Vacation, Part 1

 

A Rocky Start #

Our little vacation got off to a rocky start unfortunately. I had a client meeting on Monday and mentioned leaving early the next day for Texas. My clients were horrified and suggested I leave right away due to a bad snow storm coming our way. I texted Hill and told her to pack up early, we were leaving right when I got home.

We were in the car and on our way about 18 hours earlier than we'd expected, hoping to avoid all the snow and ice. For the most part, we totally avoided it although there were some stretches of very bad conditions. We saw several ditched cars, but made it through alive. Our night ended in Jackson Mississippi, at the world's dumpiest motel. It was dirty, gross, and outdated, but at least it was a place to sleep. 

Finally, in Houston #

We finally made it! While passing though Beaumont Texas, we got a call from Mark who, coincidentally, was just a couple miles behind us. We slowed down so we could follow him and have a guide into the big city. After a quick stop in Winnie Texas, we made our way into the city. We hit some traffic, but made it to Courtney and Mark's much, much earlier than planned.

Mark cooked some various Italian food while Hill complained about our previous night's hotel. Our change in plans also meant we were able to see the latest episode of Lost live, which was good for us. 

Heading to Mexico #

Courtney and Mark both worked on Wednesday, so Hill and I left the mutts and made our way to Mexico. It was quite an experience, I'll tell ya that. On the trip we saw the truck whose posted at the top of this post. Google Maps and our GPS unit both steered us wrong in getting to our hotel and ended up getting us totally lost in both Texas and Mexico. Thankfully Hill's amazing navigational skills got us relatively close, and then I had the bright idea of stopping a cab and simply following him to our destination. 

Our hotel was gorgeous. We didn't stick around too long though, since we both wanted to see the marketplace in the city center. Hill bought some lawn-chair bag-thingies, a shot glass and strange figurine that the woman tried to tell us was a dog, but I'm not sure I believe her. I bought a sweet Texas hat since Hillary wouldn't let me buy a Mexico hat, saying they were all gang related. 

Once it started getting dark and cold, we headed back to our hotel for some Mexican food, Margaritas, and good times. We also had our first Vampiros, which was basically a Bloody Mary with tequila instead of vodka. It was interesting I guess, but it will be my last.

Back to Texas #

We only spent one night in Mexico. I wouldn't had minded spending a little more time, but I was totally fine heading back to Texas too. Border Patrol searched our car pretty thoroughly, which was totally expected, then we were stopped again a little while later having to simply answer to "Are you a citizen?". We were, so we were allowed to make our merry way. We were also stopped for my expired tags (I know, but the DMV was closed on Monday and we left so frantically due to weather I just didn't have time!). We got a warning, which was nice, although while stopped we were asked very seriously if we brought back any marijuana or cocaine. Uh, no officer, we didn't.

That night we met Mark's kids and had a nice pizza buffet dinner at CiCi's. I know, CiCi's isn't necessarily a traditional Texas restaurant, but ours shut down and we missed it. So there ya go. It was delicious.

Outer Space #

On Friday, Courtney took Hill and I to Souper Salad for lunch, since one can never have too many buffets in my opinion. It was a great lunch. Mark was at work, and the plan was to hit up the Space Center without him and meet up with him later. Courtney is a bad influence though, so she talked him into ditching work a little early to join us. 

We headed over to pick him up, then it was on to Johnson Space Center. It was a lot of fun seeing all the space shuttle mock ups and old space suits. The tram rde was a bit frigid, but still a lot of fun and I'm glad we went on it. We saw the old Command Center used to launch the old space flights, the mockups of the space station, and a rocket that was never put into space but should have been.

After all that fun and excitement, we headed to Houston's for dinner. I had the ribs, but Hill was boring and had a cheeseburger. 

We made our way back to their apartment and rocked out with some Rock Band for Wii. I don't think I was very good, especially at the drums, but it was still fun. 

Part Two Coming Soon #

And now I'm awake and typing this while everyone else is asleep. The mutts are also sleeping. I'm not used to being the early riser, but I guess I could get used to this.