How this was made.

THE RESEARCH

Every place was checked for being open in 2025 or 2026, then written up fresh: what it is, what to do or order, and one practical tip. Where a fact could not be confirmed it was left out rather than guessed, and places whose details are still being confirmed say so on their page. Hours and prices change; each entry links to its official source. Nothing in this guide is sponsored or paid for.

THE MAP

Buildings, freeways, bayous, lakes and parks: © OpenStreetMap contributors, used under the Open Database License. Coastlines and the globe: Natural Earth (public domain). Climate normals: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, 1991 to 2020, station IAH. Population: U.S. Census Bureau estimates. The landmarks (the San Jacinto Monument, the Saturn V, the shuttle on its 747, the Astrodome) are architectural models built from published dimensions.

THE BUILD

Next.js, React and TypeScript for the pages; three.js for the world, drawn through one WebGL canvas with every game as a view inside it; GSAP and Lenis for motion; Web Audio for the sound design, synthesized live in the browser, and for mixing the radio. Type is Archivo, Instrument Serif and IBM Plex Mono. No photographs of real places were generated or faked; the 3D models are the imagery.

THE RADIO

The dial in the corner has nine stations of original songs, twenty in all, written for this site by Digital Wonders and produced with Suno: honky-tonk and western swing, Tejano cumbia, conjunto and mariachi, Frenchtown zydeco, Third Ward gospel and blues, H-Town rap slowed and chopped, Viet city pop, Afrobeats and bhangra, Gulf Coast surf and yacht rock, and Montrose jazz. The lyrics are about real places in the guide, and each stop tunes the station it belongs to as the camera arrives, cutting in at its chorus.

The voices of Mission Control are the real ones: NASA recordings, public domain, from Wikimedia Commons. Apollo 11, the landing; "The Eagle has landed"; Armstrong's first step; Apollo 11 launch day, via Canary Station; Apollo 8 on the way home.

The Earth in the opening is NASA's too, satellite imagery from NASA Earth Observatory, public domain: Blue Marble Next Generation (July 2004); Black Marble 2016; Blue Marble clouds.

THE ARCHIVE

Channel 10 plays public-domain records, from Wikimedia Commons: Eck Robertson, “Sallie Johnson / Billy in the Low Ground”; Henry C. Gilliland and Eck Robertson, “Arkansaw Traveler”; Vernon Dalhart, “Wreck of the Old 97”; Vernon Dalhart, “The Prisoner's Song”; Scott Joplin (piano roll), “Maple Leaf Rag”; Scott Joplin, composer (piano roll), “The Entertainer”; United States Coast Guard Band, “The Yellow Rose of Texas”. Field recordings at a stop: A livestock auctioneer at the New York State Sheep & Wool Festival, 2010, recorded by gezortenplotz (CC BY 3.0).

HOUSTON HITS

The radio’s jukebox lists real Houston and Texas records. They belong to their artists and labels, so none is hosted, sampled or re-recorded here: each plays through Spotify’s own embedded player, loaded only when you press play (previews for listeners who are not signed in to Spotify).

ACCESSIBILITY

Every page is complete without the 3D layer, which is decoration. Every game has keyboard controls and none is needed to read the guide. With reduced motion set, the camera cuts instead of flying.

PRIVACY

No accounts, no tracking. Your saved plan lives in your own browser (localStorage) and never leaves it.

MADE BY

A Digital Wonders production, Houston, Texas. Built to show what a website can be. Start the flight again.