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Trip to Texas went well.  Found that most tex-mex is gluten free..I love the
idea of cooking the meat with no sauce and serving the sauce on the side.
Main pitfalls were meat cooked with sausages that were not gf and a language
barrier at some of the Mexican fast food type places...I'm sure I could have
ate breakfast at the Houston United Airport but the choices were McD's or
order by the numbers at the Mexican stand.  I wanted the eggs with no flour
tortilla but there was no number for that, I finally gave up and hoped the
Denver airport would have more options which it did.  I would bring a
language card if I went again, and I'm starting to think those are a good
thing to carry no matter what.  Corn tortillas were almost more popular than
the flour ones and one place I went to understood immediately when I asked
for gluten free options..first time since October that I've eaten so much.
I'm pretty sure that place was Tony's..was outside of Houston towards
Springs...my mom will get the name off the credit card bill and I'll post
when that happens..may be a while so posting rest now.

Some interesting things I found...United has switched to all wheat type
snacks because of peanut allergies.  I told the stewardess that some people
are just as allergic to wheat but she seemed so well 'trained' in the
dangers of peanuts that she handed me the bagel snack pack at the same time
she was ignoring the fact I just told her I couldn't have wheat.  Didn't
even attempt the gluten free request.  Flights were short with layovers in
Denver, which has a huge selection of places to eat so the lack of gluten
free items on the plane or at Houston wasn't a problem.  If you fly through
Houston though bring gluten free snacks because the United terminal is
pathetic on options outside of mcd's.  With security restrictions it seems
to be a good idea to be prepared to dump out contents of whatever you are
carrying at a moments notice so it brings a new level of preparation to
bringing your own food with you if you tend to be embarrassed by such
things.

We went to Moody Gardens in Galveston...if anyone goes there bring a
backpack with food and snacks.  They have NOTHING that is GF.  In fact,
bring food for the gluten eaters in the group too..will save you lots of
money.  Even a hamburger cost $10 and isn't all that great looking...chips
are overpriced and all in non gf flavors..and you don't even want to buy
drinks there.  All the pyramids are connected by outdoor walkways though
with picnic tables and lots of grassy areas along the water and through the
garden areas.  Because of this there is no restrictions on bringing a picnic
lunch and unlike other venues they did not search and confiscate food items.
All tourist things are now requiring a walk through a metal detector, so
avoid any food containers that can't pass through those for any trips this
summer.  In the fancy restaurant my dad wanted to go to the only thing I
could have was the condiments and possibly the water, but they did allow me
to bring in my own rice bread sandwhich..so if you are with people who
'have' to go and sit down inside just bring in something and tell the
waitress you need gluten free...she went back and forth to the chef on stuff
and couldn't find anything and when I suggested I go get my own food she
seemed relieved.  :)

For NASA space center, whatever you bring in has to fit inside a special box
and it is inspected on the inside.  They allowed us to bring in fresh fruit
and bottled water though, with the restrictions that nothing be open while
in certain areas.  It was also required that anything electronic be turned
on for check points, and there was a whole lot of opening my purse and
dumping it out.  So ok to bring your own food, but be prepared to have that
sandwich inspected..in other words prepackaged or fresh fruit or veggies
might be better there.   Water was $2 a bottle so very worth bringing at
least your own water bottle because the tours are in open cars and it's hot
there.

Both NASA and moody gardens were great though, and if you have kids worth
the extra prep to go...picnics at moody gardens look like fun too, if I was
a kid I'd rather be there any day than in the restaurants.  There were
picnic tables at NASA but over memorial day security restrictions didn't
allow anyone to use them so all eating was restricted to the cafeteria.

Tam

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