hour.
Posted by Brian D. at Yelp:
This is an absolutely terrible business model for an airport rental car company. The amount of time it takes for someone to get a rental car at this location exceeds an hour. It is worth it to pay the extra price for an Avis or Hertz or some kind of a reputable car company rather than deal with the object incompetence of this system. The people may be very nice, but when it takes this long to rent a car the weight is not worth the decrease in price. They lure you in with a cheap price and then double the price of the car rental insisting you take their insurance. This is a bait and switch scam that the FBI and local law-enforcement should look into.
Customers are made to jump through so many hoops that it is a wonder that they didn't ask for a pint of blood to get a car. Maybe I shouldn't give them any ideas.
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| Above, yours truly at the Saturn 5 rocket. |
We met with our driver in downtown Houston and took their bus to the space center, which was about 13 miles from downtown Houston.
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| Above, Mitch Geriminsky and I at the Saturn 5 engine on display. |
After arriving, we toured exhibits in the visitor center complex and signed up for the Astronaut Training Facility Tour. The tour was around an hour or so and different buildings and their functions were pointed out by the tour guide.
It was interesting to see the facility for various missions including the Artemis program.
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| Above, inside the astronaut training facility. A Soyuz mock-up is at left. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
Following the tour, we were taken to the space park where a building housing one of three Saturn 5 rockets still in existence. The one we saw was from one of several moon missions that were cancelled in the 1970s.
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| Above, an Apollo Lunar Module on display in the main visitor center. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
After returning to the main visitor center, we did look at more exhibits, had coffee and a snack. We also did some shopping in the visitor center's shop. I also got a t-shirt for Greg Lucier for taking care of Sierra at home.
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| Above, the main visitor center building. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
I took many photographs with my Canon camera. I will post those when I return home in New Mexico. These are from my phone camera.
All in all, it was a fun, enjoyable and educational day.
