Third Bybee: Houston Oddities

We have been braving the record breaking heat to get out and see some the sites around town and getting us some culture. The first place we went is called the Beer Can House and we stumbled upon it when we took a wrong turn on our way to our favorite gelato place. We thought it was extremely cool. . .

The guy who lived here, John Milkovisch, had lived here for 20 years when he decided to repave his driveway and put some marbles in it for decoration. He liked it so much he decided he'd do his whole yard like that and then he wouldn't have to mow his lawn any more.

When John got that done, he decided to make use of the apparently many cans of beer that he drank, so he started cutting them up and using them for siding. He figured he'd never have to paint his house again. After he got that done (his wife told him the INside of the house was OFF limits) he decided to do a little decorating around the yard. . .

Much to Johns surprise, after they had covered their house up, their electrical bill went down! Who knew? And no part of the can went to waste. He put the tops and pull tabs in chains hanging from the roof and it makes the prettiest sound in the wind.

We decided to head to another Houston Landmark called the Orange Show next. Across the street there is a tall pillar with plaster cars all around it that the kids could have spent MUCH more time looking at if it hadn't been 105 degrees (thankfully it's not very humid because we have had NO rain).

This place was interesting, but in a . . . Psycho sort of way. The guy that built this was obviously "out there" and had a peculiar love of oranges. You might even say he was obsessed with oranges and thought that if he built an amusement "park"/shrine for oranges that it would eclipse Disneyland in entertainment value. He was so sure that millions would come, that a month after it opened, and only a handful of people had come, he basically died of grief.