Since my mother passed away 14 months ago the only family I have left are my brother and sister both of whom live in Houston. I went down there for a visit for a week. It was nice to see them. My sister took me on a couple of day trips, one to Galveston so I could see the Gulf of Mexico and one to the “hill country” south of Austin. Although I saw lots of great wild flowers I didn’t really see anything that qualified as a hill. For this history nerd the highlight of the trip was seeing the original 1217 Magna Carta which is on loan to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Seeing such an important historical document was not on my bucket list but it should have been. The exhibit was really well done giving a really good history of the document and a taste of what life was like in England when it was written.
The first Magna Carta was sealed by King John in 1215 but John had the Pope nullify it. King John died in 1217 and the barons agreed that in order for his son Henry to assume the throne a new Magna Carta would have to be sealed. This is what the Constitution of the United States is based on – not the Bible.
While I had a nice time in Houston it was really good to be back home here in Oregon.